The Sinclair QL Forum

Help!

Does anyone have any felt pads to refresh old mdv cartridges? Almost all of my (100+) carts are still on their original pads, which means most of them don't work very well/at all any more Fortunately, I've only lost one to jammed tape, and that's one of the many duplicate Psion tapes.

I know Dave made a load a few years back, I'm guessing they're all sold/gone. I'm not without a few tools, so if there's something out there that can be successfully adapted with a sharp knife and a small hammer, I'll take that. idea.

Cheers!
Ade.

I have a small amount of the material left.

I'm very busy in a project right now, but if you PM me in 4-5 days, I will be able to help you.

Dave wrote:I have a small amount of the material left.

I'm very busy in a project right now, but if you PM me in 4-5 days, I will be able to help you.

Magic, thanks Dave.

For some reason, I wrote "Microsoft felt pads".....? Talk about a brain fart!

Just procrastinating on doing any real work and spotted this:

http://www.mutant-caterpillar.co.uk/sho ... ts_id=4208

I have not used these as I got mine from Dave Marling - I understand he has stopped supplying them directly now:

http://www.sellmyretro.com/offer/details/10887

See also note at the bottom of this thread on using 8track felt...

http://theqlforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2000

Tim

adev wrote:Help!

Does anyone have any felt pads to refresh old mdv cartridges? Almost all of my (100+) carts are still on their original pads, which means most of them don't work very well/at all any more Fortunately, I've only lost one to jammed tape, and that's one of the many duplicate Psion tapes.

I know Dave made a load a few years back, I'm guessing they're all sold/gone. I'm not without a few tools, so if there's something out there that can be successfully adapted with a sharp knife and a small hammer, I'll take that. idea.

Cheers!
Ade.

Before refelt It will be important to dump all your md's: no new felt is like the original one and when you refelt the risk to touch or broke some parte of the tape is almost high.

It will be useful dump all and then, after a refelt, recreate the original MD's with a clone program like we almost do during the preservation service.

Do you want to preserve all your md's and then re use at 100%?

Let me know, I'm always ready to help you

I've dumped more that 4000/5000 md's in the last 2 years and I responged almost all too:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/sinclairpreservation/

Best regards.

I just remove the copper carrier spring from the cartridge, re-felt it then re-insert it. There are three designs of carrier spring. Two are easy and one is medium difficult to remove and reinsert. I kept every carrier from bad microdrives so I have a supply of pre-felted spares if I damage one.

If you're doing a lot of cartridges, remove all the carriers, replace all the felts, then sort them into order by type and re-install them all in one go so you get a feel for it and get into a rhythm.

Hi Dave,

Is it worth producing the Copper string and new felt pad already attached, so that they can be replaced as a unit?

The copper back plate is quite complex - it would not be practical to manufacture. There's a lot of materials science in a microdrive cartridge it would be difficult to reproduce.

I don't s'pose anyone has a supplier for the felt?

I bought some 8-track felt from the 'States via eBay and unfortunately the felt just falls apart when you cut it down to the 4mm x 2mm dimensions required for cartridges. It was the stuff I could find on-line with any sort of stock.

Dave Marling still lists 'new' cartridges for sale that are refelted:

http://www.sellmyretro.com/offer/detail ... rking-9909

so he may still offer a refelt service for old ones? I was told he had issues with supplying pads generally due to how fiddly it is too do but, maybe raising a query against that listing might get somewhere if you can take responsibility for possible loss of the cartridge etc or at least find out if he is still offering the refelt option as it was quite reasonable anyway - and it is fiddly...!

Tim