Hardcore Floppy Drive restoration

[Bryce]

I haven't moved, same address. I will at least cover the postage costs surely?

Bryce.

[GeoffB17]

Hello miracle man,


Disk is in the post.


As far as I'm concerned, I'm still in your debt regarding your splendid work fixing my floppy drive last year.


Secondly, I am very impressed with your story regarding this salvage/restoration project, I wish you every success, and if I can help in this tiny way I'm MORE than happy to do so.


Thirdly, I got the 9512 disks for nothing, and they're no use to me as-is, and I'm happy that at least one finds a better fate than just being re-formatted as SSSD so that I can use it (if I ever needed to, which is unlikely).


An aside further to the last point.   My last real job (prior to being self-employed) was with a business that also did office machine servicing, incl computers, incl PCWs.   When they decided they would not do any more Amstrads, they dumped all their bits on me, as they knew I had one.   The 'package' included various service manuals, the 9512 disks, a couple of disks with diagnostics software on, plus various strange cards/attachments for use with the diagnostic software.  I'v no idea what these bits do, but I still have them.  If anyone is interested.......


Thanks.


Geoff

[Bryce]

Cool. Thanks.

Are all the other things PCW related? I don't think the Service manuals are all scanned and online, so that would be nice

Bryce.

[arnoldemu]

Hello miracle man,


Disk is in the post.


As far as I'm concerned, I'm still in your debt regarding your splendid work fixing my floppy drive last year.


Secondly, I am very impressed with your story regarding this salvage/restoration project, I wish you every success, and if I can help in this tiny way I'm MORE than happy to do so.


Thirdly, I got the 9512 disks for nothing, and they're no use to me as-is, and I'm happy that at least one finds a better fate than just being re-formatted as SSSD so that I can use it (if I ever needed to, which is unlikely).


An aside further to the last point.   My last real job (prior to being self-employed) was with a business that also did office machine servicing, incl computers, incl PCWs.   When they decided they would not do any more Amstrads, they dumped all their bits on me, as they knew I had one.   The 'package' included various service manuals, the 9512 disks, a couple of disks with diagnostics software on, plus various strange cards/attachments for use with the diagnostic software.  I'v no idea what these bits do, but I still have them.  If anyone is interested.......


Thanks.


Geoff

Geoff would you load the discs and diagnostic cards to @robcfg so they can be dumped for the pcwwiki?

[robcfg]

Heh, I'm adding @arnoldemu to the list of people that know me too well... 


@GeoffB17 , I'm certainly interested in any PCW stuff for dumping and scanning it.


Maybe we can chat through PM to not derail the thread.


Thank you, guys!

[Bryce]

Last night I did a stock take of all the remaining parts. There is enough to make another drive, but I'm questioning whether to bother. The biggest issue at the moment are the screws that held the various PCBs to the frame. Many of these either broke off as soon as they were turned or had to be drilled out due to extreme rust having destroyed the head. To repair them, I'd have to drill the shaft out and re-thread the holes. All possible, but an awful lot of time and work for...? Instead I think I'll just salvage the remaining parts for spares. Many of the parts are used on the CPCs EME-156/157, so they can be put to good use.
The damage overall was not as I expected. Parts that I thought would cause the most issues (Motors) were suprisingly easy to bring back to life. In all, 7 of the 8 motors are now back working (the non-working head motor just crumbled as soon as the screws holding it in place were removed). Only one of the 8 read/write heads was damaged. All the electronics survived (except for an LED that fell off). The biggest problems were the screws, the springs which fell apart from rust and the loading mechanism (too much rust). On one of the frames, the bearing for the wormscrew shaft is also completely seized. Only two of the faceplates are usable due to heat damage.

And interesting experiment, but I think it's over.

Bryce.

[Gryzor]

I, for one, are quite disappointed in how easily you got one working. I was expecting more sweat and tears, but maybe I should've known better.


So, if I may propose to the good people of the CPCWiki: let's find a challenge good enough for Bryce!

[VincentGR]

Maybe a C64 struck by lightning?

[Gryzor]

Mmm, it'd take him a while to gather the particles together, at least

[Bryce]

No problem, as long as the challenge doesn't involve rust removal! I've done enough of that last week to last me a lifetime! 

Sorry for disappointing you Gryzor.

Bryce.

[Gryzor]

Eh, you can't please all the people all the time. I'll just ask for my money back and that's that.

[||C|-|E||]

Bryce has a calculator in really crappy condition in the way to his home, and it is even a Commodore    It is maybe less challenging than the drives because it does not have moving parts,  but a challenge after all 

[Gryzor]

Has it been on fire? In a flood? Nuclear winter? Dropped by an eagle from stratosphere height?

[||C|-|E||]

It has been immersed in acid for a few years, 25 or so  . The keyboard PCB tracks are completely gone, although the PCB that contains the logic and the VFD is still fine. The sort of ribbon cable connecting the two boards is alive too, although maybe it would be good to replace it. It turns out that this particular model was sold with an internal battery pack. Over the years, the batteries leaked like crazy and ruined everything that was in contact with them. I got the calculator for cheap long ago and I started repairing it (sort of) but then I found that my way of doing the restoration was not particularly right or neat and I decided that it would be necessary to make a new PCB for the keyboard. This never happened because I got involved in some other projects and the poor calculator was left in a bubble envelope until Bryce knew about it and decided to give her a second chance

[1024MAK]

And interesting experiment, but I think it's over.

/Me/ puts popcorn away...

Mark

[Gryzor]

Ah, the calculator should be interesting indeed. Embedded battery you say? Wow.

[Bryce]

The calculator will be interesting, but possibly not as entertaining. And as stated it says Commodore on the front. (It's a Commodore S61 for those who are interested).

Bryce.

[Gryzor]

Wow that's an ugly fucker...


[attach=2]

[Bryce]

It's a bit big and bulgy, but they look good when the green VFD fires up.

Bryce.

[Gryzor]

VFD always looks good, no matter what it's on.

[Bryce]

Until you accidentally touch those bare leads coming from DC/DC converter carrying >70V to the VFD.

Safety standards: Keeping us safe since.... shortly AFTER the S61 was designed.

Bryce.

[Gryzor]

70V? wow.


From what I read it's from around '76 or so...

[villain]

Once again no proper F-keys. :-) But at least there's nothing brown on it...

[||C|-|E||]

The interesting bit about this model is the huge amount of functions it had for the time it was produced    It was an attempt to compete with much more expensive models from other brands. Sadly, they saved money in places like the battery compartment and nowadays most of these machines are gone due to that.


Oh yes, the VDF region packs a lot of power. Very nice if you accidentally touch it when you are restoring the machine  . However, it is a very cool display!

[Bryce]

70V? wow.


From what I read it's from around '76 or so...

Yup VFDs usually need around 70VDC on the Anode and 6VAC (annoying to create on battery powered stuff) on the Anode wires. They also suck quite a bit of juice (a lot more the LEDs). But they look cool

Bryce.