Posts and replies

@nina_kali_nina @yottatsa babe wake up, new tape post dropped

@janamarie @yottatsa make sure to clean residue dust from the tape before using it, and please do share the results!

@jelora @yottatsa yes! The beginning sounds less clear because the tape was damaged a little, but later it's pretty clear until the chorus kicks in with its lows and highs over the roof. Still, the voice can be heard really well

@NucleicAcidTest Thanks! It's my song, it's called "Aiwokoroshi"/愛を殺し and is performed by LEN or Sakakibara Yui - both versions are canonical.

LEN version with video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pp-XF5gKh18

Sakakibara-san's version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EF-uPqzh-70

@root42 ​

@nina_kali_nina You are mad. I love it! Yeah, you need to cover the ferric powder with some coating to make it glide better, reducing friction. I am looking forward to artisinal floppy disks!

@root42 it worked just fine without covering the oxide for audio tapes, so we YOLOed it. Atsuko was concerned that there'll be friction inside the floppy pocket, but it is actually fine. It's just the head pinching in the surface too much~

I cannot promise I'll get a working 5.25" ever, but I do hope to make a rotational computer media drive one day.

@nina_kali_nina I think more research is needed on how the media companies did it back in the day. If you could make small scale manufacturing of floppy disks you could earn some money. :) Disks are getting scarcer by the day!

@root42 my curiosity here stems from "DIY" attitude. I can't imagine floppies being a viable commercial product again, but I can imagine hobbyists recreating the tech to fix stuff or to make new lo-fi stuff

@Datassette_User here we go https://tech.lgbt/@nina_kali_nina/111290481112640064

@nina_kali_nina Amazing that you tried that! Thanks so much for even considering this, let alone give it a go. Did not go quite as well as with the cassettes, but anyway

@computercellar @yottatsa I was certain it's possible because it was a thing since 1929 :) If they could do this in a lab in 1929, and it is still legal to do, I [probably] could do it in my garage

@Okanogen the original tape for US reel to reels was literally 3M Scotch, so...

@nina_kali_nina
Oh I know! I actually did a chemical lab pack (clean out) at 3M at their campus in Maplewood, MN. The building is designed after their Scotch tape packaging of the 50's. They had chemicals and weird materials dating back to the 40's in there.
Surplus stores around here always have tons of 3M product overruns.

@Okanogen omg!!

@nina_kali_nina
There was literally a rusty Folgers coffee can with lead buckshot in it, with a Scotch masking tape label saying "lead buckshot". Hahahaha
https://www.minnpost.com/mnopedia/2020/02/how-3m-went-from-a-failed-mining-operation-on-the-north-shore-to-an-international-manufacturing-powerhouse/

@jasonnab @yottatsa this is the documentation~ There's been a few people who wanted to try it out, but I haven't heard their results yet. Given that this whole process, with the right components, takes two hours per full length of tape at most (including cleaning up), I recommend everyone interested to just try and replicate it. :)
The easiest solution so far is:
1) quality Scotch tape
2) fine powder of Fe3O4
3) apply with gloves generously
4) wipe extra with a sponge - you'll be surprised how little it sheds if your adhesive is good
5) ???
6) PROFIT!!!

Fe2O3 is (subjectivly) less staining, so less cleaning needed after making the tape. But you need to get gamma-Fe2O3, ideally with smallest magnetic domains possible, and this part of the project is still in its research stage.

@indigoparadox @yottatsa oh! Indeed it is!