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Cleaning Heads on Floppy Drive - Making it worse??

maxtherabbit

maxtherabbit

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VA, USA
I've been going around to my 3.5" floppy drives and cleaning the heads. On two different drives that were working prior to my cleaning them, after cleaning they both left small arcs on a disk that I carefully examined to have a pristine surface prior to reading it in the drive.

I have been using 70% isopropyl alcohol on a chamois wrapped wooden stick (designed and sold for cleaning VCR heads) and waiting 20 minutes after cleaning to insure that any residual alcohol evaporates.

In both instances the damage was on the top surface of the disk - I've been careful not to push on the top head too hard because I know it "floats" but is it possible I'm disaligning it somehow?

What the heck am I doing wrong here?
 
I suspect that you've damaged the upper head suspension--but that's just a guess. The small springs that support most upper heads are very delicate. If you must manually clean heads (rather than using a cleaning disk), you should never use a side-to-side motion, but rather a front-to-back one.
 
Chuck(G) said:
I suspect that you've damaged the upper head suspension--but that's just a guess. The small springs that support most upper heads are very delicate. If you must manually clean heads (rather than using a cleaning disk), you should never use a side-to-side motion, but rather a front-to-back one.
Click to expand...

that's how I've always done it, in and out with respect to the drive "mouth"

on the first drive this happened with, it just stopped after a while :confused:

what's even stranger is the arc doesn't go all the way 360* around the disk, nor does the disk have any unreadable sectors now

I'm starting to wonder if the "damage" isn't damage at all, but rather some kind of residue left on the tension pads from the alcohol
 
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so I take if you don't recommend cleaning FDD heads by hand in the future? should I just pick up some cleaning diskettes?
 
Cleaning disks are a good idea for anyone that uses floppies regularly. Much less hassle.

I'd also recommend the 91% alcohol. Some of the common low quality store brand alcohol can indeed have stuff in it that can leave a residue. Although I have never seen it cause damage, it can leave minor discoloration or other ugliness.
 
maxtherabbit said:
so I take if you don't recommend cleaning FDD heads by hand in the future? should I just pick up some cleaning diskettes?
Click to expand...

Chuck(G) said:
They're generally the safest approach.
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Absolutely... and the best, too.

I've used cleaning disks on hundreds of floppy drives during the last thirty years and I've had a 100% success rate with zero casualties. What else do you need to know?
 
Stone said:
Absolutely... and the best, too.

I've used cleaning disks on hundreds of floppy drives during the last thirty years and I've had a 100% success rate with zero casualties. What else do you need to know?
Click to expand...

good to know - honestly I just assumed they were a novelty product that would be inferior to swabbing them manually (like most other "purpose built" cleaning products)
 
Nope--the only times that I've had to manually clean heads is when there's a deposit that's so stuck that cleaning disks won't budge it. It doesn't happen often, but it does happen. It's then when I haul out the Perc (Tetrachloroethylene) to handle it. Perc is not plastics-friendly, but is slightly less aggressive than acetone.

But again, I'd kill for some TF.
 
I always disassemble the drive so I can see what I'm doing. I use new clean cotton swabs ( one to loosen and at least one or more to finish ). If I can't see it, I don't do it. Most cleaning disk, made recently are safe. The heads themselves are made of really hard material. Suspension springs are a pain. Again, if I can't see the face of the head I don't do it.
Dwight
 
Dwight Elvey said:
I always disassemble the drive so I can see what I'm doing. I use new clean cotton swabs ( one to loosen and at least one or more to finish ). If I can't see it, I don't do it. Most cleaning disk, made recently are safe. The heads themselves are made of really hard material. Suspension springs are a pain. Again, if I can't see the face of the head I don't do it.
Dwight
Click to expand...
every time I've done it i held a flashlight up to the disk door (which was held open by the wooden handle) while cleaning so I could see exactly what I was swabbing, never did it blind
 
Dwight Elvey said:
I always disassemble the drive so I can see what I'm doing. I use new clean cotton swabs ( one to loosen and at least one or more to finish ). If I can't see it, I don't do it. Most cleaning disk, made recently are safe. The heads themselves are made of really hard material. Suspension springs are a pain. Again, if I can't see the face of the head I don't do it.
Click to expand...

Did you really mean that? :shock: That is, remove the carriage and the positioner, spindle motor and all electronics PCBs? If true, you must be very adroit and re-assembling the drive.
 
So when I get a new machine, I usually remove the drive so i can get to the head, rails and motors. I clean the head with a swab and IPA as well as clean and oil the mechanical parts. It's generally because they need to be cleaned and oiled anyway because they've been sitting in some storage for 20 years and are in pretty bad shape (especially old mac drives). I've not made anything worse doing this, but I'm usually pretty careful around the head because they can be bent pretty easily. 3 1/2 drives are especially easy to screw up because a lot of them don't use springs but just bent aluminum, which is pretty delicate.

Going forward i just use cleaning disks, as needed.

Side note, if you leave a computer for extended periods of time, I'd suggest leaving a disk in or leaving the bay closed in some way.. it releaves stress on the spring (again, especially 3 1/2" disks)
 
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maxtherabbit said:
good to know - honestly I just assumed they were a novelty product that would be inferior to swabbing them manually (like most other "purpose built" cleaning products)
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Heck, no. These were the standard way for normal people to clean their drives back in the day. Many systems could not be easily cleaned any other way. Of course, some of us hardcore folks just like doing things the hard way.

Really, the only time one would absolutely need to "swab" a drive is if:

- A disk has gunked a drive so bad that a cleaning disk won't work. (not too common)
- Restoring and cleaning a system that has not been used in a very long time.
- They are just too cheap to hunt down a cleaning disk :)
 
Well, you can probably make your own cleaning disks from an old floppy envelope (be sure to remove the "wiper" inside) and some nowoven sewn-in interfacing fabric, such as Pellon 70. I'm not aware of anyone having done this yet, but it should work. A yard of the stuff purchased from your local fabrics store should provide you with enough for some time.
 
Chuck(G) said:
Did you really mean that? :shock: That is, remove the carriage and the positioner, spindle motor and all electronics PCBs? If true, you must be very adroit and re-assembling the drive.
Click to expand...

Yes Chuck I take them apart so I can clearly see the surface of the heads. It is not as hard as it sounds. They are a little like a puzzle box but they all went together once and can come apart enough to see the surface of the heads.
Dwight
 
By "disassemble", I mean remove the head assemblies (including cables) from the sled, undo the tension band from the positioner, remove the slide and spindle assembly from the body--basically take the drive to pieces?

Reassembly and realignment would take most of my time--and it's not something I'd do routinely. On 3.5" drives there are just too many very small parts to deal with.

Still, if you can do this and say that it's no bother, my hat's off to you!
 
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