Floppy drive enclosure

Discuss construction, troubleshooting, and operation of the Altair 8800c computer

Floppy drive enclosure

Postby Ttpilot » May 7th, 2022, 5:30 pm

I've gotten my 8800c working, although the front panel is still janky. I'm able to use Walter Eberhard's AMON monitor to boot the floppy drives. For drives, I'm using two TEAC 55GFR drives. They are controlled by an FDC+ board, operating as two 8" floppy drives. Right now the drives are just sitting loose on top of the 8800 case, powered by an old PC power supply. I have a Meanwell power supply I plan to use later.

Does anyone know of an enclosure I could mount them in? There was a two-drive case on eBay a while back, but I got outbid. I haven't seen anything else that would work well
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Re: Floppy drive enclosure

Postby toml_12953 » May 7th, 2022, 11:26 pm

Ttpilot wrote:I've gotten my 8800c working, although the front panel is still janky. I'm able to use Walter Eberhard's AMON monitor to boot the floppy drives. For drives, I'm using two TEAC 55GFR drives. They are controlled by an FDC+ board, operating as two 8" floppy drives. Right now the drives are just sitting loose on top of the 8800 case, powered by an old PC power supply. I have a Meanwell power supply I plan to use later.

Does anyone know of an enclosure I could mount them in? There was a two-drive case on eBay a while back, but I got outbid. I haven't seen anything else that would work well


I use a Tandy FD-501 case. It fits two drives perfectly and has the power supply built in making for a very neat package. The Tandy FD-500, 501 or 502 cases are nearly identical so any of them would work. If you find one that's for sale as-is or known not working, you should be able to get it at a reasonable price.
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Re: Floppy drive enclosure

Postby Ttpilot » May 8th, 2022, 3:10 am

Thanks! I’ll keep my eyes open
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Re: Floppy drive enclosure

Postby toml_12953 » May 8th, 2022, 5:27 am

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Re: Floppy drive enclosure

Postby Ttpilot » May 8th, 2022, 10:08 am

toml_12953 wrote:
Ttpilot wrote:Thanks! I’ll keep my eyes open


There's an auction on eBay for an FD-500 right now. It's at $38.00 with a little over one day to go. I don't know how hight the bidder is willing to go, though.


Saw that, thanks. I’ve got a bid in
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Re: Floppy drive enclosure

Postby Wayne Parham » May 8th, 2022, 11:46 am

I want a case like that too!

But your build is ahead of mine and your bid is in so I won't jump in on it. I'll wait 'til later.

Let us know if you snag it!
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Re: Floppy drive enclosure

Postby BillO » May 8th, 2022, 6:04 pm

The power supplies in the FD50X cases are marginal at best. They are fine for a single drive but tend to get hot enough to be a coffee warmer once you get two in there. I've not had mine open in some time but I think there is room in there for a couple of small witching supplies or a small fan (which is what I did). But you could just run it hot
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Re: Floppy drive enclosure

Postby toml_12953 » May 9th, 2022, 1:05 pm

BillO wrote:The power supplies in the FD50X cases are marginal at best. They are fine for a single drive but tend to get hot enough to be a coffee warmer once you get two in there. I've not had mine open in some time but I think there is room in there for a couple of small witching supplies or a small fan (which is what I did). But you could just run it hot

I've been running it just about 24/7 for the past two years with no problems. Mine (FD-502) came with a tiny fan installed.
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Re: Floppy drive enclosure

Postby BillO » May 9th, 2022, 2:13 pm

Mine is an FD-501 which originally did not come with a fan. Adding the fan made a huge difference. Does the FD-502 come with the fan from the factory?
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Re: Floppy drive enclosure

Postby toml_12953 » May 9th, 2022, 2:43 pm

BillO wrote:Mine is an FD-501 which originally did not come with a fan. Adding the fan made a huge difference. Does the FD-502 come with the fan from the factory?

That I don't know for sure. The seal was broken when I got it. I do know the mounting holes and ventilation slots over the fan were already there, though.
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