3d printed rear fascia for Indus GT, LDW Super 2000 (& maybe Rana 1000)

[xrbrevin]

I recently acquired a broken LDW Super 2000 disk drive that has a few parts missing.

In the process of resurrecting it, i have designed a 3D-printable rear fascia that is approximately accurate.

the .stl file is attached in case anyone else can make use of it.

 

I dont have enough black filament so I printed it in purest green. I havent done any post-processing - this is straight from the print bed but it could do with a bit of filing down to get the lumps off the edges.

I attached it to the LDW drive (that has a distorted metal casing) and parked it on top of an Indus GT for visual reference.

It may also fit the Rana 1000 drive but I havent got mine to hand to test it.

 

 

 

IndusGT back panel.stl

[gilsaluki]

wow.  impressed.  Green with envy.

[xrbrevin]

cheers!

i think i will increase each radius instance to 2mm, they seem a little too sharp compared to the Indus GT's original fascia.. ?

attached is the .stl file with this amendment

 

 

IndusGT back panel2.stl

[LessNick]

Thank you very much for the 3D model of the rear fascia.

Unfortunately, I got the disk drive (LDW 2000 Super) in a very depressing state.
At first I didn't even understand why there was such a gap between the parts of the case behind.

And it turns out there should have been a patch panel.

 

Unfortunately, due to the slope, the surface is not very beautiful, and I'm thinking of modifying the model a bit.

 

But, unfortunately, my adventures do not end there, the drive does not have a closing cover and the lift is broken.

I would really appreciate it if you could take a photo of the forged lid separately.

 

 

I drew (approximately) parts of this cover, but since I don’t know how it should look in the original, I had to invent.

 

 

I also have absolutely no idea how the lift looked like in the original, since I only have a part of it.

 

Thank you very much in advance.

[xrbrevin]

Hi,

i will dig the drive out later and take some pics for you. let me know if you need any other pics. from what i recall the front lid and it's mechanism are the same as the Indus GT drive. the 'best way i can describe the 'lift' is that it resembles a crude version of a steering damper. without it, the lid springs open too harshly. up the tube there should be an inner rod that has the same tubular fitting which slides/attaches onto a pin on the smoked lid.

feel free to modify the design of the rear fascia, i can export the design files if you let me know what file extension type you use. i agree it isnt a perfect solution but its better than the gaping hole. if you can improve it that would be great.

 

my drive is assembled and powers up but it has read/write issues. i got it with the top half of the r/w head missing, 3d printed one but now i have to scope the signals and try to compare it to my working indusGT signals. im a scope noob but what better way to learn..? 🙃

[LessNick]

3 hours ago, xrbrevin said:

i will dig the drive out later and take some pics for you. let me know if you need any other pics. from what i recall the front lid and it's mechanism are the same as the Indus GT drive. the 'best way i can describe the 'lift' is that it resembles a crude version of a steering damper. without it, the lid springs open too harshly. up the tube there should be an inner rod that has the same tubular fitting which slides/attaches onto a pin on the smoked lid.

Thank you very much, I only need the front cover. I suspect that there is a spring attached to one side, and a braking lift to the second.

Moving part of the lift is a kind of like a sliding piece. I planned to use solid oil or something similar thick in composition as a filler, making it difficult to move quickly.

3 hours ago, xrbrevin said:

feel free to modify the design of the rear fascia, i can export the design files if you let me know what file extension type you use. i agree it isnt a perfect solution but its better than the gaping hole. if you can improve it that would be great.

Thank you, I'll try, I'll definitely show you something worthwhile

I make models with online editor "tinkercad". Then I download it as STL and make GCODE with help by "SuperSlicer".

 

3 hours ago, xrbrevin said:

 

my drive is assembled and powers up but it has read/write issues. i got it with the top half of the r/w head missing, 3d printed one but now i have to scope the signals and try to compare it to my working indusGT signals. im a scope noob but what better way to learn..? 🙃

With fine tuning, unfortunately I can not help. 
At one time, the ZX Spectrum has a similar problem with head alignment at the diskdrive.
But then there was a program that directly accessed the disk and showed the signal level at the head. By adjusting the screws, a more stable signal could be achieved.
I'm not sure if there is a similar software for ATARI, because here the disk drive is an independent device.

 

On the other hand, you can try to connect an oscilloscope to the head and watch the signal level from it.
But again, this is all only in theory, I myself understand electronics, but not so much.

 

I haven't had much a bit luck with the disk drive too. Initially, there were problems with the power board, and the block was completely absent. 

After applying power to 5 and 12v, the drive turned out to be alive, even carrying out initial initialization by driving the head from 0 to track 39, but that's it.

He does not hear commands from ATARI and, accordingly, does not answer anything.

 

 

A visual inspection showed that the capacitor was damaged and I suspect that it broke for a reason, possibly damaged the chip - 74LS259.

Moreover, it is on this chip that the "Data In" signal comes.

 

Now I'm looking for a replacement and I really hope that the breakdown will be limited only to this.

 

 

 

[xrbrevin]

Hi,

you get the idea about the damper unit - see attached pic and vid. i also included the schematics i have in case you dont have them.

the side plates you designed in CAD are actually part of the smoked plastic lid. its all one piece - maybe for durability as it is directly pushed by the user to close it?

hopefully your data issue is just glue logic related but its encouraging that it wants to live!

i plan to spend more time on mine as i said above but i have a couple of other things to finish first

good luck!

[LessNick]

13 minutes ago, xrbrevin said:

Hi,you get the idea about the damper unit - see attached pic and vid. i also included the schematics i have in case you dont have them.

Thank you very much, even as I didn't have a head block schematics.

13 minutes ago, xrbrevin said:

the side plates you designed in CAD are actually part of the smoked plastic lid. its all one piece - maybe for durability as it is directly pushed by the user to close it?

Yes, these are parts of the smoked plastic lid. I just decided to print pieces for the test to check how it fits in size.
Since I do not have the original before my eyes, I have to invent from photos.

 

13 minutes ago, xrbrevin said:

hopefully your data issue is just glue logic related but its encouraging that it wants to live!

I hope so too. Now there are some difficulties with the purchase of components, but I do not despair of resolving this issue.

13 minutes ago, xrbrevin said:

i plan to spend more time on mine as i said above but i have a couple of other things to finish first

good luck!

Good luck to you too! I hope you manage to restore your drive too.

And thanks again for your help.

[xrbrevin]

thanks and youre most welcome!

 

i suppose any material is ok for the door/lid: aluminium, carbon fibre, glass.. i wonder if clear filament is an option..? the california access drive is another clone that had no door

 

could you send me a pic of your read/write head when you get chance?

 

i also plan to change my mini-din power socket for a molex PC type as they use 12v & 5v at decent amps in a neat single brick. plus the mini-din plug hangs a bit as it is chunky.

 

let me know if i can assist further 🙂

[LessNick]

On 10/28/2022 at 3:15 PM, xrbrevin said:

i suppose any material is ok for the door/lid: aluminium, carbon fibre, glass.. i wonder if clear filament is an option..? the california access drive is another clone that had no door

Yes, I found translucent PETG plastic, but in real it  too bright, it was darker in the photo.

 

 

Now I bought a translucent PEG in dark purple, I hope after printing it will remain just as dark beautiful

 

I tried to print the damper, it turned out to be difficult to find the right size. The initial platform is slightly smaller and enters a smaller recess inside the cylinder.

 

 

On 10/28/2022 at 3:15 PM, xrbrevin said:

could you send me a pic of your read/write head when you get chance?

You did not specify in what context (angle) the photo is needed, but I will try from different sides.

    

 

I apologize for the somewhat dusty look, I just haven't had time to put everything in order and clean it yet.

 

On 10/28/2022 at 3:15 PM, xrbrevin said:

i also plan to change my mini-din power socket for a molex PC type as they use 12v & 5v at decent amps in a neat single brick. plus the mini-din plug hangs a bit as it is chunky.

 

Yes, I saw a photo of how a person converted to a common power connector.

 

 

On 10/28/2022 at 3:15 PM, xrbrevin said:

 

let me know if i can assist further 🙂

Over the weekend, I did manage to start the floppy drive, format the floppy, and even boot DOS from it.

 

Unfortunately, I do not have an oscilloscope, so I had to act blindly, following only logic and hoping for luck, I successively replaced U10, U12 and at the end of U7, which are responsible for Data IN/OUT.

And I'm lucky.

 

But true joy was not long. After about two hours of work, motor began to twitch nervously and finally stopped altogether.

Now, when power is applied, motor tries to spin up and it fails. Looks like something is wrong

 

 

[xrbrevin]

your print looks nice and sharp, purple should look cool tho 😎

 

the dimensions of the damper rod will have an effect on the speed the door opens. which in turn is governed by the spring tension. you may need to 'develop' your design to get a nice balance.

 

thanks for the pics of the r/w head, i had nothing to go on! my home-made upper part is fit for purpose but i'll keep an eye out for a donor that matches the original. ive seen this sort before somewhere but i cant recall exactly. hopefully its not uncommon.

 

im pleased to hear you got some reliable action out of it. i understand that direct drive floppy drives (like this one) have an electrolytic cap for the motor. this often goes out of tolerance for the usual reasons and is a cheap fix. hopefully its something as simple as this in your case.

 

good luck!

[xrbrevin]

On 10/27/2022 at 10:25 AM, LessNick said:

Unfortunately, due to the slope, the surface is not very beautiful, and I'm thinking of modifying the model a bit.

 

try this revised one, i think it looks better

 

i tested both my DC power when under load and it turned out the 12v dropped to 7v when the mech is in use. the 2x head amplifier ICs need 12v so i thought i'd found the fault. i found an external IDE PSU with molex so i designed a port and wired it up but despite good 12v now, its still no joy. i found the datasheets for the ICs and they appear to be configured as motorola suggested. i inserted the read chip into my working Indus GT and it operates fine. unfortunately the Indus GT doesnt use the erase/write chip so i cannot test it the same way. maybe i should just buy one and find out.

 

i also rigged up my oscilloscope to dial in the FDC chip but the signals are not stable, possibly due to the scope being unsuitable. i did the same testing on the Indus GT and couldnt get a decent signal on there neither! so i did an ohms and capacitance comparison and set the LDW to the ssame as the Indus GT.

 

the saga continues

IndusGT back panel.stl

[LessNick]

On 11/20/2022 at 5:19 PM, xrbrevin said:

try this revised one, i think it looks better

IndusGT back panel.stl 62.97 kB · 3 downloads

Wow! looks very interesting! I will definitely try this version! Thanks a lot!