On 12/19/2014 01:58 PM, Phil Allison wrote:
Mike wrote:

Phil Allison wrote:

Since no new supply of suitable rollers exists, I fit the old one with a
suitable shaft and lock it into the chuck of a bench drill spinning at
600rpm - then, using finger pressure on a piece of fine sand paper
wrapped around strip of wood, gently remove the shiny surface & restore
the needed matt one.

But why does it matter? The pinch roller does not need friction to the
tape.

** It absolutely does.

The simple explanation is in the words you snipped.


It is the capstan that needs that.

** The capstan has no grip to the tape - since polished steel and smooth tape have no mutual friction.

I can see you might need some
resilience so that the tape is not nipped too tightly and thus reduce the
contact pressure, but that's not really a surface attribute.

** A shiny surfaced roller has no grip to the capstan.

Why the heck do you think pinch rollers ( along with idler tyres and drive belts) are made from soft rubber in the first place ?

You ever serviced a tape recorder in your life ?


.... Phil


It's the lack of pliabililty. They call it a pinch roller because it
pinches the tape. A hard rubber puck is useless. The exact dimension
isn't critical as long as the bearings fit and the plunger goes far enough.