Re: Where to buy disk cleaning kit?

[Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net>]

ymca@daycare.com writes ...
> 
> Ruby,
> 
> Already went to Radio Shack and disk clearning kit says for PC's only.
> When did that include Apple & Mac drives?
>

     As Nathan says, your drives don't care. My Cleaner Diskettes are
from Radio Shack. The 5.25" diskette has panels your pop out to expose
the cleaning surface-- for A2 drives, pop out the one on the bottom side
and leave the top side panel in place. When cleaning, insert the
diskette with the bottom side facing down.

     The reason for the snap-out panels is that, when there is one head,
the side opposite the head is a pressure pad. Having the top panel in
place keeps you from trying to clean the pressure pad (which would tend
to wear out both the pad and the Cleaner Diskette).

     The 3.5" diskette has a small plastic panel you can snap out for
cleaning two-head drives. Since the GS 3.5" drive has two heads, snap
out the panel so that both the top and bottom heads get wiped.

     A few months ago, someone (I think it was Mitchell Spector) made a
comment about possibly damaging 3.5" drives with Cleaner Diskettes. It
is something to consider. As already noted, the heads in 3.5" drives are
not nearly so ruggedly mounted as the one in, say, a Disk ][ drive
(relatively speaking, the Disk ][ is 'built like a tank'). 

     Should a 3.5" Cleaner Diskette become worn, a bad spot or trailing
paper fibers might snag a head and pull it off its mounting or bend it
out of alignment. So, after 8-10 uses, it's a good idea to start
checking the paper surface for wear (rotate it by hand to check the
entire surface on both sides) before each use. Also, about 20 seconds of
continuous spin should be enough to do cleaning. One or two minutes of
continuous or nearly continuous spin could build up enough heat to
soften the adhesive holding the heads to their mountings. 

     As for the "PC only" notice on the Disk Drive Cleaner Kit package,
at Radio Shack, it's probably intended to warn buyers that the kit is
not intended for cleaning toasters.
  


Rubywand