FMTOWNS II MF CD Spindle height

[paran01d]

Hi,
   I just took ownership of my first towns, a II MF. I got it for a decent price on yahoo auctions, with the understanding that the cd drive was non-functional, I guessed this would be the laser but figured I could still get it to do something with a scsi2sd.

Anyhow on getting hold of it this weekend and turning it on, first thing I noticed is that the cd eject mechanism seemed fine, but on insert there was a loud high pitched sound and the disc was not spinning. At this point I removed the spindle, which to not be directly driven by the motor as ive seen in other systems but by some sort of magnetic setup with contacts on the underside so I gave them a clean and reattached the spindle and viola! the cd span and I could see and hear the laser attempting to read, it even attempted to boot from a cd. As this point i figured the laser was probably dying.. but decided to keep making small adjustments to the spindle (by getting my figure nails under it) and eventually i've got some consistent chase hq action. I ended up with the gap between the spindle and the tray just big enough to slide a sheet of A4 paper in between (just like 3d print leveling )

Figured id share in case anyone else is in the same position, if your cd is spinning and you can see the laser trying to read it might be worth checking your spindle. (Also i used verbatim silver cd-r's)

[incrediblehark]

Nice fix! I just wanted to add that lubricating the spindle motor may be helpful in getting old cdroms to read discs again. This is an example of what I use:

https://uplandtrains.com/product/labelle-108-light-weight-synthetic-oil/

I've never tried this with an FM Towns but have had success with an old Playstation and a PC-FX (which is notorious for skipping / bad reading) and other consoles just as preventative measures.

Edit: just re-read your post and my advice may not be as applicable in your situation based on your description.