We always enjoy seeing our products being modified, revamped and DIY-ed, as well as the results of these transformations. Our customer Vera Kark provided us with some thoughtful feedback on adding mechanical tweaks to improve our Solar GraviTrack build and documentation. She also painted the brown MDF of the machine. She used tempera paint on the wood components still in panelized […]
Vintage AMPEX VR1200B 2" Quadruplex VTR ...
Solar botics
January 8, 2016
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:
MORE POSTS
Lower gear ratio motors!
We're happy to announce another variant of gearmotor. Like the GM2/GM3 but with a gear ratio of 143:1, they run approximately 175% the output speed! - these are ideal for applications like minisumos, linefollowers and other wheeled devices. Check the "New Items" listing on the left side for details, or view them directly here: GM8 […]
A Sensory Bonanza
Sensors. They're FUN. So fun, in fact, we just added a metric crap-tonne (a completely legitimate scientific unit of measurement) of them to Solarbotics. What, you don't believe me? CHECK THIS ACTION OUT! We just added 4 categories, and we now have a total of 75 items available. Here's the full rundown of new stuff: […]
Turkey Time!
Dah-na nah-nuh “Turkey is tastey” Dah-na nah-nuh “With veggies and pastry” Dah-na nah-nuh. “Monday is Thanksgiving” Dah-na nah-nuh “...and our office will be CLOOOOSED...oh yeah” Canadian Thanksgiving is Monday October 13, 2008. Our office will be closed all day Monday, but never fear - we will roll ourselves back into work first thing on Tuesday […]
Solarbotics has been operating for more than 25 years, bringing electronics know-how and supplies to both the electronics professional and hobbyist. We'll be happy to help you too!
Solarbotics, Ltd. is not responsible for misprints or errors on product prices or information. For more information, please see our Terms and Conditions.
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.