Torx screw(driver)s
Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2007 9:26 am
As said, I had an old PC with blown motherboard, taken off the good (or bad? 
) components outta there leaving only motherboard (without cables) and a big PC case there, I throwed out the big desktop to trash. I didn't knew if the harddisk from the PC was somewhat useful, but after mobo crash, I thought - throw the harddisk away? Nah... I had a 100watt PSU from that PC, so I wanted to build a "speaker" from that hard drive,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGN2xIirXOk
but this time, with spinning platters (I had working PSU as mentioned, so why not connect the HD to the power?)
The first thing I got to do is hack PSU so it could run standalone, without motherboard. It was an old AT supply without its power switch on its back. So I spent the whole afternoon by shorting the various pins with ground to get that PSU workin'. On ATX it is simple, you just connect the pin PS_ON with ground, mine didnt had that type of pin. After giving up, I googled a site that was helpful - "To power on the power supply, you can use the pin PS_ON or REMOTE_ON on some machines" - that explained it all. The PSU was workin'.
Next day! [Today
]
So, we want to build a hard disk speaker:
A hard disk - check!
3,5mm jack plug - check!
Soldering gun - ehh, somewhat old, ...... ah its working! - check.
Couple of screwdrivers - check! ...
And here was the problem: I didn't have the torx screwdriver set. Aah! Could anybody tell me where the hell can find those strange things?...
Well what, smartiepants, think !...
The idea wasn't very clever as these screwdrivers aren't very cheap (47 USD for the complete set, in here = ~1160 SKK). I tried everything - all screwdrivers ranging from tiny to grossly big (for repairing windows or toilets), trying to fry off the screw by the soldering gun (... i almost fried the ... ehm...
)... It was a big headache.
So I took one of those big slotted screwdriver things, pliers and a hammer...
...Three hours were almost gone - and I've opened, ehh, "corkscrewed" the hard disk !!!
And with minimal damage, well, to the platters (only a little scratch). I wouldn't much talk, how the back cover looked :lol:
..."Lets plug it in to the electricity" I thought... and after these hammer attacks it mysteriously worked
to spin up. But the little scratch was noticeable - the hard disk was somewhat noisier..., ... but at least the disk head wouldn't travel back'n forth through the disk platter. Success ! Almost.
So, the spinning part is done, what next? Oh yeah, here the tutorial is: unscrew the big rare earth magnet to gain access to the arm. Oh yeah, unscrew, big and strong magnet, right...
Okay, so here we go: hammer, big screwdriver, and a lot of serious strength in your hands to "corkscrew" the big magnet again !!!
... What do you think, was it worth to spend the whole noon (and afternoon) disassembling the old hard drive my way, or buying one screwdriver for 5$ and hope that's the right one? I see that's my only choice 
) components outta there leaving only motherboard (without cables) and a big PC case there, I throwed out the big desktop to trash. I didn't knew if the harddisk from the PC was somewhat useful, but after mobo crash, I thought - throw the harddisk away? Nah... I had a 100watt PSU from that PC, so I wanted to build a "speaker" from that hard drive, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGN2xIirXOk
but this time, with spinning platters (I had working PSU as mentioned, so why not connect the HD to the power?
)The first thing I got to do is hack PSU so it could run standalone, without motherboard. It was an old AT supply without its power switch on its back. So I spent the whole afternoon by shorting the various pins with ground to get that PSU workin'. On ATX it is simple, you just connect the pin PS_ON with ground, mine didnt had that type of pin. After giving up, I googled a site that was helpful - "To power on the power supply, you can use the pin PS_ON or REMOTE_ON on some machines" - that explained it all. The PSU was workin'
.Next day! [Today
]So, we want to build a hard disk speaker:
A hard disk - check!
3,5mm jack plug - check!
Soldering gun - ehh, somewhat old, ...... ah its working! - check.
Couple of screwdrivers - check! ...
And here was the problem: I didn't have the torx screwdriver set. Aah! Could anybody tell me where the hell can find those strange things?...
Well what, smartiepants, think !...
The idea wasn't very clever as these screwdrivers aren't very cheap (47 USD for the complete set, in here = ~1160 SKK). I tried everything - all screwdrivers ranging from tiny to grossly big (for repairing windows or toilets), trying to fry off the screw by the soldering gun (... i almost fried the ... ehm...
)... It was a big headache. So I took one of those big slotted screwdriver things, pliers and a hammer...
...Three hours were almost gone - and I've opened, ehh, "corkscrewed" the hard disk !!!
And with minimal damage, well, to the platters (only a little scratch). I wouldn't much talk, how the back cover looked :lol:..."Lets plug it in to the electricity" I thought... and after these hammer attacks it mysteriously worked
to spin up. But the little scratch was noticeable - the hard disk was somewhat noisier..., ... but at least the disk head wouldn't travel back'n forth through the disk platter. Success ! Almost. So, the spinning part is done, what next? Oh yeah, here the tutorial is: unscrew the big rare earth magnet to gain access to the arm. Oh yeah, unscrew, big and strong magnet, right...
Okay, so here we go: hammer, big screwdriver, and a lot of serious strength in your hands to "corkscrew" the big magnet again !!! ... What do you think, was it worth to spend the whole noon (and afternoon) disassembling the old hard drive my way, or buying one screwdriver for 5$ and hope that's the right one?
I see that's my only choice 
**** ! I will never in my life touch the soldering gun from now !
)