CD32 CD drive modification

[amiman99]

Hi, I have a problem reading CDRs on my CD32. Looks like that sometime it doesn't even see the CD in the drive.
I noticed that when I bypass the OPEN/CLOSE switch and I tilt the CD towards the laser, the CD mechanism starts to spin, like it recognized the presents of the disk.
I played with the LASER adjustment and is not really working too well, sometimes it will work and sometimes not. BTW, the normal game disks work fine.
My thinking is to lower the cd mechanism a little bit, or raise the LASER assembly by 1mm or so.
My question is, is it possible to remove that piece in the picture (I don't know the proper name), so I can get the access to the screws holding the motor assembly, OR is there a way to raise the LASER?

Thanks

[rampartsagain]

You know what that means?

it means the led laser is getting burned and need a new one.

[amiman99]

This is actually a new replacement that I was hoping would work better then the stock.

[FOL]

Originally Posted by amiman99

This is actually a new replacement that I was hoping would work better then the stock.

Yes its possible. You need to lever it off carefully without bending spindle shaft.
You could try raising it or lowering it. Sometimes constant closing of the lid can cause the spindle to move down the shaft.

[MickGyver]

Old post I know but I need to rise the spindle on my CD32 drive motor (or remove it), does anybody have any tips how to do this safely without bending the spindle shaft?

[MickGyver]

I decided to try something out and I actually succeeded to get the correct position for spindle. The CD32 now works, I was very sceptic, the metal parts of the CD drive were bent, The CD32 was probably stepped on at some point. I straightened everything out, the spindle was most problematic, it's really hard to move it. This is how I did it:

I used a rusty old woodworking chisel to pry the spindle upward like the picture below, it required a lot of force but I tried to do it as controlled as possible. It worked but the spindle was now too high up:


I then needed to push the spindle down and to prevent it from goint to far I used some steel wire around the shaft (a leg from a 2200µF/50V capacitor):


I tried pushing it down with my bare hands but that was impossible, instead I put a CD on a table and on top of that, two discs from a dissected hard drive (so the force would go on the metal part of the spindle and not on the center plastic movable part). I pushed the whole mechanism straight down, required a lot of force:


Success!

[DDNI]

I read on another CD32 thread about the importance of teh RF shield and how it may affect CD-R reading.
Any thoughts about the effect the copper clip that is connected to the front case LEDs has on CD-R reading?

[amiman99]

Looks like a nice solution, but too many things can go wrong with that.

In my case, my lid was partially broken, would not close properly. Then one day the metal spring on the lid got loose and the lid closed nicely. It seemed to make reading CDRs better.
I also put back the original laser.

[FOL]

I used to use large flat blade screw driver. From your first picture, it does look as though its been stepped on, as the spindle was way to low on shaft.

Originally Posted by witchmaster

I decided to try something out and I actually succeeded to get the correct position for spindle. The CD32 now works, I was very sceptic, the metal parts of the CD drive were bent, The CD32 was probably stepped on at some point. I straightened everything out, the spindle was most problematic, it's really hard to move it. This is how I did it:

I used a rusty old woodworking chisel to pry the spindle upward like the picture below, it required a lot of force but I tried to do it as controlled as possible. It worked but the spindle was now too high up:


I then needed to push the spindle down and to prevent it from goint to far I used some steel wire around the shaft (a leg from a 2200µF/50V capacitor):


I tried pushing it down with my bare hands but that was impossible, instead I put a CD on a table and on top of that, two discs from a dissected hard drive (so the force would go on the metal part of the spindle and not on the center plastic movable part). I pushed the whole mechanism straight down, required a lot of force:


Success!

[MickGyver]

Originally Posted by FOL

I used to use large flat blade screw driver. From your first picture, it does look as though its been stepped on, as the spindle was way to low on shaft.

Exactly, the CD32 had been stepped on by somebody, I was sceptic about getting it to run but after straightening out all the parts, repositioning the spindle and gluing some broken plastic parts it started working again. It even reads CD-Rs without a problem.