Re: Replacement for broken 1541-II disk drive levers ?

From: silverdr_at_wfmh.org.pl
Date: Sat, 24 Nov 2012 10:43:50 +0100
Message-Id: <8F7269C8-4B92-4295-AE26-710837B1FBA9@wfmh.org.pl>
>> Has anyone of you tried making your own floppy drive lever as a replacement for the rather fragile 1541-II floppy drive levers ?

> I think this is a perfect example of something that should be cloned and 3D printed. 3D printers start at $500 these days and can easily reproduce almost any plastic part. It would probably take less than 10 cents in plastic for a replacement lever.

The last time I tried (not long ago and with a machine about 20 times the price you mentioned) the printed parts were still way off in terms of both surface quality and durability when compared to the off-tool, injection moulded ones. Sure, it may work but unless something has dramatically changed, the printed lever will both look and feel out of place /me thinks.

> There are lots of little fiddly parts like this on Commodore equipment.

Like the notorious sprocket wheels on the stepper axis of 1520.. I have several of the 1520s, all broken in the very same way :-(

> I'm actually looking into purchasing a 3D printer (either Replicator2 or Mendel Prusa). I think there might be a market for cheap replacements for vintage computer parts...

Replicator2 looks good in the announcements but the biggest concern so far is that it seems not to work with ABS. Only with PLA, which as someone commented "makes the parts water soluble" ;-)

-- 
SD!
       Message was sent through the cbm-hackers mailing list
Received on 2012-11-24 10:00:39

Archive generated by hypermail 2.2.0.