This brings back all the horrors of loading from cassette tape. In the '80s a floppy disk drive was often more expensive than the computer it was corrected to, so many of us kids had to endure such pain year after year. Loading a 40KB program in under a minute seemed like an impossible dream! Regardless, nice job restoring this tape unit to pristine condition Chris.
My yellowest Amiga was kept in a pitch-black basement for decades. There's no way sunlight had any part in it; every inch including the underside is so yellowed it's almost brown. I think the best explanation is that it was subject to many hot summers and cold winters with no climate control, and it's the extreme temperature cycles that are the catalyst. Sometimes it seems like sunlight has caused yellowing because you see a "shadow" on the plastic but it could just as easily be the radiant heat from direct sunlight.
Such "shadows" may as likely be from the _absence_ of sunlight. Indeed, we often see the inside of the case yellow as much as or more than the outside, but not always. There must be several different things going on.
As a grown-up C64 kid it's good to see that other 8-bit systems also took ages to load from tape. Although C64 floppy isn't much faster. I was thinking maybe a dab of acetone might work to fuse the 3D printed actuator to the tape player button surface... Although who knows, maybe PLA isn't compatible with the ABS likely making up the button.
Tools used or mentioned in this video: watchmaker's screwdriver, mole grips, dremel, leaf blower 😊 Another 'must have the patience of a saint' episode from Gadget UK 😊
I ran the wires from a headphone jack to the board where the audio from the tape head goes in. Then it was easy to load tape games from my phone. Fun mod for Atari as the deck uses that AIO port.
The next time you have to cut a screw that has a matching nut keep the nut on the screw so that it can help remake the threads when you remove it after cutting the screw. Also I would recommend using the bolt cutter function of most wire strippers as these do not leave the pointed tip that the "mole grips" (We call them vice grips on this side of the pond) will.
FWIW superglue also known as cyanoacrylate glue definitely sticks to PLA filament quite well, its likely those 3D printed parts are actually PETG where superglue doesnt bond well with. as for the buttons i wonder is they are made using polypropylene rather then they typical ABS one would expect to use. regardless the use of a screw was a great work around
I remember my disappointment when my newly purchased 1010 recorder started to loose teeth after two weeks of heavy use! By all means it wasn’t cheap in my country and left me startled. After a year of uneven fight it was finally replaced by the 1050 and lost for good.
Atari 8 bits load at 600 baud from tape as standard. So much slower than C64. The reason I upgraded to an 1050 disk drive. Floppy on the atari is much much faster and much faster than the c64 disk loading
The printed parts should have filled the key cap completely, then there would be less flex in them and the whole glue/drill thingy would not be necessary. BEcause as of now as you showed connectly, like its corrently it will break the back side of the key cap sooner or later.
There were actually some games that played audio instructions/music while loading the game. I always got a kick out of the disco music from some of the educational games from Atari.
Regarding your point on yellowing of plastics... It is depressing how much the enthusiast 'community' fails to read up on what is actually going on. Perifrcatic had a superb video on the subject but even he failed to understand what was being described in the academic paper he cited (albeit he did acknowledge that there is a describable phenomenon). Look up "Reversible post-exposure yellowing of weathered polymers" by James E. Pickett (2003). In it, he describes exposing various plastics to simulated daylight and then sequestering the samples in dark places at various temperatures. The warmest ones yellowed fastest but all tended to yellow. Re-exposing them to light containing blue and violet largely reversed the yellowing. The supposition is that the isomers in the plastic come out of the mould locked in one colour variant but that blue light unlocks them. Then, leaving them dark but warm allows the molecules to rotate between the Z and E isomer, which affects the colour. In blue light they then rotate back. The point being that plastics need that first exposure to blue light to become susceptible to yellowing and then will yellow when stored in the dark.
There's no such thing as an "extra screw". It came from SOMEwhere. I look until I find where it came from. LOL! It came out, it must go back SOMEwhere.
Where is the brown carpet.. Always wonder why you would work on electronics on a carpet and no worry about static.. Now I see you on an anti-scatic mat and strap..
I moved into a better work area around 2 years ago! There's still some old footage on the carpet though! When I worked on the carpet, I still used a mat and wrist strap, just not shown in many shots. In earlier videos I always grounded myself regularly on a nearby PSU shell - but that really wasn't sufficient! Watch 3/4 of the PC related channels and see how they handle everything without wrist straps! We are talking about channels with hundreds of thousands of subs (or more)!
I have always disliked tape decks. Nasty complicated mechanical things always on the edge of snapping, they felt like. Having watched your battle, I remain of this opinion! 😅
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
Check out my new second channel for more repairs and upgrades - www.youtube.com/@GadgetUKExtra
This brings back all the horrors of loading from cassette tape. In the '80s a floppy disk drive was often more expensive than the computer it was corrected to, so many of us kids had to endure such pain year after year. Loading a 40KB program in under a minute seemed like an impossible dream! Regardless, nice job restoring this tape unit to pristine condition Chris.
15:42 How satisfying to see the gunk get cleaned away
For anyone wondering, since its title wasn't shown/mentioned, the game at 1:28:35 is Mastertronic's "One Man and His Droid"
My yellowest Amiga was kept in a pitch-black basement for decades. There's no way sunlight had any part in it; every inch including the underside is so yellowed it's almost brown. I think the best explanation is that it was subject to many hot summers and cold winters with no climate control, and it's the extreme temperature cycles that are the catalyst. Sometimes it seems like sunlight has caused yellowing because you see a "shadow" on the plastic but it could just as easily be the radiant heat from direct sunlight.
Such "shadows" may as likely be from the _absence_ of sunlight. Indeed, we often see the inside of the case yellow as much as or more than the outside, but not always. There must be several different things going on.
Heat is the thing for sure
As a grown-up C64 kid it's good to see that other 8-bit systems also took ages to load from tape. Although C64 floppy isn't much faster.
I was thinking maybe a dab of acetone might work to fuse the 3D printed actuator to the tape player button surface... Although who knows, maybe PLA isn't compatible with the ABS likely making up the button.
Tools used or mentioned in this video: watchmaker's screwdriver, mole grips, dremel, leaf blower 😊 Another 'must have the patience of a saint' episode from Gadget UK 😊
I ran the wires from a headphone jack to the board where the audio from the tape head goes in. Then it was easy to load tape games from my phone. Fun mod for Atari as the deck uses that AIO port.
The next time you have to cut a screw that has a matching nut keep the nut on the screw so that it can help remake the threads when you remove it after cutting the screw. Also I would recommend using the bolt cutter function of most wire strippers as these do not leave the pointed tip that the "mole grips" (We call them vice grips on this side of the pond) will.
FWIW superglue also known as cyanoacrylate glue definitely sticks to PLA filament quite well, its likely those 3D printed parts are actually PETG where superglue doesnt bond well with.
as for the buttons i wonder is they are made using polypropylene rather then they typical ABS one would expect to use. regardless the use of a screw was a great work around
That looked like hard work.
I remember my disappointment when my newly purchased 1010 recorder started to loose teeth after two weeks of heavy use! By all means it wasn’t cheap in my country and left me startled. After a year of uneven fight it was finally replaced by the 1050 and lost for good.
=( I have a 1050 coming up! Way better than cassette!
Atari 8 bits load at 600 baud from tape as standard. So much slower than C64. The reason I upgraded to an 1050 disk drive. Floppy on the atari is much much faster and much faster than the c64 disk loading
The printed parts should have filled the key cap completely, then there would be less flex in them and the whole glue/drill thingy would not be necessary. BEcause as of now as you showed connectly, like its corrently it will break the back side of the key cap sooner or later.
did this cassette deck also play audio, i remember play my own tapes once a game had loaded and it game through the tv
I think so - since I could hear the loading sound through the TV! I should test that with an audio cassette!
There were actually some games that played audio instructions/music while loading the game. I always got a kick out of the disco music from some of the educational games from Atari.
Regarding your point on yellowing of plastics...
It is depressing how much the enthusiast 'community' fails to read up on what is actually going on.
Perifrcatic had a superb video on the subject but even he failed to understand what was being described in the academic paper he cited (albeit he did acknowledge that there is a describable phenomenon).
Look up "Reversible post-exposure yellowing of weathered polymers" by James E. Pickett (2003).
In it, he describes exposing various plastics to simulated daylight and then sequestering the samples in dark places at various temperatures. The warmest ones yellowed fastest but all tended to yellow. Re-exposing them to light containing blue and violet largely reversed the yellowing.
The supposition is that the isomers in the plastic come out of the mould locked in one colour variant but that blue light unlocks them. Then, leaving them dark but warm allows the molecules to rotate between the Z and E isomer, which affects the colour. In blue light they then rotate back.
The point being that plastics need that first exposure to blue light to become susceptible to yellowing and then will yellow when stored in the dark.
There's no such thing as an "extra screw". It came from SOMEwhere. I look until I find where it came from. LOL! It came out, it must go back SOMEwhere.
Where is the brown carpet.. Always wonder why you would work on electronics on a carpet and no worry about static.. Now I see you on an anti-scatic mat and strap..
I moved into a better work area around 2 years ago! There's still some old footage on the carpet though! When I worked on the carpet, I still used a mat and wrist strap, just not shown in many shots. In earlier videos I always grounded myself regularly on a nearby PSU shell - but that really wasn't sufficient!
Watch 3/4 of the PC related channels and see how they handle everything without wrist straps! We are talking about channels with hundreds of thousands of subs (or more)!
Maybe it's a UK thing, but I have no nostalgia for loading from tapes. There are much better ways to load these days.
Haha =D I don't really have nostalgia for tape loading - except on the C64 with the often amazing SID music whilst it loads...
I have always disliked tape decks. Nasty complicated mechanical things always on the edge of snapping, they felt like. Having watched your battle, I remain of this opinion! 😅
Haha =D They aren't that bad! Floppy disk drives are better though! Even better is the Gotek, and even bette than those - a modern HDD solution!
Spy vs spy doesn't use extended ram
Yeah lol - I kinda worked that out =/ The disk version on Atari is MUCH better!