Cleaning floppy drives

[Jules Richardson]

Tony Duell wrote:
>> Failing that, what is the correct way of cleaning a floppy drive?
> 
> What I have always done -- on all sizes of floppy drive, is to take the 
> drive out of the casing, take off the cover and/or logic board if 
> necesary, and then clean the heads witha cotton bud (Q-tip) soaked in 
> propan-2-ol (isopropyl alcohol, isopropanol) Some manufacturers 
> specifically tell you not to do this for fear of damagingthe gimbal 
> spring for the upper head, but I've neer had any problems. Of course you 
> take care and don't exert much force on the upper head.

Seconded (for what it's worth) - that's my approach, and I've never damaged a 
drive that way either. Sometimes the hub area attracts crud and can use a 
clean too. Some drives are better than others when it comes to access to the 
heads...

cheers

Jules