Repairing DISK ][ Drives

[markus@husky.uucp]

Hello again, fellow Apple ][ enthusiasts!

("HELLO, JEFF!")

Well, once again I am in need of the infinite wisdom of you netters out there.

Here is my story:	I have an Apple //e Platinum and two 144K disk drives.
One is a half height "no-name" drive -- which works flawlessly, and the other 
is a full height DISK ][ clone drive, which has been given me much trouble for
quite some time now.

To be specific (if I may),  when I access the full height drive (known hereafter
as the drive) it spins and spins, and grinds a bit and then returns an I/O error.
The problem is not with the disks which I am using since they work fine the the
half height drive.

Here's the strange part.  I have devised a tool: a bent piece of plasticized
copper wire which I use as a hook ("For what?", the masses cry).  Well inside
the drive there is a metal "band" ("thingy" would be more accurate) which rides
on a metal rod (rail?).  Whenever the drive is not reading properly I fetch my
trusty hook and dive into the drive and pull the little band forward (I always
find it in the rearmost position).  Then I try again to access the drive and 
"Voila!" it sometimes works (if it doesn't I do it again until it does).

Now, as you can imagine I am getting quite tired of "fishing" for this band, and
I would really like to fix it (myself) once and for all.  Slight problem, other
than this band thingy I really have no clue what is going on.

"Won't you please, please, help me!" (Beatles)

BTW this is definitely not a software problem since I have the same difficulty, no
matter the disk, or the operating system (DOS 3.3, ProDOS, CP/M).

And I want to _FIX_ the drive -- not buy a new one.

Thank you very much, milk!

Looking forward to your incredibly knowledgeable responses.

Jeff Markus		|	"The opinions expressed by me
markus@husky.uucp	|	 are mine, and you can't have them!"