Building a new PEB - the drive cage

[aftyde]

Hi All,

 

Thought I'd share the process of building out a PEB. Certainly not news to anyone but I suspect we all solve some problems differently. Here is my solution to a really nice dual 3.5 in device cage for the disk drive bay in the PEB.

 

12 nuts, 4 2" machine screws. You need to drill out the bottom holes in the metal drive racks to make them a little larger, and remove all metal shaving around the holes for the nuts. Nice aspect of the design is you can thumb-tune it to perfection (height and angle of drives in relation to each other) and then crank it down with a small wrench. This cage will hold 2 Lotharek floppy emulators.

Here is what it'll look like with the drives mounted...

 

I'll use a sheet metal drill to make a hole in the PEB cage for the screws. Next task, figure out how to set the switches and make an floppy cable. Given my cable making skills - this will be the hardest part - determining whether I have a crappy cable or the switches set wrong - expect another post in 2017...

 

Edited November 9, 2015 by aftyde

[+Ksarul]

I think I have a few of those 3.5 trays around here somewhere. . .looks like I have another fun project to work on!

[Omega-TI]

Nice solution, especially the way you can get a perfect height with the nuts.

[aftyde]

Here is the semi-final install - still a minor bit of adjustment but that can come after I figure out why I can do everything but format disks (images) in the Lotharek.

 

Edited November 9, 2015 by aftyde