More on my CDC (MPI) floppy drive

[Tony Duell]

Yo umay rememebr my recent posting aasking for information on the damper 
assembly on the head carriage of a full-height 5.25" MPI floppy drive.

I've done a little more work on it.

Firstly, it appears the damper ron was glued ot the head carriage. Since 
this makes it very hard to work on (fitting the tension abnd is difficult 
at the best of times!), I cleaned out the holes, and drilled (1.6mm) and 
tapped (M2) an extra hole in each of the plasic rackets that hold this 
rod, 0.2" away from the existikng hole. I then screwed little rass plates 
in place to  keep the rod in.

Secondly, I've assembled (but not aligned) the positioned. Fittlng the 
tensio band ais a pain, I now think that little O-ring I found on one of 
the pins is an assembly aid to keep the tension band on that pin when 
you're trying to fit the other end in place. I will order some more 
O-rings (the pins are 1.5mm diameter, BTW) and see how I get on.

Thirdly, I've had the positioner running on a disk exerciser. WIth a 6ms 
step rate (which seems about right), it sounds _much_ rougher with the 
damer wheight not fitted. Even without any grease (other than that I've 
not managed to clean out) on the assembly, fitting the weight makes it a 
lot smoother.

Fourthly, I _still_ can't see how the grease is kept in place, and why it 
doesn't just leak all over everthing. 

-tony