Five and quarter drives

[Loboyko Steve]

Sellam Ismail  wrote:

>More likely they were cast iron.  Aluminum would've
>been too expensive and overkill for drive mechs.

I think all 8" and all 5.25" drives up to the late
'80's were made from aluminum castings. A "Great
Acheivement" of cost reduction in electronics was the
replacement of cast/machined aluminum with stampings.
I remember seeing my first "sheetmetal" 5.25" drive in
a Leading Edge computer at a Comdex in the late 80's,
and the drive was made by Y-E Data. The Leading Edge
rep said it held tolerances as well as castings as
long as it wasn't dropped. I've seen this in other
types of electronics; my first VCR was built on a
spectacular cast and machined chunk of aluminum; now,
they are made of aluminum foil. the invulnerable
Diablo HyType daisy-wheel printers used an aluminum
casting as a frame; the cost-reduced Qume used
stampings.

Think you won't see hard disks made with sheet steel?
Think again - with embedded servo tracks and voice
coil motors, it's not unthinkable...



=====
-Steve Loboyko


Website: http://juliepalooza.8m.com/sl
Nixie Watch (one-tube):http://juliepalooza.8m.com/sl/complwatch.htm


		
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