[Coco] Cleaning Coco disks (gene heskett)

[Robert Gault]

Andrew wrote:
> Gene (or anyone else),
>
> Would you know of any tutorials or anything on how to clean and adjust 5.25"
> drives in general (and CoCo drives in particular)?
>
> I haven't been successful at finding any cleaning disks (long out of
> manufacture, I imagine - though I remember reading back in the day that they
> weren't really recommended?).
>

You don't need cleaning disks. Blow any dust out of the drive, oil the head 
support tubes with light sewing machine oil, and maybe wipe video head cleaner 
over the head surfaces using one of the swabs that come with the cleaner.

> Is it possible to adjust drives without needing more than the drive and maybe a
> known-good floppy? I own a couple of dual-trace scopes if that would help...
>

Unless you have a special alignment disk, don't even think about trying to align 
the head assembly. All you should need to do is make sure the drive spins within 
+-5% of 300 rpm with a disk inserted that spins freely. Don't use a squashed 
disk that has excessive rotational friction.
Drives contain speed adjustment pots and also have strobe patterns that can be 
used to set the rotational speed.

> I have a few of these older drives in my collection, and I just want to make
> them last as long as possible...

The drives will probably outlast you if you keep them clean. :)

>
> Thank you,
>
> -- Andrew L Ayers, Glendale, Arizona
>