Here is good way to recycle some of those old CD-ROM drives that you probably have laying around. Jason Dorie took inspiration from my Hard Drive Clock for his build. You can see the details in these three posts. CD-ROM Clock Part 1, CD-ROM Clock Part 2, CD-ROM Clock Part 3.
“Basically I’m using the motor and CD holder from the drive, as well as most of the original chassis. I’ve hacked up the motor so an RC hobby brushless controller will spin it, and I’ve got a clear CD with a hand etched into it (you can see it in the ‘back’ image). I’m going to write some microcontroller code to run the motor, sense the RPM, and strobe some LED’s at the right time (like the hard drive clock does) to make the display.”
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It would be awesomer if the website had the build instructions because I definitely have 10 CD drives in my basement…no joke
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VIDEO! VIDEO! VIDEO!
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When did you post about the hard drive clock? This CD ROM clock post dates back to January 2008!
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Not that it’s not awesome, btw! It is!
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Hey Paul, I think Alan made his Hard Drive clock round the end of 2005
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I did some googling and found these too posts referencing Alans hd clock:
http://hackedgadgets.com/2006/04/25/top-5-uses-for-a-dead-hard-drive/3/
http://hackedgadgets.com/2009/04/17/latest-hard-drive-clocks/
The first one from mid ’06 mentions the clock and the second one from mid ’09 says its been over 3 1/2 years since he made it 🙂
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Good digging! It has been about 4 years now. Wow how time flies.