A Steady Vacuum For The Fastest Cassette Tape Drive Ever
1 min read
Summary
While many may remember the sound of the rotating floppy drive and the slow progress of the mechanical read/write heads, those with longer memories will recall the clunk and hiss of a reel-to-reel tape drive.
Such was the storage medium of choice for early computers, and [Thorbjörn Jemander] has decided to create a cassette tape drive that can load 64 kilobytes in ten seconds, beginning with the vacuum columns of the original units.
After much experimentation with centrifugal fan design, he creates a 3D printed unit with a 12 volt motor and a slot for a cassette tape.
Indeed, a project that started as a method to load data quickly from tape becomes a fascinating exploration of tape drive operation and vacuum technology.
