9 Feb
2006
9 Feb
'06
4:19 p.m.
I finally got a chance to try the Silicon Valley Computer ADP50L (an
8-bit ISA IDE controller) in my IBM 5160 and I have to say, I love the
thing and want to put it to full active use. My problem is, how do I
properly mount a "modern" (3.5" half-height) hard drive into the case?
Looking at the existing ST-225 that's currently in there, it has much
larger dimensions so that it not only reaches the screw holes on the
side of the case, but for additional stability has the front faceplate
directly screwed onto it as well. It's in there pretty tight. I can
remove it, but how do I put my 340MB smaller drive in it's place?
I know I could just lay it down gingerly and try not to move the case,
but I've got kids and wouldn't want an accident to damage the drive (or
worse, damage the innards if the drive goes flying into the center of
the machine).
Any ideas? Is there a safe, non-flammable, non-disintegrating material
I can use to wedge it in perhaps? (ick)
--
Jim Leonard (trixter at oldskool.org) http://www.oldskool.org/
Help our electronic games project: http://www.mobygames.com/
Or check out some trippy MindCandy at http://www.mindcandydvd.com/
A child borne of the home computer wars: http://trixter.wordpress.com/
9 Feb
9 Feb
4:30 p.m.
On 2/9/2006 at 6:19 PM Jim Leonard wrote:
I finally got a chance to try the Silicon Valley
Computer ADP50L (an
8-bit ISA IDE controller) in my IBM 5160 and I have to say, I love the
thing and want to put it to full active use. My problem is, how do I
properly mount a "modern" (3.5" half-height) hard drive into the case?
Why not use a 3.5"-5.25" floppy mounting adapter? They shouldn't be hard
to find. If you lacked a filler plate of the correct size for the bezel,
you could always cut out a sheet of tinted acrylic or ABS to do the job.
Cheers,
Chuck
7:13 p.m.
Chuck Guzis wrote:
Why not use a 3.5"-5.25" floppy mounting
adapter? They shouldn't be hard
to find. If you lacked a filler plate of the correct size for the bezel,
you could always cut out a sheet of tinted acrylic or ABS to do the job.
I have no idea where to get a sheet of acrylic let alone know how to cut
it :-)
--
Jim Leonard (trixter at oldskool.org) http://www.oldskool.org/
Help our electronic games project: http://www.mobygames.com/
Or check out some trippy MindCandy at http://www.mindcandydvd.com/
A child borne of the home computer wars: http://trixter.wordpress.com/
7:24 p.m.
Lowes / Home Depot. With a router. Also available at Lowes / Home Depot.
--jc
Jim Leonard wrote:
Chuck Guzis wrote:
Why not use a 3.5"-5.25" floppy
mounting adapter? They shouldn't be
hard
to find. If you lacked a filler plate of the correct size for the
bezel,
you could always cut out a sheet of tinted acrylic or ABS to do the job.
I have no idea where to get a sheet of acrylic let alone know how to
cut it :-) 
10 Feb
10 Feb
5:31 p.m.
I have no idea where to get a sheet of acrylic let
alone know how to cut
it :-)
I have no idea where you've get it in the State, but I assume cutting it
is much the same in all countries :-)
I'd use a fine-toothed hacksaw blade. One trick that avoids chatter is to
stick a piece of sellotape [1] along the lind of the cut on both sides,
and to cut through it.
[1] Does that term make sense? It's a brand-name-that-became-generic for
slef-adhexive plastic tape, normally used to stick paper together, etc.
-tony
6:24 p.m.
On 2/11/2006 at 1:31 AM ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk wrote:
[1] Does that term make sense? It's a
brand-name-that-became-generic for
slef-adhexive plastic tape, normally used to stick paper together, etc.
Usually referred to here as "Scotch Tape", although it doesn't taste the
least like alcoholic spirits.
Cheers,
Chuck
11 Feb
11 Feb
2:31 p.m.
>[1] Does that term make sense? It's a
brand-name-that-became-generic for
>slef-adhexive plastic tape, normally used to stick paper together, etc.
On Fri,
10 Feb 2006, Chuck Guzis wrote:
Usually referred to here as "Scotch Tape",
although it doesn't taste the
least like alcoholic spirits.
"Scotch Tape" was a trademark (poorly enforced) of 3M (Minnesota Mining
and Manufacturing)
1:13 a.m.
Hi,
Tony Duell said:
I've cut a *lot* of this stuff over the years. A hacksaw blade works fine,
and you can even buy a handle that holds a hacksaw blade to make it
easier. Difficult curves can be cut with a fret saw or a scroll saw.
A little candle wax on the blade helps lube it. If you saw too fast
the acrylic will melt locally and stick to the blade, so go slowly.
Also don't cut it when it's very cold, it's prone to shatter, leave it
to stand in a warm room for a while in cold weather.
--
Cheers,
Stan Barr stanb at dial.pipex.com
The future was never like this!
I have no idea
where to get a sheet of acrylic let alone know how to cut
it :-)
I have no idea where you've get it in the State, but I assume cutting it
is much the same in all countries :-)
I'd use a fine-toothed hacksaw blade. One trick that avoids chatter is to
stick a piece of sellotape [1] along the lind of the cut on both sides,
and to cut through it. 
10 Feb
10 Feb
8:15 a.m.
On Thursday 09 February 2006 07:30 pm, Chuck Guzis wrote:
On 2/9/2006 at 6:19 PM Jim Leonard wrote:
I have several instances where I wanted to mount a small drive in a large
drive bay, and a bunch of those adapters that I've gotten from different
sources. In some cases they worked out just fine. In some others, they
were obviously "floppy" adapters and the screw holes were just in the wrong
place to work with any HD I had on hand here...
--
Member of the toughest, meanest, deadliest, most unrelenting -- and
ablest -- form of life in this section of space, a critter that can
be killed but can't be tamed. --Robert A. Heinlein, "The Puppet Masters"
-
Information is more dangerous than cannon to a society ruled by lies. --James
M Dakin
I finally got a chance to try the Silicon Valley
Computer ADP50L (an
8-bit ISA IDE controller) in my IBM 5160 and I have to say, I love the
thing and want to put it to full active use. My problem is, how do I
properly mount a "modern" (3.5" half-height) hard drive into the case?
Why not use a 3.5"-5.25" floppy mounting adapter? They shouldn't be hard
to find. If you lacked a filler plate of the correct size for the bezel,
you could always cut out a sheet of tinted acrylic or ABS to do the job.
9:25 a.m.
On 2/10/2006 at 11:15 AM Roy J. Tellason wrote:
I have several instances where I wanted to mount a
small drive in a large
drive bay, and a bunch of those adapters that I've gotten from different
sources. In some cases they worked out just fine. In some others, they
were obviously "floppy" adapters and the screw holes were just in the
wrong place to work with any HD I had on hand here...
There are obviously adapters, and then there are adapters. I pefer the
ones that are a complete tray, rather than just two U-shaped pieces, as the
tray type usually includes bottom-mount holes for drives, which, AFAIK,
will always work.
Anent this, something that hasn't been mentioned is the use of removable
drive trays to accomplish the same idea. These fit in a 5.25" HH drive bay
and enclose your 3.5" drive in a removable (and usually lockable) tray.
This gives you the option of using several drives in the same system. This
probably wouldn't make the purists happy who want 5.25" authentic
appearance rather than functionality, but it's a very clean way to do
what's needed.
If anyone cares, I've got a pile of these things in IDE and a few in SCSI
(they don't work with the "Ultra" mode drives (no, not even if you ground
the appropriate signal pin)) that I'd be willing to send off for nothing
more than what it costs to ship.
Cheers,
Chuck
11 Feb
11 Feb
1:20 a.m.
Chuck Guzis wrote:
There are obviously adapters, and then there are
adapters. I pefer the
ones that are a complete tray, rather than just two U-shaped pieces, as the
tray type usually includes bottom-mount holes for drives, which, AFAIK,
will always work.
Follow-up: I received some very nice offers, but after some
basement-diving I was able to unearth a pair. They were obviously meant
for floppy drives, but they will suffice. (I found a pair specifically
for hard drives because they had many more holes on the bottom,
including one that lined up perfectly with that bizarre
recessed-by-an-inch hole in the bottom of the case, but they curl upward
and prevent the front black front panel from fitting so I set those aside.)
Now that I've got it all nice and tightly mounted, I have found that the
ADP50L, for some dumb reason I obviously didn't test throroughly enough
to notice, won't boot the machine from the drive. You can boot from a
floppy and interact with the drive just fine, but it won't boot from
that controller. It has a BIOS, so WTF? Argh!!
I will probably stick the Data Tech MFM controller/ST-225 combo back in
just so I can boot it without floppies, then jumper the IDE controller
to an alternate ROM address and hope I can see both of them... I'll
also get that panel back on in the process :-)
--
Jim Leonard (trixter at oldskool.org) http://www.oldskool.org/
Help our electronic games project: http://www.mobygames.com/
Or check out some trippy MindCandy at http://www.mindcandydvd.com/
A child borne of the home computer wars: http://trixter.wordpress.com/
10 Feb
10 Feb
5:43 p.m.
I have several instances where I wanted to mount a
small drive in a large
drive bay, and a bunch of those adapters that I've gotten from different
sources. In some cases they worked out just fine. In some others, they
were obviously "floppy" adapters and the screw holes were just in the wrong
place to work with any HD I had on hand here...
The obvious cure for that involves a set of twist drill bits :-).
[Before soembody does a very silly thing, I am suggesting drilling extra
holes in the adapter bracket, not the drive...)
-tony
11 Feb
11 Feb
2:27 p.m.
> were obviously "floppy" adapters and
the screw holes were just in the wrong
> place to work with any HD I had on hand here...
On Sat, 11 Feb 2006, Tony
Duell wrote:
The obvious cure for that involves a set of twist
drill bits :-).
[Before soembody does a very silly thing, I am suggesting drilling extra
holes in the adapter bracket, not the drive...)
... and take the drive out of the adapter while drilling
7:56 p.m.
On Friday 10 February 2006 08:43 pm, Tony Duell wrote:
Got fractional, letter, and number. But no drill press or serious holding
hardware to do that in. And enough other bracket assemblies that I didn't
have to worry about it too much...
I have several
instances where I wanted to mount a small drive in a large
drive bay, and a bunch of those adapters that I've gotten from different
sources. In some cases they worked out just fine. In some others, they
were obviously "floppy" adapters and the screw holes were just in the
wrong place to work with any HD I had on hand here...
The obvious cure for that involves a set of twist drill bits :-). [Before soembody does a very silly thing, I am
suggesting drilling extra
holes in the adapter bracket, not the drive...)
One further complication is that the ones for floppies were designed to hold
the drive right flush up against the front panel, while the ones for HDs
held it much further back, giving better airflow. If I *did* drill holes
for the purpose the HD would be much too far forward, depending on which
case I was sticking it in.
--
Member of the toughest, meanest, deadliest, most unrelenting -- and
ablest -- form of life in this section of space, a critter that can
be killed but can't be tamed. --Robert A. Heinlein, "The Puppet Masters"
-
Information is more dangerous than cannon to a society ruled by lies. --James
M Dakin
9 Feb
9 Feb
4:41 p.m.
I finally got a chance to try the Silicon Valley Computer ADP50L (an
8-bit ISA IDE controller) in my IBM 5160 and I have to say, I love the
thing and want to put it to full active use. My problem is, how do I
properly mount a "modern" (3.5" half-height) hard drive into the case?
Looking at the existing ST-225 that's currently in there, it has much
larger dimensions so that it not only reaches the screw holes on the
side of the case, but for additional stability has the front faceplate
directly screwed onto it as well. It's in there pretty tight. I can
remove it, but how do I put my 340MB smaller drive in it's place?
Untill not too long ago (and maybe still if you hunt for them) you could
get adapter kits to mount 3.5" devices in 5.25" (half height) bays.
You either got a chassis or 2 U-shapped channels to fit the device onto
and which would then have tapped holes to line up with the original
mouting holse in the case. The kits for floppy drives also included a
front bezel, a signal cable adapter (fitted on the 34 pin header plug of
the drive, took the edge connector on the cable) and a power cable adapter.
If oyou can find such a kit, you could use it to fix the drive in place
with the original screws. As regards the front panel, either make
something from scratch, or take the panel off the old hard drive (a
couple of screws) and make up brackets to fix it to the adapter chassis.
-tony
6888
days inactive
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15 comments
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ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk -
cclist＠sydex.com -
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jcwren＠jcwren.com -
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trixter＠oldskool.org