Disk drive assembly method

A disk drive is fabricated in such a manner as to have very little tracking error caused by manufacturing tolerances on the subassemblies making up the drive. In the disk drive, head (18) is carried by a swing arm head carrier (20) indexed to individual track positions by an indexing cam (24) having the same axis (54) of rotation as a disk spindle (16). The head (18) is positioned and fastened in its carrier (20) only by reference to the axis of rotation (54) after the carrier (20), cam and spindle (16) have been secured. The drive is fabricated by assembling the head carrier (20), the disk spindle (16) and the indexing cam (24) on the drive frame (31) and thereafter fastening the head (18) to the carrier (20). Prior to fastening the head to the carrier, the head is precisely referenced to the axis of rotation (54) of the recording disk and the indexing cam (24). The head is fastened to the carrier by an acrylic ultraviolet curing adhesive. The adhesive is applied between the head and the carrier before the head is positioned relative to the axis of rotation. After the head is in the proper position, the adhesive is cured by exposing it to ultraviolet light.