What type of floppy drive is inside the Cumana CAX-354

Sim085 · 24 September 2018, 12:15

Hello,

I recently obtained a Cumana CAX-354 which was not working. I therefore resorted to open this and first thing I noticed is that it had some wire soldering on the floppy drive itself.

From my testing I can confirm that the floppy drive does not work when used directly on an A500, not does an the A500 original floppy drive when connected with the Cumana controller.

So I was wondering; what is the Cumana floppy drive? Is it a PC floppy drive and controller makes it work for the Amiga?

Daedalus · 24 September 2018, 12:18

I suspect so, possibly like the Escom Amiga 1200s that were fitted with PC drives and need a slight modification to work properly. Any chance of a photo of the modification wiring and the controller board?

Sim085 · 24 September 2018, 13:38

Yes sure

There are three wires; two are on the rear and one is next to the bottom spinning motor.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daedalus

IAny chance of a photo of the modification wiring and the controller board?

Daedalus · 24 September 2018, 13:53

Yeah, that looks like a PC floppy drive modified for Amiga use (one of the pins in question there is for the diskchange signal). It might be hard-wired to respond to a different ID, which would explain why it needs the extra adaptor board and doesn't work by itself, or perhaps it's only a partial modification and extra circuitry is needed for full compatibility.

Sim085 · 27 September 2018, 22:24

Can someone help me identify replacements for these? (images attached).
I would ideally prefer through whole capacitors instead of SMD if at all possible.

Daedalus · 27 September 2018, 22:36

The two larger ones are electrolytic capacitors and should really be replaced with similar SMT electrolytics. First one is 47uF, 16V, the second is 4.7uF, 25V. They're common values, and any decent parts supplier will have many options. To find a good match, you should really measure the height and diameter of the existing parts and find the closest match in size too. Through hole parts of the same value will work of course, but should be avoided where the PCB doesn't actually provide through holes.

The third part is a ceramic disc capacitor, 100nF. They tend to be less common these days, but a MLCC (Multi-Layer Ceramic Capacitor) of the same value should do the job but will look a little different.

24 September 2018, 12:15	#1
Sim085 Registered User Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: N/A Posts: 962	What type of floppy drive is inside the Cumana CAX-354 Hello, I recently obtained a Cumana CAX-354 which was not working. I therefore resorted to open this and first thing I noticed is that it had some wire soldering on the floppy drive itself. From my testing I can confirm that the floppy drive does not work when used directly on an A500, not does an the A500 original floppy drive when connected with the Cumana controller. So I was wondering; what is the Cumana floppy drive? Is it a PC floppy drive and controller makes it work for the Amiga? Last edited by Sim085; 24 September 2018 at 13:30.

27 September 2018, 22:24	#5
Sim085 Registered User Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: N/A Posts: 962	Can someone help me identify replacements for these? (images attached). I would ideally prefer through whole capacitors instead of SMD if at all possible. Attached Thumbnails

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24 September 2018, 12:18	#2
Daedalus Registered User Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Dublin, then Glasgow Posts: 6,334	I suspect so, possibly like the Escom Amiga 1200s that were fitted with PC drives and need a slight modification to work properly. Any chance of a photo of the modification wiring and the controller board?

24 September 2018, 13:53	#4
Daedalus Registered User Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Dublin, then Glasgow Posts: 6,334	Yeah, that looks like a PC floppy drive modified for Amiga use (one of the pins in question there is for the diskchange signal). It might be hard-wired to respond to a different ID, which would explain why it needs the extra adaptor board and doesn't work by itself, or perhaps it's only a partial modification and extra circuitry is needed for full compatibility.

27 September 2018, 22:36	#6
Daedalus Registered User Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Dublin, then Glasgow Posts: 6,334	The two larger ones are electrolytic capacitors and should really be replaced with similar SMT electrolytics. First one is 47uF, 16V, the second is 4.7uF, 25V. They're common values, and any decent parts supplier will have many options. To find a good match, you should really measure the height and diameter of the existing parts and find the closest match in size too. Through hole parts of the same value will work of course, but should be avoided where the PCB doesn't actually provide through holes. The third part is a ceramic disc capacitor, 100nF. They tend to be less common these days, but a MLCC (Multi-Layer Ceramic Capacitor) of the same value should do the job but will look a little different.

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