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Fixing original qume drives from the ibm portable

soviet9922

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Jun 12, 2013
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Montevideo, Uruguay
Hi, have my ibm portable up and running again.
The unit looks brand new even got the original ibm bag floppys manual etc.

But none of the 2 qume 360k 5.25 drives work, i formatted some 360k dsdd floppy's on my 286 that have a nice hd drive working.
The qume drives TYPE HF65A-B12Q (they say ibm in the plastic front black color) refuse to boot from any floppy i do, i have read that they have speed issues and they need to have the motor speed adjusted im not sure if this is correct.
The belts look to be fine in booth units they are very clean and seem to have little use.

Somebody have experience fixing this drives ?.

Thanks!.
 
Since the 286 has a high density drive it can't reliably format/write double density disks that can be read on 360K drives. In order to be sure you will need to use a disk that was made on a 360K drive.
 
Since the 286 has a high density drive it can't reliably format/write double density disks that can be read on 360K drives. In order to be sure you will need to use a disk that was made on a 360K drive.

i see going to hook the qume drive to my 286 and generate the disk imagenes using it to be sure.
 
... , i have read that they have speed issues and they need to have the motor speed adjusted im not sure if this is correct.
The belts look to be fine in booth units they are very clean and seem to have little use.

Somebody have experience fixing this drives ?.

Thanks!.

Since the 5155 is a favorite of mine, I've worked on several of the Qume Trak 142's. They are not that hard to work on. I've found the biggest issue with these is the lube drying out on the rails and the spindle motor bearings. So, before you make ANY adjustments, make sure to clean and lubricate the rails. If you find the speed is off, don't adjust it until you verify that the motor and spindle bearings are lubed and running freely. On the first one I serviced, I made the mistake of attempting to adjust the motor speed with sticky bearings. I found that I could not attain a stable speed until I lubricated the motor bearings. Maybe if I had lubed it first a speed adjustment would not have been required!!
 
Since the 5155 is a favorite of mine, I've worked on several of the Qume Trak 142's. They are not that hard to work on. I've found the biggest issue with these is the lube drying out on the rails and the spindle motor bearings. So, before you make ANY adjustments, make sure to clean and lubricate the rails. If you find the speed is off, don't adjust it until you verify that the motor and spindle bearings are lubed and running freely. On the first one I serviced, I made the mistake of attempting to adjust the motor speed with sticky bearings. I found that I could not attain a stable speed until I lubricated the motor bearings. Maybe if I had lubed it first a speed adjustment would not have been required!!

Do you recomend some kind of lube ? wd-40 could be ok ?
 
I don't recommend wd-40 as a lubricant. It evaporates to readily. It makes a good solvent though. I used a silicone spray lube. However, I did not spray it on the parts directly. I sprayed it into a small container i.e. the cap from the spray can and used a Q-tip to apply it to the rails. I then used a small syringe to apply it to the motor bearings. Note, you will need to remove the pc board from the drive to get good access to the rails. I don't remember for sure, but I think I had to remove the spindle drive motor to get access to it's bearings. DO NOT REMOVE the HEAD STEPPER MOTOR, or HEAD CARRIAGE ASSEMBLY or RAILS or anything else that could affect head alignment.
 
I don't recommend wd-40 as a lubricant. It evaporates to readily. It makes a good solvent though. I used a silicone spray lube. However, I did not spray it on the parts directly. I sprayed it into a small container i.e. the cap from the spray can and used a Q-tip to apply it to the rails. I then used a small syringe to apply it to the motor bearings. Note, you will need to remove the pc board from the drive to get good access to the rails. I don't remember for sure, but I think I had to remove the spindle drive motor to get access to it's bearings. DO NOT REMOVE the HEAD STEPPER MOTOR, or HEAD CARRIAGE ASSEMBLY or RAILS or anything else that could affect head alignment.

Thanks for the tip going to try this.
 
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