Tube Time Profile picture
Jul 6, 2021 21 tweets 6 min read Read on X
today on The Bench of Healing™ -- an original IBM 360K 5.25" drive.
it's very dusty
ooh there's a floppy disk still inside! it's also very dusty
IBM SOURCE INSPECTION. what does H/T mean 🤔
yep, dusty
this drive has two heads. the original IBM 5150 came with a single-sided drive at first, with a capacity of 160K (later versions of DOS extended this to 180K)
you can use a strobe light to adjust the motor speed.
if you look underneath the drive latch, you can tell that this is a 48 track per inch drive, double sided recording.
discovered that the plastic guide rails are just press fit into the metal casting. naturally the plastic tabs had broken off at some point. let's see if a little glue will hold.
hooked it up to my bench PC, let's see what it does.
the motor speed is dead on!
why won't it work, he asked stupidly, while holding the connectors from the rear/write head. 🤦‍♂️
much better
yeah this isn't great. I'm thinking about how to remove the plastic pegs
decided to drill into it and thread a screw in
snip
drilled holes in the other piece so they fit together
this provides a lot more surface area for the glue.
removing dust using my new favorite tool: ColorCoral.
here's another drive. someone's put a RAM chip in the socket meant for the terminator resistor array 😂
something is wrong with the belt. can't quite put my finger on it 🤔

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Tube Time

Tube Time Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @TubeTimeUS

Jun 13, 2023
here's a weird object! it's some kind of foot pedal with an IBM logo. is it for a sewing machine? electronic synthesizer? what do you think? 🧵 Image
it's got a cursed connector! what IS that? Image
amazingly enough, I found something with the mating connector on it! but what is it? Image
Read 24 tweets
Jan 11, 2023
hey so remember the world's cutest oscilloscope i picked up last year? i think it's time to fix the probe socket issue.
i printed a new panel insert that has two BNC sockets on it (the original probes would have had captive cables)
the tricky part is that this oscilloscope has a 333K ohm input impedance instead of 1M like umm every other scope on the planet. fortunately someone designed a little conversion circuit...
Read 11 tweets
Jan 5, 2023
in honor of Sim Wong Hoo, here's a quick historical review of the Sound Blaster! 🧵
but first we have to go back to their first sound card, the Creative Music System from 1987. (image credit: Bratgoul on Wikipedia)
this card has some special "CMS-301" chips. if you peel back the sticker, they have had their top marks removed. they're actually SAA1099 synthesizer chips made by Philips. Creative wrote music composition software for musicians on the PC.
Read 23 tweets
Dec 31, 2022
Tube Time: a 2022 retrospective 🧵
(and stuff you might have missed!) Image
starting things off in january, i found a tube of super old 555 timer chips! i also decapped one of them.
i also started fixing up an old HP 150 computer. it's not PC compatible but it runs MS-DOS--how odd!
Read 65 tweets
Dec 29, 2022
today's mini project: fixing this Radius Thunder IV GX daughtercard. it looks fine, but... 🧵 Image
one of the chips has some broken pins! Image
looks like two of the pins got mashed and broke right at the plastic package. Image
Read 11 tweets
Dec 8, 2022
on the bench of healing tonight: my coffee grinder which decided to bite the dust. Image
symptoms: i push the start button and the motor just bumps a little bit and stops.
how to take it apart? hmm, i bet there are screws under the rubber feet. Image
Read 23 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(