800k drive not ejecting well

[VicNor]

My favorite SE has a floppy drive issue. That little cheese gear in the gear box finally broke. Thankfully I had a couple on order since the same gear broke on my Plus literally a month earlier.

I cleaned the gear box on the SE's floppy drive, lubricated it with silicon grease - i've used sewing machine oil before but it had escaped. The drive sounded a quite bit louder than usual - and rough. It also got stuck ejecting once due to a loose cog teeth floating around in the gear box.

For a point of reference I did the Plus floppy drive as well, but now with just the bare minimum amount of grease. At first the Plus drive was loud, but after a few ejects it sounded normal. So, I relubricated the SE floppy drive's gearbox with a lot less silicon grease and it was still loud. However, now it got stuck halfway almost every time when ejecting. I replaced the entire gear box assembly from a spare drive - with original gears, and was confirmed working. (I used it in my Plus while waiting for the gears to arrive) I also replaced the sled that keeps the floppy disk in place, because I noticed that it was scraping against the metal underneath. Still, the floppy would get stuck/stops half way when ejecting.

It's a really good floppy drive that can read stubborn 800k floppies without issue. So I wish to get it operational again. Any leads on what to do next? Is it time to recap the circuit board of the 800k floppy drive?

 

[callanbrown]

I personally kept finding more and more tiny gear teeth in my gearbox when I was having similar issues. I did find that after replacing the gear the drive sounds different, just like you said, that seems to be par for the course in replacing these gears.

 

[VicNor]

I personally kept finding more and more tiny gear teeth in my gearbox when I was having similar issues. I did find that after replacing the gear the drive sounds different, just like you said, that seems to be par for the course in replacing these gears.

Yeah, that's why I swapped the entire gear box assembly to one from another drive - to eliminate a potentially damaged motor or residual gear teeth - and yet still got the same issue. I guess that I should try to move the SE's floppy drive gear box with the new gear to another drive to make sure it's still A-OK?

 

[callanbrown]

"I replaced the entire gear box assembly from a spare drive - with original gears, and was confirmed working."

Maybe I'm misreading but it sounded like replacing the gear box fixed your issue?

In any case, did you redo the lubrication on all the metal parts? Old grease should be removed and readded in the same spots. Adrian of Adrian's Digital Basement has a good tutorial. In that same Adrian's Digital Basement video he does demonstrate a motor that is just not strong enough to reliably eject the disk.

I had some issues last time assembling my Color Classic drive after replacing the gear because I had the sled in the wrong position - it needs to be up (ejected) so the gear pin sits in the circle. If you put it back together in the disk-inserted mode the pin will sit in the wrong spot.

 

[VicNor]

Keep on reading... "Still, the floppy would get stuck/stops half way when ejecting."

Yes, I lubricated the drive in first time in July, then again in November because I got the tube with silicon grease, and again just recently. I cleaned the old lubricant off with an alcohol wipe and applied modest amounts on all moving parts and where metal touch. Where it was too tight too apply grease, I applied a drop of sewing machine oil. The drive mechanism moved smooth as silk and has a very gentle *clunk* when you insert a floppy. This isn't my first SONY drive, and I've probably done ~15 different drives by now. This is the first time I encouter this problem on a freshly cleaned and lubricated drive.

I might need to rewatch that video regarding the motor. All I remember is that the point with the cheese cog is that it'll break before the motor burns out.

What do you think is the problem?