A3000 drive cleaning

[TjLaZer]

Reading the other thread about cleaning drives, reminds me of the problems I am having, specifically with Amiga 3000 series drives.  Almost all of mine, especially the High Density ones, are flakey.  Not the read/write heads, but the switches themselves.  (the disk detect, write protect and density detect).  I tried to take one apart to check it out/clean it, and I failed to put it back together properly, thus destroying the drive.  (sitting on my shelf!)  Is there any way of cleaning them?  Taking that switch apart is risky, as putting it back together is very hard, due to the micro springs, etc)

[rkauer]

TjLaZer wrote:
---zip---
 Is there any way of cleaning them?  Taking that switch apart is risky, as putting it back to gether is very hard, due to the micro springs, etc)

 Yes!

 Buy a contact cleaner (they comes in spray cans). Simply spray the conector (in all sides, in order to some fluid comes inside the switch), wait it dry and... that's it.

I was told contact cleaners might attract even more dust in the future.

Personnaly, I used just one drop of 100% pure alcohol (not rubbing alcohol which contains 30% water) then pressed and released the switches about 50 times then that was done.

No more problems.

If you have a 357 drive who's dead because of the switches, I realized the switches in some 354 drives are identical. Maybe you could cannibalize the switches from a dead 354.

[wildstar1063]

With micro-switches, I usually use my dremel and my smallest drillbit and drill 2 holes in the case of the switch, then
spray contact cleaner in one hole, 'till it comes out the
other. If you want you can reseal the holes with a drop of hot wax or hot glue.

[TjLaZer]

Thanks for the info!  Just tried alchohol in the switches and worked them in, then let it dry for it bit.  Seems to be working ok now so far!

[Iggy_Drougge]

Remove the switches from the PCB, pick them apart with a small picking tool such as a small screwdriver. I then use a glass fibre pen (bought from big electronics chain, Hama brand) to carefully remove dirt from the metal elements.