• Please review our updated Terms and Rules here

Cannot remove 5 1/4 from drive

telengard

Member
Joined
Nov 27, 2004
Messages
45
Location
Hudson, NH
I have a Teac FD-55BV which works very well, but recently disks have started become stuck. The reason seems to be that, although the lever arm raises, the actual head assembly and the circular thing that keeps the disk in place gets stuck.
I've tried lubricating (very lightly) any of the joints, etc but it still gets stuck. From what I can tell, the circular plastic thing gets stuck in the circular part of the frame. I'm not sure how well I'm describing it, so I've posted some pics.

One thing I tried, which worked, was to add a little additional foam to the part that ends up resting on the disk. It kept the assembly from going down so far it gets stuck, but the pressure caused the disk to not spin. :(

Hoping someone here might have some ideas on what to try. It'd be a shame to ditch a working drive due to this.

The side pictures try and show the white plastic piece which sinks into the circle, that's what seems to be getting stuck.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_6767.jpg
    IMG_6767.jpg
    1.7 MB · Views: 30
  • IMG_6765.jpg
    IMG_6765.jpg
    1.5 MB · Views: 30
  • IMG_6766.jpg
    IMG_6766.jpg
    1.5 MB · Views: 30
Last edited:
Sounds like the Cone/Clutch Assembly plastic is getting mushy, or the spring that pops it back up is losing strength due to age? You're sure there isn't anything sticky stuck on the bottom of the cone or on top of the spindle correct...
 
It looks to me like the arm that lifts the assembly has slipped off its lifting point. Look at the center picture, there is a pin next to the springs and fraction further towards the back a flat section of metal that connects to the mechanism.

Did you pull the lever forward when trying maintenance? Track down a TEAC manual and make sure all the components are in the correct place.
 
Sounds like the Cone/Clutch Assembly plastic is getting mushy, or the spring that pops it back up is losing strength due to age? You're sure there isn't anything sticky stuck on the bottom of the cone or on top of the spindle correct...
I've cleaned it out many times, it seems to be a friction fit going on.
 
It looks to me like the arm that lifts the assembly has slipped off its lifting point. Look at the center picture, there is a pin next to the springs and fraction further towards the back a flat section of metal that connects to the mechanism.

Did you pull the lever forward when trying maintenance? Track down a TEAC manual and make sure all the components are in the correct place.
That part seems to be working, but I have nothing to compare it to, I'll check the manual. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out the culprit and it could be that. It does work, but the amount of pressure the lever puts when closing seems to press that white cone thing such that it gets stuck.
 
The spring is definitely not that springy lol. I'll try replacing that first, although I'm not sure what those types of springs are called with the little hooks. I don't think I have anything like that lying around the house.
 
Looks like you are missing a chunk of metal where I’m pointing with a screw driver:

IMG_4516.jpeg

Unless that is just a normal variation

Edit: now that I look closer it is normal because the other side (where a different lever would be attached) is the same shape on your drive.
 
Last edited:
I managed to fix it tonight, and the issue seems to be the little white circular thing. I had a different, working TEAC and swapped the 2 and now the non-working one works, and the working one doesn't. So strange. I've attached a picture of the 2 different things. Left is the working one, right is the one that fits too snug when closing the lever. I also proved this out by removing the c-clip and pressing down and the white thing was in there GOOD, I had to pry it out. I guess it's also possible that the little arm that presses down is doing it too hard. I'm not sure if that can be adjusted.

Are there names for these white circular things? I now need to find one of these so I can have both of these drives working. :)

thank you everyone for all of the awesome ideas, so much knowledge on this forum!
 

Attachments

  • IMG_6777.jpg
    IMG_6777.jpg
    2.1 MB · Views: 11
It’s called a collet or collet hub in most of the manuals I’ve seen. The part it mates with is sometimes called the spindle cup.
 
Recently I've had this happen with TEAC drives when using disks that do not have reinforcement rings. Once the collet decides to let go, the center hole appears to be stretched forming the slightest rolled edge of the holes periphery.
 
Yeah, it's so strange. It definitely gets stuck in there, I verified by removing the c clip and pushing and observing what happens. The swapped in one is working great.
 
Back
Top