We've churned out another Bicore Experimenter's PCB project: The "Bare Bones PhotoVore". This is an elegant little circuit, which offers the functionality of a basic photovore (with tactiles) all on a very simple circuit. Ours is solar-powered by a Miller Solarengine, but if you wanted to build one with a battery, your parts count would […]
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
Wednesday Links: TV Tube Hack, Monofilam...
Today we let our staff robo-weasels pick the links. They really wanted to participate and said they will behave and promised not to drink all the antifreeze liquid from the cars again. So we let them, and here's the result. TV Screen Flag TV screen warps and waves like a flag when blown on with […]
We're CLOSED for Maker Faire
Yeah, we warned you. We're not even in our office to write out this newspost. Nay, this is one of them fancy pre-recorded messages. It may or may not self destruct. So, yes, we're closed from May 19th (Thursday) to the 24th (Tuesday). We'll resume filling/shipping orders and replying to any correspondance once we're back […]
Circuit: Shok
You want a simple Photovore? This very tidy design by Solarbotics' own Grant McKee is based on a technique developed by Mark Tilden - Shok architecture.
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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.