HIR Issue 8: Axon's wacky Hard Drive Clock
Okay. I got REALLY bored one day at work when I figured this one out. I called it the "Hard Drive Clock". It wasn't some strange clock that you put on your hard drive or anything. It was a clock, made mostly out of hard drive parts and pieces.
Things you'll need
- A dead hard drive that doesn't work anymore
- Tools that can disassemble the hard drive without destruction
- A tube of cyanoacrillate (super glue)
- A Clock movement (with suitable length hands) from a hobby store. (Make sure it's suitable for a 3/4 inch thick clock face)
- At least one 3.5" floppy disk that you don't want anymore (It'll get ruined)
- A pair of needle-nose pliers
- About an hour of your time for the first one, less time as you get better
Steps
The hard drive you choose is crucial. The first thing you will want to do is to look at the screws. Get any tools you need to take the thing apart. After that, remove the circuit board from the bottom of the drive, usually this exposes the drive motor for the platters of the hard drive. If the drive motor doesn't look like a separate piece of metal, then you might as well toss it or something, because it won't make a clock (at least this way). If it looks like it's a separate piece of metal, then you're in luck. Usually the screws are placed through the motor in such a way that you need the drive taken all the way apart before removing it. Leave it in for now.
Take off the top cover of the hard drive. This usually takes a small star-shaped (torx) screwdriver, or (rarely) a phillips head. Make sure you take off any of the stickers that were on the drive, and look for other screws there, too. If the drive is equipped with such, savor every moment while destroying all of the "Warranty Void if broken" stickers. KEEP THE COVER INTACT! (We'll use it later)
When you get the hard drive open, there will be an arm (read/write heads), some circuitry (which I leave inside the drive, it makes the clock look cooler), and the platters. You have to unscrew the screws near the center of the platters to take the platters off. These screws are usually torx head screws, and are usuallt way too small for any normal torx bits you can buy at the average auto-parts or hardware store. Sometimes electronic supply places will sell the bits, but I just use a REALLY high quality Phillips bit (one that comes to a really fine point, and isn't made of cheapo-o metal). If you press down hard enough while turning, the bit will catch the torx notches (be careful not to scratch up the platters, they need to look nice for the clock). You may want to have someon help you hold the platters still while you unscrew the screws, because the platters will rotate freely, making it a pain to take it apart.
After you have the small round metal plate off from the top of the platters, they won't come off just yet. You also need to take out the Read/Write heads. With a knife or scissors, cut the ribbon cable that goes to the heads, close to where it meets the armature. There will be a metal plate over the side of the armature farthest from the platters. This metal plate houses a set of very strong magnets that are fun to play with, but keep them away from monitors, hard drives, floppies or whatnot (unless you WANT to ruin them...heh heh). Take the metal plate(s) off. They're held down by two screws, usually. In the center of where the armature pivots, there should be a notch that a nice-sized standard screwdriver will fit. It's like a bearing, but you can unscrew it like a normal screw. as you unscrew it and lift it up, pull the platters off at the same time so as to not scratch the platters from excessive force from the heads.
Now, the screws that hold the drive motor should be in plain sight. Usually they are torx or philips screws, very similar (or identical) to the ones that held the top cover on the hard drive. Take the drive motor out after removing the screws. There should be a hole at least half an inch in diameter, all the way through the base of the hard drive now (usually bigger, but it needs to be at least half an inch). This is the hole we will use to put the clock movement through.
At this point, we're ready to put the hard drive back together (in a totally different way, with loads of spare parts afterwards). Start by super-gluing one platter back where it used to be, without the motor in place. This will be our clock face. Let it dry for a few minutes while you do the next step.
Rip open the floppy disk. Mangle it, destroy it, whatever. All that we want is the little metal circle from the bottom center of the floppy. take off all the media (thin black plastic stuff) from the circle, and then make sure it won't fit through the hole in the hard drive platters. We will be using this to keep the clock movement in place. If the hole in the platter is too big, use something else. If the circle is big enough, take your needle-nose pliers, and open the small square in the center of it, so that it's big enough to barely fit the clock movement's shaft through.
Use the needle nose pliers to GENTLY snap two of the arms off of the read/write armature. Try to get as much of the arm as you can. One of them will have to be shorter (it will be the hour hand, and the long one will be the minute hand).
Take all the nuts off the clock movement's shaft, and then pass the clock movement's shaft through the hole in the back of the hard drive, and then line up the floppy disk circle. Place the circle on the clock movement, and fasten it into place with the nuts that you removed. Make sure it's a nice tight fit.
Usually, the clock movement ships with hands for the clock. Take the minute hand, and superglue the long read-arm on to it. Make sure that you glue it in in such a manner that it covers the tip of the hand, leaving a little room on the part of the hand closest to where it will pivot if you have to. Do the same for the hour hand with the shorter read-arm. Let the glue dry.
After the glue has become dry, install the hands onto the clock movement (instructions for this part come with the clock movement, and it varies between manufacturers). Make sure that the hands can rotate around the clock without catching each other (use the setting mechanism on the back of the movement to rotate the clock at least one hour's worth). Adjust arms (bend 'em a bit) if necessary.
Right now, you probably have a working hard drive clock. I usually find some way to attach the top cover of the hard drive in a way so that it acts as a stand, to keep the clock upright. Use your creativity. Once you know how it will stand or hang, you may want to label the clock face (permanent marker DOES NOT WORK on most new hard drive platters. It will bead on the surface like water on a waxed car.) Use adhesive stickers or something else. I prefer to leave the clock face blank. I can still read the time that way, some people can't. The clock I made for my parents was labeled in binary. =]
For a picture of the first prototype hard drive clock I made, see: http://axon.jccc.net/~axon/hdclock.jpg There is also a link to the graphic from my homepage and the HiR site under "Links"
