The following was recently seen on Ward Christensen's personal
bulletin board system (312-849-1132) and is relayed here for its
informational value.
--Keith

From: Ward Christensen
To:   All
Re:   Squealing diskettes solved

A month or so back I solicited opinions on squealing diskettes.
Yesterday I solved it with a replace of the PRESSURE PAD on the
Shugart 801 drives.  I also WD-40'd the stepper lead screw, and now
seeking is as smooth as velvet, IN SPITE of maintenance people's
advice to leave it "dry" so it doesn't attract dust.


From: Gary Elfring
To:   Ward Christensen
Re:   WD-40 and Shugart

I have lubricated my lead screws for a number of years.  One of my
drives started acting up and I noticed that it was very hard to manually
move the lead screw.  I cleaned the screw completely with a freon based
solvent and then lubricated with a light machine oil.  This speeded up
disk access significantly!  Anyway, the choice of lubricant makes a BIG
difference.  After about 6 months I had to go clean and relubricate the
screw.  It got all gummed up.  This time I used a silicon based spray
product.  That attracted less dirt and lasts about a year.  Cleaning
and spraying once a year doesn't bother me much.  It also a good idea
to check the pressure pads at least once a year.  As they wear out
the disk reads and writes become less reliable.