Tim Hamilton Posted October 30, 2019 Share Posted October 30, 2019 I've got a Myarc Mini Peripheral Expansion Box with a 5-1/4" floppy drive in it that hasn't been used in 20+ years, and I want to clean the head. I *think* it is a single-sided drive, but I'm not absolutely sure. I found this new 5-1/4" head cleaner on eBay (a modern Chinese import) and this 1989 NOS (what's NOS?) cleaner by 3M. What would y'all recommend? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mizapf Posted October 30, 2019 Share Posted October 30, 2019 Do you really need to clean a magnetic head? I'd consider to use compressed air to blow away dust. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+save2600 Posted October 30, 2019 Share Posted October 30, 2019 Oh yeah, you need to clean the heads once in a while. I usually just take a Q-Tip and rubbing alcohol to 'em. NOS is new old stock. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tursi Posted October 30, 2019 Share Posted October 30, 2019 28 minutes ago, mizapf said: Do you really need to clean a magnetic head? I'd consider to use compressed air to blow away dust. Floppy disk heads touch the media, so yeah. Accumulation can increase the distance to the data and cause errors - and it can also damage the media if it forms deposits hard enough to scratch. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mizapf Posted October 30, 2019 Share Posted October 30, 2019 Maybe I should try that. I never did that to my drives in all those decades. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GDMike Posted October 30, 2019 Share Posted October 30, 2019 Yeah, there are some kits where you spray a solution onto the disc pad, and insert into the drive, as the drive spins the so called cloth cleans the head, but I think there too abrasive, maybe it's just me, but I like the alcohol and qtip trick while disassembling what I can to get in there and clean further. Just be careful of anything plastic, cause the age of that stuff may be brittle now. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mizapf Posted October 30, 2019 Share Posted October 30, 2019 The fact that there are cleaning kits means that people buy them, not that they are really helpful . But you may certainly try. My reaction is a bit triggered from my imagination of people who rub the magnetic strip of their credit cards on their shirts and hope the reader will take it this time (while actually risking to kill the reader because of the static electricity they build up while rubbing the plastic card) or those who rub their coins at the case of the ticket machine because they believe that there is some coating on the coin that makes the machine reject it (which is definitely nonsense, but just watch the scratched face of the machines). What I see is that optical drives suffer a lot over time when they are kept in smoky air. My father used to smoke a lot, and the drives were ruined after about one or two years. Concering your case of a drive that did not run for more than 20 years, I wonder whether there is so much abrasion from floppy media or whether this is just dust that collects on the head, hence my tip with the compressed air. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OLD CS1 Posted October 30, 2019 Share Posted October 30, 2019 Yeah, but it was not the magnetic strip that was the problem (unless it was damaged, in which case "cleaning" it certainly does not help.) But the head on a card reader do need to be cleaned once in a while. Same with cassette deck heads, and floppy heads. As Tursi said, I have had bad disks which have left deposits on a head, and said head gouged out another disk. It has happened more than once to me, and has happened to others. Compressed air is definitely a good go at the heads, and whether it needs it or not I would do non-abrasive cleaning on the head as well. A quality cotton swab and 90%+ isopropyl alcohol. Dust has a tendency to attract moisture which can then cause it to cake. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Hamilton Posted October 31, 2019 Author Share Posted October 31, 2019 (edited) OK, for those of y'all recommending me to use a Q-tip, I've never disassembled a disk drive before, and I'm concerned about damaging it. Or just messing it up from the disassembly and reassembly. It sounds like a lot of work. I see that there are some disassembly videos online, but are all 5-1/4" drives pretty much the same? Edited October 31, 2019 by Tim Hamilton Added link to video 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GDMike Posted October 31, 2019 Share Posted October 31, 2019 (edited) Good question, there are different types of magnetic media drives. Im still using a tape backup for my PC but getting to that drives head is almost impossible even after disasembly, thus I have to use the cleaning tape for it, but yearly I'll do an air compressor on it. Your 5-1/4" floppy drive read/write head can pretty much be seen as soon as you place it on the bench. So cleaning with air and swabbing it is kinda simple, but as you move towards the 3-1/2" and other enclosed drives it becomes tricky without disasembly. Edited October 31, 2019 by GDMike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+save2600 Posted October 31, 2019 Share Posted October 31, 2019 10 hours ago, Tim Hamilton said: OK, for those of y'all recommending me to use a Q-tip, I've never disassembled a disk drive before, and I'm concerned about damaging it. Or just messing it up from the disassembly and reassembly. It sounds like a lot of work. I see that there are some disassembly videos online, but are all 5-1/4" drives pretty much the same? https://www.ebay.com/itm/100PC-Cotton-Swab-Q-Tip-Cleaning-Applicator-Tips-6-Long-Autoclavable-Medical/273847244587?hash=item3fc291572b:g:opoAAOSwHEBc3C33:sc:USPSFirstClass!53920!US!-1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apersson850 Posted October 31, 2019 Share Posted October 31, 2019 If you don't have problems you don't need to clean it yet. I've cleaned mine when there was a problem reading/writing, which so far has happened exactly zero times. But I've only been using them for 40 years. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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