4 Sep
1998
4 Sep
'98
3:30 p.m.
Check the stuff Frank Larosa has on his site at
http://www.searchlight.com/frank/milo.htm
He has a Model III set up with external drives to include a 3.5" drive.
I'm not
sure what you can do for a hard drive but if you can
get some
makes/models I
can see what I can scrounge up. As for a full height
floppy, the one you
have
is most likely a Tandon belt drive and you should be
able to lube and
clean it
and get it back on line with a little more detailing.
Most likely the
head(s)
need to be cleaned with denatured alcohol and the
mechanism all lubed
(liberally and then wiped off) with a silicone based oil, much like
sewing
machine oil. I do use sewing machine oil, the type
they have at Walmart
in a
white and red bottle sold under the Singer name. I
just refill the needle
oiler
I bought at tandy some years ago. Use it on VCRs,
appliances, etc.
I may be able to get the lower drive working by oiling it, but not the
upper drive. My friend's 4-year old cousin put a penny in the top of the
computer, and it fell on the disk drive PCB. When I took the computer
apart, the penny was still there - fused to the top of the board, with a
black ring around it. I'm not sure if they're Tandon or ALPS. The
keyboard was made by ALPS, but I didn't look at the drives.
I looked at Frank's TRS-80, and I tried to put my drive in it, but it was
too long and wide. I noticed that his was a Model 4. It may have a
different drive mount. From the picture, the mount looks like it's shiny
metal. Mine's a dull, gray plastic.
I'll try to get the model numbers from it. I think the stickers are still
on there.