Floppy drive enclosure

Discuss construction, troubleshooting, and operation of the Altair 8800c computer
BillO
Posts: 137
Joined: November 11th, 2020, 5:29 am
Contact:

Re: Floppy drive enclosure

Post by BillO »

The FD-500 had a lot of vents in it. Near the front and back on the top as well as running down both sides. I had one of those new in the late 80s. It got quite warm with two drives, but you could certainly get away without a fan. I had put one in anyway. The FD-501 I have now has just a small amount of vents on the sides near the back. There are vents on the bottom too but they are mostly blocked by teh transformer. I think the FD-502 at last put some vents along the top at teh back, right?

The FD-501 is definitely the worst. There was no actual place for a fan. I just put the fan up against one side where the vents are. Before I did that it got hot!
Ttpilot
Posts: 38
Joined: December 28th, 2021, 3:33 pm
Contact:

Re: Floppy drive enclosure

Post by Ttpilot »

I didn't get the Tandy FD case, but I picked up a Sun Microsystems two-bay tape backup case. Same form factor I think, so I should be able to get the drives into it
Wayne Parham
Posts: 253
Joined: March 18th, 2022, 3:01 pm
Contact:

Re: Floppy drive enclosure

Post by Wayne Parham »

Ttpilot - Sorry you didn't win that case.

I stayed off the bids on that one - so we weren't bidding against one another - but now I'll be on the lookout for an attractive case like that.

I think I'm going to try this case:
KRI Computer CK7021 two-bay case
KRI Computer CK7021 two-bay case
Not sure if it's any good - trying it blind - but I see 'em on eBay and elsewhere for about eighty bucks.
Last edited by Wayne Parham on May 23rd, 2022, 11:36 am, edited 1 time in total.
Ttpilot
Posts: 38
Joined: December 28th, 2021, 3:33 pm
Contact:

Re: Floppy drive enclosure

Post by Ttpilot »

Here is the Sun Microsystems tape backup case with two TEAC floppy drives in it. It took a bit of fiddling to get it right, but it's working fine now!

Anybody looking for a tape backup drive?
drives.jpg
BillO
Posts: 137
Joined: November 11th, 2020, 5:29 am
Contact:

Re: Floppy drive enclosure

Post by BillO »

Looks really great!
Wayne Parham
Posts: 253
Joined: March 18th, 2022, 3:01 pm
Contact:

Re: Floppy drive enclosure

Post by Wayne Parham »

Oh yes, I like that case! Turns out not to be a bad thing you didn't get the Tandy case.
Ttpilot
Posts: 38
Joined: December 28th, 2021, 3:33 pm
Contact:

Re: Floppy drive enclosure

Post by Ttpilot »

Wayne Parham wrote:Oh yes, I like that case! Turns out not to be a bad thing you didn't get the Tandy case.
Gotta hand it to Sun Microsystems, that case is far more engineered than I thought it would be. I just figured there would be a few mounting holes in sheet metal. Nope. It's like Russian dolls
Wayne Parham
Posts: 253
Joined: March 18th, 2022, 3:01 pm
Contact:

Re: Floppy drive enclosure

Post by Wayne Parham »

Sun was awesome. Creators of SPARC, Solaris and Java.
Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot] and 1 guest