68kMLA Classic Interface

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SE/30 wants to initialize all Floppy disks?
Posted by: nvdeynde on 2017-02-26 08:07:25 No, I checked the caps and I don't see any leaking... Do you have all this equipment to align the drive? It's hard to judge caps just from the outside, especially the small one's like used in FDD's. I have recapped all my FDD's as well a while ago and it revived several with the same error than you have. You can also ESR test the caps, however for a few buck you can easily recap the drive. An 800K drive as only 5 caps, a 1.44MB just 7.
Posted by: Johnnya101 on 2017-02-26 08:29:29 Good news everyone! I found the issue! It seems like the head, the top one, is not falling onto the disk surface when one is inserted. It's the little copper price of metal... is this the one that gets the permenant damage? The head just stays in up position. I can manually push it downwards and such. Is there a safe way of bending this back down? Is it possible to unscrew the head and bend it back? Will a replacement head work?
Posted by: Johnnya101 on 2017-02-26 08:51:48 Horrible news... Both screw heads snapped... New drive is now needed 🙁
Posted by: jhorvath911 on 2017-02-26 09:04:27 Well that happens sometimes when working on this old stuff. You should be able to use the drive out of your Classic II to be able to get this machine running.
Posted by: Johnnya101 on 2017-02-26 09:11:53 Well I want to be using the Classic II too... I guess I can use a dremel for the screw threads..
Posted by: Johnnya101 on 2017-02-26 11:21:17 OK, so I think Im just going to put hot glue on the threads. The head is still very secure, exactly how it was when screwed in. Now, Im trying to rebend that metal piece. The head touches the surface of a disk. How high should it be from the surface? A really really small amount? A millimeter? Touching the disk?
Posted by: techknight on 2017-02-26 13:35:23 Tech, you said this in another thread "You have to verify that its misaligned by formatting a floppy in the misaligned drive. It should be able to format, write, and read its own disks. But another drive cannot. and vice versa. If that happens, its mis-aligned. adjusting the stepper motor with a known good disk by rotating it will bring it back into alignment. " Is this still true? Again, disks can't be initialized at all or it says they are damaged... Depends how close it is to the track. if its in between tracks then that approach would work fine. It depends on how far out of alignment the drive is.
Posted by: techknight on 2017-02-26 13:36:20 OK, so I think Im just going to put hot glue on the threads. The head is still very secure, exactly how it was when screwed in. Now, Im trying to rebend that metal piece. The head touches the surface of a disk. How high should it be from the surface? A really really small amount? A millimeter? Touching the disk? Is the head completely separated now from top to bottom? If thats the case youll NEVER get it re-aligned again because now you will have cylinder mis-alignment. It will be tough to get it exactly right. What head 0 sees and what head 1 sees will not be the same in the same track. I have never been successful in that situation. if you are, then I bow to you. 😉
Posted by: techknight on 2017-02-26 13:38:26 Good news everyone! I found the issue! It seems like the head, the top one, is not falling onto the disk surface when one is inserted. It's the little copper price of metal... is this the one that gets the permenant damage? The head just stays in up position. I can manually push it downwards and such. And there is absolutely no way one could predict that scenario, I usually never ran into a "naturally" weak spring, the only time I have seen the head sticking too far up is if someone tried to clean the heads and screwed up. I cant say thats always the case though. that has usually been the case when I saw them.
Posted by: Johnnya101 on 2017-02-26 13:40:21 Well let me explain it again (Not being rude! Sorry if it sounds like I am). The head itself is not out of alignment, the entire plastic arm its on was raised a bit (Way above the disk surface, like 1/4 cm) so I bent it downwards again. Both heads are almost touching each other currently. Like seperated by a few mms. Again, the arm is not out of alignment! Just the head/arm (The black plastic thing that goes up and down, and has the white ceramic head) was bending too far up so I bent it down again.
Posted by: Johnnya101 on 2017-02-26 13:42:08 Will it be possible for it to work again? I just need to know if I should go looking for another drive. A shame because everything else is in great condition on it.
Posted by: SlateBlue on 2017-02-26 14:40:44 It sounds like your current one is pretty jacked. I would just source another one and save yourself the time of mucking around with the broken one.
Posted by: ScutBoy on 2017-02-26 14:45:16 I hate to say it, but you are going to chase your tail on this forever. Bite the bullet and get a different known good drive.
Posted by: techknight on 2017-02-26 14:57:32 Well let me explain it again (Not being rude! Sorry if it sounds like I am). The head itself is not out of alignment, the entire plastic arm its on was raised a bit (Way above the disk surface, like 1/4 cm) so I bent it downwards again. Both heads are almost touching each other currently. Like seperated by a few mms. Again, the arm is not out of alignment! Just the head/arm (The black plastic thing that goes up and down, and has the white ceramic head) was bending too far up so I bent it down again. Then where did this broken screw crap thing come from? Im all confused now!
Posted by: Johnnya101 on 2017-02-26 14:59:48 Ah just leave it, it's fine! I'm going to buy one on eBay! Luckily they are cheap! Now I can have one for parts, so that's good...
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