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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: Everblue on January 06, 2009, 07:04:14 PM
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Tomorrow I will be getting an amiga 500 for free which needs floppy drive replacement. I have been told that it has torx screws so its a good idea to buy an approppriate screwdriver.
Anyone knows which bit size I will need?
Cheers
E'Blue
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Just a normal sized cross-head screwdriver one use with any default PC casing
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Thats not torx.
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Everblue wrote:
Thats not torx.
That, my friend, is a correct observation. You won't need torx unless you receive an A500 that had the normal screws replaced with torx screws.
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Speelgoedmannetje wrote:
Just a normal sized cross-head screwdriver one use with any default PC casing
I believe the English name is philips head. And yes that's what you should need if the screws are original. My 500 had philips head screws.
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get a multi-headed screwdriver with all the torx sizes, so you don't have to hunt down the exact one (although I think A500's have T10 torx screws). Just type torx screwdriver into ebay, you can find sets for around 10 bucks.
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I have 4 a500 machines and they all have torx screws. As far as the size I'm not sure (at work).
Boss is coming..
:cry:
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According to this article, torx number 10 is needed:
http://www.matarese.com/matarese-files/10229/directions-convert-your-amiga-cartridge/index.html
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Flashlab wrote:And yes that's what you should need if the screws are original. My 500 had philips head screws.
And my first A500 had torx screws from day one. Not as common as phillips screwed ones, but I've seen plenty with torxes in my time.
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All A500 I saw, had and have use the torx head screws.
Type 2.5, if I recall correctly (metric system).
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Commodore used whatever screws they got cheapest that week.
I've got a mix of torx and phillips in my various 500s. Even a couple of flatheads inside the case of one.
All the floppies seem to use phillips though.
No excuse not to have a whole set of torx screwdrivers these days, anyway.
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I think the UK almost always used torx screws for 500s... My very first 500 (1.2/red power led) had them, 1.3 500s had them, the 500 plus had them. I used to work at a couple of shops as a saturday job and occasionally repair 500s, and I seem to recall it was always torx on the 500s... Could be wrong tho :-D
As above, get a set as they're dirt cheap from places like Maplins (not sure which country you're in, but there'll be some cheapo tool place near you ;-) )
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well actually, you don't need s screwdriver. Almost anything can be opend with a big hammer.. Later it can be put together with lots of glue.
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If you haven't got a torx to hand, a small flat bladed screwdriver usually does the job.
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Ok I got 2 x A500s today.
On one of them, ALL SCREWS were torx.
On the other, screws on the outside were normal, inside, torx.
I used torx #10 to unscrew.
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It's funny. I still have my original Craftsman Torx T10 that I bought back in like 1990 to be able to open up my A500 to do the 1MB Chip hack!
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If you get an A500 with Torx screws it will be a Torx T-10.
Or if you happen to have one of those small Swiss Army knifes, then the end of the nail file works perfect to open up an A500. It will fit right into the T-10 screw head.
(http://media.rei.com/media/s/1451028.jpg)
edit:
Posted to late, see you already got it. Swiss army knife use to be great for opening an A500 in an emergency though!!
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Very strange - I repaired a couple of (dozens) of A500s back in the early 90s. None of them had torx screws - it seems C= Germany didn't use them, but many 500s came from elsewhere. :-?
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Zac67 wrote:
Very strange - I repaired a couple of (dozens) of A500s back in the early 90s. None of them had torx screws - it seems C= Germany didn't use them, but many 500s came from elsewhere. :-?
Only ones I ever played with were here in the U.S. and if I had to try to remember where they were made I would have to say the Philipines, but not sure.
I think the A1200s here had normal screws which was pretty exciting at the time.
I sure my A1000 had normal screws, A1200, A2000 of course. So remembering back I think it was just the A500s here.
I learned the Swiss Army knife trick from another Amiga user back in the day. I thought all Amiga users had to use the Swiss Army knife trick!
Even to this day when I see those little knives I always think, Torx T10!!
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@AmigaHeretic
That's funny, when I first opened my A500 I used a nail file because it's the only thing I could find. It wasn't from a Swiss army knife but none the less :-)