Testing Some 5.25" Floppy Disk Drives

[rjarratt]

I got some 5.25" floppy disk drives a few months ago and I finally got around to testing them.

With the NEC FD1157C I found I couldn't insert a diskette all the way in. On opening it up I found that part of the head assembly had come away. The drive appeared to work anyway, but I am not sure how critical the part is. In the picture below it is the little cover labelled "2120R" which presumably was stuck to the exposed pad on the left. If it is important what should I use to fix it back in place?

 

[djg]

Its a shield to reduce noise pickup by the head. Don't know how much it helps. It looks like it was held on by double sided foam tape. Don't know what thickness. I would just see what thickness is needed to have reasonable clearance from the disk. Will need to remove the loose residue from the metal and head. If its solid I wouldn't bother removing the glue residue. Take it easy on the head when cleaning.

 

[maxtherabbit]

in my opinion I would leave it off

they don't really do much of anything and the risk of de-aligning or damaging the head while trying to reinstall is too high

 

[rjarratt]

Thanks, I won't bother installing it. The drive seemed to work quite well without it.

 

[exemple]

I'm not familiar with this particular drive, but I've had a similar experience with a Sony MP-F52W-30 from my HP 4952. The little metal head plate shield thingy fell off and was loose inside the unit. Since it's bare metal, it could've shorted something if I had not decided to inspect the analyzer prior to power up. Something a few drops of super glue could fix with ease.

I would just remove the black sponge residue so that it doesn't turn into (more) dust and falls between the disk and he head. That could be bad.

I don't insert any of my floppies into a drive I haven't previously inspected/cleaned/lubed before.

 

[rittwage]

I don't insert any of my floppies into a drive I haven't previously inspected/cleaned/lubed before.

Words to live by...