Uploaded April 2017 | Updated September 2026, 46 minutes ago
This is an early attempt at creating a strobe tape used to check for proper speed of 8-track tape players. Works the same as turntable strobes...only on a tape. The lines will appear to stand still if the tape is being drawn at the correct speed. They will creep to the left if the player plays fast, and creep to the right if the player plays slow.
The splice on this short loop causes the tape to vibrate more than I'd like, that's why I'm using a pencil to pull the tape tighter in the video. A longer loop is in the works. This was designed with graphics design/image editing software and printed on standard 8.5x11 paper. It was checked for accuracy with an engineering ruler.
This strobe tape has 16 lines per inch as initially I thought 32 lines per inch would appear too "thin". With 16 lines per inch, a neon lamp with a diode in series for half-wave rectification is used. If 32 lines per inch are used, half-wave rectification of the current supplying the lamp wouldn't be necessary. A crystal controlled LED could also be used where accuracy of the mains line frequency cannot be trusted.
Tape strobes are nothing new, they've been around for many years, however I'm not aware of anyone currently manufacturing them. In the early 70s, Robins marketed an 8-track tape strobe similar to what I'm working on here. You can see one in operation on a friend's video: youtube.com/watch?v=N1WcDz4M8B0&feature=youtu.be
This is an early attempt at creating a strobe tape used to check for proper speed of 8-track tape players. Works the same as turntable strobes...only on a tape. The lines will appear to stand still if the tape is being drawn at the correct speed. They will creep to the left if the player plays fast, and creep to the right if the player plays slow.
The splice on this short loop causes the tape to vibrate more than I'd like, that's why I'm using a pencil to pull the tape tighter in the video. A longer loop is in the works. This was designed with graphics design/image editing software and printed on standard 8.5x11 paper. It was checked for accuracy with an engineering ruler.
This strobe tape has 16 lines per inch as initially I thought 32 lines per inch would appear too "thin". With 16 lines per inch, a neon lamp with a diode in series for half-wave rectification is used. If 32 lines per inch are used, half-wave rectification of the current supplying the lamp wouldn't be necessary. A crystal controlled LED could also be used where accuracy of the mains line frequency cannot be trusted.
Tape strobes are nothing new, they've been around for many years, however I'm not aware of anyone currently manufacturing them. In the early 70s, Robins marketed an 8-track tape strobe similar to what I'm working on here. You can see one in operation on a friend's video: youtube.com/watch?v=N1WcDz4M8B0&feature=youtu.be
