Also the deteriorated rubber tractor band feels like a pretty big show stopper unless I can find a source (seems like a long shot).
Any other MiniTerm will likely have the same problem, they are all old and all age. So hoping for a "donor" is not likely realistic. It's a common problem of that belting technology. These belts have to be stable and accurate. They aren't "splice"-able really, in most cases. and, they are all custom, no two alike except by pure happenstance. These belts have fibers through them to keep their dimensions stable. Your belt's fibers may be visible. So the idea of making your own is probably not realistic, whatever your skills level. Rubber belts appear on all kinds of vintage equipment. In the past there have been private services that replicate belts to order. People have stock materials, tools and skills to make belts at length and width. The instance I recall, the person charged a tooling fee (to set up tools and make measurements) and then charged per belt to produce them (materials and time). Sometimes the same persons make rubber rollers to dimension. If you are interested, I suggest you measure the dimensions of the belt, teeth per inch, and take good photos. Don't cut it, if you can avoid doing so. Then web-search for forums where people work on these things. Printers, floppy drives, magtape drives, electric typewriters, sewing machines come to mind, your search will find other domains. You'll find a producer that way. Or search for "rubber belts to order" kinds of descriptions. Or you'll find various attempts to make belts. Maybe someone has a scheme that works. Otherwise the unit has value for repair parts, and as a display piece. As printing technology is out-of-favor, most of these will not be saved, or parted out. In another time, that will create rarity and they may gain interest/value accordingly. regards, Herb -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey USA https://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net preserve, recover, restore 1970's computing email: hjohnson AT retrotechnology DOT com or try later herbjohnson AT comcast DOT net
Great input Herb. Thanks! Sent from my iPad
On Sep 19, 2024, at 3:13 PM, Herbert Johnson via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
Also the deteriorated rubber tractor band feels like a pretty big show stopper unless I can find a source (seems like a long shot).
Any other MiniTerm will likely have the same problem, they are all old and all age. So hoping for a "donor" is not likely realistic. It's a common problem of that belting technology.
These belts have to be stable and accurate. They aren't "splice"-able really, in most cases. and, they are all custom, no two alike except by pure happenstance. These belts have fibers through them to keep their dimensions stable. Your belt's fibers may be visible.
So the idea of making your own is probably not realistic, whatever your skills level.
Rubber belts appear on all kinds of vintage equipment. In the past there have been private services that replicate belts to order. People have stock materials, tools and skills to make belts at length and width. The instance I recall, the person charged a tooling fee (to set up tools and make measurements) and then charged per belt to produce them (materials and time). Sometimes the same persons make rubber rollers to dimension.
If you are interested, I suggest you measure the dimensions of the belt, teeth per inch, and take good photos. Don't cut it, if you can avoid doing so. Then web-search for forums where people work on these things. Printers, floppy drives, magtape drives, electric typewriters, sewing machines come to mind, your search will find other domains.
You'll find a producer that way. Or search for "rubber belts to order" kinds of descriptions. Or you'll find various attempts to make belts. Maybe someone has a scheme that works.
Otherwise the unit has value for repair parts, and as a display piece. As printing technology is out-of-favor, most of these will not be saved, or parted out. In another time, that will create rarity and they may gain interest/value accordingly.
regards, Herb -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey USA https://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net preserve, recover, restore 1970's computing email: hjohnson AT retrotechnology DOT com or try later herbjohnson AT comcast DOT net
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Herbert Johnson