[Info-vax] What to do with a bunch of DLTtapes?

[Rich Jordan]

On Tuesday, September 3, 2019 at 6:18:37 PM UTC-5, Marty wrote:
> I have around sixty DLTtapes of various densities from TK50 to DLTtape IV I'd like to get rid of.  Problem is none of the E-waste places in the Bay Area will take any magnetic tape items (DLT, 4mm, 8mm, Dat, Reel-to-Reel, etc).
> 
> Any suggestions?

Older TK and newer DLT tapes have a nice bearing in them that is a good fit on many wood router bits.  In between they went with cheap nylon socket with a single metal ball.

DLT cleaning tapes are a very thin white fabric ribbon that we use for tying packages and bags, flutter strips on vents (so you can see if the AC is running), and we tack a row of them around our porch on Halloween so the trick or treaters have to walk through a curtain of them; even better when wet (we use discarded new tapes for that though I've never found any docs that used cleaning tapes are in any way dangerous).

The rest of the pieces get dumped because our recyclers also wouldn't take the tapes.  Since we disassembled the cartridges we throw all the steel bits (springs and screws) into a baggy and put them in with household recycling which at the time accepted steel/iron/aluminum.  Now, I'd give them to a local 'Maker' shop for whatever use.  I did give the excess bearings to one of those (we had hundreds of DLT tapes for a while).

The reels of tape from the cartridges were originally degaussed using a handheld degausser (Radio Shack) but DLT and newer tapes where that didn't work, were physically smashed with a splitting maul (against a stump in the yard at the building we were in) or crunched in my home shop press before discarding.

It took time but it was cathartic.  Have at thee, vile media!