Turbo Grafx CD drive motor

[Keith Courage]

Just thought I'd share this. I got lucky. Went to Goodwill today and found an old Sony D-3 CD player. The lens is a Kss-160A not sure if that is compatible with a Turbo CD. However, the lens motor is the FF-050SH and it also has the special middle gear for Turbo CDs that always break.

...I found one supplier but they require at least $100 minimum order. Motor is FF-050SH

Okay I know some people have been having problems with these gears...

I'm done here.

[nikdog]

KSS-160 is the proper laser assembly for the TurboCD/CDROM2. KSS-210 or 220 is the same laser but different assembly.

[SignOfZeta]

Just thought I'd share this. I got lucky. Went to good will today and found an old Sony D-3 CD player. The lens is a Kss-160A not sure if that is compatible with a Turbo CD. However, the lens motor is the FF-050SH and it also has the special middle gear for Turbo CDs that always break.

Great news!

Well, sorta. D-3s are rare as hell.

[kid_rondeau]

...I found one supplier but they require at least $100 minimum order. Motor is FF-050SH

How many motors would you get for that price? I'm sure there's enough repair enthusiasts here to chip in for such a purchase...I know I would.

[yukin]

could it be the same motor as the pc engine duo-r ?

[SignOfZeta]

No, it isn't, but even if it were that wouldn't fix the problem since nobody wants to destroy a perfectly good PC Engine just to fix another PC Engine.

[Official Ninja]

Here is more information to consider.

My tg-cd had the warm up issue, gear was "stretched" looking and fell apart when i touched it. I replaced the gear with one sent to me from these forums. Still had a warm up issue.

Today I stopped by the electronics store to get a 5v fan for my trs-80 disk drive case. I look on the junk table and I see a NEC CDR-35D-01.
Its marked $5.00 so I grab it up and purchase it with my fan.

When i got home I plugged the tg-16 power adaper up to it and BINGO it starts playing my Ozzy Diary of a Madman disc. SCORE.

I hook the drive up to the tg-16 cd base unit and it doesnt work when i press run. BUT, if i press play music plays through the TV.

So, I get my broken drive, gut out the whole laser assembly. It was a 166(?) I then gutted the whole laser assembly from the 35D to the tg-cd drive.
Had to solder 4 wires is all.

Plug the TG-CD drive with 35D laser unit (220 type) in to my CD base unit and BAM! Perfect working tg-CD. Works perfect even reads CD-R like a dream.

For $5.00 !!!!

[kid_rondeau]

Very nice!
I just looked for one of those online...naturally no one has one for sale that I could find.

With our collective intelligence in this, I'm sure we will eventually solve the problems we face. It's inevitable!

[BlueBMW]

I wonder if the gear we sent you might be slightly off on dimensions.  I tried another gear from a good working unit in the donor unit (which had warm up trouble) and it worked perfectly.  That tells me the issue is in the gear.  I think they're either seizing on their axis or getting out of round and jamming up.

[nikdog]

Here is more information to consider.

My tg-cd had the warm up issue, gear was "stretched" looking and fell apart when i touched it. I replaced the gear with one sent to me from these forums. Still had a warm up issue.

Today I stopped by the electronics store to get a 5v fan for my trs-80 disk drive case. I look on the junk table and I see a NEC CDR-35D-01.
Its marked $5.00 so I grab it up and purchase it with my fan.

When i got home I plugged the tg-16 power adaper up to it and BINGO it starts playing my Ozzy Diary of a Madman disc. SCORE.

I hook the drive up to the tg-16 cd base unit and it doesnt work when i press run. BUT, if i press play music plays through the TV.

So, I get my broken drive, gut out the whole laser assembly. It was a 166(?) I then gutted the whole laser assembly from the 35D to the tg-cd drive.
Had to solder 4 wires is all.

Plug the TG-CD drive with 35D laser unit (220 type) in to my CD base unit and BAM! Perfect working tg-CD. Works perfect even reads CD-R like a dream.

For $5.00 !!!!

The 35D PCB is different then the 30A. But yea, if you put a 30A's PCB in the 35D it wil work with the TG16/PCE. It's what mine is. The middle is from a 35D, the lid, the PCB and the bottom are from my broken 30A.

[blueraven]

Okay I know some people have been having problems with these gears...

Is this you?

cgi.ebay.com/Turbo-Grafx-and-PC-Engine-CD-Drive-system-duo-Repair

[kid_rondeau]

I saw that too...I gotta admit, it looks tempting. If that's legit, it sure seems like a viable option.

[BlueBMW]

I saw that too...I gotta admit, it looks tempting. If that's legit, it sure seems like a viable option.

$75 is an awful lot though.. I'd rather spend a bit more and get another CDROM2 and just wait til we get replacement gears for these things.

[kid_rondeau]

True, but the auction says he replaces the drive with a more reliable, two-gear system. I don't know what design he uses (probably just an existing, compatible setup), but if it really is more reliable, this may be a one-time fix. Whereas even if we fix the dreaded gear problem, there may be other drive train problems down the line.
I really don't want to sound pessimistic, though...nor do I want to sound overly faithful in a repair service that hasn't been personally vetted by someone on these forums (that I know of).
I'm just sayin', that I have three TG-CD's, and I would totally pay the ~$100 each for several years of trouble-free operation and Turbo gaming that would get me.

As a matter of interest, I emailed him asking him if he warranties his work at all, and if so, how long. He said "60 days unless a cap dies immediately afterward, but that kind of thing is hard to predict." (paraphrased)

[Charlie]

Some food for thought:
It seems to me that the "2-gear" statement should be a hot button.  If the original gear train had 3 gears, and this one has two gears, then it must be more than a simple drive-train replacement.  There are two issues:
1. The final gear in these two possible gear-trains rotate in opposite directions (even number of gears vs. odd number of gears).   This means that either the motor has to replaced also, or the original motor has to be re-wired to run in the opposite direction.
2. Spacing between the ends of the gear trains would have to remain the same mechanically, which means the gears themselves would obviously be bigger.  This means different gear rations; which in turn means different speeds.  Yet, the final CD drive speed needs to be the same, obviously...or at least close.  Or, the motor speed control circuit is either changed or at the least, re-tuned (if possible).

It would be prudent for someone to actually avail themselves of these services, and see what happens.

Charlie

[blueraven]

I saw that too...I gotta admit, it looks tempting. If that's legit, it sure seems like a viable option.

Legit? You misunderstand. This should be in the "Gouging Much" Thread.

This is fucking bullshit. Just like Kattare (who started charging $400 for repaired Duo's); gouging people after coming to this forum and profiting off of the hard work of the die-hards, the people that have sacrificed their time to create the solutions for these repairs, and the people that love the system. We put up the guides and people try to make the benjamins off of our backs.

I do all of my own work; soldering, etc. and would never pay an asshole on eBay who has nothing to contribute here $100 to fix my system; in fact, I would rather offer the service for free than see someone profit from it. I'll hang out in chat until 3AM until someone gets their laser replaced, or fixes their sound circuit. And I will help them every step of the way if I can. For free.

*edited for spelling

[BlueBMW]

blueraven!  I agree 110%! 

[NecroPhile]

Nikdog contacted him (in the other thread) asking what he was using for replacement parts, and he replied that they're taken from old Discmans; so while the fix may work, they're still old parts with questionable long term reliability.  So unless this dude has come up with a better repair using all new parts, I'd have a hard time paying $60 (a.k.a. - a good down payment on a Duo-R) for something that likely won't last.

[Official Ninja]

Well this:

"I replace the gears with a custom improved 2 gear setup which will ensure the moment of your laser for years to come."

is quite a bit different than replacing the gear with a gear from a discman. I wonder where these custom gears come from and how the correct gear ratio is kept. Wouldn't that make it spin in the wrong direction?

What sux is that if there is a tested working fix for the middle gear, I wish it was shared with the community not some ebay auction. If I had an extra unit I'd do this just to see what it is and post it here. Maybe I can message him and send my white unit for the pc to him since it is missing a middle gear right now.

[BlueBMW]

I've got an extra bad gear unit I could send as a sacrifice. . What's $75....

[Official Ninja]

I've got an extra bad gear unit I could send as a sacrifice. . What's $75....

$75 is a lot!

Well I think the fact that I changed the whole laser assembly on my drive and it works picture perfect again is proof that the warm up issue is laser, gear, motor related.

I'm going to put my 35D back together with the broken tg-cd laser assembly and use that as my test system. Once we get these gears made, I'll test them in that.

[NecroPhile]

I've got an extra bad gear unit I could send as a sacrifice. . What's $75....

It's only $60 if it just needs gears, but still...

[kid_rondeau]

I feel like I'm gonna be the one who ends up trying this service out...I have one CD unit that works most of the time (but needs a little prodding if dormant for a while), one that seems to only work when it feels like it, and my original unit that has no middle gear and that I've dropped a dozen times as a clumsy teenager.

If/when I do, I'll report back on how it performs, provide pics, etc.

[kid_rondeau]

OK, I bit.
I've sent him my broken TG-CD.
So far, communication has been good and quick. I'll update as appropriate.

[BlueBMW]

Want a donation to help offset the investment?

[kid_rondeau]

Only if I get ripped off!   Thanks though!

[Official Ninja]

OK, I bit.
I've sent him my broken TG-CD.
So far, communication has been good and quick. I'll update as appropriate.

What exactly was wrong with your CD unit? Warm up? Broken /  missing gear?

[kid_rondeau]

Ninj,
Yeah, the only functionally wrong thing with it was that the middle gear got stuck sometime back in 2000 or so. At the time, I assumed it was a laser issue or "it's just old" and couldn't be fixed.
Of course, back in those days, TZD was selling BRAND NEW TG-CD UNITS FOR $25.00 EACH!!!
I know hindsight is 20/20, but I would have bought like five of those if I had known how things would turn out.
In any case, I bought a new unit, and when it arrived I had Turbo again and didn't put much thought into fixing the old one...I thought it broke prematurely because I had knocked it off tables on more than one occasion.

Flash forward to 2007. Armed with the knowledge that comes from being a member of these forums, I took apart my broken unit to see if anything obvious was wrong. There was! The dreaded middle gear had two teeth missing! Just for kicks I turned the large gear to observe the rotation of the whole assembly, and one by one, all the remaining teeth broke off from the middle gear.

Figuring I couldn't make things worse, I applied DC voltage from a 9V battery to the CD motor and the sled motor (I know that isn't a popular way to test them) just to make sure they worked, and sure enough they did.

So, I'm hoping that he can put his improved gearing in there and I'll be good to go. The only other broken thing is the Line Out jack. It used to be the headphone jack, but I switched them so I could enjoy semi-portable CD music again. I don't care if he fixes that, and I would be very surprised if he did.

[chop5]

OMG does no one here read my zombie gear statements in other threads? i give detailed information how to use a 2 gear system and rewiring the plug end of the small motor and removal of some parts. Its still very experimental as i couldn't figure out a skipping issue but it may be solved, was just me using scratched discs all this time. Right now only 1 member here has one of my zombie gear units and he says it works fine. I am currently making a small batch of zombie gears to give to the desperate. the process isn't easy but is completely reversible when a real 3rd gear is made. The main problem is again finding a 12mm in diameter that will fit so I've been making my own. seems 12 mm gears aren't as common as i had hoped.

looks like that ebay guy followed what i wrote about the zombie gear. shame hes charging so much.


the original zombie gear bitches!



I'm sure if you check my dates in other threads no way the ebay dude was selling his service before. but i don't put it passed another developing it at the same time completely separated from this forum.

[kid_rondeau]

Chop,
Can you put up some better pics? I'd be curious to see it from different angles.

[chop5]

sure but all I have are my older pics,that gear in that first pic is 13 mm in diameter so its gave me tons of problems so found a 12mm gear in another device. mini cassette player.



the hole is still too big so I added a filler of another gear with a long shaft,a servo gear. they snap on like legos. The snap on gear is just as strong as a regular single molded gear. wont shuffle in the unit.

here it is in a unit with the older gear to help hold it in place. Ive long since removed the old gear and just have it like that:



thats pretty much how the final product looks without the old gear in there. that white lip over the gear was to prevent skipping but found out it didn't need it so it was removed,just a bare gear.

As you can see the metal axle has to be removed and the long guide bar. they cant be in the same place or the screw holding it will cause friction on the new gear. if you can find a screw with a flatter head you can use it but its best just leave it off. The plug end of the smaller motors wire are clip ons so all you need to change them is a small screwdriver and push up the clips and change the wires. you will get what I mean when you see the wire clips.
thats it you have a zombie revived unit. its not simple to do but not $75 simple. no way in hell,might as well buy another working unit.

its also key to the warm up issue if you read my other findings in other threads. so in one swoop I conquered warm up and middle gear. I am victorious.

i will be offering this service for a few dollars soon just pay shipping back and forth.
Now that I know it can be used by others for profit no reason why I cant go forward. Testing phase is complete!
there is still the slight concern of some skipping. no way around this not even the ebay dude can get around it. but so far it hasn't surfaced from my end and the member that has the unit. but 20 or 30 % skipping on some music is to be expected but way better than having a dead unit.
this method is not perfect.
and ebay dude should state that.

more pictures soon when I make my premier thread

[kid_rondeau]

Chop,
Looks good, and I'm a little surprised that I didn't know about your fix earlier. I love that we're getting our ideas and solutions pooled. Eventually, we will find a solution.
In the meantime, we'll see what happens with cheapnicecomputers. I'll let you know if his setup is the same as yours.
I see what you mean about switching the pink and blue wires on the sled motor...that solves the problem of going to an even number of gears causing a reversal of direction...you just reverse the reversal!

Again, thanks for sharing this!

[kid_rondeau]

Update:
Repairs are almost complete, he's sent me a pic of my repaired gearing mechanism, and communication continues to be excellent.
I should have it back by the middle of next week, I would think.

[kid_rondeau]

Success!

Ok guys, I got my TG-CD back from Chris at CheapNiceComputers on ebay. Aside from sounding a little different mechanically (due to different gears/configuration being used), it works as good as it ever did. Actually, it might even work a little better! It's very responsive, and seems to have no trouble loading or finding tracks. I still plan to run more tests (like playing an audio CD in the dock, playing an audio CD as a standalone, etc.), but first impressions are completely positive.

As for the "doing business" aspect, I again give Chris highest marks. He responded promptly to any questions or concerns I had, and was polite and professional. Finally, he did in fact, refund $15 of my $75 payment because the problem was isolated to the gearing system (with no laser issues).

So, for $70.95 ($60 + $10.95 shipping) I have a TG-CD unit that, barring any unforeseen explosions or meltdowns, performs as good as or better than new. If you need the service, and can afford the cost, and you have no philosophical or moral objections to using it, then I recommend it highly.

[Game-Tech.US]

Could we bother you to open it up and take pics of the new gear set?!?! 

[kid_rondeau]

akaViolence,
Rather than open it up to take a pic of it, and then try to figure out how posting photos on this forum works (seriously, I have the damnedest time figuring it out...l33t I am not), I'll just post the link that Chris sent to me while he was working on it:

/cimg5885.jpg

I hope you can open/view that no problem...it's not password protected.
Not that you would necessarily care, but he's already indicated he has no problems with pics of his fix going up here.

One unfortunate thing, which was in no way Chris's fault, is that it looks like someone actually punted the return shipping box before I got it. Seriously...huge dent on one of the corners. When I opened the CD lid, I noticed the sled was all the way to the outer limit...even beyond, since I had to use a pen to pull the thing back into moving range to make it work. I think it was just dropped or otherwise manhandled.

[chop5]

ah so it is chris   i had my suspicions.

i wish he would come forward and admit to his copying. this i can forgive but using ebay i cannot.



all my repairs i offer lifetime warranties. those who use the ebay cdrepair service be warned no such warranty is given. Also i will hold on to the parts i remove from the cdroms and put them away for the day the original gear can be repalced and will be reattached for free.

I am not about gouging the helpless masses here. i am about getting people the ability to play the games and systems they love as cheaply as possible.
And if i ever use someone else's technique or idea i give credit and never pass it on as my own  

[kid_rondeau]

Yeah, see Chris? I was afraid this was gonna become an unnecessarily heated discussion. Don't pay no mind.
Chop, nothing against you, but don't you think it's possible that two or more people could have conceived the same relatively simple fix for the same problem independently of each other?

[BlueBMW]

Yeah, see Chris? I was afraid this was gonna become an unnecessarily heated discussion. Don't pay no mind.
Chop, nothing against you, but don't you think it's possible that two or more people could have conceived the same relatively simple fix for the same problem independently of each other?

That happened once long ago.... I think it was with the invention of Calculus

I can understand Chop's suspicion since the ebay auctions did start showing up not long after information concerning this gear repair was posted.  But that is neither here nor there.

I know most of the guys / girls here are not the richest people out there, but we love our turbo stuff and want it to work!  This is why I offer to fix stuff as cheaply as possible.  Yeah my time is worth something, but I get more pleasure from knowing that I got someone's system back up and running so they can get back to enjoying the games they love on original hardware.  This is my view, and I know its not shared amongst all.

Chris, I can appreciate the time and effort it takes to repair these units (having dealt with many myself) so I can understand your pricing, and putting a value on your time.  But if you are willing, would you share the source of your replacement gears with the community?  Its up to you, and if you are unwilling (which is your right) then we will continue to pursue the other avenues of replacement gears that we are undertaking.  Once I find a solution on my own, I'll do my best to offer it as cheaply as possible to the members here.

Again, I don't fault you Chris for doing what you're doing.  While it's not the way I'd handle things, I can understand your reasoning behind it.

Byron (aka BlueBMW)

[blueraven]

For reference, this is the same argument Kattare and others used when they were gouging people for $300-$400 a duo and upwards of $100 for repairs which isn't much more than you're charging.

And if you think I believe that you created this repair "organically" without the help of our repair threads:

Don't piss on my leg and tell me it's raining.

 

And why would I purchase a service from a guy who cant spell repair?

Okay, well I am going to say that I have been keeping quiet about this matter for a while now cause I saw things starting to turn ugly and now it has. I want to asure you that I did not steel your idea for personal or financial gain. I have been doing repairs of this type for years now for friends, myself, and a couple idependant run video game stores in my area. It has only been recently that I have decided to put my service on ebay. So as much as you want to think that I stole your idea I did not. Also, you claim that I am asking too much. You have to figure in my time and parts costs. I spend at least 6 hours easy on these drives to make sure everything is setup and tweaked perfectly. After ebay fees and parts costs that comes out to about $7 an hour which is barely anything. If all I wanted was to make a bunch of extra money I would just go and get myself a 2nd job. You are welcome to offer your services for cheaper and I am not worried about that since this is not my full time job. I just figured I'd offer my Cd drive services to those who would like a good solid reapair for a fair and resonable price. I have been doing this a while and stand by my work. Sorry, to rant but I had to say something cause I don't like being blamed for stealing someones Idea for my own gain when this is surely not the case.

[nectarsis]

Okay, well I am going to say that I have been keeping quiet about this matter for a while now cause I saw things starting to turn ugly and now it has.

Why would it have turned ugly (as there was no indication in any way it would) unless this MASSIVE coincidence came to light.  Odd that these repairs weren't offered on ebay until well after things were posted here.  Is it possible yes, likely, not very.

[chop5]

but listen,i am understanding. i know its hard for some people to even say 1 word that goes against them.  and deeply understand that people need to make a living to support theirs.
times are hard and will only get harder.

so let us start over. hi am jetblue,techy for many years. nice to meet you.
please share where you got the gear from so others may purchase their own. Dont say you had them specially made or bought

them in bulk blah blah,i am more intelligent than that.


Share with us and all is forgiven and forgotten. so we can strengthen this community and go from there. 

[Opethian]