Fooling with floppy drives - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

8 Apr 1999

At 03:37 AM 4/8/99 -0700, Sellam wrote:
...
 On Thu, 8 Apr 1999, Mike Ford wrote:

  Coincident with all this chatter on floppy drives
I have run into a streak
 of uncooperative drives. I happen to be using macs with 3.5" Sony
 mechanisms, but my question is somewhat general. What do you do with floppy
 drives that need repairs? <...> 
  Do any of you fix your floppies? 
Yes.  As much as I can at least.  The drive electronics are beyond me but
mechanically I can mend most problems.  The issue with the Mac drives
usually tends to be the lubricant that gets gooey over time.  You must use
an electronic cleaner like Blue Shower or similar to wash away the gooey
lube, then re-lube it with a suitable lubricating element (I don't
know...sewing machine oil?)  This usually unsticks the eject mechanism. 

   HP (sony made) floppy drives have the same problem. They stick part way
open and don't eject the disk. If you pull the disk out, you WILL rip the
top head off of a double sided drive. Never take a disk out or put a disk
into a partially open HP floppy drive.  Take the drive out and clean the
old lube off so that it opens properly.

   Joe