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Dead floppy drive reanimated!

Dead floppy drive reanimated!

2014-01-23 by Skanter123

Wow - my floppy drive came back to life! It formatted a blank disk for the first time, then i recorded a performance!

I cant tell you how many times i've tried this to no avail in the month i've had the DKL. I cleaned the drive, fiddles with the cable in the back, nothing. The only thing I can think of is that tonight I pushed the disk in pretty hard, like the concept of smacking something that doesn't work. Is it possible there was a loose connection, or heads that were jammed back into some type of alignment?

I'm flabbergasted! Whether it continues to work remains to be seen. Is it likely for heads to be gone, then return to life? Has anyone had this type of behaviour with floppy?

Sam 
www.keyboardcollective.com
(212) 684-3304

Re: [disklavier] Dead floppy drive reanimated!

2014-01-23 by Spencer Chase

from what i remember (long time since i used floppies) pushing in the disc causes some mechanical linkage to clamp the media to the spindle. there are sliding and other mechanical parts that need lubricant and over time they can get dry or dirty. you might have shoved it hard enough that you overcame something that was stopping the media from being clamped. you might want to open the drive and clean and lube various mechanical parts. some might be metal and some might be plastic. be sure to not touch the heads as they are quite fragile. i think they typically used a light white lithium grease. it will be white and streaked with black dirt and metal worn off surfaces. i think i remember that the head carriage slides on little rods which also need to be clean and lubed. there are also some alignment settings. it is possible that some crud got stuck between surfaces that establish this alignment. these are the only things i can think of at the moment that could fix themselves. also a loose wire, connector, solder joint or flaky switch.
Show quoted textHide quoted text
On 1/22/2014 10:37 PM, Skanter123 wrote:

Wow - my floppy drive came back to life! It formatted a blank disk for the first time, then i recorded a performance!

I cant tell you how many times i've tried this to no avail in the month i've had the DKL. I cleaned the drive, fiddles with the cable in the back, nothing. The only thing I can think of is that tonight I pushed the disk in pretty hard, like the concept of smacking something that doesn't work. Is it possible there was a loose connection, or heads that were jammed back into some type of alignment?

I'm flabbergasted! Whether it continues to work remains to be seen. Is it likely for heads to be gone, then return to life? Has anyone had this type of behaviour with floppy?

Sam
www.keyboardcollective.com
(212) 684-3304


-- 

Best regards, Spencer Chase
67550-Bell Springs Rd.
Garberville, CA 95542 Postal service only.
Laytonville, CA 95454 UPS only.
Spencer@...
http://www.spencerserolls.com
(707) 984-8356 
(425) 791-0309

Re: [disklavier] Dead floppy drive reanimated!

2014-01-23 by Skanter123

Spencer, thanks for the advice. I won't consider removing the drive unless it stops functioning. Maybe i'll get lucky and it will remain functioning. I do have some of that white lithium grease, I've used it on the parts of an old massage chair.

Sam 
www.keyboardcollective.com
(212) 684-3304
Show quoted textHide quoted text
> On Jan 23, 2014, at 2:01 AM, Spencer Chase <lists@...> wrote:
> 
> from what i remember (long time since i used floppies) pushing in the disc causes some mechanical linkage to clamp the media to the spindle. there are sliding and other mechanical parts that need lubricant and over time they can get dry or dirty. you might have shoved it hard enough that you overcame something that was stopping the media from being clamped. you might want to open the drive and clean and lube various mechanical parts. some might be metal and some might be plastic. be sure to not touch the heads as they are quite fragile. i think they typically used a light white lithium grease. it will be white and streaked with black dirt and metal worn off surfaces. i think i remember that the head carriage slides on little rods which also need to be clean and lubed. there are also some alignment settings. it is possible that some crud got stuck between surfaces that establish this alignment. these are the only things i can think of at the moment that could fix themselves. also a loose wire, connector, solder joint or flaky switch.
> 
>> On 1/22/2014 10:37 PM, Skanter123 wrote:
>>  
>> Wow - my floppy drive came back to life! It formatted a blank disk for the first time, then i recorded a performance!
>> 
>> I cant tell you how many times i've tried this to no avail in the month i've had the DKL. I cleaned the drive, fiddles with the cable in the back, nothing. The only thing I can think of is that tonight I pushed the disk in pretty hard, like the concept of smacking something that doesn't work. Is it possible there was a loose connection, or heads that were jammed back into some type of alignment?
>> 
>> I'm flabbergasted! Whether it continues to work remains to be seen. Is it likely for heads to be gone, then return to life? Has anyone had this type of behaviour with floppy?
>> 
>> Sam 
>> www.keyboardcollective.com
>> (212) 684-3304
> 
> -- 
> 
> Best regards, Spencer Chase
> 67550-Bell Springs Rd.
> Garberville, CA 95542 Postal service only.
> Laytonville, CA 95454 UPS only.
> Spencer@...
> http://www.spencerserolls.com
> (707) 984-8356 
> (425) 791-0309
>

Re: [disklavier] Dead floppy drive reanimated!

2014-01-23 by Spencer Chase

there might be different grades of white lithium. be sure to use 
something very light. a good electronics supply (good luck finding one 
of those) should have it. Radio Schlock might even have it at ten times 
what it should cost. i understand your hesitance at "fixing something 
that ain't broke" but if it is showing signs of unreliability it might 
be good to do a little "PM"

another thing that i do on anything electric or electronic that i take 
apart is to treat all connections with a good contact cleaner/lubricant. 
look for something that has polyphenyl ether as a key ingredient. the 
following link on Amazon is one of the products i use but i buy it in a 
spray can or as a bulk liquid. this stuff has fixed numerous devices 
that others would have thrown out. the pen is probably best for 
something like a floppy drive in which you do not want the stuff to get 
anywhere but on the contacts.

one last thing i remember from floppy days is that it is possible for a 
drive to read its own written stuff but not floppies that others have 
written. this means that the head alignment is not at the standard 
position.

my guess of the two most likely problems given your drives history is 
either not clamping the media securely or the head carriage not 
returning fully to track 0 position due to crud or lack of lubrication.

BTW, heads do wear out because they contact the media. good to use a 
cleaner disc now and then.

On 1/23/2014 1:24 AM, Skanter123 wrote:
> Spencer, thanks for the advice. I won't consider removing the drive 
> unless it stops functioning. Maybe i'll get lucky and it will remain 
> functioning. I do have some of that white lithium grease, I've used it 
> on the parts of an old massage chair.
>
> Sam
> www.keyboardcollective.com <http://www.keyboardcollective.com>
> (212) 684-3304
>
>
>
>
>
> On Jan 23, 2014, at 2:01 AM, Spencer Chase <lists@... 
> <mailto:lists@...>> wrote:
>
>> from what i remember (long time since i used floppies) pushing in the 
>> disc causes some mechanical linkage to clamp the media to the 
>> spindle. there are sliding and other mechanical parts that need 
>> lubricant and over time they can get dry or dirty. you might have 
>> shoved it hard enough that you overcame something that was stopping 
>> the media from being clamped. you might want to open the drive and 
>> clean and lube various mechanical parts. some might be metal and some 
>> might be plastic. be sure to not touch the heads as they are quite 
>> fragile. i think they typically used a light white lithium grease. it 
>> will be white and streaked with black dirt and metal worn off 
>> surfaces. i think i remember that the head carriage slides on little 
>> rods which also need to be clean and lubed. there are also some 
>> alignment settings. it is possible that some crud got stuck between 
>> surfaces that establish this alignment. these are the only things i 
>> can think of at the moment that could fix themselves. also a loose 
>> wire, connector, solder joint or flaky switch.
>>
>> On 1/22/2014 10:37 PM, Skanter123 wrote:
>>>
>>> Wow - my floppy drive came back to life! It formatted a blank disk 
>>> for the first time, then i recorded a performance!
>>>
>>> I cant tell you how many times i've tried this to no avail in the 
>>> month i've had the DKL. I cleaned the drive, fiddles with the cable 
>>> in the back, nothing. The only thing I can think of is that tonight 
>>> I pushed the disk in pretty hard, like the concept of smacking 
>>> something that doesn't work. Is it possible there was a loose 
>>> connection, or heads that were jammed back into some type of alignment?
>>>
>>> I'm flabbergasted! Whether it continues to work remains to be seen. 
>>> Is it likely for heads to be gone, then return to life? Has anyone 
>>> had this type of behaviour with floppy?
>>>
>>> Sam
>>> www.keyboardcollective.com
>>> (212) 684-3304
>>>
>>
>> -- 
>>
>> Best regards, Spencer Chase
>> 67550-Bell Springs Rd.
>> Garberville, CA 95542 Postal service only.
>> Laytonville, CA 95454 UPS only.
>> Spencer@...
>> http://www.spencerserolls.com
>> (707) 984-8356
>> (425) 791-0309
> 

-- 

Best regards, Spencer Chase
67550-Bell Springs Rd.
Garberville, CA 95542 Postal service only.
Laytonville, CA 95454 UPS only.
Spencer@...
http://www.spencerserolls.com
(707) 984-8356
(425) 791-0309

Re: [disklavier] Dead floppy drive reanimated!

2014-01-23 by Sam Kanter

Spencer, thanks for the excellent info on floppy drives.

This drive had not been used much, and then went through a move. I think there was a mechanical issue, not dirt or wear.

I really only need one disk in there, the one I've formatted, as my USB floppy can read other disks than save to HD and play over MIDI, and I've done that with all the disks I have. I really only need the floppy drive to easily make self-recordings without having to open up a sequencer on my computer to record. I'm hoping it will remain functioning as it is now, so I won't go in there at this point. If it does fail again, I may just replace instead of trying to fix it.

Thanks again...

Sam Kanter
www.keyboardcollective.com
(212) 684-3304
Show quoted textHide quoted text
On Thu, Jan 23, 2014 at 11:31 AM, Spencer Chase <lists@spencerserolls.com> wrote:

there might be different grades of white lithium. be sure to use something very light. a good electronics supply (good luck finding one of those) should have it. Radio Schlock might even have it at ten times what it should cost. i understand your hesitance at "fixing something that ain't broke" but if it is showing signs of unreliability it might be good to do a little "PM"

another thing that i do on anything electric or electronic that i take apart is to treat all connections with a good contact cleaner/lubricant. look for something that has polyphenyl ether as a key ingredient. the following link on Amazon is one of the products i use but i buy it in a spray can or as a bulk liquid. this stuff has fixed numerous devices that others would have thrown out. the pen is probably best for something like a floppy drive in which you do not want the stuff to get anywhere but on the contacts.

one last thing i remember from floppy days is that it is possible for a drive to read its own written stuff but not floppies that others have written. this means that the head alignment is not at the standard position.

my guess of the two most likely problems given your drives history is either not clamping the media securely or the head carriage not returning fully to track 0 position due to crud or lack of lubrication.

BTW, heads do wear out because they contact the media. good to use a cleaner disc now and then.

On 1/23/2014 1:24 AM, Skanter123 wrote:
Spencer, thanks for the advice. I won't consider removing the drive unless it stops functioning. Maybe i'll get lucky and it will remain functioning. I do have some of that white lithium grease, I've used it on the parts of an old massage chair.

Sam

On Jan 23, 2014, at 2:01 AM, Spencer Chase <lists@...> wrote:

from what i remember (long time since i used floppies) pushing in the disc causes some mechanical linkage to clamp the media to the spindle. there are sliding and other mechanical parts that need lubricant and over time they can get dry or dirty. you might have shoved it hard enough that you overcame something that was stopping the media from being clamped. you might want to open the drive and clean and lube various mechanical parts. some might be metal and some might be plastic. be sure to not touch the heads as they are quite fragile. i think they typically used a light white lithium grease. it will be white and streaked with black dirt and metal worn off surfaces. i think i remember that the head carriage slides on little rods which also need to be clean and lubed. there are also some alignment settings. it is possible that some crud got stuck between surfaces that establish this alignment. these are the only things i can think of at the moment that could fix themselves. also a loose wire, connector, solder joint or flaky switch.

On 1/22/2014 10:37 PM, Skanter123 wrote:

Wow - my floppy drive came back to life! It formatted a blank disk for the first time, then i recorded a performance!

I cant tell you how many times i've tried this to no avail in the month i've had the DKL. I cleaned the drive, fiddles with the cable in the back, nothing. The only thing I can think of is that tonight I pushed the disk in pretty hard, like the concept of smacking something that doesn't work. Is it possible there was a loose connection, or heads that were jammed back into some type of alignment?

I'm flabbergasted! Whether it continues to work remains to be seen. Is it likely for heads to be gone, then return to life? Has anyone had this type of behaviour with floppy?

Sam
www.keyboardcollective.com
(212) 684-3304


-- 

Best regards, Spencer Chase
67550-Bell Springs Rd.
Garberville, CA 95542 Postal service only.
Laytonville, CA 95454 UPS only.
Spencer@spencerserolls.com
http://www.spencerserolls.com
(707) 984-8356 
(425) 791-0309

-- 

Best regards, Spencer Chase
67550-Bell Springs Rd.
Garberville, CA 95542 Postal service only.
Laytonville, CA 95454 UPS only.
Spencer@...
http://www.spencerserolls.com
(707) 984-8356 
(425) 791-0309


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