Old Floppy Drive Becomes New Turntable

vinyl1 writes "This must be the ultimate in retro-cool hardware hacking. The floppy drive is obsolete, but the turntable is not, and that got one guy to thinking. He provides a full tutorial on how to turn that worthless old floppy drive into a most desirable piece of audio gear."

Comments

Re:What about the stylus?

[biglig2]

If you RTFA, you'll see that the floppy is being used as a very cheap source of a small, low-vibration, brushless motor and control electronics, with a fast start up and low power requirements so it can be run of batteries, for someone who is making a custom turntable.

Re:That would make one *terrible* turntable

[LardBrattish]

Well according to the article (You did READ the article before sounding off didn't you ;) it's so quiet he couldn't hear the motor in operation and had to add an LED to be sure. The actual turntable is quite cool because it's shaped vaguely like a Fender Stratocaster body with a glass platter.

Re:That would make one *terrible* turntable

[biglig2]

If you RTFA, you'll see that the floppy is being used by a custom hifi shop to build a custom turntable. They're not doing this because they can't afford a turntable, or don't know where to buy one; they're using a floppy drive as a source of parts. The idea being that floppys are actually very sophisticated devices, and are only ridiculously cheap because of the huge economies of scale involved in their manufacture.

cool DIY project, but:

[DingerX]

As someone who's used his share of cheap belt-drive turntables acquired at garage sales (and then rewired), and who has had some experience at spinning platters this project needs:

Direct drive. There's a reason why DD turntables cost more. Those pulleys wear out, they slip, they stretch on start up and oscillate as they balance out. Why bother with a brushless motor if you're slapping it to a rubber band? Why praise the electronic speed control features of the floppy motor when you're wiring it to a system that by design can't regulate it? Give me torque. When I press that "go" button, I want it spinning perfectly at 33, 45 or maybe 78 RPM, now, not a quarter turn from now. I'm sure there's a way to wire a floppy to do just that, so get back at it!

cf. The Hold Steady, "Everyone's a critic and most people are DJs"

Re:cool DIY project, but:

[iainl]

It all depends on what you want the turntable for. Direct Drive is indeed vital if you want the "45rpm, right when I press the button" demands of a DJing deck, but belt drives (that admittedly need occasional recalibration as the belt wears out) usually offer less flutter than similarly specced direct ones.

If you're wanting an audiophile deck for just putting a record on and listening, then you probably don't want DD after all.

Re:That would make one *terrible* turntable

[_Shorty-dammit]

uh, that's not a stepper motor

Mirrordot

[spydir31]

http://mirrordot.org/stories/e40c721288bda9f3e80e1 d99957ec156/index.html

Re:That would make one *terrible* turntable

[xappax]

As you'll notice, the turntable you linked to is "belt drive", which is great for playing records from start to end (like most people do), but if you try to stop and then abruptly start the record again, it takes the belt some time to get it spinning at the correct RPMs again.
So you get that cartoony effect where the sound starts out all slowed down and gradually reaches the correct pitch.
If you tried to scratch one of these, it's go like:

Rock the - rrrrrRRRRROOOOOCK the - rrrrrRRRRROoooock the beat!

Direct drive turntables are used by DJs and musicians because you can physically stop the record, or scratch it or whatever, and when you let it go, it'll return to the correct speed almost immediately, so it's like:

Rock the - Rock - Rock the beat!

Direct drive is better, but significantly more expensive, which is why it's cool that you can make them out of something as crappy as a floppy drive.

Re:I've always wanted to do something like this

[radish]

Audiophiles are interested in a turntable which:

Has no vibration from the motor transmitted to the platter/tonearm.
Has stable speed (startup speed is unimportant)

Typically you'll see them use fairly low torque belt drive setups (the belt helps with both vibration and speed flutters).

DJs are interested in a turntable which:

Starts fast (thus has high torque)
Has variable speed (pitch)
Doesn't mind being stopped, reversed, etc (there's no "accidental" about it!)

These are typically direct drive units, where the platter actually forms part of the motor itself. For example, in the classic SL1210, the coils are in the base of the unit, and the magnets are mounted right onto the (free spinning) platter. There are no gears, cogs, belts or anything else to wear out. The things are virtually indestructable. It's also worth noting that most of the movement of a record under a DJs hand is facilitated not by the platter but the slipmat - the platter continues turning underneath. This is very beneficial to the startup time, as when you release the record friction grabs it and it's up to full speed right away.