On 01/03/2017 01:47 PM, Brian L. Stuart wrote:
On Tue, 1/3/17, Cory Heisterkamp <coryheisterk...@gmail.com> wrote:
What I’m wondering is if anyone is familiar with the setup/adjustment
procedure for getting the heads set correctly. There *might* be a couple of
unused tracks I can relocate heads to, but my thought is that if half a
dozen heads were already in contact, then the rest may be perilously close
as well (swelled drum?). My odds of setting 71 heads perfectly on a 50 year
old worn drum is…well…not great.
A while back I read a procedure (probably in reference to the G-15).
Quite frankly, it scared me a little, but I'll pass it on. The idea is to
use sound. The tech would use a screwdriver as a sounding bar
between the casing and his ear. Then the head was tightened down
until you could just hear it start to brush. I don't remember for sure,
but I'd have to think that you would then back off just enough for
the brushing sound to stop. I don't recall whether the article said
that this was done with the motor running or the drum was being turned
by hand, but if it were my machine, I'd set the heads turning the drum
slowly by hand and then check for any brushing sound when the motor
comes up.
YIKES!!! Well, I think the first order of business is to
check and possibly replace the drum bearings.
Then, get a sensitive dial test indicator (I have an old
Federal with .0001" markings, and a Federal
electronic indicator that reads down to 50 uInch.) Make up
a fixture to mount it on the drum frame and see if the
surface of the drum is still true. It is possible that the
bearing inner races might need to be turned on the shaft for
minimal runout. If the surface has several wobbles per rev,
then I think the drum will not be serviceable without
turning the oxide true again. I have NO IDEA how thick the
oxide might be on these. It did seem like the G-15 oxide
was pretty thick, maybe .010" or so. If the above procedure
is for real, then it pretty much had to be, to survive such
abuse.
Doing some totally off the wall calculations in my head, I
figured out the data density would have been in the range of
100 bits/inch on the drum circumference. Calculating from
the circumference and the number of bits per track, you
should be able to calculate the bits/inch. Assuming pretty
wide gaps between the head pole pieces, and the bit density,
it should not require insanely small head flying height.
You can fairly easily get brass shim stock down to .001" or
so (kitchen aluminum foil is about .0015") to use for a head
height setter.
So, does the LGP-30 have permanent storage on the drum, or
is it erased by a magnet at every revolution?
The G-15 modeled the drum just like a mercury delay line, it
had a write head, a read head and a bar erase magnet on
every line, so there was no gap for the write head to turn
on and off between words. The FF that drove the write amp
normally recirculated the data from the read head, except
when a word was being written. Each drum track had a long
line (for program and data) and a short line. Most of the
short lines held 4 words, so they were quickly accessible.
One short line only held one word, that was the accumulator.
Jon
