Inherited a Macintosh Plus 1986 with floppy drive issue

[cendrick]

Hello everyone.

Thank you for reading and for watching the linked video.
My new inherited 1986 macintosh plus was working great. I was playing some games on it which took me back to my childhood and upon exiting a game, the disk did not eject fully and a humming noise began at the same time. The disk will not eject and when I manually eject it the humming noise continues. No disk can be inserted into the drive anymore. It does not go down into the lower position. Would this be a simple cleaning issue or could it be those motor cogs which I've heard need to be replaced in certain cases.

Regards,
Rick

video showing the issue

 

[Phipli]

Hello everyone.

Thank you for reading and for watching the linked video.
My new inherited 1986 macintosh plus was working great. I was playing some games on it which took me back to my childhood and upon exiting a game, the disk did not eject fully and a humming noise began at the same time. The disk will not eject and when I manually eject it the humming noise continues. No disk can be inserted into the drive anymore. It does not go down into the lower position. Would this be a simple cleaning issue or could it be those motor cogs which I've heard need to be replaced in certain cases.

Regards,
Rick

video showing the issue

Yeah, sounds like the gear failed.

You'll want to find a gear for an 800k floppy and fit it.

Perhaps this :

1x Apple  Macintosh GEAR for 800K or 2M SONY FLOPPY DRIVE MP-F51W MP-F75W | eBay UK

The goal again is to further drive down prices for hobbyists. Many of the gears you see listed for sale originate from my design.

www.ebay.co.uk

Or this :

Pardon our interruption...

I don't have experience with either, but you'll want to clean and lubricate the drive at the same time. There are several videos on how in YouTube.

 

[Phipli]

Be careful when you take the Plus apart. Do not run it before you dismantle it (I usually leave it off for a day at least). Take a lot of care around the back of the CRT, if you knock it, you can very easily break it and it can hold high voltage. The vertical board on the left hand side (from front) can also contain high voltages, so I usually keep my hands off it just to be on the safe side.

 

[cendrick]

Yeah, sounds like the gear failed.

You'll want to find a gear for an 800k floppy and fit it.

Perhaps this :

1x Apple  Macintosh GEAR for 800K or 2M SONY FLOPPY DRIVE MP-F51W MP-F75W | eBay UK

The goal again is to further drive down prices for hobbyists. Many of the gears you see listed for sale originate from my design.

www.ebay.co.uk

Or this :

Pardon our interruption...

I don't have experience with either, but you'll want to clean and lubricate the drive at the same time. There are several videos on how in YouTube.

Excellent. Thank you for the confirmation that was the issue and for the links. I'll get those ordered and hope for the best

 

[cendrick]

Be careful when you take the Plus apart. Do not run it before you dismantle it (I usually leave it off for a day at least). Take a lot of care around the back of the CRT, if you knock it, you can very easily break it and it can hold high voltage. The vertical board on the left hand side (from front) can also contain high voltages, so I usually keep my hands off it just to be on the safe side.

Thank you for the tip. Yes, I've seen some videos where many discharge the voltage. Do you suggest that as well or is it safe, if you are careful, to remove the motherboard and then the floppy with out discharging the crt?

 

[finkmac]

In my experience the issue is more likely to be dry lubricant and other gunk gumming up the drive rather than the gear. Although it's good to have it and be prepared!

Watch this video, good tutorial on lubrication.

 

[Phipli]

Thank you for the tip. Yes, I've seen some videos where many discharge the voltage. Do you suggest that as well or is it safe, if you are careful, to remove the motherboard and then the floppy with out discharging the crt?

Truth be told, for this I wouldn't specifically discharge. You can keep away from them if you're careful to remove the drive.

You don't need to remove the logic board (motherboard).

 

[Phipli]

In my experience the issue is more likely to be dry lubricant and other gunk gumming up the drive rather than the gear. Although it's good to have it and be prepared!

Watch this video, good tutorial on lubrication.

Not in this case - you can hear the motor spinning because the mechanism isn't returning to its home position.

 

[cendrick]

In my experience the issue is more likely to be dry lubricant and other gunk gumming up the drive rather than the gear. Although it's good to have it and be prepared!

Watch this video, good tutorial on lubrication.

Great! I hope you are correct and I'll get that gear just to be on the safe side once I open it up

 

[cendrick]

Truth be told, for this I wouldn't specifically discharge. You can keep away from them if you're careful to remove the drive.

You don't need to remove the logic board (motherboard).

oh! I thought the screws holding the floppy casing in place was blocked by the motherboard. Do you have a video link that may show the process? And thank you for your help on this.

 

[ClassicGuyPhilly]

Welcome to the board and congrats on the Plus! Here are my notes on floppy cleaning if they help any - https://68kmla.org/bb/index.php?threads/rescued-what-i-thought-was-a-mac-ii.44257/post-489303

 

[cendrick]

Welcome to the board and congrats on the Plus! Here are my notes on floppy cleaning if they help any - https://68kmla.org/bb/index.php?threads/rescued-what-i-thought-was-a-mac-ii.44257/post-489303

Thank you. I'll take a look

 

[Phipli]

oh! I thought the screws holding the floppy casing in place was blocked by the motherboard. Do you have a video link that may show the process? And thank you for your help on this.

Hum, I might be mistaken. I was assuming it was going to be like taking a floppy drive out of an SE (the replacement model), but that is a different arrangement. Sorry about that I should have thought more.

Regardless, there are no high voltages on the logic board, so you'll be fine.

 

[cendrick]

Hum, I might be mistaken. I was assuming it was going to be like taking a floppy drive out of an SE (the replacement model), but that is a different arrangement. Sorry about that I should have thought more.

Regardless, there are no high voltages on the logic board, so you'll be fine.

Excellent. I appreciate that clarification

 

[cendrick]

Update:
Hello everyone. My repair is going well. Took the mac case off, took of the floppy drive and found the stripped gear. See photos below. I now have a new issue. As I was cleaning the drive, I took the extra initiative to clean the lower plate but one of the metal clips flew off the stud and is nowhere to be found. Any ideas on how to replace this?

 

[croissantking]

It’s just a plastic washer. You can buy new ones on eBay. Measure the old one’s inner diameter and match it.

 

[croissantking]

Or I can send you a couple of spares if you want to cover international postage.

 

[Phipli]

Probably easier to keep looking. I shine a torch at low level over the floor so it casts long, visible shadows.

 

[croissantking]

I've certainly been down on my hands and knees a number of times. It's always that one component that flies off. The worst thing is the gaps between the floorboards that I have.

 

[Phipli]

I've certainly been down on my hands and knees a number of times. It's always that one component that flies off. The worst thing is the gaps between the floorboards that I have.

I don't bother removing those washers, you can flush out the old grease with IPA and place new grease strategically to get most places, and the mechanism has then moved freely enough.

My SE drive :