Unsticking head sliders that are stuck together

[Nick_CT]

Just thought I'd share this, works for me.

If you make a mistake whilst taking heads off the ramp (we're all human, sometimes it happens) and they touch each other they tend to stick to each other like glue, any attempt to unstick them usually results in them being ripped apart.

I was taking donor heads out of a ST4000DM000 last week and hard a brain fart and they came right off the end of the ramp and all 8 stuck together. Placing very light resistance between them (folded plastic or whatever you prefer) to push them apart and them dipping them in IPA breaks the seal and they pop apart after a few seconds, undamaged. I got 0 unread sectors off from the job I used those donor heads in. Example below, not the same job, but same thing.

[Amarbir[CDR-Labs]]

Beautiful,
You seem to have good quality ipa ,What brand model you have .The heads you showed in picture are perfect no damage and very straight as they can be ,great job .One thing i would like to say is that only new heads stick very stubbornly not older one .

[Nick_CT]

100% IPA from the local pharmacy.

Damaged heads do not stick together, but then again, we're not interested in damaged heads, only good ones

[LarrySabo]

Thanks for the tip!

[JGAN]

Denatured alcohol will work just as well in electronics if you can't get your hands on high proof isopropyl alcohol. Hardware stores usually have it for ~$15/gal.