[BC] Cassette deck maintenance

[RichardBJohnson at comcast.net]

I believe both of these rank in the "bait" category. In the days of yore, when 5 megabyte drives cost $500 and required an external power supply, one could clean the platters by spinning up the drive, removing the cover while it was spinning (to keep dust from settling on the discs), then squirting cigarette-lighter fluid onto the platters. This is pure naphtha and leaves no residue. It cleans both the heads and the platters. You keep it spun up as you replace the cover. There is an internal paper filter even in modern drives that traps any particles and creates an internal 00 clean-room atmosphere inside. The same air that gets spun off the platters, is cleaned over and over again, getting cleaner and cleaner until there are no particles within it.

IBM's attempt at lubricated platters resulted in a coral island off Boca Raton from the drives they had to replace.

Cheers,
Richard B. Johnson
Book: http://www.AbominableFirebug.com/

----- Original Message -----
From: "Steve Lewis" <steve at theengineeringbureau.com>

I ran into the problem once.  I drilled a small hole in the 7200's platter
chamber and squirted a little 10W-30 in there.  The drive didn't want to
spin up quickly but after 5 minutes of warmup just got to 5400.

Pretty slick solution if you ask me.  Oh, and be sure to cover the hole on
the drive with  some quality duct tape.

-----Orig Msg-----

 From: Alan Peterson

I've got a modern hard drive that spins up at 7200 rpm. In the next room is
a computer with an older 5400 rpm hard drive. I'm sure if I play audio from
one onto the other, I will notice a pitch change of +/- 25%. 

Should I try Tom's oscillator tip to even things out before they become
problems?

Al Peterson
(waiting for someone to take the bait...hee-hee....)