DIY CDR5000 help
I've been reading up on various cd recorder and then picked up a cdrw5000. I had read that some would write to just about any CD and others would be very fussy.
I bought one off ebay a few days ago and found it to be very fussy. Nothing I fed it would pass OPC. All pre recorded would play back fine and it passed its self-diagnostics.
(Switch to no-for-faint-of-heart mode, you are warned)
So having nothing to lost I disassembled the unit and started looking around. I found that the laser is mounted horizontally and shines to a mirror and then up through a window and then to the focus/position lens.
The window and lens were filthy. Somehow over the years a layer of grime and old hair got into the optical path.
Very gentle cleaning with a few Q-tips and cotton on toothpicks and my unit started working on almost all the disks that I had in the house.
The cd drive is not too hard to disassemble but does require care. The laser assembly is delicate so be cautious should you want to try this.
Regards, E