Floppy stuck in 512KE's drive.

[TheMacGuy]

So for my first compact Mac, I picked up a 512KE. And it worked great! Until I put in my first floppies. I ordered disks for Mac OS 1.1 and Finder 1.0 I believe, plus a storage disk. I put in the System Disk and it fine for about 15 times. Then I went to eject the disk for the 15th time. It started making this very loud buzzing noise. So I shut it down and started it back up again. No luck. I tried the pin hole, still no luck. Tried pulling out the disk forcefully with pliers, still no luck! I'm trying not to have to open because of the CRT. The System Disk was in there, and it still boots up, although it still makes a very loud buzzing noise. How can I fix this? I want to have a :beige: again.

Thanks.

 

[nvdeynde]

Are you sure it's a 800K floppy drive instead of a 400K one ?

The 800K drives don't suffer from stiction as bad as the 400K drives do. However during the years, probably a large amount of dust has accumulated in the drive and the old grease on the mechanism that holds that floppy disc can harden up so it gets stuck in the end.

Never use force to get a disc out of the drive or you will damage the mechanism beyond repair.

There's only one way to solve this and that it opening up the Mac, take the loading mechanism of the drive apart and clean it.

For instructions has to service the drive, have a look at this topic:

http://68kmla.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=18790

There can be multiple causes for your problem but without opening the case and disassembling the floppy drive, you won't find it.

It can be dirty sensors, a jammed eject motor,..

A Mac 512K might not be the best option as a first Compact Mac as they are pretty old and need servicing.

A lot of fellow collectors, including myself, have already started with recapping the Analog board of these early Compact Macs as the capacitors are degraded after 25 years.

There' s a lot of usefull info on the forum, however in the end technical knowledge on electronics is required to keep your collection up and running.

Good Luck,

Nico

 

[TheMacGuy]

Are you sure it's a 800K floppy drive instead of a 400K one ?

Positive. Its able to read double-sided 800K floppies. Thanks for the info.

 

[Mark Newlon]

Hey! I'm having the exact same issue with the 512Ke I just picked up. I'll have to take mine apart.

In the meantime, can the drive mechanism of the Apple 3.5 Drive (A9M0106) be installed as the 512Ke's internal drive?

From the info I've found, the A9M0106 is supposed to be an 800k unit. Am I correct in that assumption? They do not seem to be the exact unit, as the ext. drives don't have that "800k snaggletooth thing" the 512Ke's have.


Any info would be helpful. Thanks!

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

the issue with eject is because there's a gear in the eject motor that disintegrates.
There are various options for replacement, just google "macintosh floppy drive gear".

 

[Mark Newlon]

Thank you-I'll check it out!

In the meantime, can the ext floppy unit be installed inside?

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

Not sure about that

 

[Big Ben]

IIRC, it is possible, but not sure it's worth it since the drive should work fine externaly and the Mac could work without the inner drive connected.

 

[pezter22]

I just recently worked on my 512k and had an issue with the eject mechanism being stuck. I cleaned it up and applied new lithium grease, but it still wouldn't move. I watched this short YouTube video over and over just to watch how the disk is ejected. I found my issue and placed a few drops of 3M oil (red circle) on the stuck parts and let it sit overnight. The next day I cleaned up the oil and it worked itself loose. It's working again.

 

[volvo242gt]

Thank you-I'll check it out!

In the meantime, can the ext floppy unit be installed inside?

Yes, you can do that. Then, you can get a FDHD mechanism from a later Mac and install that inside the A9M0106 for use on machines like the SE FDHD, SE/30, IIcx, IIci, and IIsi, which have the updated SWIM chip. On older Macs, like your 512Ke, the FDHD mechanism will emulate the stock 800K mechanism.

 

[mg.man]

the issue with eject is because there's a gear in the eject motor that disintegrates.

Not if its a 400k drive - which is what the video @pezter22 refers to. I'm not sure if the 512Ke came with a 400k drive, though, so if it is a 800k, then it could well be the gear has disintegrated.

 

[mg.man]

I'm not sure if the 512Ke came with a 400k drive

Just checked, 512Ke = 800k floppy. So it's likely the gear.

 

[bibilit]

Yes, i agree, 512k was sold with the 400k drive, while the 512Ke (extended IIRC) was sold with the new 800k one.

But, most machines are several decades old now, so anything is possible, meaning that until the back cover has not been removed…no one can sure.

Without removing the back cover, you can have a look at the drive opening, if you can see a red light glowing, you have a 400k drive for sure.

 

[Crutch]

“Enhanced”