[Coco] FD-502

[Gene Heskett]

On Thursday 12 March 2009, Bill wrote:
>The one of them will act like it's formatting a disk. But when it gets its
>FIRST scan and is supposed to go back and verify (seems like a quicker scan)
>it just stays in place with the disk spinning.
>
>The other one won't even do that much. It goes through about 1/2 of the
>first scan, and just sits there with the disk spinning. I have access to 2
>controllers, and the drives do the same thing, regardless of which
>controller is used.
>
That pretty much verifies my thoughts on it Bill.  Those drives need to come 
out of the box, and have the head sliders cleaned and lubricated again.  The 
stepper motor that drives the heads simply cannot overcome the friction 
because the sliders are dirty, and the lubricant that was there 20 years ago 
has now turned into an almost varnish like substance with zero lubrication 
ability.  All its doing today is gluing the dirt in place.  A can of paint 
thinner alcohol and a bag of Sherwood Q-Tips from your druggist (they aren't 
on the shelf except in the pharmacy and they may have to order, in which case 
its a box of 10 bags, 100 to the bag, and about a $15 bill the last time I 
bought some.)  These are wooden sticked Q-Tips, cotton on one end only, and 
the sticks are a good 6" long so you can reach places the common q-tip can't.
The paint thinner alcohol is far more effective than any rubbing alcohol, and 
comes in qt cans at ACE Hdwe or similar places for about a 5ver per can.

Clean the slider parts up till they look like new, and a drop of 10w30 on 
them, and those drives will likely be as good as new.  10 minute job per drive 
for me once they are out laying out on the table. Maybe it like the piece of 
furniture or a toy that a 6 year old can assemble, so maybe you can find a 
youngster with good eyesight & no arthritis?  And who knows  what a gentle 
touch means?

>Unfortunately, with my poor eyesight and arthritis in my joints, I'm unable
>to work on them like I used to.
>
>It would be easier for me to sell them "as-is" on eBay and get back a little
>of what I spent, or just trade both full units to someone for 2 bare drives
>that I could use.

Which, because there haven't been floppy drives made in the 5.25" sizes for a 
good ten years now, are likely very near the 'use by' date too.

One thing that is rarely discussed on the net is where we are, but sometimes 
knowing where one is might lead to a visit from one of our group who lives 
nearby.  That of course is up to you.  Most of this group knows where I am 
within a few miles, in Weston WV.  County seat town, about 5500 population, 
and I'm in the phone book.
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: coco-bounces at maltedmedia.com [mailto:coco-
>> bounces at maltedmedia.com] On Behalf Of Robert Gault
>> Sent: Thursday, March 12, 2009 9:20 PM
>> To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts
>> Subject: Re: [Coco] FD-502
>>
>> What is the failure mode? Can they read disks from another drive? Can
>> they format disks? Does the drive spin and if so is the strobe speed
>> correct? Does the head move along the rails? Check for fuses.
>>
>> There are several failure modes that can be fixed by cleaning,
>> lubrication, adjusting drive speed, and adjusting the track0 stop.
>> Other failure modes would need a scope and special calibration disk to
>> repair.
>
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>Coco at maltedmedia.com
>http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/coco


-- 
Cheers, Gene
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
 soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
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