Monday May 24 is Victoria Day in Canada. We'll be using the old Queen's Birthday as an excuse to twiddle our toes in the grass and watch robots roam free. We'll be back to work Tuesday morning, bright and early!
I occupy a studio space in a building that is a former movie shooting facility turned into an artist hovel. The building itself is wonderfully old but the hallways are also full of ancient audio and video equipment from the movie days. One of the things that got the attention of our RnD and tech geek was the AMPEX VR1200B Quadruplex videotape recorder from 1966. The machine stands about 5' tall, about the same in width, and weighs 'under 1000 pounds' as the spec sheet puts it. This was one of the first machines to use magnetic tape technology for recording video in the form of 2" quad tape for video, as opposed to film that was used previously.
A couple interesting points about this machine:
- 60PSI Air was needed for air bearings and a Venturi system for holding the 2" tape in alignment;
- These machines were the workhorses in TV Stations throughout the 60's and 70's. Running these machines required a full time technician!
Here's the beast in action:
A photoset of AMPEX VR1200B
An Overview of Ampex History:
Monday May 24 is Victoria Day in Canada. We'll be using the old Queen's Birthday as an excuse to twiddle our toes in the grass and watch robots roam free. We'll be back to work Tuesday morning, bright and early!
Yet another selection of hand-picked links from all over the interwebs: Visualizing Ballet .. using Lilypad Arduino. Looks beautiful, produces drawing-like results and helps dancers to trace their movements for necessary feedback. (Via Arduino blog) Tiny CNC-bot Beautiful little Piccolo, in it's second incarnation (first one was all clear acrylic). 3D printed Katana Case Is […]
We've just printed off our latest catalog, and if you've ordered from us in the last year, or asked for one, expect a copy in the mail shortly! Or if you can't wait, download a copy in PDF format now (1.9Mb)!
With the runaway success of the Useless Box, many of us here at Solarbotics can be assembling the kits in our sleep, even under a dose of tranquilizers, and be orchestrating the two lasers at the same time with no difficulty whatsoever. Just like I used to count transistors for the latest in Soviet Death […]
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Warning: This product contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm.
Please visit www.P65Warnings.ca.gov for more information. This item was manufactured prior to August 31, 2018.