Kaypro 2X disk eject question

[SMichelsen]

I have a Kaypro 2X - I am just getting familiar with it. Today I popped in a floppy, then attempted to eject it. I pushed the button in - it stayed in - and the floppy stayed in as well. I poked at the button several times with no result, then let it sit as I did other things. About 20 minutes later I hear a sharp sound, and lo and belhold, the disk had finally ejected. What's going on here? Is there something that needs fixing inside the floppy drive?

 

[durgadas311]

Drives that have been sitting for a long time tend to suffer from hardening of the grease/lubricant. I had to take mine out of the shell and carefully re-hydrate (don't actually use water!!!) with a little lightweight machine oil (sewing machine oil to us old guys). Then working the mechanism (with either the head-protector card or a junk diskette) to loosen it up. Be very careful not to get oil anywhere but on the eject/latch mechanism. micro-drops!!!

 

[VERAULT]

Yep i am familiar with those drives. The lube has turned to gum. They need to be taken out.. Cleaned and relubed.

 

[SMichelsen]

is there any data on these drives, and/or a step-by-step on refurbing them? What's the make and model? I see that not all 2X's have this style drive - I guess I got lucky. I just now opened up the case; is there anything in particular I need to be careful or wary of? It looks like I can pull the cables from the back of the drive, undo the four bolts with a hex key, and slide the drive out the front of the case. Is that correct? I surely would rather not have to mess with removing that motherboard!

OH WAIT - it looks like I can remove four screws from the bottom of the case, undo all the cables and lift out the entire floppy drive cage. Is that the preferred way to deal with this?

 

[VERAULT]

Yes take out the drive cage. Its not convenient but its the most straightforward way. You can take off the drive pcb and the faceplate. Clean up the drive. Clean the heads. Clean off the old grease and re lubricate. I use white lithium from a tube.. Its all preferance really. Documentation? Doubt it.. Just take apsrt making notrs and go in the reverse order to rrassemble. Only do one drive and then test to ensure its working. DO NOT adjust the head alignment screw on the bottom of the drive.

 

[durgadas311]

The drives were made by Epson, but I don't remember the model number. I would not recommend trying to slide the drives out the front. I think you can damage the drive PCB that way, and I don't think they fit. Yes, remove the whole drive shield/cage. Even at that, it is a tricky extraction. Lots of things interfere inside the kaypro case.

 

[SMichelsen]

...Yes, remove the whole drive shield/cage. Even at that, it is a tricky extraction. Lots of things interfere inside the kaypro case.

Wow, you're not kidding. This is a terrible place to put a screw (the back of the floppy drive, under the connector!) And why won't that pink thing just slide off?

 

[VERAULT]

I found a spare drive on the shelf so I will share some photos.



This shows the screws to remove for the PCB and under the PCB is a plate with all the moving parts you need to clean and lubricate. Its been a few years since I did it so if I miss some steps they should seems obvious to you in disassembly.


I believe this is the screw I said to NOT REMOVE or it affects head alignment:



And that ground plug will slide off, probably just oxidized a bit.. Tug at it with needle nose pliers.. Its not essential. Everything seems to have had a surplus in ground straps at the time.

 

[alank2]

I find that carefully rocking those ground type plugs back and forth usually works to get them off.

Worst case, what if you keep operating the mechanism, will it loosen up and work? (maybe this is a bad idea and some lubrication is the only good fix, but just a thought).

 

[VERAULT]

Its over 35 years old.. IT needs a little TLC. No way around it.