replacing DVD-RW motor from old CD-ROM

[forsakenseraph]

I broke the motor or my DVD-RW yesterday and since I have a spare CD-ROM drive laying around, i was wondering if it is possible to replace the motor that spins the CD/DVD in the drive.

Is there any difference in the motors used, and given the CD-ROM is aobut 8 years old?

 

[Peter]

... and given that it's a completely different piece of engineering, despite the similarity on the outside?

Come on, you /know/ the answer.

 

[forsakenseraph]

Well...I know that the reading heads are different, but can the motor be that different?

 

[Peter]

The mechanical chassis, the tray, its mechanism, the optical components, the motors, the logic PCB, the power circuitry, EVERYTHING is different. And no, even if you "make it fit", it won't play well with the rest of the other device.

So now, accommodate your brain with the fact that it's dead and you need to buy a new one.

 

[forsakenseraph]

WHAAAAAA
ok thanks

 

[dkozloski]

Why believe him? Give it a try and prove him wrong. What have you got to lose except time?

 

[Rastus]

Just opening the case of the DVD drive outside of a clean room would probably contaminate it so it wouldn't work even if you had the right motor to put in it.

 

[Peter]

Now that isn't true. DVD and CD drives are inherently open to the environment.

 

[Peter]

Originally posted by: dkozloski
Why believe him? Give it a try and prove him wrong. What have you got to lose except time?

Careful, you'll have to explain sarcasm next.

 

[forsakenseraph]

So I did take dkozloski's advice and go for it anyways, and i found that yes, I believe it COULD work because the connection between the motor and the board is the same, but the holes for my motor didnt match up, so the motor would have been off center. I'll just get a new drive. But, if the holes did line up, I have no reason to believe why it wouldn't work.

 

[Peter]

Because it's a different motor? Just because it uses the same plug doesn't mean things actually mate well. Take that advice for real life too.

 

[trOver]

Different motor= different voltage and amperage possibly. The drive may think its doing a certain rpm, and its doing a different one, and then the disc is not able to be read...

 

[Pulsar]

There is a 1 in 1000 chance it will work.

A CD / DVD needs to spin at a very specific speed. I haven't done any work with the drives, but I bet they use some type of PID / feedback loop along with the appropriate gains to constantly adjust the current going to the motor to keep that cd / dvd spinning at the correct speed. A different motor, even if it appears the same, will likely have different characterisitics.

 

[WHAMPOM]

Originally posted by: Rastus
Just opening the case of the DVD drive outside of a clean room would probably contaminate it so it wouldn't work even if you had the right motor to put in it.

That's hard-drive, repeat hard-drive!

 

[Looney]

DVD burners are like ~$20 now (OEM).