Thread
Need help repairing Sony floppy drives
I have three early Sony SuperDrive floppy drives, all of which need repairing. I have lubricated all of these drives and tried everything I can to get them functioning correctly, but alas I am not very knowledgeable about this sort of thing.
1) Sony MP-F75W-02G - Disk clamps down correctly, but the upper read/write head does not touch the disk.
2) Sony MP-F75W-11G - Disks do not clamp down correctly when inserted. Same issue with the upper read/write head as the MP-F75W-02G. When ejected, the mechanism attached to the largest spring does not end up in the position it should be in. Instead, it is about half a centimetre to the right of where it should be.
3) Sony MP-F75W-11G - Pulled from my IIci, was working perfectly until I pulled up the head a bit and now its in the same state as the MP-F75W-02G. :-/
Are these drives beyond repair? I believe than in the case of the 3rd drive, since it was functioning correctly before I pulled the head up, that it is possibly reversible. I noticed LCGuy had the same problem before, but didn't get far with repairing his drives. Indeed, when trying to replace the read/write head spring, he managed to further mangle the drive. When attempting to research these drives online I came across very little useful information, and mostly just companies selling them at high prices.
EDIT: Oops, I just read this thread again, and I will say I haven't tried Franklinstein's advice yet.
1) Sony MP-F75W-02G - Disk clamps down correctly, but the upper read/write head does not touch the disk.
2) Sony MP-F75W-11G - Disks do not clamp down correctly when inserted. Same issue with the upper read/write head as the MP-F75W-02G. When ejected, the mechanism attached to the largest spring does not end up in the position it should be in. Instead, it is about half a centimetre to the right of where it should be.
3) Sony MP-F75W-11G - Pulled from my IIci, was working perfectly until I pulled up the head a bit and now its in the same state as the MP-F75W-02G. :-/
Are these drives beyond repair? I believe than in the case of the 3rd drive, since it was functioning correctly before I pulled the head up, that it is possibly reversible. I noticed LCGuy had the same problem before, but didn't get far with repairing his drives. Indeed, when trying to replace the read/write head spring, he managed to further mangle the drive. When attempting to research these drives online I came across very little useful information, and mostly just companies selling them at high prices.
EDIT: Oops, I just read this thread again, and I will say I haven't tried Franklinstein's advice yet.
No floppy drive experts here? That's hard to believe...
If you damage the spring assemblies that control head actuation, you are currently stuffed. Once you bend the spring beyond UTS, a drive is broken. You can do this by forcing a disk from a drive or plain meddling.
"2) Sony MP-F75W-11G - Disks do not clamp down correctly when inserted": this suggests a problem with the cam/lever mechanism. Dig out a working drive and observe how the mechanism works. Compare with the faulty drive. I suspect that you are missing a spring or that one of the levers is bent.
"2) Sony MP-F75W-11G - Disks do not clamp down correctly when inserted": this suggests a problem with the cam/lever mechanism. Dig out a working drive and observe how the mechanism works. Compare with the faulty drive. I suspect that you are missing a spring or that one of the levers is bent.