Floppy drive issue

[Lorfarius]

Having picked up an A1200 it came with a nice pile of floppies. However whenever I slot one in it sticks solid and I have to use a couple of forks after pressing the button to slide it out. I've tilted the system on its side but I can't see where the disk inside is getting stuck. Is there anything I can do?

[Arnie]

Apart from torn floppy labels sticking I think you will have to open the case to have a look at the floppy drive.
Sometimes the top part can become bent. I would remove the top part anyway and then insert a disk to see if it ejects properly. 20 odd years of gunk can also stop the eject mechanism from sliding freely or the mechanism could have become dislodged through time.

[Lorfarius]

I'll have a look, cheers

[ElectroBlaster]

Floppy drives take a lot of abuse! They are getting old now sadly.

I have encountered all sorts of problems over the years:

Stuck completely and full of crud, fluff and hairs etc! Got a really OLD drive here with a centre-eject button. It is double-sided but so old it had frozen up solid.

Grease that has gone solid on worm gears and the floppy frame/cage thing that holds the disk.

Bent slide tabs on the floppy frame/cage. Can cause problems if the drive is in an Amiga 600 as the disk can get completely stuck! Sat there pushing Eject and the disk just wont rise up enough to come out.

Seen it happen on A500's and A1200's also!

[Zippy Zapp]

@ElectroBlaster, You bring up a good point. There are maintenance things that probably should be done on these old floppy drives to keep them working properly. I bet most people don't think about checking the drive screw or shaft or whatever it is called, for proper lube, etc. Is there a thread that you know of or guide on all the things that could/should be done to maintain these drives? I couldn't find one here through search, but doesn't mean it doesn't exist already...

[ElectroBlaster]

We need a Pictorial Guide tbh

Have it as a Sticky so people can see it whenever it is needed.

The only issue with that is the amount of different drive models out there!
Drives do the same thing but some are real easy to work with and some are a right pita!

I always go in with the same plan. Inspect what I have to work with, can it be saved or not?

Clean out all the crap/hair/dust and maybe old grease if its manky.

Clean up both Read/Write heads.

Put Vaseline on the worm gear (probably something better out but it seems to work).

Put some Hair Clipper Machine Oil on the Read/Write Head Runner Bars.

Spray some Servicol Contact Cleaner into the Read/Write Detect switches

If the disk holder/cage thing can be removed easily I will grease the bearings. Also straighten up the front guides if bent downwards! This one always causes problems. Those front teeth/guide things are weak and bend real easy. No problems to get them back in line again though.

Worst case scenario is the drive needs a capacitor replacing (Seems like a common problem now)

or

Head Alignment... but I wont entertain that one

Floppys are old hat now but I will continue to use them until they are all rotted and the drives are finally dead lol.

[Zippy Zapp]

Yes a Pictorial guide would be great. What about a new thread with pics and step by step on each drive, 1 drive per message. I would cover the basics for the drives that were common in the Amigas. Chinon, Panasonic and Epson. With my Amiga's most common was the Chinon then panasonic, but that is just out of my models. Of course most drives have common elements, heads, rails, switches etc.

Of course a proper website and guide would be great but this is more for the confines of a forum.

Some common things I think, like what you mentioned but also basic things like how to clean the heads with Isopropyl Alcohol and swabs. How not to do it or dangers in damaging components. Etc.

What do you think?

I wil use them till they rot too. Of course I have seen some floppies that have! And 3.5" disks despite being better protected in hard plastic and sliding covers, seem to be more prone to errors and failure than 5.25" disks, at least in my experience.

[Lorfarius]

I had the case open yesterday and started poking around, the FDD is rock solid in place but once I had the lid off could see what was actually happening. When eject is pressed the disk lifts up in the drive and slides out but what's happening is its catching on the upper plastic case of the keyboard. Annoying as the drive loads everything that's thrown at it just can't see how to line it up properly.

[Zippy Zapp]

So its hitting on the top of the 1200 case? I have seen this and I would check the screws on the bottom that secure the floppy drive. Also the little nuts that are screwed into the drive itself as they may be loose which can affect the height of the drive and cause it to not line up with the case. so with the lid off it is not catching on anything inside the drive itself?

[Lorfarius]

It's catching on the top lip, best photo's I could take:




With a pair of tweezers I can pull the disk down and out, it slides out without any resistance.

[Zippy Zapp]

The button looks like it is in the same position as mine so maybe it is not an issue with screws or drives position. bent tray or off somehow inside?

[ElectroBlaster]

Any chance of getting us some photos with the top off?

Then a couple showing the drive at different angles whilst it is mounted, also one from under the back of the case.

I am not 100% sure on this but the drive could be a Matsushita JU.

EDIT: Could also be a Mitsumi/Newtronics drive...

I have only ever seen a small number of these drives but yet to find one that is dead. They are noisey but work.
Wondering if it has been removed at some point and not put back in correctly? They normally sit nice and flush.

[Lorfarius]

I'll open it up this weekend and take some more pics.

[Lorfarius]

Here we go. I tried nudging the drive around a bit and realigning the case on top but no matter where it goes the disks just won't pop out. Not sure if you can make it out from the picks but there is a slight downward curve on the top of the drive but I don't think this comes anywhere near close enough to cause problems with the case.










And it was so gross inside

[kipper2k]

someone may have used too long a screw in the side of it that interfere with the mechanism

[Lorfarius]

You mean the one in the second to last picture? I could try unscrewing it a bit to see what happens.

[Arnie]

There is the chance that the drive is from an A500. (I think they are different?) Looking at the pics it looks nothing like the one in my A1200.

[ptyerman]

It does look like a A500 drive but I'm not sure one of those would even fit in a A1200 and the eject button line up correctly.

[Jackoland]

Clean that case, making my ocd go off the scale.

[Jope]

It is an A1200 drive, it just isn't sitting well.

You could also try it without the bracket that's visible between the drive and the rear of the case.