Cleaning Commodore Disk Drives

I own a Commodore 64 and a 1541 disk drive. I have cleaned the disk head with two different cleaning kits. However, neither kit had instructions on how to turn on the motor and lower the head for the 30–60 seconds that is recommended.

The best I have been able to do is use LOAD "$",8 for the directory many times. Even this does not work after a few attempts.

What is the best command or series of commands to clean the disk drives using these kits?

Douglas Gwost

The easiest way to spin the disk drive motor and engage the head is with the use of the DOS utility commands (SCRATCH, NEW, VERIFY, etc.).

To clean the disk drive, first remove any diskettes that may be in the drive. Follow the instructions for the cleaning disk and prepare it for use (with cleaning fluid, etc.). Now place the cleaning disk into the disk drive, close the door, and enter the following commands:

OPEN 15,8,15
PRINT #15, "I"

Entering the PRINT #15, "I" command three or four times should spin the disk long enough to fully clean the head. After cleaning the drive, enter:

CLOSE 15

After cleaning, and before using the disk drive, you might want to wait a few minutes. This will allow any residual cleaning fluid to dry, and reduce the possibility of contaminating a good diskette.