The Floppy Drive Thread

[vanpeebles]

My TC-01 has the original FD-30A fitted (direct drive no belts). I've not had a chance to test it yet due to not having a video cable. The seller stated they couldn't get any disks to work.

What drive does the 256 have? (not opened mine up yet)

I also noticed the TC-01 uses an edge connector drive, so my spare Amstrad Drive won't fit (Neither will the zaxdrive 3 I ordered!)

What options are people using? I'm guessing my best option will be a Sir Morris SD Card.

What is everyone else running?

[Lardo Boffin]

I am waiting on an einSDein myself. And being able to fix my keyboard!

I don’t have a video cable but the picture is really quite good using the RF out.

[vanpeebles]

I have an oldish LCD TV spare, so I might try the rf on it, out of interest. Not sure if I'd get a picture with that or not.

[vanpeebles]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Card-Edge-to-I ... 3481202090

Would something like that come in handy?

[vanpeebles]

No luck with any of the discs that have arrived, has anyone cleaned the head on the drive before?

[Lardo Boffin]

No luck with any of the discs that have arrived, has anyone cleaned the head on the drive before?

I haven’t yet but it is on my to do list as mine is in bits at the mo.
There is a Tatung teardown video on YouTube. It may have some detail.

[jltursan]

I'm still running with the original drives but I know they sooner or later will fail. Usually the belt-less units are robust but when they stop reading it's a PITA. Not only a good head cleaning is a must, think about replacing all the capacitors.

The 256 has a EME-150 drive, used in some CPC models and peripherals. Not a really great drive, it has (apart the rubber belt) some weaknesses. Looking for testing a Gotek drive flashed with the FlashFloppy firmware, if it works with CPC computers, it must work with a TC I guess...

[vanpeebles]

I've cleaned the head on my drive but no luck yet. It seems pretty clean. Should you be able to slide the head bit up and down with your fingers? Any guides or tips to cleaning it out and checking it over?

[vanpeebles]

Ok. I've checked the drive for clean grease etc, every thing seems ok, Here is a video of it, trying to load the only disc it likes. No other disc gets even close.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JryScR2 ... e=youtu.be



If I remove the motor, the head slides freely and smoothly both ways, and the motor gear can unwind fully and the motor turns freely. When the head is at the lowest retracted part, should the gear worm be wound in fully? When the drive is at rest what does it look like? Can anyone provide me with a photo of a working drive with the lid removed please??

[Lardo Boffin]

Do these suffer drive head alignment issues the same as the Spectrum +3?

https://www.dataserve-retro.co.uk/conte ... k/d91.html