How to fix your broken magnets ;)

[gigabite]

Alright well, i've seen alot of people having problems with there magnets - this is common on Hitachi drives (in all my findings)...this is not to be confused with the "top" magnet inside the drive cover

This is how to fix the bottom one, the common thing is...(with the top off) you'll put a game on the holder and you'll see the laser turn on but no motor movement (you may be able to spin it a fair few times to get it going again properly but it's still a little hard to turn and will "stick" again) - flip your drive over: on the bottom where the motor is there are 3 screws holding it on...unscrew these 3 screws with a very small allen key (the smallest I had in my set was just perfect) - take the motor out. 

Now it separates from the part...pull the magnet up and you'll now have 2 parts - from here clean ALL the black stuff from both pieces (clean both pieces throughly)...replace it with some good oil (personally I have oil for a bike, but it's very special...)...stick the magnet back on and turn it a little (there should be no oil oozing out) - put it all back together, whack in a game and leave it for 30 min....all done

gigabite

[Oneohm]

It's a little unclear what you are repairing. Are you pulling the spindle magnet out of the top plastic or pulling the motor halves apart and oiling the bearing?

[Protonus]

Um, what?
If you're reffering to the spindle retention magnet coming loose from the spindle and sticking to the top of the drive in a Hitachi, this is a common issue with the earlier revisions, but fixing it with Oil, what are you talking about?!

All you need to do is put some epoxy on the bottom of the magnet and stick it back in.  They used plastic posts to retain the magnet and it's just not enough to keep the magnet from coming loose due to vibration.

[gigabite]

Sorry....i'm reffering to the bottom magnet, the one which the actual DVD sits on (though it's not magnetic...get me ?) - just a question...when you said glue the top magnet, why would you do that...it has to spin (doesn't it) ?

gigabite

[Protonus]

In a hitachi:
The bottom magnet, the one in the spindle (the thing that the disc sits on), IS magnetic.  Highly magnetic in fact I'm sure it's neodium.  And it needs to be glued into place.  IT rotates WITH the spindle.  So it's fixed (glued) in relation to the spindle.

The "top" magnet isn't a magnet at all and is just a steel disc. It's encapsulated in plastic.  It doesn't come loose and doesn't need to be touched.

I still have no idea what you're talking about.

[sasoseso]

to prevent gigs earn more posts 

[cory1492]

Yup, he's talking about doing a partless rebuild of the spindle motor when it stops spinning the disks sufficiently

[gigabite]

ya spot on sasoseso (as if I care about my post count come on..bit old there haha)...so far this is still working - any others wanna give it a test ? (just watch what lube your using...)...oh and thanks for the info, i've seen you say the word neodium like 10 times in diff threads but when you said "So it's fixed (glued) in relation to the spindle" I could agree 

gigabite

[Protonus]

Next time I fix the retention magnet issue I'll take a pic so we're on the same page.  I've bought several 360s' now on ebay with "dvd drive doesn't work" or "Dvd drive won't stay in' issues and they've been hitachi's with this problem lol.  Perfectly fine working 360's that are fixed with a spot of glue. LoL.