From my old HP CE days you could always get black off the capstan if you used alcohol or similar (never recommended). The key thing is it shouldn't be sticky/gooey.
The official cleaning solution when they were in active use was water and a low lint cloth. David Collins (Sent from out of office) > On 6 Sep 2017, at 3:18 pm, CuriousMarc via cctalk <cctalk@classiccmp.org> > wrote: > > All my capstans are feel rather hard (I think because the rubber is pretty > thin), and do not feel sticky either. The finish is matte. But they are not > powdery at all, they would not leave any residue rubbing your finger on them, > so something looks odd with yours. When the tape is threaded but the power is > off, they grab the tape well enough that turning the bottom reel by hand will > move the capstan easily, without any slippage. > Marc > > -----Original Message----- > From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Chuck Guzis > via cctalk > Sent: Monday, September 04, 2017 9:17 PM > To: CCtalk > Subject: HP 7970B Capstan? > > I've got an HP 7970 tape drive here that's a little dicey on its reading > (haven't tried writing yet). One thing that I noticed today was that the > surface of the capstan is a bit powdery--wipe it with an alcohol swab and you > get a lot of black schmutz. > > It wasn't very soft and it occurred to me that it might be slipping, so I > cleaned it off and treated it with some methyl salicylate (oil of > wintergreen). It's a bit softer now, but I'm wondering, for those of you who > still have functioning drives, how soft or "sticky/grippy" is right. > > Any ideas? > > Thanks, > Chuck > > >
