Actual oiled paper tape that meets specs is difficult to make. You need a thick stock and the tape is impregnated with oil to lubricate the punch mechanism. The actual specs for it is available on Bitsavers.
That said, old, unused paper tape seems to becoming more available on ebay as people discover it in garage sales and put it up for resale. If you are going to punch and reuse the tape a few times, then mylar tape is usable, but it will dull your punch bits. Sent from my iPhone > On Jun 21, 2025, at 11:09, Tony Duell via cctalk <[email protected]> > wrote: > > On Sat, Jun 21, 2025 at 6:49 PM Anders Nelson via cctalk > <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> Oh right you wanted paper tape specifically. >> >> I sketched up a design a few years ago for a punch with horizontal plates >> that slide in and out between the punch pins and a common, cam-driven >> armature. I'm an EE not ME so it never went past a sketch, but surely you >> could make one with a single motor to both punch and advance the tape. > > That sounds rather similar to a Teletype BRPE or rather > smaller/slower) a GNT model 34. Both of which have one motor to drive > the punch crankshaft and operate a ratchet to advance the tape. There > are many others that use the same idea but I'd have to dig out service > manuals to check. > > The Facit 4070 might be easier to reproduce -- a (rotary) solenoid to > operate each punch pin and a stepper motor to move the tape. > > The main problem with making a paper tape punch is the actual > punch/die assembly. They have to fit very accurately to give clean > punching and be the right diameter to make holes of the right size. > Oh, and you need to harden them properly. > > -tony
