ijor, on Sun Mar 12, 2006 11:24 AM, said:
MEtalGuy66, on Thu Mar 9, 2006 2:57 PM, said:
REally? ITs not amazing at all considering they still sell the damn things at B&C. I got mine about 6 years ago, and yeah they still work.
Well, it might be not so surprising that they are still available, although honestly I had no idea that B&C still sells them. What is indeed surprising is that they still work accurately. I thought they weren’t supposed to last for so long.
What I still think it is amazing, is that somebody today is still making those measurements, let alone adjusting. As you may know, most field centers didn’t make head alignment back on the day (many only measured azimuth, and replaced the whole mechanism if it was out of specs).
Modern drives are not designed to be repaired, obviously it is not worth. But vintage computing is of course different. I think that most people will consider getting their drive refurbished for just $20 to be a real bargain. Pitty that 5.25 drives are so heavy and then shipping back and forth would be the dominant cost.
Yeah well, the drive mechs are avilable too, but they are a bit pricey. Most atari people Ive dealt with arent willing to pay $50.00+ for a 1050 or 810 drive mech, when they could pick up another 1050 on ebay for less. Now, back in the 80s, early 90s, this wasnt the case. Also, we have to remember that whatever new parts inventory is still available from best/b&C has been sitting up in a warehouse for 15 years. So, even the quality/condition of a "new" drive mech could be questioned.
I started working on 1050s and 810s back in 89 or so, because I was a member of a small user group. Many of the members had BBS machines which would eventually kill disk drives on a pretty regular basis. I got alot of CHEAP drives that way, and the ones that I fixed, I'd resell at the meetings. Of course, even then, a good 1050 would run you $100.
As another note, there ARE alot of things you can do, mechanically to "freshen up" the various drive mechs that atari has used in both the 1050 and 810. And Ive got plenty of "junk" mechs that I take parts out of from time to time, to fix another one.
The XF551 really isnt an issue because its much easier to come by a 360k half height PC floppy mech, even as obsolete as they are today, there was ALOT more of them made and used on a huge variety of machines, by comparisson to 1050/810 mechs. Ive got a STACK of those..
And as far as making the adjustment disks last (or any other floppy, for that matter). The most KEY factor is making sure that any drive you put it in is not so far "out of whack" machanically (or full of crud) that it physically damages the disk. If you understand how the drive mech works, its not that hard to examine one and tell if its parts are worn to the point where its going to cause a serious problem. I generally try to fix this type of problem before inserting ANY disk that I care about. Ive got a room full of floppies that Ive had since the 80s and I very rarely come across one that has "gone bad". Another key factor which I cant stress enough is climate controlled storage. My house stays 72 degrees, very low humidity pretty much year round. I have a very nice central air conditioner and heater. If you store your floppies in the attic for a few years, dont expect many of them to be in decent shape when you finally decide to get them back out and use them.
Youd think most of this would be common sense, especially considreing what we used to PAY for disk drives back when ATARI sold them. But you wouldnt believe how many drives Ive seen full of food, hair, sticky residue (like someone actually spilled something on a floppy, and then inserted it later, expecting it to work.) Ive also recieved whole boxes full of floppies, half of which were physically warped from being stored at god knows what temperature.
Anywayze, Im the guy who buys the broken stuff, just because I cant stand to see it thrown away. I mean if I cant fix it, Its at least good for parts to fix something else. Hopefully most of the working atari hardware being sold will go to someone who will take good care of it, and maintain it, and if they get tired of it, sell it to someone else who values it enough to do the same. The bottom line is that there isnt any more of it being made..
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