Sega CD woes (Model 1 &2) Need help or advice

[sparf]

Hello everybody!

So, I just moved into a house with a spare bedroom that has been turned into office and retro-game space. So I naturally wanted to haul out the SegaCD/Genesis/32X combo to its place of honor. I've been storing my consoles with the system units together in a dry, climate controlled environment. My preferred unit, just because it's so gorgeous, is my Sega Genesis/SegaCD Model 1 combo. The bonus is that my genesis has a modded region switch in the back for imports. Anyway, I hooked up the system and, voila, it would not accept the tray being closed. So I have pulled the system apart and tried, completely unsuccessfully, to figure out how to re-align that big black gear so that everything lines up properly. I have found all sorts of posts and videos and none of them show me exactly what I need to know in order to be able to align it properly.

So, I said screw it and went to Amazon and found someone selling a model 1 which didn't power up. I figure it's the fuse issue, but what I wanted was the drive assembly so I could swap it out if it was working and use my much more well-maintained unit. Unfortunately for me, the new drive behaves in the same way! I haven't tried to fix the gear on it because I have proven inept at fixing the other one and would like to not repeat history. But is it likely that two drives would do the same thing in a system, or is there something else that could be wrong at the system board level?

Does anybody have photos of exactly how to align that gear? Maybe a step by step guide to the complete repair with photos that I haven't located?


GENESIS 2 Problem: The drive unit refuses to function. It grinds the gears because the laser somehow isn't tripping the laser armature sensor switch in order to tell it it's reached the end of its track. Despite the slightest touch of a cotton swab or my finger shutting off the motor when the circuit board alone is hooked to the ribbon cable, when reassembled the unit still grinds and won't function.
******EDIT:Attached are photos of the switch in question. I have scoured electronics sites but I don't know what this thing is actually called on the Model 2. Anybody out there who could help with that I would love you forever. I have tested just the circuit board attached to the system and when I barely touch the switch, it shuts off the laser motor. But the minute I attach gears and laser back to it, it doesn't stop the motor any more.

Please, help.