Date   : Tue, 12 May 2009 08:31:08 +0000
From   : julian_stenning@... (Julian Stenning)
Subject: My Rodime Wont Spin

 

Hi -

 

Inspired by the recent activity on the list & the great show blogs/pictures,
I decided to get my Acorn gear out of the loft for an airing.

 

My beeb went bang after a couple of hours usage, which I kind of expected 
(looks like C1 in the PSU has popped, I'll follow Sprows' website & list
archives instructions to repair that), but my biggest dissapointment is that
my old 30Mb Acorn winchester wont fire up.

 

The drive has always been very noisy with the bearing/motor sounding 'dry', 
and now it seems its too stiff to spin. I can turn it manually, but that's
not enough to get it going. Has anyone had experience of dismantling & servicing
these things, or is it a bin-job?

 

Lastly, I do have an old Western Digital MFM 30Mb 'FileCard' drive (rescued 
from an old Amstrad PC1640) that spins up when connected to the Acorn winchester 
PSU and adaptec board, but Superform wont complete a format. The drive parameters
on the unit read 'H4, Wpc 783, Cyl 782, LZ 783, Spt 26'. Can I use this?
I seem to think I have in the past, but that may be a false memory.

 

Thanks,

Julian.