Don't you just love these things?!?
I was just chatting with Richard at the Mellodrama screening in Hollywood with a question about a screeching from the spool rings (so bad it comes through the signal...) The rings are lined with felt that has been lightly charred. They are under tension to rewind (at the same strength no matter the length of the note played) all the time. The tension is (carefully) adjustable with the small allen-headed screw set into the ring which you access by running the tape to the end and shutting off power.
The solution to the screeching is a very light - and extremely careful - application of light oil on the felt (preferably with the spool off the spindle).
Vance
Thomas C. Doncourt wrote:
Chamberlin return rings- does anyone out there understand how they work?
I'm not having problems with them buy they are
mesmerising. How do they engage to pull the tapes back like that ?! Any of
you engineers or technicians have a grasp of this mystery.
P.s just underwent the rigors of changing tapes.
Not as bad as I feared!