Fixing a Broken 1050 Drive Belt

[Atari Smeghead]

Hello!

Well, I was practically overheating my Atari 1050 for the past few weeks, getting ready to eBay off all of my 8 bit disks, when I ran into a problem.

 

I was hearing this sound...ting...ting..ting..

 

so I opened up the 1050, and the drive belt, while still attached, was shredding apart. Part of it had peeled, and was flapping on each revulotion, smacking the RF casing... thus the "ting."

 

But, it didn't take long until it slipped off the wheel and that was the end of my disk reading days.

 

The point of this is, has anyone here ever replaced a 1050 drive belt?

 

It's a standard Tendon drive, but I just don't see any easy way to get to the big wheel, the one that sets against the drive mechanism. The smaller wheel wouldn't be a problem, but there's no simple set of screws to remove. I see a tiny Kotter pin and a bunch of parts I could try removing. Heck, I suppose I have nothing left to lose, but I just don't think I'll ever get it back together.

 

At this point, I'm probably going to try to eBay myself a 1050 and gut the Tendon drive from it. The two 1050s I have are both US Doubled, but neither's drive unit works.

 

But if anyone has any suggestions or helpful ideas, that'd be cool. I can purchase a new drive belt from B&C for around 8 bucks, but is it worth the hassle?

 

Oh, and...shameless self-promotion mode...if anyone's interested in seeing how much 176 5 1/4" floppies sell for...

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...=ADME:B:LC:US:1

 

It would be rather cool to sell this set to a fellow Atari Ager.

 

Thanks,

Smeg

[zenassem]

Atari Smeghead,

 

I have to look through my files, but somewhere I have a technicians repair document for the 1050.

 

Many, many, years ago I had a 1050 drive belt replaced by an Atari Licensed repair center. He replaced the belt in under an hour, so I know it can be done without too much hassle. I'll post the document shortlly.

 

~zen

[Atari Smeghead]

Atari Smeghead,

 

I'll post the document shortlly.

 

~zen

 

Thank you, Zen. Any help you can give would be most appreciated. I've certainly had a lot of 1050s fail on me over the years, but I hate to toss a perfectly working Tendon drive. The task just looks a bit daunting.

 

Thanks again!

Smeg

[zenassem]

@atari smeghead,

 

I couldn't find my 1050 field service manual. All I could find were the boars i/o shematics. Frustrated, I just purchased the service repair manual, and it should be arriving in a week. I will send you a copy, when I recieve it.

 

I think that I will have to create an Atari "service, repair, field tech manual -- Free Downloadable Archive website"!

 

I can't believe how hard it is to find the Atari Internal docs, and the Service Repair manuals. This stuff really needs to be made available to the general public. I mean not to many places have an atari 8-bit authorized repair center/dealer anymore. I'm suprised that these documents haven't been scanned electronically and made available to the masses. We really need to change this.

 

There are a ton of atari webpages discussing games, mods, general hardware pictures. But very few sites if any, that are providing detailed repair info. Aren't any of the past atari techs fans anymore. You think that they would scan all of their service repair manuals and offer them for free.

 

~zen

[Trooper]

I found this one on my harddrive, don't know if it's of any use to you but I resaved it as JPG at quite crappy quality so that you can still read it but it won't take forever to download. If you want I can mail you the original which is a higher quality.

 

It's called: "1050 Disk Drive Field Service Manual"

 

/Troop

1050.zip

[zenassem]

Trooper,

 

Thanks for posting that. Very nice!.

 

There are two repair manuals (that I am aware of) regarding the 1050 drive. One is the "1050 Field Service Guide" (which you provided), and the other is "1050 Service Repair Manual".

 

I couldn't rember the contents of both. I believe the "1050 Service Repair Manual" is the more comprehensive of the two. Containing over a hundred pages, pull-out schematics, and illustrations of all assemblies.

 

I should be receiveing it in the next couple of days, so I will be able to compare them. (My memory of these things is sometimes fuzzy).

 

Regardless, all of these types of documents should be in digital format and made available to Atari Users. I understand that some people view these docs and other Internal Atari Documents as collectibles, but for those of us actually "using" the equipment it's a necessity. Plus, having them in digital format for those who wish to use the manuals, won't take away from the value of sealed Atari documentation. Well that's my 2 cents on the matter.

 

~zen

[Trooper]

I totally agree with you about the need for digitalized copies of these kinds of documents being made available for free download.

 

I have lots and lots of this sort of stuff and will put them online as soon as I get the time, perhaps we can hope for a "digital library" of tech docs for the Atari computers and perhaps also other classic computers and consoles.

 

/Troop

[Artlover]

I totally agree with you about the need for digitalized copies of these kinds of documents being made available for free download.

 

I know I'd sure like to see the 5200 Field Service Manual posted.

[Trooper]

Unfortunately I don't seem to have that one and all I find when googling is a dead link to: http://www.tezcat.com/~snapsnar/repair/5200/index.html

 

/Troop

[Artlover]

Unfortunately I don't seem to have that one and all I find when googling is a dead link to:http://www.tezcat.com/~snapsnar/repair/5200/index.html

 

Yup, that link has been dead for years. It's not archived at the internet wayback machine either.

 

I can't find it now, but I had actually found another site that was up that also offered it, but when you clicked on the link you got page saying they had to take it down for conspiracy reasons.

 

Me thinks it's a conspiricy.

[Artlover]

Edit: ...take it down for copyright reasons.

 

(I go and spellcheck conspiracy, then up and replace the wrong word. doh!)

[Trooper]

Edit: ...take it down for copyright reasons.  

 

(I go and spellcheck conspiracy, then up and replace the wrong word. doh!)  

 

 

Well who is this "SnapSnare" guy that used to run that site then? I've been searching but can't seem to find anything else about him/her.

 

Like you say, the Wayback archive don't have the site, all they have is the frontpage, none of the links.

 

/Troop

[zenassem]

Yeah this is where I my values on honoring copyrights enters a gray area. Like I said, back when atari was huge, I had about 8 Authorized Atari Repair and services centers within a 10 mile radius. If, I had a problem with a drive or computer, it made sense to bring it to my local distributor and have the equipment looked at by a certified technician. And, usually you developed a good relationship with the local dealer. Most of them were computer fanatics as well. On a few occasions they fixed my equipment on the spot and for no charge. It was a very personal experience.

 

But where am I going to go now to have my 1050 drive serviced. And Atari is a completely different company today compared to the days they were making home computers. So, why should these documents, that are really part of our combined historical culture still be held to strict copyright standards. Especially since they are technical reference resources, and not a timeless novel. I'm no lawyer, but I believe that copyrights on texts is good for 2 generations or somewhere around 120 years, before they become part of the public domain. And I have no idea what limits would be set on corporate documents.

 

It's just my feeling that we should have access to any documents that exist with regard to the atari 8-bits computers, consoles etc... The technology is no longer cutting edge, and shouldn't be regarded as trade secret any longer. Not at the pace technology moves. It's truly a way to honor these systems. It's what keeps these systems alive, and a part of the current culture. That's why my stomach turns everytime I hear a story about a homebrew being mulled into court for infringing on a game that's over 20 years old. But that's a whole other can of worms.

 

Lastly, even if people aren't posting these documents, I hop someone is recording them digitallly to preserve the historical record.

 

Thanks Zennassem

[Trooper]

I totally agree with you.

 

Since the Atari we bought our computers and/or consoles from doesn't exist anymore I feel that all of us are entitled to the service documents, schematics and all other technical reference material that we need to keep our precious gadgets running.

 

/Troop

[zenassem]

Trooper just said everything in two lines, that took me 4 paragraphs to express. I tend to get overly verbose. But the sentiment is shared. :wink:

 

So, when I receive my documents for the 1050(and yes I'll tear through the plastic in less time than it took to code E.T.)... I'll compose them in .pdf format , and if anyone here is interested, I will e-mail you a copy. And the same goes for any other technical docs I get.

 

And I'll pray that I don't get sued.

 

(BTW, books are a different bean, and I do respect an author's right to their material. It should only be shared with their permission or expressed consent. I'll leave book archiving to www.atariarchives.org)

 

~zenassem

[Trooper]

when I receive my documents for the 1050(and yes I'll tear through the plastic in less time than it took to code E.T.)

 

Damn, that's fast

 

I'll compose them in .pdf format , and if anyone here is interested, I will e-mail you a copy. And the same goes for any other technical docs I get.

 

I think that sounds great, I'll try to make pdf's of the ones I have and somehow make them available too.

 

And I'll pray that I don't get sued.

 

I don't think you'll have to sweat it, I doubt that will happen.

 

(BTW, books are a different bean, and I do respect an author's right to their material. It should only be shared with their permission or expressed consent

 

I totally agree with you on this too!

 

/Troop

[Atari Smeghead]

Hey guys!

 

I thought I'd share this with you. I sent an email to B & C regarding my drive belt situation, and here's the reply I received back:

 

"1050 Tandon Belt has to be slid down from the top.

Work it under the idler and down to the bottom then

while holding it on the large hub pull it back to the

motor hub."

 

I removed a belt from another dead 1050 and did as instructed. It worked perfectly! It was really, surprisingly easy. Took minutes and now I'm back, baby!

 

And yes, I agree that it would be so nice to have easy access to repair manuals. I'm just happy there are people like you, and Bruce/Cathy, around to give us pointers and/or manuals.

 

Say, if anyone happens to come across a verbose list of Atari 8 bit (specifically 1050 drive) error messages that goes past Error 171, I'd love to see that as well. I managed to find one from a Basic XL manual that has errors 2-171, but it loses its verbosity after error 18. When using the 1050, I seem to get a lot of Error 172 and above.

 

Thanks again everyone!

Smeg

 

PS - My favourite Atari Error Message has to be...

Error 143: Serial Bus Data Frame Checksum Error

[zenassem]

@Atari Smeghead,

 

Glad to hear everything worked out. =) I'm still waiting for my Tech Service Manual. Should be here any day now. I hadn't opened a 1050 in ages and , but it's good to know that it was less hassle than I expected. Love that sound when a 1050 powers on.

 

~zen