i've been thinking about the Surfside condo collapse. 🧵
i'm a bit hesitant to write about it, mostly because i keep thinking about the folks trapped in the rubble. it makes an engineering discussion seem a bit cold-hearted.
but engineering affects all of our lives -- which, on a daily basis, literally depend on engineers doing a good job. most people take this for granted. it's probably why a catastrophic failure like this can affect us so deeply.
a while ago i picked up this old DAT drive for a very good price. let's see if i can get it working!
it is the Mitsumi DK4-SS4001, a SCSI DAT drive.
took out a bunch of screws and now we're in! DAT drives use a helical scanning system just like an old VCR, but in miniature. the round thing in the middle is the rotating head.
let's try and get this paper tape reader working. I have no control board for it so this is going to be interesting
here's a 4-phase stepper motor driver from another project. I actually got this working a while back, so I can move the tape precisely in either direction.
this is the illuminator. it shines light through the holes in the paper tape up into phototransistors