need some advice on defective (?) CD-Rom² drive

[Fudoh]

Hey guys,

I need some input on CD-Rom² maintenance. I have two japanase CD/IFU units. When I was doing some RGB-modding recently, I found one of the drives "dead". It's a later generation drive (with full metal CD pickup) and basically new. It was used ONCE in the mid-90s and never again after that. For all the years I was using another IFU/CD unit, so I never noticed that it broke down at one point. I actually have a spare drive to replace this unit, but given it's fantastic optical condition, I would be shame to let it go.

When the drive's sitting in the IFU dock (or has it's own power supply) and I press the play button on front. The LED track indicator lits up, but the CD won't spin. Fearing a broken CD gear, I emailed chop a few days ago and started today checking the drive myself. I opened it up and the middle gear is fine. When reading chop's gear replacement guide, I stumpled across a passage where he states "You can use that toothpick to move the gears. It should move fluid and easy with no effort". That was not the case here in my unit. First I wasn't able to move the gears at all. After increasing the preassure, they suddenly started moving, but far from "fluid" or "with no effort".

I suspect that the grease used 22 years ago just started to harden. After moving the gears I retried the CD-Rom² drive and it worked (so no stuck pickup, no dead laser unit). I skipped around on a CD and played a CD for half an hour straight. Now, if I remove power and let it sit for a few minutes, the CD again won't spin. It seems as if the motor just doesn't have the power to turn the gears. I again slightly move the gears  - I'm good for another play or music session. After the second session I noticed that the drive got louder during seeks and I don't really want to stress the drive anymore in it's current condition.

So, long story, short problem: what can I do ? I went out today and got some silicon grease, but before "re-greasing" the drive I wanted to ask for some input, if the old grease and the non-usage can really be the cause ??

Any input would be high appreciated !!

Thanks,
Fudoh

[Keith Courage]

things to try

remove the middle gear. Drill out the hole with a small drill bit. You do not want to make the hole larger. You simply want to move the bit around to grind out the old grease which has hardened. Now re-grease and put it back together.

2nd option, order a replacement gear from me that removes the middle gear in turn making less effort for the lens motor to move.

3rd, chops gear would also work since it is metal and shouldn't stick as often as the old plastic one does.

All options should work.

[Fudoh]

thanks a lot for the quick input.

Unfortunately it's the middle gear after all. When checkig the gears again and carefully turning them a full circle, I noticed that the middle one has lost exactly ONE tooth on the bigger diameter, so the whole mechanic was able to run over the missing tooth for on going playback, but was unable to start when the missing tooth was in the starting position (awful description, sorry).

I'll try a japanese replica gear first. Seems the easiest way for me since I only have to replace the middle one without fiddling with the rest (and I already removed the old one a minute ago). If that doesn't turn out as smooth as expected, I'll go with yours or chop's.

[Keith Courage]

May I ask where you are ordering the japanese replacement gear from? It's always good to be able to find other sources for parts.

[Frank_fjs]

There's a seller on YHJ selling them for $20 a pop.

[Fudoh]

exactly. I'll provide some pictures once I get it in an do the replacement.

[MotherGunner]

Fudoh, any chance for some community deals on the sales from your website?  =)

[Keith Courage]

Yeah, please share.  I've been searching yahoo japan and can't find the item anywhere.

[Fudoh]

http://openuser.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/user/luna_shintaro01

[Rom Zito]

I've got a TG16 CD unit that started sticking a few years ago.  I am always able to get the gears moving again by opening it up and gently rotating the three gears.  It seemed like as long as I ran the unit every month or two it would stay usable, but this last time it stuck in just about two weeks.

What part of the mechanism exactly is sticking?  It is suspected to simply be old grease?

I did grease the gears about two years ago with white lithium grease, but I did not remove any of the gears to apply grease underneath them, I simply put the grease in between the gears.

I also recently acquired a PCE CD and a Super CD unit and they are working just fine so far.  What kind of maintenance is recommended to do to them now before it goes into storage?

Thanks.

[thesteve]

someone state side needs to stock those gears, if the fit properly.
not everyone can use YJP auctions

[Keith Courage]

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. There are services out there that will get the item for you and ship to the US for an extra fee but at that cost it would end up running around $30-$35 a gear after shipping and handling fees.

I know they fit properly because every now and again I will get a broken CD drive in for repair that already has one of those new gears installed. You can easily tell since they look clear.

Rom Zito - part of the sticking can be old bad grease. The other part is that the center hole on the middle gear actually swells overtime and gets too tight on its spindle. Simply drill out the center hole to remove the old grease which removes a small amount of the plastic as well and put back together again.

[T2KFreeker]

While we are on the subject of "Help". Is there any reason you "Helped" yourself to Bonknuts Rockman iso and have made money off of it and didn't even give him any credit? How about "Helping" yourself without asking permission? Use some of the money and "Help" yourself to a new CD ROM system.

[Keith Courage]

Wait a minute. What's going on? Who did that? I am confused cause we were talking about CD drive gears.

[T2KFreeker]

Wait a minute. What's going on? Who did that? I am confused cause we were talking about CD drive gears.

This guy that needs our help with the CD Drive gear is the dude that is selling the Rockman Boots on the net for huge money without Bonknuts permission.

http://sapphire.anime4ever.de