A1200 Slot loading DVD :D

[fitzsteve]

Hi All!

I promised Keropi who sent me this modified A1200 lid I'd share pics of the build, so here they are

Sadly I can't take credit for the cut/mod to the case, I think it was in fact the work of the awesome mfilos so I'm very proud to have this on my A1200!

I acquired a slot loading DVD Drive with the advice of user supaduper who kindly also sent me a JAE adapter for free! Thanks again

In my A1200 I'm using an IDEFix Express which also came from Amibay! courtesy of Johnim in a trade:

Installed along with my ACA1232/33 and Indivision AGA MkII:

A lot of time must have gone into this cut, I would never have had the skill or patience to do this!

First tests with the drive in place, some hot glue to hold it for testing whilst I consider a more permanent solution, of course the keyboard will need to be fitted behind, I'm hoping to make use of the bracket/screw holes.

The good thing about hot glue is I can still make a little adjustment whilst it's warm!

And a perfect fit!

First tests, fingers crossed the CD don't get stuck! Hence using a copy

\o/

Short Video

[m]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpPTaXQ-4CI[/m]

 

[roy_bates]

nice one steve.

are you going to hook up the cd audio as well?

 

[demolition]

I was going to ask how you'd be able to install the keyboard in there since you glued the drive into place, but I guess that is next part of the project.

 

[fitzsteve]

nice one steve.

are you going to hook up the cd audio as well?

Hmm, where to attach the audio? I'm not running a sound card

Maybe I should've kept my Delphinia :dry:

I was going to ask how you'd be able to install the keyboard in there since you glued the drive into place, but I guess that is next part of the project.

Yeah I just wanted to make sure the slot was the correct size, now I'm fixing it with the keyboard on place for testing. (Kept only glue on the outsides so I could peel it off

 

[RobA1200]

top video - I would so love to ditch my surf squirrel and Disc man like CDROM! top work!

 

[fitzsteve]

Thanks Rob

I've tested the fitment with keyboard, space is very tight but the slot still works!

I'm going to have to use a longer 44way cable for the IDEFix Express and seat it near the FDD even with them removed the case wont quite close so will need to see what the obstruction is!

---------- Post added at 14:39 ---------- Previous post was at 14:09 ----------

Almost!

 

[Amiga Forever]

That is Excellent

I would so love to ditch my surf squirrel and Disc man like CDROM! top work!

Me too

Where did you get the CD Rom from?
I do know that need CD Cables and what else need thought to make it work?

There also one things I have notice that you used PSU which need more power because of CD Rom? is that correct?

 

[scrappysphinx]

Can you not wire the eject button mate?
I'd hate to have such a nice cd setup but have to soft eject each time

 

[keropi]

This turned out awesome, thanks for sharing the pics Steve!
All fit inside nice and tidy

 

[ElectroBlaster]

Ohh that is sweet as



I am very interested in one part in particular and that is what appears to be mounting holes around the actual drive itself...

I have a plan to mount a slot loading drive into something else but stuck on how to actually fix it down! Hot glue is one choice but I want to know what you screwed onto that drive?

I can then hunt for something suitable.

But anyway excellent work on this! Always love looking at people's solutions to problems

 

[Merlin]

@ Steve

Nice job!

@ Scrappysphinx

There are pads that you can solder a mouse button to as an eject button. You need to pick a button with a long enough stalk to protrude through the case.

@ Amiga Forever

The one in mine came from an old Apple G3 iMac computer and is a DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive, the Panasonic CW-8124-B. A few laptops such as Acer models have slot loading drives fitted to them.

@ Electroblaster

Mine is stuck to the underside of the keyboard using the foam double-sided tape, so that there is some vibration damping when the disc spins up. I tried sticky Velcro but it ended up being too thick for the job. Sticky strip magnet might also work to attach it to the keyboard.

 

[fitzsteve]

@ Steve

Nice job!

@ Scrappysphinx

There are pads that you can solder a mouse button to as an eject button. You need to pick a button with a long enough stalk to protrude through the case.

@ Amiga Forever

The one in mine came from an old Apple G3 iMac computer and is a DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive, the Panasonic CW-8124-B. A few laptops such as Acer models have slot loading drives fitted to them.

@ Electroblaster

Mine is stuck to the underside of the keyboard using the foam double-sided tape, so that there is some vibration damping when the disc spins up. I tried sticky Velcro but it ended up being too thick for the job. Sticky strip magnet might also work to attach it to the keyboard.

Thatnks Merlin,

Indeed there is a button on the case that I an use, do you perhaps have any more info on where I should connect cables? I guess I need to open the drive and find these pads?

There no button on the drive externally hence using soft eject Scrappy.

@AF I use an IDEFix Express but you could use any buffered IDE device or even create a custom cable and run it as slave to the HDD but this might need further modding as Zetr0 says.

It seems my drive actually is setting it's self as slave as it takes ID3

@EB,

The brackets were on the drive when I received it, I don't know what they were originally fixed too however.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/200995107166?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

 

[Zetr0]

When a slot loading SFF optical drive is done properly it truly is a wonderful ascetic to behold.

Which is what this most certainly is.


I used a slightly different approach in one of my projects that might help some of you out having difficulty sourcing a slot loading drive or would prefer an option to change the unit -

This was part of my Fantasy Amiga x86 project from way-back

As you can see I created a sleeve mounting from a CD Jewel case, simply scoring with a sharp knife, folding then super glue. This new mounting bracket is then fixed to the keyboard under-chassis using the keyboard screws and holes already present to hold the unit in place.

In the above example it is centrally mounted, as this was going into a modified chassis with an x86 2600xp Athlon PCIMG form factor PC - LOL now days one could use an MK808 or MK908 (the size of a couple of match boxes to output as much if not more power!

I hope this helps, if you want to see more of the album (click here),

 

[Merlin]

@ Steve

You should find the copper pads on the front of the drive, assuming that you have removed the original plastic bezel. They are normally two sets of pads set vertically and spaced apart to accept the legs of a mouse button. If you trim the legs back you can surface mount the button between these pads.

Just note that there are four pads and each vertical set on either side are interconnected, so the button only fits one way and it shorts the pads horizontally when pressed. You need to make sure that you solder the button the right way around - check the orientation by pressing the button before you solder it on.

 

[supaduper]

Looking good steveo ! nice and neat, I would hook up the audio to a 3.5 external jack and put it next to the drive(thats what I did)and feed that bad boy either to the monitor or another amplified source

 

[roy_bates]

yeah mate,you can add the sound to the motherboard via a couple of resistors.
and it will mix with the audio from the amiga so they both come out the rear on one set of phono leads.

 

[fitzsteve]

That is Excellent


There also one things I have notice that you used PSU which need more power because of CD Rom? is that correct?

Thanks! Yes the CDROM needs power, it's a standard Floppy Molex connector, you can take it from the Floppy Power header (split if you still use the floppy although not ideal as it can overload the header) I'm just testing straight off my modified ATX PSU as it still has the loom attached.

The ideal solution would be to take power from near the power adapter (soldering a Molex connector to the large solder pads)

---------- Post added at 16:49 ---------- Previous post was at 16:46 ----------

This turned out awesome, thanks for sharing the pics Steve!
All fit inside nice and tidy

Thanks mate! & Thanks again for the lid

When a slot loading SFF optical drive is done properly it truly is a wonderful ascetic to behold.

Which is what this most certainly is.

Thanks for the kind words my friend

Looking good steveo ! nice and neat, I would hook up the audio to a 3.5 external jack and put it next to the drive(thats what I did)and feed that bad boy either to the monitor or another amplified source

Cheers! & Thanks again for the help. I'll figure something out for the CD Audio, I have plenty of adapters, etc here.

yeah mate,you can add the sound to the motherboard via a couple of resistors.
and it will mix with the audio from the amiga so they both come out the rear on one set of phono leads.

Phipscube done a nice mixer mod on his A1200 I'll have to re-visit his project thread

 

[johnim]

nice work mate i have a slot dvd drive to do this but i never had time to get round to it

 

[fitzsteve]

nice work mate i have a slot dvd drive to do this but i never had time to get round to it

Cheers John.

I got a little more work to do such as making the custom cabling so hopefully I can close the case

 

[ElectroBlaster]

@EB,

The brackets were on the drive when I received it, I don't know what they were originally fixed too however.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/200995107166?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

Im gonna be cheeky here and ask... do you want those brackets? if not I would most certainly want to buy them off you! I can surely use them for my project if not no worries.