Yeah, I noticed my reels right now (BASF 911) have 6 screws actually....and I saw that an empty reel can be around 100 bucks making the cost of the tape and the reel close to 200 bucks for 1"
That BASF is probably on a 6-hole precision reel. The difference is the precision hub is thicker and actually comes all the way out to the edge (just right in at the inner radius of the reel flange) and the plastic hub rests directly on the reel table, versus being hidden by the metal reel flange of a 3-hole NAB reel and hub.
In my experience, BASF and 3M tended to ship tape on precision reels, while Ampex tended to use standard NAB 3-hole hubs.
Don't forget that you can always store the tape on just a hub when not on the machine, and then just put the flanges on when you have it on the machine.
I prefer to use my precision reels on the machine, so I just assemble the flanges on the hub, spool it onto a precision reel and then use another precision reel on the other reel hub, too. When I'm done, I can spool it back onto the standard (3-screw) NAB reel and take the flanges back off. All of this to save the (considerable) cost of flanges that aren't needed. Even plastic 10.5" NAB reels cost like $10 or so new these days, and metal flanges cost about the same per flange, so more like $20 total, I think.
As I recall, any RMGI dealer, for instance, can order 1/2" reels in pancake form and have them drop shipped, even if they don't list them on their website. Also, as far as I know, tape shipped on hubs (pancake) is usually shipped on standard NAB hubs, not the hubs for precision reels.
A lot of words and no pictures, I know. If part of that is confusing, do let me know.
Cheers,
Otto
