05-01-2026, 04:35 PM
Thanks for the posts guys!
Sorry, but at this point since Mike’s passing, I’m probably about as “official” as you are going to get. I was Mike’s friend for years and know a lot about this stuff. For instance, the test fixture, ATF10G, is my modification of the original test fixture. Mike added the “G” for grepper.
During the development and extensive testing of test media, it was determined that 100g tension was “ideal”. But.. and this is a BIG BUT…
To be worried about the exact tension of test media is WAY overthinking the issue and totally unnecessary. Which is probably why it was removed from the documentation. It used to be there but now I can’t find it either.
Test media is not all that sensitive to a little bit of tension. It’s really amazing stuff and was a year in development and testing.
The proper amount of tension is basically no tension. The only thing you need to do is to remove any slack. When threading the media, don’t pull on it. Just gently pull it across the fixture and remove any slack.
I know that does not sound very accurate but it’s correct. It becomes super easy very quickly. Here is Mike showing how to do it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUasWd9mUUQ
Sorry, but at this point since Mike’s passing, I’m probably about as “official” as you are going to get. I was Mike’s friend for years and know a lot about this stuff. For instance, the test fixture, ATF10G, is my modification of the original test fixture. Mike added the “G” for grepper.
During the development and extensive testing of test media, it was determined that 100g tension was “ideal”. But.. and this is a BIG BUT…
To be worried about the exact tension of test media is WAY overthinking the issue and totally unnecessary. Which is probably why it was removed from the documentation. It used to be there but now I can’t find it either.
Test media is not all that sensitive to a little bit of tension. It’s really amazing stuff and was a year in development and testing.
The proper amount of tension is basically no tension. The only thing you need to do is to remove any slack. When threading the media, don’t pull on it. Just gently pull it across the fixture and remove any slack.
I know that does not sound very accurate but it’s correct. It becomes super easy very quickly. Here is Mike showing how to do it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUasWd9mUUQ