Zen and the art of RL02 maintainance

Josh Dersch said: Glad it was for a song, and not for money! ;) Having been through four RL01 in the past 12 months, I might have something to offer. By no means am I the RL0x drive expert, but here goes... For me, the very first thing that is done (after the exterior cleaning, of course) is the reform the capacitors. These RL0x drives have two capacitors of interest: a 66,000 uF 30V, and a 22,000 uF 40V. I suppose it happens all the time, but I don't like to power up anything until I've removed the capacitors and put them through the reform(ul?)ation regime. Don't want to be too pedantic, but here are the steps I took: - remove the service cover (4 screws), then cartridge door/cover. - clean the interior as required (vacuum, Windex) - lift the DC servo PCB, make a note of the connections, disconnect the power connector - carefully lift and rotate the box above the head actuator to get access underneath - disconnect gounding wires to lugs on I/O PCB in service cover, and the inside of the rear chassis. You may find another wire to the head actuator 'box', too. - remove the four screws on the rear panel to remove the power supply (the whole rear chassis panel). Be careful as you loosen screws since the rear panel is top heavy and my tilt out when you least expect it. - Now you have full access to the PS and can disconnect and reform the caps. While the caps are reforming, here are a few other things you should consider: - take a vacuum hose to the inside of the cabinet and then wipe (windex for me) every surface. - remove the front bezel/cover to get access to the switch assembly. - your coarse filter is probably falling apart as mine were. I replaced the filter with some new-fangled Dupont furnace filter (mumble the name) which has three components: a rigid plastic stabilizing grid, a very course filter, and a fine (10 micron) filter mesh. I cut a rectangle of the fine mesh to fit and held it in place with the stabilizing grid, alos cut to fit. It works very, very well. - When the caps are done, put it all back together, and enjoy! :) I have a couple of drives the sort of quietly squeal a bit when first spun up, but I never found any information on lubrication, etc., and they quiet up after about 30 seconds, so I don't worry too much. Lastly, be cautious around the head actuator. The heads and the spindle (plate) are carefully aligned, and I wouldn't remove or adjust either of these. Unless, that is, you have the printsets and proper tools (which I don't). Good luck! - Jared