The source:
http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=247636
Subsequent update:So I bought a 3do and the drive was bad. I had an ideal, I knew the drive was a MKE type drive. So I found one on the bay for $10.00 shipped. Hoping I could just swap out the pcb on both drives, and I was right. I don't have any 3do disc to test, but audio cd's play just fine. Also I tried burning a cdr and it read the disc half ass, than it stops at the end of the disc. Maybe a bad burn? Plan on testing some more tonight. Here's a few pics. This was a good way to replace the Laser,Drive Motor and Spindle motor all at one time.
You have to register to see the pictures, but essentially, he was able to find a PC cdrom drive that was very similar to the FZ-1s drive, then replace the PCB in the PC drive with the PCB from the 3DOs drive, which successfully controlled all parts of the donor assembly.After burning with the cue file and TAO, in image burn I've had no problem. Tested about 10 different back-ups, and they all play fine. Even the FMV games play flawlessly.
You have to register to see the pictures. I did, here they are:
http://imgur.com/a/sAf5Q#2
The pics are a little out of order, the first pic with the black tray is just the inside of the 3DO with the 3DO drive assembly. The second pic is the successful install of the PC drive. the third pic is the PC cdrom drive. The fourth pic is a side by side of the 3DO drive and the PC drive, note how similar they look!
So what kind of drive is this? The poster indicates it is an "MKE" drive. What is an MKE drive? From Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panasonic_CD_interface
Other internet sleuthing indicates "MKE"/SLCD drives were produced until at least 95/96. So, if looking for a replacement drive, finding an early 90s panasonic "MKE"/SLCD cdrom drive (probably most panasonic drives created between 1990-1994) would probably be a good bet. Presumably, a drive with a similar 2x speed to the 3dos might ensure best compatibility between the parts, but if the parts are largely the same, perhaps a 4x or other speed might work as well since you would be using the PCB from the 3DO to control the assembly (aka it might not actually have a speed increase).The Panasonic CD interface, also known as the MKE CD interface (for Matsushita Kotobuki Electronics), SLCD or simply Panasonic, is a proprietary computer interface for connecting a CD-ROM drive to an IBM PC compatible computer. It was used briefly in the early 1990s, and is no longer in production.
The interface is similar in physical format to an IDE, and an IDE cable may be used; however, the CD-ROM drive cannot be connected to the IDE bus and must have an interface card. Some SoundBlaster cards were manufactured with a port to connect to the CD-ROM drive with this interface.
With all this hopeful research done, I found a few drives that are probably exactly what I would be looking for (if I owned a 3do with a broken drive), but they are $80 on ebay. Maybe I've missed the boat on affordable replacement parts by about 10 years
Keywords to search for: MKE, SLCD, CR562 or CR563 (cd drive part numbers?), "MATSUSHITA-KOTOBUKI ELECTRONICS"
I believe CR563 and/or CR563B are the models of Panasonic drives (branded as Creative) that work with the 3DO blaster pc card. So maybe whatever works with the 3DO blaster would work as a replacement for the FZ-1