26 Jan
1998
26 Jan
'98
1:46 p.m.
part of my new additions last week was a bunch of old mac stuff. i finally got
one of the 400k drives, but its having eject problems. the mechanism was stuck
so now im able to get a disk in, but when i call it to eject, the motor turns,
the disk lifts up to the slot, but wont pop out, then the mechanism goes back
down in position to read the disk. it does the same thing when i use a paper
clip; it will go up, the disk will stay in, then it goes back down into read
position. amazingly, the drive works fine otherwise. i dont quite understand
the mechanicals of it, anyone have ideas?
david
26 Jan
26 Jan
9:46 a.m.
part of my new additions last week was a bunch of old
mac stuff. i finally got
one of the 400k drives, but its having eject problems. the mechanism was stuck
so now im able to get a disk in, but when i call it to eject, the motor turns,
the disk lifts up to the slot, but wont pop out, then the mechanism goes back
down in position to read the disk. it does the same thing when i use a paper
clip; it will go up, the disk will stay in, then it goes back down into read
position. amazingly, the drive works fine otherwise. i dont quite understand
the mechanicals of it, anyone have ideas?
david
This is common problem with any machines that factory-grease or oil
gave up it's ghost. With cleaning fluids first, please, to wash out
those old lube and dirt collected during lifetime then relube it with
proper types that will not go bad. Strangely, these old grease
looked the same and low quality as in lamp turn-switches assemblies,
many vcrs, old tape players that I repaired. Brownish-amber colored
kind.
Lubes types:
WD40 and any 2 in 1 oils are N.G.
Lithium grease (used same way in vcr's) is great lube.
The mac floppy drives ejector/rail mechanicals and the die-cast base
of heads, spindle /w circuit board unit seperates after undoing few
E-clips and (screws?) also maybe needs to replace the worn eject
motor.
Jason D.
email: jpero(a)cgo.wave.ca
Pero, Jason D.
27 Jan
27 Jan
6:13 a.m.
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6:25 a.m.
proper types
that will not go bad. Strangely, these old grease
looked the same and low quality as in lamp turn-switches assemblies,
many vcrs, old tape players that I repaired. Brownish-amber colored
kind.
I've just bought a tube of brown-ish grease that was a very expensive
(and speciallised) plastic grease. That may be what was used here. 
26 Jan
26 Jan
2:15 p.m.
The grease on the eject rails hardens and causes this behaviour. You -can-
get it out with the paper clip if it moves at all, but you have to push
hard.
Anyway, dismantle the mac, pull the drive, and use a light petroleum
distillate (I used trumpet valve oil on a q-tip) to dissolve the grease
and get the mechanism working smoothly again. I had to really pull the two
drives I did this to apart to get at all the parts, but it all worked out
well in the end.
Mind those stupid e-clips that like to spring off into the aether, though.
ok
r.
--
r e d @ b e a r s . o r g
=============================
[ urs longa | vita brevis ]
2:25 p.m.
Super:
I had the EXACT same problem on one I picked up. The external 400 was
sticky. I was going to pull it and replace it with another, but when I
took off the case and played with it, I found out that the lubricant had
begun to age and fall apart. I cleaned it up and it began to work okay.
The disc still reads, correct. I think you can get it going. I also
found that in different positions it worked better than when it was
upright....
-Mike
SUPRDAVE wrote:
part of my new additions last week was a bunch of old mac stuff. i finally got
one of the 400k drives, but its having eject problems. the mechanism was stuck
so now im able to get a disk in, but when i call it to eject, the motor turns,
the disk lifts up to the slot, but wont pop out, then the mechanism goes back
down in position to read the disk. it does the same thing when i use a paper
clip; it will go up, the disk will stay in, then it goes back down into read
position. amazingly, the drive works fine otherwise. i dont quite understand
the mechanicals of it, anyone have ideas?
david
27 Jan
27 Jan
3:15 a.m.
New subject: Mac 400k drive.
On Mon, 26 Jan 1998, Mike Allison wrote:
I had the EXACT same problem on one I picked up. The
external 400 was
sticky. I was going to pull it and replace it with another, but when I
took off the case and played with it, I found out that the lubricant had
begun to age and fall apart. I cleaned it up and it began to work okay.
Yeah, I had the same problem. The lubricant around the eject armature
(holding the drive with the opening slot facing you and in its normal,
horizontal orientation) on the right side gets gummy. I used some Blue
Shower and a brush to scrub it all off and it began to eject great, but in
the process I did something else to the drive and screwed it up even more
(it would constantly try to recalibrate when you turned up the system).
Sam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com
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26 Jan
26 Jan
2:39 p.m.
part of my new additions last week was a bunch of old
mac stuff. i finally got
one of the 400k drives, but its having eject problems. the mechanism was stuck
so now im able to get a disk in, but when i call it to eject, the motor turns,
the disk lifts up to the slot, but wont pop out, then the mechanism goes back
down in position to read the disk. it does the same thing when i use a paper
clip; it will go up, the disk will stay in, then it goes back down into read
position. amazingly, the drive works fine otherwise. i dont quite understand
the mechanicals of it, anyone have ideas?
I've run into several drives with that
problem. Clean out the eject
mechanism(the moving metal parts on the left side, maybe the right side too
I don't remember) with something(what are they called? q-tips? the little
cardboard sticks with cotton on the end), and then spray a LITTLE bit of
WD-40 or household oil along the eject mechanism. I use WD-40 because I
usually have it sitting around. Make sure you don't get it on the head or
soak it too much...
-JR http://members.tripod.com/~jrollins/index.html
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Lair/1681/
9597
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ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk -
dastar＠wco.com -
jpero＠cgo.wave.ca -
mallison＠konnections.com -
red＠bears.org -
rexstout＠ptld.uswest.net -
SUPRDAVE＠aol.com