RL02 Tracking

[Josh Dersch]

On Mon, Dec 21, 2020 at 3:09 PM Jon Elson via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
wrote:

> On 12/21/2020 01:08 PM, Aaron Jackson via cctalk wrote:
> > Hi everyone
> >
> > I've posted a few times over the years about RL02 drives and my
> > difficulty getting them working (no luck so far!). I've spent the past
> > few days working on one of them and have made some progress.
> >
> > The status currently is that the heads will load, and the ready lamp
> > flashes as the heads wobble back and forth very slightly,
> I dropped an RL02 cartridge, and needed to get it to load
> one more time to get programs off it.
> The ready lamp was a dim, slightly flickering glow.  I
> figured the platter had been knocked off center.
> I loosened the bolts at tapped it a bit until it looked
> better centered.  It took a couple tries, but then the ready
> light came on fully bright, and I was able to mount the disk
> and read it.
>
> I don't know if that could be your problem.  If you get a
> solid servo signal with the motor disconnected, then this is
> not the same problem.
>

To add my two cents, I've also seen this behavior on RL02 packs that have
been degaussed.  It might be worth your time to find someone with a known
working RL02 drive (or known working RL02 pack) so you can confirm that
your packs are good.

- Josh



>
> Jon
>