Cumana CAX 354 (External Floppy Disk Drive) - fix for floppy disk not ejecting

[solarmon]

Hi,

(Full album of the Cumana CAX 354 teardown can be found at https://imgur.com/a/iug6xw8)

Just some information on how I fixed an issue with a Cumana CAX 354 (External Floppy Disk Drive) not ejecting floppy disks:



When you open it up, the top of the floppy drive itself will look like this:



The area to focus on is the spring loaded mechanism in the bottom left - here is a closeup of it:



This is the spring loaded mechanism that pushes the floppy disk out when you push in the eject button. If this gets stuck then it will obviously not push out the floppy disk.

This may get stuck due to grime or any lubricant that has dried up - you can see some dark yellow/brown gunk in the picture above.

I couldn't get the mechanism to come out completely but if you remove the plastic retaining washer off the top you can take out the spring. Keep both these in a safe place!

You can then easily move the mechanism back and forth for easier cleaning and for getting lubricant in to it.

Initially I used isopropyl alcohol and then WD40 to clean and loosen it up. Then, after cleaning up the isopropyl alcohol and WD40, I added silicone grease to it, which might make it look a bit messy but it works a treat!

Don't forget to put back the spring exactly how it was, and also the plastic retaining washer to keep it in place.

Test it a few times with a floppy disk before putting everything back together.

(Sorry forgot to take a picture of it afterwards).