2 Nov
2010
2 Nov
'10
2:13 a.m.
Hi guys,
I've just acquired a pair of 3-inch Amstrad floppy drives, apparently
from a CPC (they're fitted with black faceplates).
One is an EME-231,
the other is apparently an EME-156 (someone's blanked out
the model
number with a Sharpie).
Problem is, the 156 has a snapped drive belt, and the 231 belt feels
REALLY loose.
(They also look like they've been stored in a dusty box for a few years,
but that's a problem for later...)
Does anyone have a couple of spare belts for these, or a lead on a
source who'll sell me a couple of them without wanting to charge me some
silly amount of postage on top?
Thanks,
--
Phil.
classiccmp at philpem.me.uk
http://www.philpem.me.uk/
2 Nov
2 Nov
3:15 a.m.
On 11/02/2010 09:13, Philip Pemberton wrote:
Does anyone have a couple of spare belts for these, or a lead on a
source who'll sell me a couple of them without wanting to charge me
some silly amount of postage on top?
Flebay is the answer
item 250660401268 or similar.. A bit fiddly to change but not too bad..
Roger
4:16 a.m.
On 02/11/10 10:15, Roger Pugh wrote:
Flebay is the answer
item 250660401268 or similar.. A bit fiddly to change but not too bad..
A pack of five for eight quid, eh? Well, it's cheaper than CPC or Donberg...
Cheers for the link. Now I just need to fix the PCB on the 231 (some
idiot has gone and ripped a few tracks and pads off the board) and steal
some parts (a PCB mounting screw!) from the 156...
Given its wiring, I suspect SW1 is the drive select switch (it isn't
fitted on either of my drives). What I don't get is why it's got three
pins plus common. Common goes to the "SELECT" input on the controller
chip, 1 goes to /SEL1 (pin 4), 2 apparently goes to /SEL0, and 3 carries
the READY signal from the drive (?!). JP1 allows SEL0 and SELECT to be
bridged without the switch present.
The only way this would make sense is if switch pin 3 was open-circuit...
--
Phil.
classiccmp at philpem.me.uk
http://www.philpem.me.uk/
1:30 p.m.
Cheers for the link. Now I just need to fix the PCB on
the 231 (some
idiot has gone and ripped a few tracks and pads off the board) and steal
some parts (a PCB mounting screw!) from the 156...
Is there soemthing special about the screw? Why do you need to take it
from another drirve?
Given its wiring, I suspect SW1 is the drive select switch (it isn't
fitted on either of my drives). What I don't get is why it's got three
pins plus common. Common goes to the "SELECT" input on the controller
chip, 1 goes to /SEL1 (pin 4), 2 apparently goes to /SEL0, and 3 carries
the READY signal from the drive (?!). JP1 allows SEL0 and SELECT to be
bridged without the switch present.
The only way this would make sense is if switch pin 3 was open-circuit...
The schematic I have to hand shows SW1 as switching bwtween drive select
0 (pin 4 of the connecotr) and drive sleect 1 (pin 6 of the connector.
The common connection goes to the D-SELCT/ input of the main ASIC. There
is indeed a jumper to connect up Drive Select 0 if the switch isn't fitted.
Alas the manual doesn't show PCB layouts, just a schematic So I have no
idea if there's an exta non-connected pin on the switch.
-tony
2:57 p.m.
On 02/11/10 20:30, Tony Duell wrote:
Is there soemthing special about the screw? Why do you
need to take it
from another drirve?
It's a rather small screw. 5mm long, M2.5 or possibly Imperial.
Naturally the Amstrad service manual doesn't say a damn thing about what
it is or isn't.
Path of least resistance basically. The 231 is the nicer of the two
drives, and the one I'd most like to see working: it can handle both
"flippy" and "true" double-sided 3in discs, the 720K Amstrad discs,
and
the previous-generation 180K SS discs. The 153 can only handle
single-sided discs, or "flippy" double-sided ones. 180K a side if memory
serves.
The schematic I have to hand shows SW1 as switching
bwtween drive select
0 (pin 4 of the connecotr) and drive sleect 1 (pin 6 of the connector.
The common connection goes to the D-SELCT/ input of the main ASIC.
That's what I got too (from tracing the tracks from the switch to the
ASIC and the IDC connector)
There
is indeed a jumper to connect up Drive Select 0 if the switch isn't fitted.
JP1, next to the data connector. Short it and the drive is forced to DS0.
Alas the manual doesn't show PCB layouts, just a
schematic So I have no
idea if there's an exta non-connected pin on the switch.
:(
Ah well, I can live with it being permanently jumpered for drive select
0 (drive A or whatever Amstrad called it).
Thanks,
--
Phil.
classiccmp at philpem.me.uk
http://www.philpem.me.uk/
3:46 p.m.
New subject: 10 Hole Disk Punch
Hi All
We are having a number of 10 hole punches made up. The idea is that
you take a 360K disk and transform it to a hard sectored.
We are hoping to get 18 or more people that wish to buy one of these.
If we can get this number it would be about $30 plus post and package.
Please let me know if you'd like one soon.
Dwight
3:51 p.m.
New subject: 10 Hole Disk Punch
From: dkelvey at hotmail.com
To: cctalk at classiccmp.org
Subject: 10 Hole Disk Punch
Date: Tue, 2 Nov 2010 15:46:39 -0700
Hi All
We are having a number of 10 hole punches made up. The idea is that
you take a 360K disk and transform it to a hard sectored.
We are hoping to get 18 or more people that wish to buy one of these.
If we can get this number it would be about $30 plus post and package.
Oops! typo
Should have said $35 +P/H and a maybe $2 for additional hardware.
The end user would also need to supply a piece of about 12x12 inch plywood
to mount it on.
Please let me know if you'd like one soon.
Dwight
4:20 p.m.
New subject: 10 Hole Disk Punch
On Tue, Nov 2, 2010 at 5:46 PM, dwight elvey <dkelvey at hotmail.com> wrote:
?We are having a number of 10 hole punches made up.
The idea is that
you take a 360K disk and transform it to a hard sectored.
?We are hoping to get 18 or more people that wish to buy one of these.
If we can get this number it would be about $30 plus post and package.
Please let me know if you'd like one soon.
Cool idea - has this been tried and tested? And dumb question....5.25" or 8"?
5:02 p.m.
New subject: 10 Hole Disk Punch
On 2 Nov 2010 at 18:20, Jason T wrote:
On Tue, Nov 2, 2010 at 5:46 PM, dwight elvey
<dkelvey at hotmail.com>
wrote: > ?We are having a number of 10 hole punches made up. The idea
is that > you take a 360K disk and transform it to a hard sectored. >
?We are hoping to get 18 or more people that wish to buy one of these.
Hard-sector 8" floppies, but for some very ancient types which have
holes around the outer edge, all have 33 holes.
So they're 10 sector 5.25" floppies. Vector Graphic maybe?
--Chuck
If we can get this number it would be about $30
plus post and
package. > Please let me know if you'd like one soon.
Cool idea - has this been tried and tested? And dumb
question....5.25" or 8"? 
6:34 p.m.
New subject: 10 Hole Disk Punch
Northstar was 10 sector 5.25" if I remember right.
On 11/2/2010 5:55 PM, Dennis Boone wrote:
So
they're 10 sector 5.25" floppies. Vector Graphic maybe?
To the best of my recollection, the VGs were 16RH, not 10. To which end
I asked Dwight if a 16 hole model might be feasible.
De 
3 Nov
3 Nov
6:11 a.m.
New subject: 10 Hole Disk Punch
On Tuesday (11/02/2010 at 06:34PM -0700), leaknoil wrote:
Northstar was 10 sector 5.25" if I remember
right.
Yes.
And we will use them for Heath H8/H89 H-17 floppies.
I have a PERCOM floppy interface for SWTPC 6800 systems which also uses
10-hole.
And I have a Micropolis 5.25" floppy subsystem on a Multi-Tech (as in
modem) MT-500 that uses 16-hole media.
I am working with Dwight and a buddy who has a machine shop here in MN
to fabricate these punches. Dwight did the design and I had the machine
shop connection so we'll see what we can do.
We will build a couple prototypes first to iron out the wrinkles and then
should be able to make a final statement about the cost and how it will
work.
Chris
On 11/2/2010 5:55 PM, Dennis Boone wrote:
--
Chris Elmquist
So
they're 10 sector 5.25" floppies. Vector Graphic maybe?
To the best of my recollection, the VGs were 16RH, not 10. To which end
I asked Dwight if a 16 hole model might be feasible.
De
2 Nov
2 Nov
9:55 p.m.
New subject: 10 Hole Disk Punch
Hi All
Fisrt, I have a single hole one that I've used to create 10 sector ones.
It has worked but is tricky to align each hole. Punch the hole
them selves is not rocket science, the alignement is. The punches
will have a keyed location for the index and separate holes
for each of the ten holes.
These will be a lot easier to use. We have none made yet but
I believe we'll have a prototype in the next week or so.
These are for 5.25" not 8 inch. I don't recall 8 inch having
a 10 sector. There was a 16 sector and the more common 32.
As was mentioned, there was one with holes around the outside
as well but I don't know how many holes it had. I have seen
one once.
As for 16 sector, we expect to make a few, based on demand.
Once we have the prototype I hope to have some pictures
to demonstrate how it works.
Dwight
Date: Tue, 2 Nov 2010 18:20:14 -0500
Subject: Re: 10 Hole Disk Punch
From: silent700 at gmail.com
To: cctalk at classiccmp.org
On Tue, Nov 2, 2010 at 5:46 PM, dwight elvey <dkelvey at hotmail.com> wrote:
We are having a number of 10 hole punches made
up. The idea is that
you take a 360K disk and transform it to a hard sectored.
We are hoping to get 18 or more people that wish to buy one of these.
If we can get this number it would be about $30 plus post and package.
Please let me know if you'd like one soon.
Cool idea - has this been tried and tested? And dumb question....5.25" or 8"?
1:21 p.m.
On 11/02/2010 09:13, Philip Pemberton wrote:
There is at leat one Amstrad 3" rive where it helps to rmeove the PCB
before changing the belt. And when you do this, a little sensor pin (write
protect or disk inserted?) is loose and can drop out. There's no problem
refitting it, provided you notice it's fallen out.
-tony
Does anyone have a couple of spare belts for these, or a lead on a
source who'll sell me a couple of them without wanting to charge me
some silly amount of postage on top?
Flebay is the answer
item 250660401268 or similar.. A bit fiddly to change but not too bad.. 
3:37 a.m.
Philip Pemberton <classiccmp at philpem.me.uk> writes:
Does anyone have a couple of spare belts for these,
When I needed to replace the belt in my CPC6128's drive in a hurry a
couple of years ago, I found that the red rubber bands that the Royal
Mail were using at the time were almost exactly the right size...
(It worked well enough to load Batman, anyway!)
--
Adam Sampson <ats at offog.org> <http://offog.org/>
3:54 a.m.
Adam Sampson wrote:
Philip Pemberton <classiccmp at philpem.me.uk>
writes:
Yeah, they'll do the job. I'm told that they can accelerate wear on the drive
components compared to an original belt, but for light use I don't think it's
really an issue.
cheers
Jules
Does anyone have a couple of spare belts for
these,
When I needed to replace the belt in my CPC6128's drive in a hurry a
couple of years ago, I found that the red rubber bands that the Royal
Mail were using at the time were almost exactly the right size...
(It worked well enough to load Batman, anyway!)
4:17 a.m.
On 02/11/10 10:37, Adam Sampson wrote:
When I needed to replace the belt in my CPC6128's
drive in a hurry a
couple of years ago, I found that the red rubber bands that the Royal
Mail were using at the time were almost exactly the right size...
Hmm, there's about half a dozen of those in a jam jar downstairs....
Well bugger me, it fits!
Now I just need to find a suitable 26-way IDC plug. Though I'll probably
cheat and use a 34 -- Maplins don't stock 26w IDCs, and there's enough
clearance on the back of the drive for a 34 to (just about) fit.
(It worked well enough to load Batman, anyway!)
LOL!
Thanks,
--
Phil.
classiccmp at philpem.me.uk
http://www.philpem.me.uk/
6:36 a.m.
On 2 Nov 2010 at 9:13, Philip Pemberton wrote:
Hi guys,
I've just acquired a pair of 3-inch Amstrad floppy drives, apparently
from a CPC (they're fitted with black faceplates). One is an EME-231,
the other is apparently an EME-156 (someone's blanked out the model
number with a Sharpie).
A word of caution here--observe that the 4-pin power connector looks
exactly like a standard 3.5" conector, but the +12 and +5 leads are
interchanged. If you try to use a power connector wired for a 3.5"
drive, you'll make magic smoke.
I've had lots of good success with the 2" plastibands, available from
some stationers, as a drive belt replacement. It's doesn't flex
like a rubber band.
--Chuck
6:51 a.m.
On 02/11/10 13:36, Chuck Guzis wrote:
A word of caution here--observe that the 4-pin power
connector looks
exactly like a standard 3.5" conector, but the +12 and +5 leads are
interchanged. If you try to use a power connector wired for a 3.5"
drive, you'll make magic smoke.
So I noticed... but not before wiring up the EME231 with +5 and +12
reversed.
Thankfully the magic smoke didn't escape, but the motor refused to spin,
and the controller chip got *really* *really* *hot*. Fixed the cable and
now the motor, activity LED and so on are working. Unfortunately all I
have are blank discs, so I have no way to tell if the total lack of
/RDDATA transitions means I've blown the read amp, or if it's just
because the discs are blank.
Thanks,
--
Phil.
classiccmp at philpem.me.uk
http://www.philpem.me.uk/
4945
days inactive
4946
days old
19 comments
12 participants
participants (12)
-
arcarlini＠iee.org -
ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk -
ats＠offog.org -
cclist＠sydex.com -
chrise＠pobox.com -
classiccmp＠philpem.me.uk -
dkelvey＠hotmail.com -
drb＠msu.edu -
jules.richardson99＠gmail.com -
leaknoil＠gmail.com -
rogpugh＠mac.com -
silent700＠gmail.com