CD-R drives tray height clearance

[jessenator]

So, like a novice woodworker, I didn't measure twice, cut once, so to speak...

I bought a bezel for the second CD drive on my G3 MiniTower, wanting a nice flush look to it. However, the top-of-the-tray clearance is too high to work with the bezel:

As the phone pics aren't the clearest, the OEM CD-ROM of the era cleared (at the top, measured from the bottom of the whole drive) at ~35mm whereas my PlexWriter tops out at ~40mm. Does anyone know of IDE/PATA CD-Rs that don't go above that 35mm mark? Or is it the hardware nature of the beast that they can't be as low profile (the guts I mean) as a CD-ROM,? i.e. is every CD-R of this era going to have similar physical dimensions?

Thanks

 

[Unknown_K]

They are all different (same with manual ejection holes). I would recommend you just remove the faceplate from the CDRW and see if the bare tray clears.

 

[jessenator]

They are all different (same with manual ejection holes). I would recommend you just remove the faceplate from the CDRW and see if the bare tray clears.

The manual eject hole I couldn't care less about, really. But yes, the faceplate off will definitely make it slide in/out just fine. I'd love to find one that fits to have that more flush look.

 

[Franklinstein]

Anything made by Panasonic/Matsushita will fit perfectly, since they were basically the only OE supplier to Apple for optical drives from 1996-2000ish. You may also be able to get a Sony or Pioneer unit to fit but that’s a maybe, not a guarantee. 

Anything with a flip-down door (common on TEAC or Mitsumi drives but also some Ricoh units) is obviously a no-go with any bezel. I usually save fancy non-conforming optical drives (Ricoh or Yamaha CD-Rs, Nakamichi CDROM changers) for clones or external SCSI cases. 

 

[jessenator]

Anything made by Panasonic/Matsushita will fit perfectly, since they were basically the only OE supplier to Apple for optical drives from 1996-2000ish

Sweet. Thanks for the tip.

I haven't even put the PlexWriter through its paces yet to see if it even writes... it was in the G3 when I bought it. Kind of a mix-n-match (which he sort of told me when I bought it) as the spec label indicates it should have a wings card and a zip, but it does not... oh well. The guy I bought it from has now listed his other G3 with the parts he swapped out of this one hahah. I'm half tempted to buy it for completionist sake, but that'll have to wait.