Re: How to adjust the speed of floppy drives?

[Ernest <leucoplast@seanet.NOSPAM.com>]

Michael J. Mahon wrote:

> The usual reason for wanting a convenient speed adjustment was to
> copy disks protected by nibble-counted tracks.  In normal use, it is
> practically never necessary to adjust disk speed.

LOL! That makes more sense. I wonder why he didn't just say that? Paranoid
old coot, I guess.

> It sounds like they are pretty far out of adjustment--the main downside
> to having a front-panel speed adjustment is that little fingers like to
> twiddle knobs.  ;-)

Well I've certainly twiddled around with it. :o) Fortunately, you need a
tiny little screw driver to twiddle with them properly.
 
> You don't need a strobe light, just a flourescent light will do.  Just
> turn the speed adjustment slowly until the appropriate (60Hz) band appears
> to stop rotating.  (Even a small, bright incandescent lamp can make the
> bands visible--it has to do with how light the filament is, so that it can
> change brightness significantly within 1/120th of a second.  For example,
> a night light illuminating the flywheel in a relatively dark room also
> works.)

Very cool! I'll have to try that. 
 
> BTW, if they are _really_ far out of adjustment, there may be more than
> one adjustment setting that causes the ring to appear to stand still.  In
> that case, try the one closest to the middle of the adjustment range, then
> --if it doesn't work--try others.

I'll hope for the easy way. :o)

> I think you can do it yourself without much trouble.  This is a useful
> skill for a collector of old gear.  ;-)

That is a DAMN good thing to know. I'll give it a try and report back. 
 
> Report back if you have any trouble--or even if you don't!  ;-)

Will do. Thanks for your (as usual) excellent advice.

E.