Going to the store is treacherous for me. So I prefer doing stuff at home, including cleaning up 5¼" floppy disks with only home supplies. Unfortunately, I do not know how or which materials/chemicals to use. This is a dilemma for me because I might accidentally damage a disk.
How can I safely clean these floppy drives with only supplies usually found at home instead of a NOS cleaning kit?
Ideally you should clean the drive read/write head(s) with a cotton swab dipped in 90+% cleaning alcohol (e.g. isopropyl). The aim is to leave nothing on the head - dirt, cotton, nor cleaner residue.
The Apple II drive head is quite hardy, and there are legends of people in a pinch cleaning it with a T-shirt - which I do not recommend unless your need is dire!
Finding the Apple II drive head is reasonably easy: if the drive is placed in its normal orientation, the head presses up onto the bottom of an inserted disk. Here is an excellent video tutorial.
Other drives might differ, but this PC 1.2MB drive also has the head on the bottom.
You can simply cut open the disk -in side where you hold the disk and insert it into the floppy drive- and let it soak a few min in water and liquid dishwash soap.
To dry them you need to wipe from center and out with a paper towel or a soft cloth, lay the disc on top of a papertowel or soft cloth rather than table while doing so.
you can also do it the slow way, water/ipa and cottonstick. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01n8RgHgIwg
