Fixing a floppy stepper motor.

CraigsBar · 20:30, 13 October 15

Quote from: arnoldemu on 20:03, 13 October 15
LOL. You can fix anything!

Indeed he can if there was a 'retrofixer of the month' @Bryce would get my vote.

VincentGR · 21:20, 13 October 15

Quote from: CraigsBar on 20:30, 13 October 15
Indeed he can if there was a 'retrofixer of the month' @Bryce would get my vote.

If we vote every month then his wall will be like this:

Spoiler: Show

TFM · 23:28, 13 October 15

Garfield?

Bryce · 09:33, 14 October 15

Spongebob of course, although I see myself more like Patrick

Thanks for all the positive words guys. Just happy that I can keep as much retro stuff alive a little bit longer.

@GeoffB17: Your drive was sent out Monday evening. Report back when you've given it a go. It would also be nice to know how long it actually continues working? I suspect it may work for many years yet.

Bryce.

||C|-|E|| · 10:26, 14 October 15

It is great that you managed to fix it!

The same problem could happen to any of us and this would help a lot!

Bryce · 11:43, 14 October 15

I considered doing a photo tutorial for the repair, but I decided it really isn't something that should be attempted without a lot of experience. There's just too many things that could go wrong and make the drive irrepairable.

Bryce.

||C|-|E|| · 11:52, 14 October 15

However, if you have the pictures, this would make a good entry for the wiki

Bryce · 12:32, 14 October 15

Mainly just the ones I've posted in this thread. For re-assembly, just look at the pictures in reverse order

Bryce.

GeoffB17 · 16:12, 15 October 15

Greetings all,

Just to confirm, I have just now received my drive back from 'The Magician'.

So far, it's working TOTALLY PERFECTLY - maybe even better that it ever was (certainly seems quieter than I remember). Really WONDERFUL!!

Million Thanks to @Bryce.

Started checking through my pile of 3" disks, found a few things I'd 'lost'. Incl my 'tweaked' version of CP/M with an altered font (script). Also the bits from the disk that came with the DK sound module (not so much there, but one extra file that might contain something useful ??)

Geoff

Bryce · 20:41, 15 October 15

And that's why I repair hardware. What a result. Really happy that I could help you get these treasures back.

Yes, every moving part is greased, so it's as quiet as it ever could be at the moment.

Bryce.

TFM · 21:59, 15 October 15

Ok, I guess I missed the point. What did you actually do? The plastic did melt and you replaced it by glue?

Sorry, I didn't get it.

Bryce · 22:16, 15 October 15

No. I glued the original plastic back in and remounted it without the seal ring. Then I recalibrated it and it worked and seems to be stable. No magic involved really.

Bryce.

||C|-|E|| · 23:56, 15 October 15

The problem is that, as Bryce said, the whole process is quite delicate and you need to have quite a lot of experience in order to make it work again

GeoffB17 · 00:50, 18 October 15

OK, it's only been a couple of days, but my floppy is still working.

Well, sometimes, I think it is - I have to strain my ancient ears to hear even a hint of any activity, but yes, the screen suggests that it IS doing something.

I was wondering about the perished rubber whatsit that caused the problem. Maybe it was a bad batch of rubber component, and other drives will not suffer the same problem. Maybe they did other batches a different way. I can well believe though that the idea of glueing would NOT have been practical for a production line, as I'd guess they would need to put the motor together and then test it, and it would not be a good idea to seal up until they glue had dried, and CERTAINLY not a good idea to test until glue had totally dried, so they would have had thousands sitting around waiting for glue to dry??

OK for @Bryce to wait for ONE to dry, he could be doing something else.

As for whoever had the bright idea of using the rubber whatsit to speed up the assembly - I wonder if (s)he was expecting the drive to be still in use 30+ years later?? I'd guess not!!

Geoff

Bryce · 09:50, 18 October 15

The bit I glued was the broken plastic, the glue doesn't replace the function of the rubber seal. I just ignored / left out the seal to see if it works without it, which evidently it does. The plastic/magnet isn't glued to the shaft, it is just re-mounted and held with pressure, which is how it originally was.

Good to hear it's still working though.

Bryce.

1024MAK · 12:38, 18 October 15

Excellent news that the repair is holding

And well done to Bryce for the repair work

Mark

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Fixing a floppy stepper motor.