The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning

Ed Nisley's Blog: Shop notes, electronics, firmware, machinery, 3D printing, laser cuttery, and curiosities. Contents: 100% human thinking, 0% AI slop.

The New Hotness

  • Hard Drive Platter Drilling Fixture

    After drilling the platter for a Noval tube, I finally made a fixture to hold the platters firmly, but gently, in the proper position for drilling:

    Hard drive platter - drilling fixture
    Hard drive platter – drilling fixture

    The platter sits more-or-less flush with the surface, where credit-card plastic pads work fine. Thinner platters may require compliant padding.

    The solid model has locating pips at ±50 mm from the center and airspace below the platter for the drill bit:

    Vacuum Tube Lights - hard drive fixture - solid model
    Vacuum Tube Lights – hard drive fixture – solid model

    The 1.16 inch hole spacing matches the Sherline’s tooling plate. The center hole seemed like a Good Idea, although it has no purpose right now.

    The OpenSCAD source code is the same as before; just set Layout = PlatterFixture; and it’ll produce the right thing.