26 Jun
2013
26 Jun
'13
12:49 p.m.
I've got an RX50 that needs a cleanup. The heads themselves are no
problem, but does anyone have a recommendation for cleaning the pads
that hold the diskette against the head? They're some kind of felt or
foam, fairly filthy, and leave a small round deposit on the top surface
of the diskette...
It's years since I've hand an RX50 apart (I could be convinced to strip
one to chekc if need be), but it's likely to be a fairly hard felt.
That's what most single-head drives used.
The good news is that this pad only touchss the no-regoeded side of the
disk. On the other hand, it might transfoer grot to the head if the drive
dorr is closed with no disk in place. and it may contaminate the back
side of hte disk, which then contaminates the other head if you put the
disk i na double-head drive (e.g. the one on your PC that you used to
transfer data to/from trom RX50 disks).
At one time, for some drives, this pad was actually a field-replaceable
part. I don;t know abotu the RX50, but replacign the pad is one of the
few filed repairs that HP recomemdeed on the single-head Sony 3.5" drive
used in the HP9121, etc.
From what I rememebr, the RX50 is a bit of a fiddle to
dismatle, but it
can be fone. Basically, remvoe the screening can, then the 2 side
frames,
unplug all the leads from the rear PCB, remove that PCB, remvoe the front
casting, then remove each disk clamp arm (do not loose the C-springs).
Tkje off the remaing 2 PCBs (R/W and motor cotnrol). I would nto
dismantle the head carriage assembly unless you want a fun job of
realigning the thing.
At this point it should be fairly easy to sse these felt pads. Try
cleaing them with propan-2-ol. If they will nt ocome clean, I wonder fi
some suitable material could eb foudn to repalce them. My first
sugggggestion (if you cna get it) is the sort of hard felt used in some
musical instruemnts.
-tony