Feb 24, 2011
Dec 21, 2010
text post
10:04 AM
Vinay Arun
The idea for this project was born from an unfinished website which had some important details missing. In essence the idea of converting a floppy disk drive into a small vehicle which could be made by someone just starting out in robotics, or even a kids summer camp, is easy enough to do once the practicalities of switching on the motor without having it connected to a PC is worked out.
A look at the pinouts of a standard floppy drive came in very useful and it has been simple to establish that all we need to do is to ground pins 12 and 16 on the edge connector and if you're as lucky as me, just supply the drive with 5V on its power connector. Once you've taped up the write protect switches the drive spins up immediately.
To identify the pins just have a look at the PCB around the area of the edge connector and you'll hopefully find that they are screenprinted to identify pin 1 or pin 34, or both, or even all pins !!
Turn the drive over so that the pins are like this:
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33
2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34
With the exception of pin 3 which is +5V, all the odd numbered pins are ground. So to ground pins 12 and 16, squeeze 11 and 12 together with pliers and solder and do the same for 15 and 16.
The power connector should be to the left of this connector. If it is, the power plug pin nearest this long edge connector is our +5V input and the next one along is negative, 0V.
If the power plug is on the other side ,Though I've never seen one like that before, you will need to plug it into a PC power plug to get it right...The red wire of the power plug is +5V and the yellow is +12V, the two black ones in the middle are innevitably 0V
Assuming you have shorted the pins and connected 5V as explained you might think the drive should run. It wont do it unless either there is a disk drive which isnt write protected or you have taped up or soldered out the write protect switch.
It might be worth shorting out pins 11 with 12 and 15 with 16 some other way, perhaps with jumpers and then applying 5V to the power line BEFORE you do anything else more permanent, to make sure you have a drive which will work with just a single 5V supply. You could generate the 12V from a bank of AAA cells or a couple of 9V cells with a regulator if you had to.
Once you have established that your drive spins freely with these simple modifications you can be sure it will definately work for our purposes. So far, nothing you have done is irreversible you will be pleased to hear, just in case you have a change of heart.
The next step is to remove the internal disk carriage. These are very flimsy affairs and dont put up much of a fight. But be careful to leave the following untouched.
The electronics...Although not being fully utilised I havent figured out how to do away with them
The disk motor...Absolutely essential !
Head stepper motor...If you hope to make your robot steereable you need this motor, as well as the mechanism for moving the head which is connected to the motor shaft as well as the home position sensor, which is a black square/u-shaped device in the front edge of the frame.
Mounting rails...Look carefully to identify them, usually are the pieces of metal which the external screws go into when mounting the floppy drive in a PC.
In addition to this, the following parts, which could be replaced by anything of your own design, will help you
A look at the pinouts of a standard floppy drive came in very useful and it has been simple to establish that all we need to do is to ground pins 12 and 16 on the edge connector and if you're as lucky as me, just supply the drive with 5V on its power connector. Once you've taped up the write protect switches the drive spins up immediately.
To identify the pins just have a look at the PCB around the area of the edge connector and you'll hopefully find that they are screenprinted to identify pin 1 or pin 34, or both, or even all pins !!
Turn the drive over so that the pins are like this:
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33
2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34
With the exception of pin 3 which is +5V, all the odd numbered pins are ground. So to ground pins 12 and 16, squeeze 11 and 12 together with pliers and solder and do the same for 15 and 16.
The power connector should be to the left of this connector. If it is, the power plug pin nearest this long edge connector is our +5V input and the next one along is negative, 0V.
If the power plug is on the other side ,Though I've never seen one like that before, you will need to plug it into a PC power plug to get it right...The red wire of the power plug is +5V and the yellow is +12V, the two black ones in the middle are innevitably 0V
Assuming you have shorted the pins and connected 5V as explained you might think the drive should run. It wont do it unless either there is a disk drive which isnt write protected or you have taped up or soldered out the write protect switch.
It might be worth shorting out pins 11 with 12 and 15 with 16 some other way, perhaps with jumpers and then applying 5V to the power line BEFORE you do anything else more permanent, to make sure you have a drive which will work with just a single 5V supply. You could generate the 12V from a bank of AAA cells or a couple of 9V cells with a regulator if you had to.
Once you have established that your drive spins freely with these simple modifications you can be sure it will definately work for our purposes. So far, nothing you have done is irreversible you will be pleased to hear, just in case you have a change of heart.
The next step is to remove the internal disk carriage. These are very flimsy affairs and dont put up much of a fight. But be careful to leave the following untouched.
The electronics...Although not being fully utilised I havent figured out how to do away with them
The disk motor...Absolutely essential !
Head stepper motor...If you hope to make your robot steereable you need this motor, as well as the mechanism for moving the head which is connected to the motor shaft as well as the home position sensor, which is a black square/u-shaped device in the front edge of the frame.
Mounting rails...Look carefully to identify them, usually are the pieces of metal which the external screws go into when mounting the floppy drive in a PC.
In addition to this, the following parts, which could be replaced by anything of your own design, will help you
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10:02 AM
Vinay Arun
1. Building materials
2. Aesthetics of uniformity
3. Bangalore mega plan
4. Nandita's design sketches
5. Measuring sustainability
6. Tarred vs cobblestoned
7. Sanitation for rural india
8. A conversation
9. Nandita's portfolio
10. Online sanctioning
2. Aesthetics of uniformity
3. Bangalore mega plan
4. Nandita's design sketches
5. Measuring sustainability
6. Tarred vs cobblestoned
7. Sanitation for rural india
8. A conversation
9. Nandita's portfolio
10. Online sanctioning
