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alignment disks.


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While I have never purchased one of these from this company, I did find them while searching for a Commodore 1541 alignment disk. They seem to sell Dysan equivalent disks:

 

http://www.accurite.com/AAD.html a bit expensive though.

 

If you are looking for a DSDD disk for an Atari drive like the XF551 Best sells those as well:

 

XF551 5 1/4 inch DSDD Dysan Alignment Disk CB101285 $55

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While I have never purchased one of these from this company, I did find them while searching for a Commodore 1541 alignment disk. They seem to sell Dysan equivalent disks:

 

http://www.accurite.com/AAD.html a bit expensive though.

 

If you are looking for a DSDD disk for an Atari drive like the XF551 Best sells those as well:

 

XF551 5 1/4 inch DSDD Dysan Alignment Disk CB101285 $55

 

 

looking for ssdd, dsdd, dshd and 720/1.44

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Can't help you with 3.5" disks. Dysan 224/A is for single-sided 48 tpi 5.25 drives. Dysan 224/2A is for double-sided 48 tpi 5.25 drives. I don't believe the "density" comes into play for the alignment disk.

The disk listed above for the Atari 810 is a Dysan 224/A (single-sided). You can use a double-sided alignment disk on a single-sided drive. I'm betting the XF551 Dysan disk is a 224/2A but I don't have one of those so I can't say.

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I would really like to check the alignment on my two 810's, but $40 for a test disk! Usin

The procedure requires an oscilloscope as well. But I do believe you can use a cartridge just for testing purposes, you still need a pre-formated disk for this test though. The Dysan disks only work with the o-scope because it doesn't have anything that the Atari can read on it.

 

http://www.atarimania.com/utility-atari-400-800-xl-xe-810-diagnostic-cartridge_16408.html

 

Update: Here is the disk you use with this 810 cartridge:

CX8111 Atari 810 Formatted Diskettes II 

Don't use the burn-in test on this desk or any other disk that you want to keep ;)

 

Best Electronics has these for sale. There is another specifically for the 1050. I don't know about the other drives made by Atari though.

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The procedure requires an oscilloscope as well. But I do believe you can use a cartridge just for testing purposes, you still need a pre-formated disk for this test though. The Dysan disks only work with the o-scope because it doesn't have anything that the Atari can read on it.

 

http://www.atarimania.com/utility-atari-400-800-xl-xe-810-diagnostic-cartridge_16408.html

I'm good on the scope. :)

 

But I'm hesitant to spend $40 on a disk.

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I'm good on the scope. :)

 

But I'm hesitant to spend $40 on a disk.

OK, see my above post. I bet the pre-formated disk is less than $40. Actually I think the Dysan disk is on sale for $25 as well per the catalog (the 810 disk only). You may want to ask Best.

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My understanding is that the alignment disk is not just a pre-formated disk. The track that is used for the alighment check is written in a special way to get the correct signal pattern on the scope that's needed to make the adjustment.

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My understanding is that the alignment disk is not just a pre-formated disk. The track that is used for the alighment check is written in a special way to get the correct signal pattern on the scope that's needed to make the adjustment.

Right, the Dysan disk is a true analog alignment disk you use with your scope. This other disk is pre-formatted (like a normal disk) so that the Atari cartridge can read it. You will not align your drive with it, you will only check to see if it's in/out of alignment. Then you need the Dysan disk to perform the alignment.

 

I'm sure the formatted Atari disks must have been created on a known good/aligned drive or duplicator.

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The way I remember it, the tracks on an alignment disk are not circular, they're elliptical. Track 15 actually runs from track 15, thru track 16 and up into track 17. Track 17 is similar, only 180 degrees out of phase. What you do is seek to track 16 and scope the head output. What you see is two sine waves at 5hz, one for track 17 and one for track 15. Moving the head so that each sine wave is the same amplitude will properly align the head.

 

You must have an alignment disk to do this. On the other hand, you could just 'play' with a known, good disk and align the heads with that. I put the scope on the read signal and maximize track 16 output. Seems to work OK. I have alignment disks if I need them. Never have, really.

 

Bob

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I have used alignment disks a couple of times. Both for 8" and 5 1/4"

What you look for on the scope is a "cat's eye" pattern.

Adjustment is made so that both parts of the screen are identical in size and shape.

But on the Atari, it's no problem to use a formatted disk and adjust for maximum output.

It's only 40 tracks and the tracks are not so close together.

 

BR/

Guus

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looking for ssdd, dsdd, dshd and 720/1.44

I was looking through the Best Electronics catalog again today and I stumbled upon the 3.5" alignment disks:

 

SSDD CB101105

DSDD CB101106 catalog shows this a special buy for $27.00

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I would really like to check the alignment on my two 810's, but $40 for a test disk!

I broke out my diagnostic cartridges today and the one I used to check alignment/azumith was "810 DISK DRIVE CHECK-OUT REV 1.3 6/7/84"

 

It has 5 tests:

 

1 DRIVE SELECT TEST

2 ALIGNMENT/AZIMUTH TEST

3 SPEED TEST

4 FORMAT/WRITE/READ TEST

5 ANALOG ALIGNMENT

 

I used test 2 and inserted my "FORMATTED DISKETTE II" CX8111 then tried 3 and then finally 4 with a blank disk.

 

The tests when complete give you a pass/fail. The screen turns green if it passes. Fortunately I didn't have any fail so can't speak to that condition ;)

 

Best Electronics sells this cartridge along with various others for the 810.

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I broke out my diagnostic cartridges today and the one I used to check alignment/azumith was "810 DISK DRIVE CHECK-OUT REV 1.3 6/7/84"

 

It has 5 tests:

 

1 DRIVE SELECT TEST

2 ALIGNMENT/AZIMUTH TEST

3 SPEED TEST

4 FORMAT/WRITE/READ TEST

5 ANALOG ALIGNMENT

 

I used test 2 and inserted my "FORMATTED DISKETTE II" CX8111 then tried 3 and then finally 4 with a blank disk.

 

The tests when complete give you a pass/fail. The screen turns green if it passes. Fortunately I didn't have any fail so can't speak to that condition ;)

 

Best Electronics sells this cartridge along with various others for the 810.

I just picked up that cart and the alignment disk from Best. I havn't had a chance to try them out yet.

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I just picked up that cart and the alignment disk from Best. I havn't had a chance to try them out yet.

Cool. Interested to see how things go. I *think* test 5 is used with the Dysan disk, but I'm not sure. When I tried it with the formatted disk II, nothing much happened, just continuously ran. Of course if you put the Dysan disk in there the 810 is going to make a heck of a racket as it attempts to read the media. Maybe it's used to seek the head to a certain track? I'm not sure. I haven't been able to find documentation for it.

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  • 1 year later...

it is correct that the alignment disks are eliptical and require a scope.. you should have balanced cats eyes on the scope this allows for the best compromise over the entire disk surface... the disk also contains tracks laid down with signals for track zero adjust etc.

Edited by _The Doctor__
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  • 3 years later...
On 5/31/2016 at 3:23 PM, Bikerbob said:

I have an 810 not working right now.. another thread thats active.

 

Can the TEST disk be copied? Could I get a copy?

 

Thanks

 

james

No my friend I’m afraid you cannot make a copy of the alignment disk the alignment discs do not have an Atari format on them basically you can look at it as a signal pattern that is inbedded directly onto the desk with a commercial imaging Device or machinery If you want a real alignment disk you will have to buy one one should be enough to last you a lifetime for your home needs because they were designed to be used on the technicians workbench for heavy use

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23 minutes ago, ojanhk said:

Should be possible with a Kyroflux setup though. But obviously more expensive than buying the disk from B&C. 

It might copy the disk, but the actual alignment would still be dependant on how well the the actual drive used was aligned.

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I did eventually use the Dysan disk and it worked well.  The cats eye pattern fluctuates a lot, making it kind of difficult to determine if it's adjusted correctly, but I got it done.  One of my drives that I thought was misaligned actually had a loose setscrew on the wheel to the stepper motor. Once I figured that out, I got it aligned.

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