Hey all,

Since my Rombox project pretty much went up in smoke (almost literally) I'm back with something different. I gutted a couple really old boxes a few months ago, and managed to find a Quantum Bigfoot living in one of the older PCs. Well, it's been sitting around in my closet since then, and I decided I'd have some fun with it. It still works fine, so I decided I'd try a window mod on it... not that a Bigfoot is your typical choice for portable media or external harddrives, but it should still be kinda cool. So here's what I have so far...

I already removed the cover to reveal the massive platters and other intreals inside. I made sure and tucked it into a couple plastic baggies to keep the dust off it.


In order tor emove the top cover, I had to remove the IDE circuitry, which cleverly came off without and wires attached. Apparently, there is a spring loaded contact system that makes contact between the circuitry and the read/write arm.



Once I got the cover removed, I got to prying off the thin metal plate that was glued to the top of the cover. It doesn't serve any functional purpose, just displayed the info for the drive.


This drive really is built like a tank! The cover is nearly 2-3mm thick in places! I shouldn't have any trouble making a nice large viewable window.


Once I had the thin metal sticky thing off, I had to tend to the stick residue it left behind. If anyone has any suggestions on best how to remove this gunk, please let me know.


And here is a preliminary window outline. The hatched areas will be the openings for the window. I would have gone bigger, but I am worried about support where the center of the cover bolts to the platter spindle.


So that's it for now. I won't be able to actually cut the window out until Easter, as my dremel is back home But until then, I'd appreciate any suggestions... especially on the matters of removing the sticky residue and the spindle support problem. More to come!

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Rubbing alcohol, acetone, or a commercial goo remover.

Hey, I have one of those Bigfoots lying around too! To remove the leftover adhesive, try making a loop of sticky masking tape, sticky-side-out, and repeatedly press it onto the sticker goo...usually this will pull it off and leave a nice clean surface. Without the need for harsh chemicals and smelly hands that need to be washed before eating.

Nice little project Jobi!
I use mineral turpentine, kerosene... those kind of heavy solvents to remove the nasties

Can't wait to see the final result

Thanks gents, will give all of these a try and post the results sometime soon.

And I tried coming up with a window design that would show more of the armature and disk in action, so I brainstormed a bit. What if I cut out little windows between each of the little "ribs" stemming from the center of the cover, and then made a bigger window between the platter spinde and armature? Do you think the platter spindle would still have enough support?

Alrighty, so I got all of that gunky stuff off. I just used some ispropyl alcohol and a scraper, got it off easily. When I got it all off, I was looking at the cover and thought about polishing it... what do you think, would polishing the cover look pretty snazzy?

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Definately shine that bad boy up and slap some LEDs near it.

As for the windows, it would take more time to do several separate smaller windows between the supports, but would look better IMO, especially if you could cut one out over the read/write head....maybe put a small LED on that too...but I'm getting lost.

I don't think that support would be that much of a problem if you left the ribs, I would be more concerned with making sure the windows don't get in the way of the platters or the arm but that shouldn't be too hard as long as you don't use pointlessly thick plexi.

ADD: Some lighting inside the HD would look nice too, along the sides or taped to the undersides of the ribs.

You could cut those bits out, polish it, then clamp it, topside down, on a sheet of glass. Pour liquid acrylic in the places you cut out. Instant fit. Might have to do it in a couple steps since the spindle support wouldn't let it sit flush on the glass.

@Milosh - that's the idea is to cut out each little window between the ribs, and then cut out one large window over the arm so you can see it moving. And I'll be mounting the window externally... there just isn't enough clearance for the window on the inside of the cover.

ADD:
I researched aluminum polishing... looks like it's gonna be a fair bit of work to get the cover to a mirror finish, but I think it'll look bitchin' afterwards.