Trying to fix spares or repairs 5.25" floppy drives from eBay

[@curtiswilbar3571]

I have enjoyed your videos. Personally I would not have removed the track zero sensor as it is another drive alignment component as is the stepper motor that you did not removed. Nice that it all worked out, though when you have another 1.2M drive sometime, you'll want to test interchange between them (with high density media) to see if everything is aligned well. The best thing would be an oscilloscope and a drive alignment diskette, but that gets expensive if your only doing a few drives. Keep the videos coming.

[@chriswareham]

That Swing Cafe tune gave me a flashback to The Fast Show ... "Hello. And welcome to Jazz Club."

[@MarkTheMorose]

"Nice..."

[@chriswareham]

"Greeeaaat".

[@mxc59mark19]

Nice video. Do you check the alignment and read write data stability. If you need help with this let me know.

[@keithbeesting]

Nice video. I see you still have the Digipos PC next to the 486 did you ever have any joy finding a modern replacement for the psu?

[@CRG]

Not yet but its on the cards for an upcoming video.

[@keithbeesting]

@@CRG Nice one look forward to it love mine just wish I could sort out a better psu.

[@philpem]

It's probably worth trying to read that disk you formatted in another 5.25in drive -- or read a preformatted disk in the drive you repaired. By removing the index sensor and heads, you've probably thrown the alignment off. If you're lucky it might be good enough to work as-is, otherwise you're going to need an alignment disk...

[@CRG]

That was my intention with the second drive but unfortunately with the damage that's out and I don't actually have any other drives. Don't have any other disks for that matter either. I will try to get some 1.2mb disks and fingers crossed it reads but as you say it might need aligned.

[@Vanders456]

Would anyone have thought 30 years ago that a working 5.25" floppy drive was so important that anyone would spend their time stripping one down and repairing it? I know I've thrown out more 3.5" drives than I could count...

[@dennisp.2147]

My local e-waste recycler had pallets and pallets of 1.44 drives, sitting outside in the rain about 10 years ago. I had plenty, i thought, so never grabbed any. I wish now I had searched through and grabbed some oddballs, like 720k, 2,88 or PS/2.

[@raymatton7564]

I loaded a game disk off ebay into my 5 1/4 floppy drive in my 486 , it made a aweful squealing noise for about 15 seconds then quit. A friend of mine told me he thinks that old game floppy had mold or dust build up , which I did not see. I took the drive out of my 486 to clean the heads same way as you did , lubed the stepper motor shaft also. I put the drive back into the PC and now it will not read any disks. Tells me Failed , Retry , Abort. What do you think could be my issue ? I love your content I follow all your superb videos closely.

[@CRG]

Sorry to hear you're having problems. Did you remove the track 0 sensor? It might be the case that needs realigned. Beyond that all I could suggest is trying to clean it again or making sure the bios settings are correct for the drive, i.e. its set to the type of drive you have installed.

[@pc4ad]

You could put it to use as a 720kB 3.5'' drive. It is an 80 track-drive and 360kB drives most likely are not able to read those 360k disks properly when written with an 1.2meg drive because the tracks are only half the width. :)

[@semloh1870]

I enjoy watching your informative videos and have tried out some of your fixes. Do you think you could make a video on repairing IDE CD/DVD drives. I have many that won't work- various problems with trays not opening or trays opening and closing constantly. Thanks for the content.

[@CRG]

Sorry for the late reply. I too have a few old cd drives like that so yes I'll see about getting a video done. Might be a few weeks as I've got others things planned but leave it with me.

[@alexloktionoff6833]

Can you give an idea where to get working 5"25 floppy motor driver board? Or where to get the schematics?

[@CRG]

Sorry I don't know were you could get a floppy drive motor board other than from a spare board. In terms of schematics the best I could suggest is googling the model number of the drive and seeing what comes up.

[@matthewday7565]

There was a time you couldn't give a 5 1/4" floppy drive away - if you need them, I might have an odd one, I know I have one that's been on my shelf for years, but can't remember if it's an 80 track DS/DD (BBC Micro) or a 1.2MB PC

[@CRG]

Always interested in adding to the collection. If you have anything you can drop me an email [e-mail]

[@PJBonoVox]

How the heck did that head get ripped out? Can't imagine how that could happen in normal operation 🤔

[@CRG]

Only thing I can think of is someone has forced something into the drive knocking it out. Don't think a floppy disk would be able to do that though.

[@dennisp.2147]

It kind of blows my mind that £15/$20 is now considered a bargain for a 1.2mb floppy drive! It seems not that long ago when you couldn't give them away. I remember buying a lot of 10 for $5 from our local recycler. On further thought though, that was almost 20 years ago. And again, when I was in High School, they cost several hundred dollars, new...

[@CRG]

I know but good working examples are upwards of £45-£50 these days. If I had of known all those years ago I would of bought up all sorts of retro tech. Makes you think what of this generation will be worth money in the future.

[@dennisp.2147]

@@CRG It would probably be worth grabbing high-end graphics cards, processors and upgrade-ware on about a 15 year rolling scale. I was able to pick up 286 to 486 upgrade chips and such for around $20 15 years ago. Even less for Pentium 1, 2 and 3 upgrades from places like PowerLeap and Kingston. 3DFX cards were similarly priced on eBay at the time. All of those sell for hundreds now. I suspect whatever the equivalent top-of-the-line CPU for a specific socket or high end graphics card or specific upgrade hardware circa 2005-06 will appreciate similarly as Gen Z ages and becomes nostalgic for their old rigs, like my generation did for the 8 bit stuff.

[@matthewplehn4271]

.the little metal part that you discovered loose?..didnt see that get fixed .....i know you fixed it but skipped the footage of the ACTUAL fix...im assuming since the other drive was designed to operate with both heads intact it wouldnt work with just the one head?..since some models only had one head?

[@CRG]

Sorry I didn't film that bit. I just removed the bracket and bent it straight with a pair of pliers. I don't think the other drive would work single sided. The logic on the board isn't designed for that function plus without the head the metal frame would be hitting the disk which would soon wreck it. I'll keep the drive for spare, you never know maybe I'll find another one someday.

[@СашаИванов-у2ц3с]

Fake. And who will align track 00? And the alignment of the heads, even if the motor was not removed?