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| Mac 512K and floppy drive |
Posted by: toples50 on 2018-09-30 08:45:58
I have purchased a Mac 512K but the drive seems to be defective.I can't push the disk inside it.Is it easy to disassembly and repair it?
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Posted by: Dog Cow on 2018-09-30 08:50:22
It's fairly easy to disassemble and repair. You probably need to re-lubricate the disk mechanism. Take a look at this article: Fixing Mac 400K Disk Drives.
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Posted by: toples50 on 2018-09-30 09:05:49
Is it easy to disassemble?Thanks for the guide
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Posted by: olePigeon on 2018-10-01 08:34:40
It's slightly more complicated than the 800K and 1.4MB drives, but not too hard. Just follow the directions.
I know from experience that your drive's grease has solidified. Probably even turned into a solid. It's going to be some tough work getting to loose again, but well worth it. I recommend getting a dental pick ($7 at Walmart), hard toothbrush, and some isopropyl alcohol. You'll need to soften the old grease and possibly pick away at it with your dental pick (useful tool anyway for cleaning.) Then use the brush and some more alcohol to scrub away at it, get all the parts moving.
You can then re-grease it. I used lithium grease, but there may be better alternatives.
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Posted by: Dog Cow on 2018-10-01 10:50:39
Last evening I tried a new technique. I removed the floppy disk cassette (the part that moves up and down when you insert and eject a disk) and dipped it in a pot of boiling water for 10-15 seconds or so. Then I took a rag and wiped off the grease. Great time-saver!
You need to remove 6 screws to remove the cassette assembly: 4 are on the bottom of the mechanism, between the edges of the green PCB and the cast metal base. The other two are on the left and right sides of the eject motor.
Hold the assembly at the back by the motor, so you don't dip any of the motor parts in the water. Only dip the front part where the floppy disk actually goes.
Another technique I used a few months ago was similar, but I put the entire floppy disk drive in a convection oven set to 150ºF or so for about 5 minutes. This quickly loosened the grease and I wiped it off.
But I now prefer the boiling water method. Much quicker.
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Posted by: olePigeon on 2018-10-01 12:41:01
That sounds like a much better idea. I literally spent about an hour trying to clean mine, I didn't think to boil it in hot water.
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Posted by: trag on 2018-10-01 13:18:52
Back in the mid 90s I had two 400K mechanisms as brand new Apple Service Parts still in their original wraps. Both of them were frozen up, because the lubricant had turned to varnish. Just mentioning to give some idea or how prevalent it is for those old mechanisms to lock up.
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Posted by: toples50 on 2018-10-02 23:28:19
The floppy drive isn't mounted right (or slipped internally) inside the machine so it needs to be fixed.
Thanks guys for the answers
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