Sony Double sided 3.5" drive head (HP9133)

From: Joe <rigdonj_at_intellistar.net>
Date: Tue Jul 27 22:12:03 1999

Tony,

  I have plenty of those drives. If you can wait a month, I'll send one
back with Wlodek. He and I will both be at the Portland conference. If you
can't wait then I can mail it.

  Hmmm, now that I'm thinking of it. Do you have any HP service info that I
might find handy? You could send it over with Wlodek. I really could use
some stuff on the HP 9800 series machines.

   Joe

At 09:12 PM 7/27/99 +0100, you wrote:
>I was working on the floppy drive in one of my HP9133 drive units when I
>made a terrible mistake. At the time I had the top cover off the drive,
>and the logic board unscrewed as well. And I managed to drop the drive
>about 1m onto a hard floor. This did an amazing amount of damage (in
>rough order of seriousness) :
>
>Small crack in one corner of the logic board. I've soldered wires across
>the breaks, and it seems to be fine now.
>
>Front LED broken in half (!). The frontpanel itself is fine. I still have
>to get a new LED, but it's a standard size.
>
>Disk holder bent in several places. I've taken this to bits and
>straightened it. It should be OK now.
>
>Head load solenoid bracket bent. Again, I've taken it to bits. It's a
>pain to straighten, but it should be OK now. It's not particularly critical.
>
>Spindle motor stuck mechanically. The reason was that the upper bearing,
>a ball race, had moved down slightly, so the rotor rubbed on the coils. I
>took it to bits, made a suitable stepped drift, tapped out the bearings
>(do this from the bottom - the lower bush will move all the way up to the
>top bearing and push it out), and put the back in the right position. It
>now seems fine, runs when powered up, and the index pulse freqeuncy is
>correct at 10Hz (these drives turn at 600rpm).
>
>Upper head mangled beyond repair. I am not joking. The suspension spring
>for the head arm (not the gimbal spring) is kinked. The head core is
>cracked. The windings have been ripped off and are open-circuit. No way
>can I fix that.
>
>So, I think I can fix the rest of it, but I need a new head assembly. I
>also will have to align it - can I use a normal alignment disk (which I
>don't have, but may be able to get) on these drives. Also, according to
>the Sony manual for the single-sided version, I need a special 'gear
>driver' to move the stepper motor. This goes into a hole in the back of
>the drive and teeth on it engage with teeth on the stepper motor flange.
>Does anyone have this tool, and could measure it so I can have a go at
>making one?
>
>Any ideas where to find a head, preferably in the UK? This is the
>double-sided 600rpm Sony 3.5" drive used on several HP machines, and
>probably elsewhere.
>
>-tony
>
>
Received on Tue Jul 27 1999 - 22:12:03 BST