Idea for a simple wire recorder
by sv3ora
This is my idea for building a wire recorder from scratch. The schematic is based on minimum number of mechanical parts, so that it can be easy to build. Only the overal transport mechanism is shown not the parts details. This exposes is my idea and improvements over the original designs of wire recorders. Of course some things from the tape recorders have been borrowed and applied to the wire, like the capstan/spindle pair, to achieve constant speed. The wire spools are not compatible with the vintage wire recorders, because my design aims on mechanical simplicity. Keeping the spools large in diameter, but with very little width for the wire to be wound, avoids the use of a complex "fishing reel" winding mechanism. Because of the spindle/capstan there is no speed change caused by the large diameter of spools. I use 0.4mm wire which is a bit thicker than the originals, but it is stronger and less prone to breaking. The large diameter spools would in theory hold quite a good amount of wire. Fast forward function is provided and stretching of the wire both forwards and backwards during play/record/fastforward/rewind is performed by reverse movement (but low torque) of the reels motors. The usage of three motors avoids any mechanical complexity associated with pulleys, belts, gears and so on.