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SY99 Disk Drive Replacement | ||
When the disk drive in my Yamaha SY99 stopped working in 2004, I ordered a replacement drive from Yamaha UK's very helpful Service Department. But installing the new drive was more than just a simple swap, and the drive came without any fitting instructions at all. What follows is how I successfuly replaced the drive...... Since I did this, supplies of the original factory part from Yamaha seem to be no longer available, and I have been receiving enquiries about alternative solutions. Here are some possible approaches that you can try (at your own risk!):
Here's the original 'red-LED' disk drive which refused to do anything with any floppy disk... |
Note: |   | This is my own description of what I did with my SY99, and is shown here as an illustration of how an ex-service engineer approaches this type of task. You should only attempt this type of activity if you are suitably qualified, and confident of your ability to complete the task successfully. These pages are not authorised or endorsed by Yamaha in any way. You should always refer any servicing enquiries to your local Yamaha Dealer, or your country's Yamaha Service Department. |
Preparation | ||
Upside down... Not from the Peter Gabriel song 'Downside up', but the first stage. I always put something soft underneath anything that I'm working on to protect the front panel and keyboard... |
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In this case it is a yellow blanket that is full of holes that are very good at catching any screws, star washers, or other small items that might otherwise roll away and fall onto the floor. I'm also grounded via a wrist strap to avoid any problems with static. (Of course, the SY99 is unplugged from the mains electricity supply!) |
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Low-cost anti-static kits are available, which are designed / intended for use when installing SIMMs, Processors or Graphics cards inside computers. Professional service engineers have workbenches with special anti-static grounded conductive rubber mats to provide protection against electrostatic discharge. |
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Screws and more screws... | Opening the SY99 There are quite a few self-tapping screws to undo to get inside the SY99. I took care to only remove the ones which hold the main metal panel in place. Some equipment has little arrows which indicate the screws to undo - but on the SY99 it was resonably obvious. |
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Remove ALL the relevant screws... I found that it was very easy to miss the screws at the front by the keyboard. In this picture, you can see one on the right. The large coarse-threaded screw on the left was holding the plastic end cheek in place, and did not need to be removed. If you look carefully, you can see that the metal panel is slightly bent where I forgot to remove this vital screw the first time. |
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Go easy, tiger... Self-tapping screws need to be removed (and re-inserted later) with a bit of care. In this picture, the screw is holding the metal panel onto the aluminium extrusion which forms the rear and front panel. I take my time with these: if you use too much force on this type of fastening then you can strip off flakes of aluminium which aren't good for electronics... |
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Dont lose anything The lid of the cardboard box that the new drive came in is perfect as a handy storage place for all those loose screws... |
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Debrief | ||
The old drive... Once removed, then I could properly see the floppy disk drive and the bracket that surrounds it. Note that the drive is fastened to the bracket with the four screws not shown here! |
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Remove the bracket The floppy drive is held at the right angle to the front panel bezel with a bracket - and it is the bracket which is visible when the SY99 metal panel is removed. The drive itself is underneath the bracket and is held in place with four black self-tapping screws. The bracket is needed to hold the replacement disk drive in place, so I kept it to one side. |
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Save all the bits All of the self-tapping screws that had been removed so far were now in the bits box. You wouldn't expect anything else, would you? |
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The answer The floppy drive itself was now visible. When I examined it, the reason for the problem was rather obvious when I looked at the circuit board side. The synthetic rubber belt which connects the motor to the disk flywheel was very loose indeed. This is probably just the effect of age - my SY99 is from 1991, and so was about 13 years old in 2004. |
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Loose belt I have read that you might be able to replace this belt with a similar belt from a cassette recorder spares kit. (See page on this topic.) In my case, I had a brand new floppy drive, so I retained this old drive as a spare for the future... |
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Mission Complete! | ||
  | I hope that you have found this description interesting. I've tried to expose all of the things that go on in my head whilst I am tackling this type of task, in the hope that this information is useful in revealing my approach, methods and way of thinking. | |
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Note: |   | This is my own description of what I did with my SY99, and is shown here as an illustration of how an ex-service engineer approaches this type of task. You should only attempt this type of activity if you are suitably qualified, and confident of your ability to complete the task successfully. These pages are not authorised or endorsed by Yamaha in any way. You should always refer any servicing enquiries to your local Yamaha Dealer, or your country's Yamaha Service Department. |
home | about | blog | ss&s | visualisers | music | anime | 3d | wallgames | betsubetsu | others... |
SY99 Disk | FM Tutorial | Effects | My Music | Programming |
© 2004-2008 Martin Russ |