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From: hsplab@tucc.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.micro
Subject: SA800 head pads
Message-ID: <3732@tucc.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 9-Jun-83 01:52:02 EDT
Article-I.D.: tucc.3732
Posted: Thu Jun  9 01:52:02 1983
Date-Received: Mon, 13-Jun-83 10:14:37 EDT
Lines: 39


We have had the unfortunate experience of trying to get headloading pads
for our Shugart SA800/801s and I have found it distressing.  In most cases
we have had it easier begging, borrowing and stealing them than buying them.
Here is the senerio:

1) I called up Shugart and asked them for information on replacement headpads.
   They sent me a parts list with price (#50542-0 load button assm - $1.50 ea)
   and a note that the minimum order was $25.  I somehow felt that buying
   17 head load pads was not my idea of a replacement part.  End part I.

2) I considered $1.50 outrageous for the part, but I was willing to pay for it.
   At the time, I was living in Minneapolis and discovered that there was a
   Shugart repair facility there.  I called up the local center and the person
   I talked to offered to send me one felt pad.  I thanked him.  End part II.

3) Shortly thereafter I moved to Chapel Hill NC where there is a shortage of
   computer technology and Shugart head pads.  One of my other drives cooks
   a head pad, an event which I am discovering to be either an annual or
   biannual event.  One of my friends in Minneapolis gives Shugart a sob
   story and finally asks what the poor user is supposed to do.  Shugart
   mentions that Hamilton-Avnet stocks repair parts (great!??).  He calls
   Hamilton - Avnet who promptly states that they do not deal with
   individuals and that was final.  He calls Shugart back; Shugart calls
   HA and HA calls my friend stating that they would sell him some headpads
   (thats using influence and making friends?).  We ordered a dozen pads
   between the two of us.  Four months later, we finally got the parts.

I now have enough pads to last several years, but the experience is not
particularly pleasing.  I have found the local Hamilton-Avnet to be
equally uncooperative (the one in North Carolina) particularly for small
orders.  The moral of the story is good luck!  I even tried to make my
own pads, but found that they didn't work too well especially at double
density.  One of my friends at 3M working in their floppy research division
also told me that they had the experience of frequent head pad replacements
on the Shugarts.

David Chou, Univ of NC, Chapel Hill
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