Inside HDA - Experiements On Scrap HDD's [ Newbie ]

[Amarbir[CDR-Labs]]

Hello Everyone ,
Its Been Few Days Since I started Practicing " Head Unstuck Work And Swaps " On Some Old HDD's Lying Around .Also Purchased a Few New Once To Try Out And Practise On New HDD's . I Would Like To Share The Journey With You All And Also Seek Some Professional/Senior Advise .

Material Used For Work .

1 : Laminar Flow Bench " Horizontal "
2 : Screwdriver With Multiple Bits
3 : Tweezer [ Pointed Head ] .
4 : Air Manual Blower
5 : Magnifier Handheld
6 : Plier [ Nose Type ]

Experience So Far For Budding Newbies Like Me :

1 : Laminaar Flow Bench : Well Not Only Do You Need To Have This You Also Need To Have The Surroundings Clean [ Which is a Hard Task In India ] .I Am Going To Install More Clean Air Equiptment In Two More stages To Have Atleast Class 1000 Environment in Complete Office and Class 100 In Bench .

2 : Screwdrivers : Its Not Bad To Have Dedicated Scewdriver For Different Screws You Come Across [ Feels Better + Easy To Clean ] Avoid Plain Iron Type El Cheapo Brands .I Am Using German Make Wiha Model 280 Kit .

3 : Tweezers : Tweezer Should Be Both Pointed And Also Not That Pointed .A Little Bend At The Base Is Not Bad [ For The Tweezer Thats Not Pointed ,Grooves In This Are also Not Bad ] .This Type Of Tweezer Helps In Areas Like Following [ Screw Inside HDA Under The Cover , Preamp Screws, Magnet Screws And Also Helps To Lift The Head Stack ] .

4 : Air Blower : Even Though Your Laminaar Flow Bench Has Good Air Cleaning Capabilities Still a Lot Of Dust Lands Up On Specially the Top Last Head Platter .A Good Quality Manual Air Blower To Remove dust Particles Inside HDD Once Job Is Done Is Not Bad .

5 : Magnifier : The Basic Purpose Is To Inspect Heads But i Find That ts Better To Remove Head Stack And Check Under a Microscope At 20x Or 30x/40x Magnification .Still Not a Bad Tool .

6 : Nose Plier : This One With Grooves To Lift Magnets Where Its Not Possible To Use a Magnet Removing Tool .Sometimes i Use This To Remove HSA Also .




Now Some Questions/Advise From My Senior Peers : Well though I Try To Practise everyday Still There Are a Few questions That Are Glued To My Brain For Advise .When You See Video Looks Like Piece Of Cake But in Reality Its Not .Its Practice On different HDD Families That Makes The Result Perfect .

1 : Laminar Flow Bench " Horizontal " : Friends I Find That The Tools And The HDD's Keep Scratching The Steel Frame In The Bench [ How Can i Protect This ] . Also The Patient/Donor Tables Legs Keep Scratching The Same .For The Table i Have Taken Lint Free Cloth And Attached To Legs Of The Table [No More Scratches ] .How Do You Clean The Inside of Your Laminaar Tables And Outside .

2 : Screwdriver With Multiple Bits : Not Many Questions Here But Still Any Advice Is Appreciated From You All .

3 : Tweezer [ Pointed Head ] : Can You Suggest Some Good Brand Models ,We Get All crap Here In India .

4 : Air Manual Blower : I See That a Lot of You Have Compressed Air .In India We Find It Hard To Arrange .Also Is This Kind Of a Air Blow harmful For Hard Drive As Blowing Air Can Also Make Liquid Thats Compressed Inside Can Come To Platters ? .

5 : Magnifier Handheld : Well Could You Let Me Know Some Good High Magnification Brands .I Already Have a Scope In The Lab .If it Wise To Take The Head Stack To That Location And Head Back To The Laminaar Bench Or I Should Buy Another One ? . Kindly Note I Am Still Struggling To Maintain Clean Air In Locations Other Then The Laminaar Bench .

6 : Plier [ Nose Type ] : Would Prefer To Know Some Brands You Guys Use .I Have a Stainless Steel Type

[Doomer]

I prefer not to use screwdrivers with insert bits - bits might get stuck in the screws and fall out. Wiha is my brand of choice.
I would recommend tweezers that would look like these - http://www.techni-tool.com/758TW442 (any non-magnetic metal tweezers of that shape should work). These tweezers could be used to secure screws, small parts inside HDD and HSAs.
You would also need bigger tweezers for bigger parts(like clamps), they could be magnetic (ie cheaper). Preferably with serrations.
You might want to get two nose pliers - bigger ones for strong magnets and smaller ones when there is not enough space to use bigger ones. Any brand should work just fine, pick them by handle - should be comfortable with a good non-slip grip.