Teflon lube fixed my cd-rw! yahoOO!

cmv

Diamond Member
Oct 10, 1999
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I've been pissed off at my Smart & Friendly TurboWriter RW 6x4x24 CD-RW (same as Ricoh 6x4x24 and 4x4x24) for some time because it didn't like some media. I kept getting these odd write errors when I first tried to burn a CD. I never got any errors after burning started until a couple days ago.

Someone tipped me off to the fact that Ricoh doesn't lube the shaft that moves the laser head back and forth (or in and out). So tonight I decided to stop by Radio Shack and pick up some Multi-Purpose Lubricant with Teflon. Cracking the drive open was a bit of a pain (the face has to come off, etc) but I got it done. I followed the directions about getting the whole shaft lubed (no jokes, hehe) by skipping around a music CD from track 1 to the last track.

On to the test - pop in a Ricoh Platinum CDR (ah, the days of $20 off $20 @ buy.com) and the drive cooperates. Red Hat 7.0 ISO 100%! Then I moved on to the Kingston 8x CDRs from outpost.com. Wazam! These hadn't been working at all and suddenly no problems.

This is simply awesome. Now I can skip buying a 8x drive and wait until I feel like getting one. Hopefully this will help someone else out there - if you start getting "power low" type errors or something similar, consider greasing the shaft that the laser head is on. Apparently all Ricoh drives may suffer from this problem.

> ==========================================================
> Due to the inadequate lubrication of a mechanical part of the
> Ricoh 7060/7040 and the AOpen 9624 (= Ricoh 7060) write failures may
> occur.
> Take the unit out of the computer, remove the top cover of the casing
> and eject the loading tray by inserting a pin into the small hole
> situated in the bezel, just below the loading tray.
> Next you need to remove a bracket, approx. 5 cm wide, by unscrewing 2
> small screws.
> Then, seen from the front side of the burner, a worm drive is
> visible on the left.
> This is the part that requires lubrication.
> Apply some light grease (vaseline may do the job just as well) and
> after reassembling and reinstalling the unit, your Ricoh 7060/7040 or
> AOpen 9624 will/may perform flawlessly again!
> =======================================================

deja.com search for ricoh and teflon
 

NforSa

Senior member
Oct 9, 1999
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Interesting...
my ricoh 20/4/4 somtimes gives me 'Invalid Media' or some such BS at the start of the burn, and spits the disk out without touching it. Another day, the same disk will work fine!

do you think this trick might help me?
 

cmv

Diamond Member
Oct 10, 1999
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YES! This is the exact problem I was having. I have a more descriptive step by step description here. I'll post it in a sec (gotta dig it out of the email).
 

cmv

Diamond Member
Oct 10, 1999
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Oh, it was Kwad Guy by the way you pointed out this lubing problem:

I haven't had any problems with cheap media. Seems to work with
whatever I throw at it...

On issue, which might be applicable to your drive (though you never
know), is that there is a lubrication problem with some Ricoh
7040/7060 drives. Apparently there were not properly lubricated
at the factory, and they start to stick a bit, which ruins
performance. There are a bunch of postings on deja.com about this,
along with a very simple fix (open drive, apply oil to one place,
close)...

best,

Kwad
 

cmv

Diamond Member
Oct 10, 1999
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See the last part below:

"Blade Runner®" wrote:
>
> On Mon, 14 Aug 2000 00:21:35 -0700, Alex <alex_xl@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> >I though my Ricoh MP7040A died a month ago. When I asked Ricoh Tech for
> >advice, they told me the repair fee is flat $200 since my drive is out
> >of warranty (less than one and a half year). It is about a price of the
> >best newest model. I bought a new Plextor1210 to replace it. It works
> >great.
> >Then I found several messages complaining the same problem I had. Some
> >people pointed out the Ricoh's are known for their lubrication problem
> >and gave out the solution. I followed it and it works perfect. I saved
> >my Ricoh back. What the hell, I then &quot;upgrade&quot; it to MP7060A. I have
> >burned two perfect disks at 6x. Thanks for the people here.
> >Now I ended up with two CD-RW drivers. I don't regret buying
> >Plextor1210. I remember that a while ago there is a discussion about
> >burning 2 CDs at the same time. What program can do that? Please give me
> >a detailed direction. Thanks.
> >
> >
> >This is how to repair Ricoh MP7040/7060.
> >
> >===================================================
> >
> >Due to the lack of sufficient lubrication of a mechanical part inside
> >the Ricoh 7060/7040 and the AOpen 9624 (= Ricoh 7060) write failures may
> >occur. Take the unit out of the computer, remove the top cover of the
> >casing and eject the loading tray by inserting a pin in the small hole
> >situated in the bezel, just below the loading tray. Next you need to
> >remove a bracket, approx. 5 cm wide, by unscrewing 2 small screws. Then,
> >seen from the front side of the burner, a spiralled shaft is visible at
> >the left. This is the part that requires lubrication. Apply some light
> >grease (vaseline may do the job just as well) and after reassembling and
> >reinstalling the unit your Ricoh 7060/7040 or AOpen 9624 will/may
> >perform flawlessly again!
>
> Be very careful on the grease that you use it must be very light and stable
> under heat the Laser block gets hot, the CIAG Silicon oil might be better
> but manufactures often use a white type of grease or a yellow Molycoat-cote
> one..
>
> Vaseline is a Big No..
>
> >===================================================
> >This may be more clear.
> >
> >===================================================
> >Some Ricoh drives had a problem with lubrication of the worm drive for
> >the laser carriage. My MP7040 worked fine for about eight months, then
> >gave me buffer underrun errors, usually toward the end of the burn. I
> >lubed it and have not gotten any errors since.
> >
> >If you are brave, you can try it. There are four screws on the bottom.
> >One is covered by a tamper sticker, but if your drive is out of
> >warranty, don't worry about it. (You can put some naptha or lighter
> >fluid on it and peel it up part way to reach the screw if you prefer.)
> >Remove the bottom, then remove the front panel (it unsnaps) and remove
> >the upper case. There is a flat plate held by two small screws near the
> >center of the drive. Remove it. Slide the tray out and look along the
> >side of the laser carriage and you will see what looks like a long
> >screw. It is hidden under a bracket, but you can reach it with a Q-tip.
> >
> >Lubricate it with something like Teflon Lube Gel, available at Radio
> >Shack (Tandy). You don't need very much. Put the drive back together,
> >then play back a &quot;full&quot; audio CD and run it between the first and last
> >tracks to distribute the lube. This may solve your problem.
> >
> >===================================================
> >
 

cmv

Diamond Member
Oct 10, 1999
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76
The Radio Shack Teflon Lube Gel:

rat shack link

Household Lubricating Gel

$2.99 Reg. Price
Cat.#: 64-2326
(Pricing and Availability may vary outside the contiguous 48 United States.)

 

cmv

Diamond Member
Oct 10, 1999
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76
Notice they usually mention buffer under runs and stuff. I only had one under run a week ago. I think the problem with it not liking certain media appears before the buffer problems.

Basically when I got this thing it worked 100%. Then I started making a buttload of CDR disks (PSX games) for friends and it still worked fine. But eventually it started to not like the PNY 80mb disks. Then I got the Kingston stuff from outpost and it didn't like that either. It still worked fine though with the gold Ricoh CDRs. But the platinum didn't work (I tried it right before I lubed it).

So basically I would really recommend lubing the drive. If you get stuck, let me know. It is real pain to get the plastic face off - the top part in the very middle has to be lefted up (the plastic part) while the metal is left down (and the tray has to be slightly ejected too).

Good luck. Oh, and go easy on the lube. I used the Q-Tip method. I probably put too much on but I wanted to be sure it was done.
 

cmv

Diamond Member
Oct 10, 1999
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Still working fine the next day, lol... Just bumping in hope that someone else can benefit.