810 Tandon vs MPI?

[+Larry]

Are the Tandon and MPI 810's "plug and play" compatible? (Or what has to be changed?)

 

I haven't had an 810 for some time, but Ebiguy's thread made me curious, and I started looking.  Years ago (80's) I had both types, but I don't remember the details.  Unfortunately, the pics that I have found on the web do not show the mechs clearly.  I do remember that the Tandon had trouble with the latches breaking.

 

Thanks.

[ColleenLover]

I can answer this:

In a word, YES, remember, that both (Atari VERSIONS of these (industry standard) TANDON and MPI drives had their wiring harness re-wired) to match up with Atari's proprietary electronics.

So they are "drop in replaceable---(don't forget however, that each has a different front face plate).

 

If however, you want to do a cool project like me, I dislike having to worry about the top pressure pad in theses single sided drives (that has to be replaced, they are literally made from rabbit-hair! 

 

So I replace them now with industry standard IBM TM-100-2  (DUAL SIDED drives with a head on both sides)

I cut out/remove all the unnecessary parts and then totally rewire the plugs to match the Atari pin-outs.

 

** Leaving me with a perfectly working 810 that NEVER has to have its top pressure pad replaced. 

 

 

For quite some time, I have been building my collection of (new/perfect/near perfect) 810 drives and I collect ONLY the TANDON mech drives.

 

Just so everyone is clear, the TANDON mech is the one with the "flip-up" door, the one that has the problem with the door pins breaking.

With that said, I don't care about that issue, I have already replaced all the nylon pins with forever-brass pins from BEST.

The other with the Pushbutton door is the MPI

 

Also, the Tandon drives look assume compared to the MPI mechs.

 

They are also the original model.....

 

2- are Original Happy upgrades (with Rev.7 compatible REV2 ROMS), 1 is an original "Chip" and last 3 are stock.

 

 

 

Edited July 13, 2020 by ColleenLover
grammar

[cwilbar]

As indicated, the only difference between 810 Tandon and 810 MPI mech drives is the mech and the face plate. 

 

I too have put a Tandon TM100 drive into a Tandon mech 810 drive that suffered an apparent head failure.  It was a TM100 where the upper head had gotten torn off, so I transferred the pressure pad assembly from the 810 Tandon mech, re-pinned the wires that needed re-pinning, and the 810 was back up and running.

 

I myself always liked the MPI mech.... but that could be more from the fact that my first 810 (back in the day) was an MPI mech 810.

 

I have had a Tandon mech 810 have the connection 'collar'? between the stepper and the rest of the mech become loose enough that an early game trying to find a missing sector, putting the 810 into 'snark' mode, knock the head ouf of alignment.   Haven't run into that with an MPI, but it could have just been that one Tandon mech.  Not sure if this is common in aging Tandon mechs, or if I just 'got lucky'.