Dan_Musicant wrote:
On Mon, 02 May 2005 20:39:31 -0400, Dan
wrote:
I just had to post this. While ago the original hard drive went out
in my pc. I replaced it & all went well, and since I'd never looked
inside one of these, I took it apart. The beautiful, nearly
"industrial art sculpture" of the mirror platter assembly/aluminum
motor, casting, all held with cool fasteners was impressive enough,
but then I started playing with the magnets from the pickup
assembly. My god, they're strong! Neodymium, I think. So strong
that I actually gave myself a small blood blister when the 2 snapped
together as I played with them. About this same time, the door catch
broke on my faithful 20 year old clothes dryer. Not a chance of
getting a replacement catch, so for the past 2 weeks I've been
propping the unused base from my drill press against the door to
hold it shut. Then it dawned on me: "I bet those magnets from the
HDD are more than strong enough to hold this thing shut against the
seal & force of the door switch". Works like a charm, in fact I
only need ONE of them! Judging from the pull now required to
open the door, it's actually tighter than it was with the original
catch! Further justification for my "never throw ANYTHING out"
policy ;-)
Dan
The only reason my stove's oven shuts reasonably tight is that I
screwed a large ring magnet at the top between the stove and the
hinged door. Did this probably around 10 years ago - works great.
I took apart my oldest HD around 6 months ago, a 220 MB Maxtor. Pretty
things in there, but be careful with those shiny disks. I'm informed
that some of them are made of glass, not the metal you might suppose
and some people have been cut badly playing with them. In my case, I
think they ARE metal, and they are not only very pretty, they make a
very nice sound when they clang against each other. They'd make a
very nice mobile, is my thinking, when I get around to it.
Wind Chimes...I'm collecting a several platters in different sizes: 5 1/4",
3 1/2", (whatever" size they use in laptops). I've been surprised to find
that despite the age/capacity of the original (3 1/2") drive, the platters
themselves appear almost physically identical...they even sound the same
note when struck. I'm trying to decide: which piece of a drive would make
an artistically aesthetic 'clapper' for the piece? So far I'm leaning
toward the actual head assembly from one unit. Once I pull the others
apart, I might find something more attractive. Of course, I could use one
of the smaller platters, as well. Also, I need to choose an appropriate
piece to suspend the chimes from...shell from one of the 5 1/4" full-height
units?
I have several other retired HDDs, and plan to similarly pillage them.
The magnets are indeed powerful, and what I did was saw them in half
with a hacksaw and glue them to wooden "handles" with 5 minute epoxy.
They are hard to deal with if you don't do something like that. As
such, they make fantastic refrigerator magnets. If you have a Sonicare
toothbrush, BTW, don't just throw out the brushes (you are supposed to
change them every 6 months). You will notice two tiny magnets on the
end of those brushes, and they come right off if you pull on them
with a pliers. They are extremely powerful, and glued to a small
piece of wood, they make fantastic refrigerator magnets.
Dan (as well!)
BTW, I do not subscribe to the policy of never throwing anything away.
If it's potentially (there's the value judgement) useful, keep it. If
not, you really better get rid of it.
Yeah, but how to decide if something will ever be 'useful'...(regretting
those H.H. Scott tube receivers I discarded in the 70's).
jak
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