Apple II ...ALPS drive ?

[ViperSan]

I recently aquired this ..
...and I've never seen one before.
Obviously designed to work with an Apple (disk II controller card) ..and until it was opened I had no idea what was inside ..
I guess not so surprising was the ALPS drive as used in a commodore 1541 ...with a custom analog card to integrate with Apple ..
Not tried it as yet ..a job for this evening.
..but I figured I'd share a couple of pix ..
comments welcomed.
I guess if it never works with an Apple (analog card faulty/unrepairable)..then at least I have a spare dive for a 1541 ..
or Vice Versa
rgds
VS

 

[ViperSan]

So ..
as expected it does not function..
No susrprise there ..so swapped out the ALPS drive mech with a known worker ..
Thus eliminating Heads ...Disc motor ..stepper motor ...and motor control board ..and possible misalignment tweaking in one go..
..and since there is only the analog board and ribbon cable left in the unit ...
I suppose the fault must lie there ..
No schematic to help ..but I'm hoping there are a lot of similarities to the genuine Disk II analog board ..
Fingers crossed I can solve this ..
we shall see ..
rgds
VS

- - - Updated - - -

So ..the analog board may look different and is obviously wired a bit differently ..BUT ...it uses the same chipset as the DiskII analog board ..
So ..I may well have a shot when the chips I ordered for my Disk II drives get here ..
Some are coming from the US ..some from China..
so could be a while..
lol

 

[protek]

I’d probably check if the drive mech is getting the 12 and 5 V first and work my way towards the Disk II controller card, if either is missing.

 

[ViperSan]

I'm fairly sure the contoller card is ok ..
reason being ..that I have 2 ..and both work ..sort of ..with a disk II drive which reads but wont write..
this being the reason I have chips on order ..
rgds

 

[TheCorfiot]

The Official Apple Duo and Uni Disk Systems did indeed use the same Alps Mech as the 1541

 

[ViperSan]

The Official Apple Duo and Uni Disk Systems did indeed use the same Alps Mech as the 1541

Useful info ..
many thanks ..
perhaps I might find a service manual afterall.
rgds
VS

 

[ViperSan]

Finally got the chips I needed from China ..
Swapped out transistor array chip ..and the 74LS125 ...
The drive now passes all tests and speed is 301
The ALPS mech was also stripped down and the heads cleaned as were the sled rails ..
The trimmer pot was reset using the laquer residue still visible ...this had obviously been adjusted by someone desperate to get it going ..
Not that they ever would with faulty chips on board..
It has since formatted a blank floppy..

I shall now use the experience gained to try and fix the DISK II drives I have..
(Same chipset)
rgds
VS