Source for 810 MPI faceplates

[AndyR]

I'm getting back into this world after a decade or so, and am in the process of trying to get a stack of drives working that haven't been touched since the 90's.  In fact straightforward cleaning and lubrication has recovered almost all of them[1].

 

But I have one 810 (MPI, not Tandon) that is missing its faceplate.  The drive otherwise works great though, so I'm hoping there's some kind of restoration option here.  Does anyone collect and sell these?  I found someone on eBay with Tandon plates, so I guess there's hope.  Are there 3D printable replicas anywhere?  Does someone have an equivalent stack of dead drives and want to arrange a part swap?

 

[1] With a few permanent casualties: one broken Tandon door latch, one drive head assembly was so stuck to the rails that I broke an arm off trying to release it, one Percom drive had a dead logic board so I pulled out the factory-standard drive mechanism to use with a Greaseweazle.

[Nezgar]

The de-facto go-to resource is probably Best Electronics, NOS items.  Lots of long write-ups on the most common failure points of the 810's like you have already on your hands. The proprietor is quirky, so keep your requests consise and short. Personally I'll email, but have called sometimes to finalize payment via credit card, or just paid via PayPal.

 

I do have my own collection of 810's in various states of health, primarily one that due to stupid poor shipping receiving the case was shattered to smitherines, but the drive itself was still fully functional, so it has become a handy test specimen.

 

Personally I'm looking for a particularly obscure part for an MPI mech... that little clicky latch that releases the spring that pushes the disk back out when you open the latch... I would trade the faceplate for that lol. Maybe I can find a picture somehwere.

[BillC]

13 hours ago, Nezgar said:

The de-facto go-to resource is probably Best Electronics, NOS items.  Lots of long write-ups on the most common failure points of the 810's like you have already on your hands. The proprietor is quirky, so keep your requests consise and short. Personally I'll email, but have called sometimes to finalize payment via credit card, or just paid via PayPal.

 

I do have my own collection of 810's in various states of health, primarily one that due to stupid poor shipping receiving the case was shattered to smitherines, but the drive itself was still fully functional, so it has become a handy test specimen.

 

Personally I'm looking for a particularly obscure part for an MPI mech... that little clicky latch that releases the spring that pushes the disk back out when you open the latch... I would trade the faceplate for that lol. Maybe I can find a picture somehwere.

myatari has 810 MPI complete mechanisms and tandon faceplates available on ebay, you could ask if he has any MPI faceplates available.

Edited December 24, 2022 by BillC