Alt-BEAM Archive
Message #00609
To: beam beam@corp.sgi.com
From: Richard Piotter richfile@rconnect.com
Date: Thu, 18 Feb 1999 21:30:45 -0600
Subject: [alt-beam] Powerbook Disk drive
Since i'm getting a new G3 soon, I decided to start salvaging my former
computer, my Apple PowerBook 1400cs. I'm still using it till I get the G3, but I
pulled the floppy drive and opened it!!! WOW!!! I knew the drive was small, but
most of that thing is empty space just so it'll fit in the expansion bay (it
also can hold a CD-ROM, so it has to be big enough for both). The drive is just
millemeters wider than an actual disk and 3 mm longer than a disk. It's 14 mm
thick, or about 1/2 inch, and it has a high torque motor to eject the disk! The
motor has a gear box with a switch sensor. The switch simply tells the logic
that the motor has turned the gear a full rotation. The head positioning motor
is 9 mm diameter and 8 mm long! It's TINY!!! It appears to be a micro stepper,
capable of being driven by a microcore. It's so small and cool I'm tempted to
leave it alone!!! The eject motor is unnecesary for opperation. I may take it
out and glue a manual eject button like on PCs to it.
I anyone ever sees a surplus of Mac disk drives, Old, new, or sub miniature,
invest in them, cause I susspect the motors would be quite useful! I'm keeping
my eyes open! I wish PCs had electronics eject! Imagine the abundance of motors
we'd have then!!! Don't we wish! With the recent stray by apple from the floppy
drive (no new Apple computers have a standard floppy drive. The G3s and iMacs
have ditched them, which i think is pretty lame! en the powerbook G3 requires
you buy it seprate for $100! Stupid!). Seriously though, if Apple is ditching
the traditional floppy for 3rd party 120MB superdisk drives, then it might not
be at all suprising for a surge of used and unwanted old equipment (especialy
with the old iMac going for as little as $900!) That equipment may include
drives! I'll be watching the Macintosh surplus and refurbishing places for old
drives, cause all Mac drives that i know f have a DC eject motor with a nice
gear box! It's an akward shape and gear setup, but usable. I think people on the
list have built robots with Mac eject motors.
Looks like Apple's "elderly" machines might be reincarnated as robots!!! (:
--
Richard Piotter
richfile@rconnect.com
The Richfiles Robotics & TI web page:
http://members.xoom.com/richfiles
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