Recycled HDD Rotary Sander for $5

Step 4 Finishing it all up

To test whether your HDD sander works or not, you will have to cut the Molex connector,strip it and connect it to your PSU/power source. connect the Molex as shown below.

 RED     BLACK     BLACK    YELLOW
 +5v         gnd           gnd         +12v

Plug the Molex Connector into your HDD, turn on your power supply and watch it spin up.



If you are using an alternative power source, remember that you will need to give exactly 5v and 12v to the Molex.Otherwise, the HDD's controller will not start due to power deficiency.

You will also need to supply about a total of 2 watts to the 5v and 12v lines.The wattage depends on the RPM of the HDD motor.Generally, this rating is printed on the large sticker covering the metal RF shield.

That is why this project is much easier with a benchtop variable voltage PSU.
The PSU can provide the HDD the current it needs by monitoring the current draw of the HDD.

Picture 1 courtesy of  'www.pcguide.com'

Comments

[Alex1M6]

Any idea on how to get a laptop IDE drive to spin up? I applied 5v to +5v motor and +5v logic then 0v to ground but still does not spin up.

[jj.inc]

All the HDDs I ever open up never run constant, they power up, power down, up, ext. could I adjust the jumper thing to fix this

[poolshark162006]

 i really want to do this, but all i have are those ocz 60gb ssd's i opened one, and was no motor or anything inside of it... maybe ill try the 30gb one

[jj.inc]

and SSD is a big flashdrive, solid-state means its solid with no moving parts

[NateHoy]

SSD drives work a little different with this project.  What you want to do is cut open each memory chip and replace the each of the electrons with a grain of fine sand.  Then when you want to sand, write all "1" then all "0" repeatedly to the drive, and the sand will move around at great speeds and sand the wood.

The advantage of this approach is that, with proper addressing of the sand grains, you can actually sand patterns into the piece.  You should be able to write a program that can even "monogram" the wood with a little effort (warning, writing the program in lisp will mean every "S" will be replaced with "TH", just so you know).

[egbertfitzwilly]

Very nicely done....

[grank]

You, sir, win the internets.

[ithinkibrokeit]

An SSD won't work, because an SSD is essentially a large flash drive. they have no moving parts and are pretty much useless for anything but actually being a hard drive. 

[poolshark162006]

wow, who in the right mind would think an ssd has a motor, i was just kidding about it. an 60gb ssd is like 140 dollars

[jules15]

I know right? Hard drives contain all sorts of goodies: powerful magnets, motor.. did i mention really strong magnets?

[cswildcat09]

You really can't take a joke can you brokeit?

[ithinkibrokeit]

I wasn't trying to spoil natehoy's joke, just give poolshark a legitimate answer

[dream-]

Hmmm the HD I tried won't spin, but the motor makes a noise and it vibrates when plugged in. Am I missing something?

[mhkabir]

Generally this means that the controller/PSU is damaged. I faced this problem with several of the older HDD models I used. What model PSU are you using, ATX? MicroATX and BabyATX have some problems with the HDD sander. Or is it a commercial BT PSU? Try changing jumper blocks and see if that solves the problem. Try using another working HDD with the PSU. If it spins up, then the old HDD is damaged.(Coils burnt out by over voltage, bad controller etc.) Maybe the PSU is damaged and is spiking the power. One of my HDD burnt up after using it with a damadged PSU. So, I used another old Seagate controller from anothjer HDD to solve the problem. Hope this solves the problems. Kabir -- Geek Level 5

[dream-]

Thank you Kabir. The PSU is fine, works with other devices without problem. I suspect a microcontroller problem, since the motor vibration seems pretty strong (which would indicate healthy coils). One thought I had is if the HD made a check of the IO heads controller in order to spin, but then there would not be any motor vibration at all. I will have to try another HD.

[mhkabir]

I am always here if you need any more help. Hope yopu've rated the instructable!!

Kabir