From now on, when ever you enter your home and turn the lights on, you are going to remember this instructable.

If you like electronics, you definitely going to like making a stylish dimmer switch out from a dead hard disk platter.

Enjoy...

Step 1: Materials

This project will cost about $3 and these are the materials and tools needed:

1. Hard disk drive.
2. Rotary tool. (with diamond bits)
3. Dimmer switch.(you can make this but its easier to buy one)
(any way, I've used two types in this instructable for two different switches. A touch switch and a normal dimmer switch)
4. Epoxy
5. duct tape
6. Wires
7. Screwdriver. (better to be an electrical tester)

Step 2: Disassembling the HDD

First, you don't have to get electrocuted doing this instructable. If you don't have a decent knowledge of electronics, DON'T do this. Have an electrician to fix you a dimmer.

Read the first two lines again and then start by taking your hard disk apart. What you need from the hard disk is the platter. After you take the top HDD cover you will notice the Spindle. On the top of the Spindle are a couple of screws you must remove as well. Then you will be able to take the platters off.

In this instructable, i used two platters, one from a dead 80G WD HDD and another from a mummified 5M 1985 hard disk. It has a huge and beautiful platter.

Step 3: Preparing the Platter.

The first step in preparing the platters is to make a soldering point on its surface. This is done by sanding a small area on one face of the platter with your rotary tool. Ofcourse the reason for that is to make a scratchy surface suitable to solder.

Now what wire to solder to the platter?

The touch switch has a yellow wire which is a touch sensitive wire. Other wires are black, White, and Red. White and Black wires are the ones to reach the lights. Red and Black wires are connected to the power source. Yes the black wire is connected to both the lights and power source. Look at the schematic image of the touch switch for more elaboration.

Step 4: Manual Dimmer

In this project i fixed another switch with a normal manual dimmer where I used the smaller platter. To attach the switch to the platter you have to make two holes in the platter body using the rotary tool with the diamond bits. First mark the points where you are going to drill. Now make the holes and screw the switch to the platter. The wiring of this one is very easy. The switch has only two wires one to be connected to the power source and the other to the lights.

I have uploaded a video illustrating the touch switch platter.