Epson SMD-400 drive - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

26 Apr 2011

On Mon, 25 Apr 2011 20:50:53 +0100 (BST),

ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk  (Tony Duell)wrote:

...

 I think you're rpobsbly right, the ST has a pretty standaed disk interface.
 Connecting a new drive involved no more than jumpering for drive select 
0, the disk change jumper was already installed. After plugging in it 
Just Worked.
...
  It's always possibl the alignment of that old
drive was a bit off, and
 most of the disks youy have were recorded on a misaligned drive. In wichh
 case I guess you should try to get the drive going again anf fiddle with
 the alignment until it can read the disks. And then copy them to new
 disks recorded on a known-well-aligned drive.
 I'll get round to seeing about getting it working fairly soon. When it 
seems to be doing its thing I shall have to see about aligning it.
...
  Ouch!. That's horrible. The service manuals I have
for 3.5" drives (rather
 better 3.5" drives than this one) say that the slide rails are matched ot
 the head assembly, and you can't replace either separately.  The
 tolerances are just too tight. I can't believe holes in sheeet metal are
 anything like accurate enough
 Nothing in this drive appears to be matched in any way. OTOH the slide 
rail is eccentric at the ends and has a slot for a screwdriver, so it is 
obviously meant to be adjusted. It is supported on tabs bent up from the 
metal chassis, and the head slide is made from the same sheet metal. 
There are two wide tabs bent out underneath, with holes punched so that 
the metal forms a sort of bush for the slide rail. It looks very cheap I 
must say.

How would you suggest I lubricate the slide rail? Light oil or some kind 
of light grease?

/Jonas