PM'ing printers & floppy drives

[Subby]

I'm breaking out some gear that probably hasn't been used for years and I want to give the stuff a quick PM.

I've got a professional head cleaning kit, so that part is covered. And I did like MG's single sided cleaning floppy posting.

I'm mostly concerned with rails on the drives and printers.

What lubrication is recommended? No, WD-40 will not even be in the same room as my Ataris!

I do have some silicon lube, and some shock oil from my old R/C cars .

So I guess I'll have to buy something then, what should it be? (Preferably something Fry's carries as they are close)

 

Should I worry about belts or motors unless they are obviously bad?

 

Last question, I've got a couple of 810's without cases. Any easy way to recase one inexpensively? (Carpentry and sheet metal work are a bit out of my league)

[unholy]

Go to any automotive store and ask for white lithium grease. Or, just use the silicon-based lubricant you already have. It will do just fine.

 

I think your best shot at recasing the 810s might be to get some dead units off eBay. Or, ask around here. Somebody is bound to have something lying around that they'd be willing to part with.

[MEtalGuy66]

WHAT?!?!?

 

No dont do either..

 

Go to Fry's and get light machine oil.. (they sell it in a pocket sized pen-shaped dispenser with a needle applicator nozzle) and put a single DROP of it on each rail, after you've cleaned the rail (as best you can) with alchohol and a q-tip..

 

About once a year, open it up and repeat the process.. clean with alchohol and apply another single drop of light oil.

 

If you put any sort of grease on it, dust is going to stick to it. Silicon lube may work, but it's more intended as a preservative for rubber components. Stick with the light machine oil (the stuff that comes with sewing machines for PM) and use a very tiny amount of it, and you won't cause any problems..

 

The disk drive service manuals specifically say not to lubricate the mech at all. And there is good reasoning behind what they say.

[CGQuarterly]

WHAT?!?!?

 

No dont do either..

 

Go to Fry's and get light machine oil.. (they sell it in a pocket sized pen-shaped dispenser with a needle applicator nozzle) and put a single DROP of it on each rail, after you've cleaned the rail (as best you can) with alchohol and a q-tip..

 

About once a year, open it up and repeat the process.. clean with alchohol and apply another single drop of light oil.

 

If you put any sort of grease on it, dust is going to stick to it. Silicon lube may work, but it's more intended as a preservative for rubber components. Stick with the light machine oil (the stuff that comes with sewing machines for PM) and use a very tiny amount of it, and you won't cause any problems..

 

The disk drive service manuals specifically say not to lubricate the mech at all. And there is good reasoning behind what they say.

 

I was going to post the same thing. Things like rails should be lubed with oil, not grease. One drop, then use a tissue or something to spread it across the rail.

 

Chris

[unholy]

OK gentlemen, let's clear a few things up, shall we?

 

1. White lithium grease is the most commonly used lubricant for consumer electronics. (You can actually get "electronic grade" lithium grease, but, frankly, the difference in formula is negligible.) That's what typically goes into CD drives, printers, etc. as they roll of the assembly line. It's the safest choice when plastic parts are involved. It's got all kinds of great qualities, such as being non-conductive, non-corrosive, non-oxidizing, and so on, but most importantly it has a pretty high drip temperature. Electronics do get warm and, especially with rotating elements, you don't want the lubricant getting thrown around. Of course, there shouldn't be so much lubricant in there to cause such a problem in the first place (see below), but better safe than sorry.

 

2. Any non-specialty lubricant (machine oil included) has the potential to attract dust, the more so when used excessively. Grease or oil, it needs to be used judiciously. Common knowledge.

 

3. Service manuals may say not to lubricate drive mechanisms, but I guess none of these manuals were written for 25+ year old drives, were they? I wouldn't lubricate the spindle motor assembly, but there's plenty of moving parts in there that can use some good cleaning and lubrication every decade or so. The stepper motor's worm gear, for instance. For 3.5'' drives, the floppy cage assembly and the eject mechanism.

[CGQuarterly]

I don't want to turn this into some sort of pissing contest, but I "PM" and also perform field service on various analytical chemistry instruments for a living, and we use grease when appropriate and oil when appropriate. I use at least 5 different lubricants for different things. Grease goes on things like plastic gears and lead screws. Machine oil goes on guide rails.

 

Chris

[unholy]

No interest in competitive urination here, just reading comprehension issues. I only now noticed that the OP said his concern was specifically about RAILS...

 

Sigh.

 

Your points are well taken, kind Sirs. If you excuse me, I shall now retire back under my rock.

[CGQuarterly]

No problem. I wasn't trying to suggest that you were trying to turn it into an exercise in comparative kidney relief. I just wanted to make it clear that I wasn't, either.

 

Chris

[MEtalGuy66]

If you care about your drives, dont put grease in them.