Re: DuoDisk - Three Questions

["Luke Forat" <iceman@nospam.digidude.homeip.net>]

    Hi,

    regarding your disk drive light, have you tried resoldering the ripped 
off cable or is there no room to do this (read: the legs totally ripped off 
from the light)? This is the only part I have not disassembled from my 
duodrive, but I assume it is a standard green LED, and so it can be easily 
replaced and soldered back on to the existing cable (check polarity).

    About disassembling the duodrive, I can give you a brief description 
about this, even if you probably won't need to do anything because the 
mechanism is very sturdy and durable (mine has over 20 years and works like 
a charm, and I used it thoroughly in the past!).
    To open the drive, you just need to unscrew the screws underneath the 
cabinet and the top will lift off. Then you will see the 2 drives. The 
drives are mechanically identical; however drive 1 also houses the 
electronics board that controls both drives. I swapped the drives around 
some time ago so that drive 1 would get "some slack" from booting and drive 
2 would "catch up". The drives are hooked together through a metal brace - 
the whole mechanism can be lifted from the back and pulled away, being 
careful to help this extraction with your hands and not forcing it. Remember 
to unplug the activity leds from the board. With the drives in your hands 
you can pretty much see everything so you can spray some compressed air to 
get the dust out if you have any (I didn't). Check the head mechanism and 
see if there are still traces of white grease (silicon grease) on it which 
it should. If you need to clean the head, you must only use ISOPROPYL 
alcohol, which leaves not traces - don't use regular household alcohol as 
this addtionally contains coloured pigments which stain.
    Swapping the drives around is possible, but if you're not handy with 
this sort of thing then I don't advise it. It involves removing the logic 
board and unplugging the drive cables and the head signal cables separating 
the 2 drives, opening drive 2 protective cover, rerouting the signal cable 
and motor cable to match drive 1, then placing the cover from drive 2 back 
on drive 1 after having rerouted drive 1's cables to match drive 2, flipping 
them around and mounting the logics back on drive 2, which is now drive one 
and hooking the back together.
    If you ever decide to unplug the drives' motor cables, remembed which is 
pin number 1 - pin n.1 on the pcb is marked and it is actually also on the 
connector with a small arrow if you look for it, but just keep this in mind 
so you don't do anything silly. Also, keep in mind which connector is for 
drive 1 and which is for drive 2. The head microphonic signal cable cannot 
be connected the wrong way around as it is asymmetric and in any case 
flipping it around would not damage anything - it is a high impedance input.

    I know this is a quick description, but at least the major points should 
be covered.

    Luke

"Great Hierophant" <great_hierophant@hotmail.com> ha scritto nel messaggio 
1136861662.671422.326630@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com">news:1136861662.671422.326630@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
> canibalize another drive.  Anyone know where I could find a cheap
> replacement?
>
> Third, how do you clean a DuoDisk?  I fear that if I go into the case
> again without guidance, I will screw up the disk drive workings while
> trying to clean the drive heads.  Also, I'm sure a lot of dirt and dust
> has entered the drives in the twenty years since it was first used.
> What needs to be cleaned and what are the most effective and thourough
> ways to clean the parts?
>
> Finally, if I have an Apple IIe Composite Monitor sitting on top of the
> Duo Disk, which itself is sitting on top of my Apple IIe Platinum, is
> there a danger of the plastic of either cracking or breaking?
>