Shugart 800-8 media centering problem

[Jon Elson]

On 08/14/2015 02:58 PM, Jay Jaeger wrote:

The way most of the old 8" floppies work is they have a cylinder with an 
ID that matches the ID of the floppy hole.  The floppy sits against the 
face of the cylinder, and a plastic, springy cone is pressed into the 
cylinder by a bearing and spring on the loading arm.  This arm usually 
also lifts the head off the media when in the open position.

So, the first thing to check is if the plastic springy thing still has 
all its fingers.  If fingers have broken off, the result is obvious.  If 
all the fingers are still there, check for smooth sliding into the 
cylinder.  If the fingers have gotten bent or rough, the clamp may not 
always seat reliably against the hub.

Finally, the spring or bearing may have a failure, not driving the clamp 
into the spindle.

Almost certainly, careful examination of these parts will reveal the 
problem.

Jon