ZipMacPLUS™

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

I'm stuck home with bronchitis again . . .

. . . and I was bored . . . : . . . so . . . }



. . . it's difficult to imagine that the much uglier of the two Plus front bezels wound up looking so much better than the good one.

Other than the degradations inflicted upon the floppy slot with files, knives and other implements of torture, it cleaned up pretty well!



If you look very closely, you can see the remains of the filth and black smudge marks that camouflaged the scratches on the front fairly well. But that was why this one felt the bite of just about everything short of the dreaded Ryoba.

Some elbow grease, a nail brush and toothpaste did wonders for this thing!



I should have taken the FDD out of the other Plus and put black cardboard behind it for comparison, but I guess it's fair this way. The Zip will have a black flip up door when installation time rolls around.



The work on the opening isn't really finished, but it was a good stopping point for documentation. I'll probably make the ramp to the left of the larger slot more closely match the length/slope of the original . . . maybe.

I'll be fabricating a new FDD enclosure to correct for the leftward offset, so it'll probably be another hack in and of itself.

It will likely involve . . .

. . . The TwiggyBoxGambit: Compact Convection Correction . . .

Note the SCuSI lookin' chassis on this Plus, that's the unmodified ZipMacPLUS™ bezel hanging off the front!



. . . its much simplified Garde approach . .



. . . clear acrylic plastic fabrication . . .

. . . and the guts of an external SCSI Zip Drive. :lol: MUAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[uniserver]

now your ready for internal scsi cable hack

 

[markyb86]

Definitley a fan over here!

Are you running the zip off of the floppy connection somehow, or is this gonna be in lieu of the project uniserver is mentioning?

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

THX, it's definitely the Internal SCSI Hack, that's where I first mentioned the possibility of doing a ZipSlotHack.

I'll be using the custom PCB approach if I can find a source for a pin compatible controller. A successful chip-kwik'n of the controller off a Plus board with the pressurized hot air from my plastic welder tip will save me some money. Just doing my first bit of rework with a that down and dirtiest hot air reflow kluges will prove interesting all on its own! [] ]'>

I've got several adapter PCBs to clean up so I can have a photo-silk-screen made up or test my luck with photo-resist for home etching for the first time. I really like the silk screened enamel ink resist method. I can screen any number of blanks or gang dupes up any which way for tweaking the production count . . .

. . . it's the hand drill pressing of the holes that's the biggest PITA.

 

[markyb86]

I'm following that thread as well because if you succeed with an add-on for internal SCSI I want to be one of if not the first person to buy a kit for the plus.

I also do remember you mentioning to just file the floppy hole wider for the zip now. I think, in the SE FDHD thats on its way here, if the HDD is shot, I will pop out the cover plate and throw a zip in there.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

:lol: I might have finally turned the corner on keeping this SCSI Hack simple, but testable, reliable and reparable . . .



. . . but I'll probably take mine with a side of PCB anyway . . . :

 

[MinerAl]

Looks good!

You're going to use an external Zip drive in there? That'll be something to see

 

[CC_333]

Hi,

There are internal SCSI ZIP drives which would be much easier to work with.

They are somewhat harder to find, though.

c

 

[Macdrone]

How do you keep the disk from ejecting? I may have missed that earlier. Sorry if I'm beating a dead horse.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Yep, I'm going to give it a try, I'd need to offset the FDD Sled to use an internal drive anyway . . . so over the top it goes!

First thing I need to do is find my USB Zip that's made in translucent light blue. That'll let me peer inside to see what's going on in there. It's the same form factor as the standard external SCSI Zip, using the same power supply, just a different controller board (assumption) so I can see all the support points. I'm thinking in terms of rebuilding it in a clear plexi shell with the momentary switch for the ejector button relocated to behind the paper clip hole.

I'll need to use the A/B side from the simplified TwiggyBoxGambit™ as a heat shield. I'll use both if clearances allow on the other side. It looks, from a cursory trial with a standard Blue Zip, that removng the feets and shaving a wedge off that side of the case is all that's really needed . . .

. . . but why stop there? :lol:

A macdrone: I don't need to keep it from ejecting, there will be a Hard Drive under the Zip. I've got a several low capacity Apple ROM SCSI Drives at my disposal, the Zip is mostly for SneakerNet in my application.

I've got extra MoBo<->A/B cables available, so there will be an aux. PSU inside the case with an adapter on the cable for easy plug-n-play of the Mobo, a fan for cooling and what not.

Silent operation is to be avoided at every opportunity, up to and including the possible installation of a 15K SCA HDD! [)] ]'>

@ CC333: Yep, I've got a total of one at my disposal, ATM. I tried to swap an SE NIC for a pair, but that didn't pan out . . . and externals are relatively easy to come by.

 

[MinerAl]

External Zips come apart really (almost too) easily. There are slots in the sides (two on one side, one on the other) that have to have a thin flat-head screw driver pressed in to release spring clips. The front kind of tips forward to let the top off. Once the top is off, however, a lot of the parts are held in by gravity, so don't flip it over to look at it from a different angle with the top off!

The only SCSI out is via the 25-pin D connectors (no 50 pin ribbon in there), so you'll have to do some cable hacking.

It really might be easier to leave the case intact and position it behind your new slot with a (much nicer than) erector set arrangement.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Yah, getting them apart is not that hard. I got a pair of the external cases from iomega before the Zip was released. I had a notion for a product that they fancied, didn't work out with the external though.

I just wanna look it over from the outside, from every angle, like the engineers did with the clear prototype cases back in the day. The main problems, IIRC, will be fabbing some support points and figuring out what to do with a couple of springs and what not. I'm already removing the momentary switch from the PCB and wiring in another behind the paperclip hole.

I guess it's a question of whether it's uglier to:

replace both of the SMT DB-25 connectors with the 50 pin ribbon cable heading in from the IDE Header/SCSI Controller PCB hack

necking the cable down to a DB-25 IDC Ribbon Cable Connector

or the over the top third option:

make an opposing twin PCB to the convert the standard 50 pin header/connector to a vertical soldertail DB-25M.

HEH!! [}] ]'>

p.s. I should post a pic of the first(?) AIO correct, Mac prototype, me likes plexi block constructor set playtime!

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Since I'm notoriously bad at explaining stuff related to my hacks in .TXT:

I popped the lid of the intended victim and took some piccies . . .



plenty of room for the HDD below the Zip Drive, I had to use a 1.125" Paperback as the support . . . the HDD was too short.



Rough fitting wasn't rough at all, it looks like the PCB may fit inside the Chassis with the opening as is . . .

. . . may need to widen it a scootch to make room for a thin plexi side panel so the HDD remains visible . . .

obligatory oblique views:





. . . looks good from where I stand! [] ]'>

 

[MinerAl]

Is it so far back because the Mac's chassis is in the way, or for illustrative purposes?

I'd just mount it upside down and call it good

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Yep the case plastics are hanging over the edge of the Chassis in between the vertical members on that side. That's why it needed to be mounted back there for the pics.

Upside down? No can do, I need the pretty, moving parts pointing up or it's not up to spec for one of my hacks . . .

. . . besides, I have to remove the plastic front bezel of the chassis to get it close enough to the slot anyway. [] ]'>

On the gripping hand, when it comes to fitting MoBos, I'll whack those puppies into a compact upside in a heartbeat any day! :lol:

 

[mcdermd]

Using an external ZIP? I would have figured you'd use a standard, 50-pin internal SCSI ZIP.

 

[uniserver]

:-D I think he is working on sourcing one

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Negatory, good buddy! ;D

Somebody gotsta l'arn the younger new chums up on the way us crazy oldtimers sufferers did functional improvement hacks way back in the day . . .

. . . just to save a bit-o-da feeelthy lucre! :approve:

< . . . that was needed for tools other than the Macs and for real life expenses, like bringing up the rugger . . . >

Using an external ZIP? I would have figured you'd use a standard, 50-pin internal SCSI ZIP.

Nope, that's what everyone thinks at first glance, because they haven't fully digested the info posted about the SlotHack quite yet. [] ]'>

Unlike Al's most elegant CC ZipHack, all the plastic is removed from the left side of the FDD slot. That keeps the right side's stock look unmolested and I don't give a rodent's rump about the left side winding up the wrong depth, cuz I'm fakin' that up during the file sculpturing at the new height after the left side's setback has disappeared. Filing away that setback on either side of the CC's floppy slot woulda' meant having a gap-toothed doofus lookin' CC front bezel.

< . . . not that a CC with impeccable choppers doesn't look doofy enough on its ownsome! :lol: )

I'd have to realign an internal Zip drive anyway, the stock sled/tower cannot just be be shifted backward and towards the A/B. That would cover up a quite a bit too much of the primary convection pathway over the hottest parts on the A/B.

So, uncharacteristically (cough) I'm taking this one over the top . . .

. . . I'm gonna go shoot comparison piccies, cuz my 'splainin's probably no as clear as it needs to be . . .

. . . besides, I've always wanted one of those see-through window display cases! }

 

[trag]

Yep, "Destiny's Road" isn't one of my favorite Niven novels either. That's probably a good use for it... Now if it was "A World Out of Time" I'd be screaming and yelling about now, "Don't lock the Cattails in the Compact!"