> On Dec 12, 2025, at 12:02 PM, Kurt Nowak via cctalk <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
> Thanks for all the info, especially info on the spring loaded access door.
> The vacuum venting makes sense but I'm still perplexed as to how the
> read/write head gets access to the magnetic surface.
The metal lid on the bottom has nothing to do with the heads.
The heads access the cartridge via the opening in the rear, which is normally
covered by a plastic cover that latches in a groove in the bottom cover of the
cartridge. Pressure against the top edge of the cover (horizontally towards
the spindle) releases it, and it is then pushed upward, with the long plastic
strip that extends most of the way over the top of the cartridge flexing to
allow that. In the drive, this hs done by an arm that swivels upward to
produce that horizontal-then-vertical pressure.
You can only see this if you insert a pack into a drive that has the top cover
removed, otherwise it happens invisibly in the back of drive as you insert the
pack through the loading slot.
paul
