Are 3D Printer cases available for 3.5" floppy drives?

[+Larry]

I looked for an off-the-shelf solution, but all I've found are the ultra-slim usb drives. Maybe something is made for Amiga 3.5 drives? My idea is to re-case the 3.5" floppy on my XF551 dual  drive. Any ideas?

[+CharlieChaplin]

You could search for a case from an Atari SF-314 or SF-354 drive...

[+Larry]

That's a good suggestion, but what about the strange floppy opening? Cut it off?

[archeocomp]

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3287420

[manterola]

Try to find the cheaper you can get "no slim", like Apple for-parts disk drive or a Atari ST one. There are several versions, but the SF314 made in Japan (with 3 screw post to hold the mech. and eject button in the right side), uses a standard 720KB mech. that you can just use, no modification required. Just need to connect the ribbon data cable and the power.

 

[BillC]

12 hours ago, manterola said:

but the SF314 made in Japan (with 3 screw post to hold the mech. and eject button in the right side), uses a standard 720KB mech

SF314 drives are rare/hard to find, which raises the price. The only one I found listed on ebay is EUR400.00 + shipping.

Edited June 12, 2020 by BillC

[+Larry]

I'm also going to look at a couple more alternatives.  I have an Indus GTS 100 720KB drive for the ST that should work great.  Nice aesthetics (except it is in black rather than gray).  Or I might look at using one of the nice 3.5" external USB drive cases on Amazon -- with surgery. This option might really be too big to be useful.

[manterola]

I was thinking the same... When searching external floppy drives 99% or more are slim. There the options are plenty and prices very good. I would try to go with one that has a relatively large case, so you'll have more room for doing the "surgery" and any conversion for the ribbon and power cables to this small kind of mylar connector with data and power integrated.

I made one of those slim drives to work in my XF551 once and it worked great, so quiet and fast. I already had the cable adapter, as I stole that slim drive from a COMPAQ desktop computer, the only trick needed was to twist the twist in the ribbon cable to make it work as DS0 (I don't think yo will have that problem because the 5.25 probably is DS0 and the new 3.5 will be DS1).

[BillC]

2 hours ago, manterola said:

I was thinking the same... When searching external floppy drives 99% or more are slim. There the options are plenty and prices very good. I would try to go with one that has a relatively large case, so you'll have more room for doing the "surgery" and any conversion for the ribbon and power cables to this small kind of mylar connector with data and power integrated.

I made one of those slim drives to work in my XF551 once and it worked great, so quiet and fast. I already had the cable adapter, as I stole that slim drive from a COMPAQ desktop computer, the only trick needed was to twist the twist in the ribbon cable to make it work as DS0 (I don't think yo will have that problem because the 5.25 probably is DS0 and the new 3.5 will be DS1).

A twisted cable should work with an XF551 PCB. The reason is Atari connected DS0 to MOTOR by a trace to act as drive select and the PC twisted floppy cables flip these 2 signals, since they both carry the same signal the twist shouldn't affect XF551 drives configured as DS0. 

 

Because of this method used by Atari for activating DS0 the CSS XF551 dual drive upgrade implemented DS1/DS2 for the drives, otherwise there would be a conflict when accessing the other mechanism.