cleaning fopply drive

Don't do it.

Go to your nearest computer store and buy a Floppy Head Cleaner (it looks like a regular floppy. If you attempt to take the drive apart to clean the heads manually, chances are very good it will never work properly again.

Much easier to buy a new one. They are very cheap

I know they are cheap to replace but there is value in taking apart the old floppy and giving it a good cleaning. First of all, the drive is simple. There are not a whole lot of parts to be very concerned with. There is every reason to believe that it will work just fine after you clean it. After all, you are only removing the shell of the drive. Most shells are secured by only 4 small screws. Don't remove the circuit board and other components. It isn't necessary and will increase the chance of breaking it instead of cleaning it.

Vacuum it out thoroughly whilst using a brush to agitate and loosen the dust particles. Next, use a q-tip (a small one) and 99% alcohol (isopropanol) to clean the heads. Only use 99% because the 70% stuff has impurities in it that leave a residue on the heads. 99% evaporates completely with no residue.

I am not a huge fan of disk cleaners. For one thing, I am never sure just how abrasive they are. Secondly, I am not sure how well they work. I prefer the manual method so I can see how well I am doing. It is also interesting to see the oxide residue left on a q-tip after the cleaning is finished.

Relax, take your time and keep a small receptacle handy to keep the parts in as you remove them.

Let us know how you do.

It's debatable if it's worth a shot cleaning the drive. It will save you the time and hassle of replacing it (the cost is pretty insignificant)...but the benefit of having a new (known good) floppy in the system in future is probably more important really. It would really suck to damage a file or lose some data because you didn't want to spend $15 and 15 minutes replacing it.

That said, you can pick up floppy cleaning kits at just about any computer/office supply shop. They are inexpensive and probably worth giving a try. If it doesn't help after a couple of attempts and you haven't discerned a different problem troubleshooting, then just replace the drive.

Here is a great link about floppy drive troubleshooting, etc:

http://www.windsortech.com/pctbx-content-3.html

Good luck!

The problem with taking a drive apart to clean it is getting the heads aligned properly.

Not to mention, the risk for ESD damage to the electronics.

Another thing to think about, is if the drive is so dirty that you need to open it up to cleanit, how did you find out that it was dirty to begin with?

If you found that the drive was dirty from trying to use a floppy disk, it is likely that the head is now damaged.

As Tim said, at the cost of new floppy drives, it just isn't worth even 1/2 hour of your time to attempt to rescue the drive.

To prevent future problems, make sure that the case has possative air flow through a filtered inlet fan. This will keep the entire PC free of dust buildup.

Chas

Go for it?you can learn a lot from taking a floppy apart. You can learn a lot from putting one back together. That alone is worth the effort. Plus you save 15-20 bucks in the process.

There is a negligible risk to the electronics via ESD. Once the components are assembled on a cct board, they are almost impervious to damage. I know the common misconception is that ESD will ruin anything you touch unless you are properly grounded but it just isn't true. Otherwise, every electronic device you own would be toast by now. How many of you ALWAYS use a static strap? Not many I am guessing. How many of you experience pre-installation failures? Not many, I am guessing. CMOS (complimentary metal-oxide semi-conductor) devices are the most sensitive of all. They can be damaged by a very small discharge but mostly before they are assembled. After that, they are fairly safe. The reason is simple. There is a path to ground on the circuit board that tends to dissipate the static charge safely. I know there will be tons of people disagree with me. I don't care. ESD and floppy drives is just not an issue.

Secondly, you don't throw the heads out of alignment simply by touching them with a q-tip. Just how delicate do you believe these things are? They are electro-mechanical devices. They are fairly rugged you know. You can drop floppy drives and still have them work fine. It is not recommended but it has been done hundreds of times.

Besides, ?user deleted? asked us how to do it, he didn?t ask us our opinion of whether we think he should do it or not.

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