Guide Lian-Li Floppy Disk Stealth

Right here goes, my first post in this part of bit.

The Lian-Li Floppy Disk Stealth, I'm not talking about the macroman-style slot cut, although that was good, this is better

Here's how you begin.

Items Needed:

Lian-Li 3.5" Blanking Plate
Sticky Back Mirror Foil
Super Glue
Latches(Push-Clicks)
Old Or New Floppy Disk

Tools Needed:

Measuring Equipment
Scalpel
Dremel Or Other Multi Tool
Cutting And Grinding Discs


The raw materials



All The Parts There Apart From The Mirror Foil
A Floppy Disk
A 3.5" Blanking Plate With The Sides Removed
Super Glue
Two Push-Clicks

I Call Them Push-Clicks Because You
Push Them And They Click! They Also Latch.


A close up on the latch



Like I mentioned Above I Don't Know What They Are Called
Push-Click Will Have To Do!



When It Is Compressed It Is In The Lock Position
When It Is Pressed Again It Is Uncompressed
Visualise A Ball Point Pen Motion.


The building

Cut the side fixings from the blanking plate so you are just left with the flat plate.

This Is Where It Gets Slightly Complicated
Get The Disk And Insert It Halfway Into A Drive
I Used A Spare Drive Out Of The Case To Reduce The Risk Of Getting Super Glue On The Case.
Mark Where The Disk Will Contact The Plate And Slightly Rough Up The Metal With Sandpaper
This Gives The Glue A Key To Stick To.
Apply Lots Of Glue To the Marked Area
Now Press The Blanking Plate Down Onto The Disk Until The Plate Stops At The Drive Bezel
At This Point Make Sure It is Lined Up And hold It There For A While.
Gently Lift The Glued Disk And Plate Out Of the Drive And Stand On It's End.
Let The Glue Set Before Doing Anything Else.



This is what it looks like when it is assembled.

Fitting the Push Clicks




When The Glue Is Set,
Stick One Push-Click On The Underside Of The Disk
And One To The Top.
Make Sure That The Push-Click Is Touching Both The Alloy Plate And The Disk
Also Make Sure That The Push-Clicks Are In The Center Of The Disk.

Front View




Cover It



Take a section of mirror foil and stick it over the disk and trim to size. Simple


Recess the drive



Set The Drive Back In The Cage
This Allows The "Dummy" Disk To Be Inserted And Removed.
Don't Recess It Too Far Back As You Wont Be Able To Retrieve A Real Disk.

Void Your Warranty



Warranty! What Warranty!

When Will The Drive Cage Torture End?
Not Yet!

New Holes To The Left Of The Original Hole
Were Drilled To Allow The Drive To Be Secured
I Used A 4mm Drill Bit And Went Slow!


Push It In



Push the stealth unit into the front of the case.

Latch It



Push the plate in the middle, until it doesn’t go any further, then stop.

Release It



Once you cannot push it any more, just let go. It should return home flush as if there isn't a drive there.

Now That's A Proper Floppy Stealth!

At this point if the unit sticks out further than the case front, just remove the unit and file down the base of the push click and try again, Be warned! Do this a mm at a time as it's easier to remove plastic than it is to add it.

Also at this point the plate may be a little tight in the recess. If this happens just undo the 3 fixing thumbscrews for the drive cage and move it around to get the best fit for the unit, then just tighten them back up.

Push It Again



When the plate is pushed in the entire unit is thrown or popped forward just enough to grip. Just pull it and the drive can be used normally.

Where?



I Hear You Cry.

Well I Got Mine From A Zip Disk Storage Rack.
I Suppose You Could Find Them In Hardware Store Or Even An Old TV Or VCR.


Video Time

Click Here To View A Short Video Of The Stealth In Action.
Or Right Click And Save As To Your Hard Drive.


Final Note

There you have it. A proper floppy disk stealth mod,

To my knowledge I am the only person to make a mechanised release to do the job.

Special thanks goes out to GOO for his article here at bit-tech

I hope you make use of the push clicks i sent you.



Enjoy

Any comments suggestions etc welcome good and bad.

AW3K

 

What do you do about the computer trying to read the "dummy" floppy on bootup?

Oh and nice work

 

as far as i can tell, the puter wont try to read the dummy floppy because it doesnt go in far enuff ....

you have to push the floppy all the way in to engage the read/write head ... and if that isnt pushed in the os wont recognize that there is media in the drive ....

and now that i figured out how to make bootable dos cd's, i might sell my sony camera and ditch my floppy altogether

 

I dont thnk the floppy is in the drive far enough for thecomputer to even recognise tha there is one in. Anyway, you could just turn it off in the bios, no one really uses floppies anyway.

Lubbly mod there, must try to get a couple of puch clicks so i can try that meself.

 

Good call, I need to read better.

 

I'm sorry if I'm responding with no knowledge of stealth mods, but why would you want this thing? I'm not quite sure that I understand what it's for. Is it to cover up the unsightly floppy drive? I painted mine silver and kind of like it. Please help me understand.

 

So far most of the aluminum stealth mods are to keep the case looking as if it has No drives at all, so this acomplishes it.

He did mention

This is just another way to do it that's all. I like it.
Thanks for the guide!
(Hmm, we need a thumbs-up smiley)

 

well......good for you for making it, and certainly a very good idea for the slickest looking Li-li.....but i think its just a bit of a gimmick, and too much hastle.....macroman's slot drive is serupticious enough for me

 

i wonder if this would work? i wonder if you can sorta make something like a tv stand deal. what i mean is you still have the push click things but all that you would have to do is push teh top of the stealth drive and it would pop down (sorta like a radio) anyone understand what i mean???

 

if you figure out how to hinge the blank so it has a pivot point, it should work fine. And obviously thats possible via Pflumingo's machine pic's in this thread:
http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=25930

 

where do you ge the click things you used on this project?

 

Hi

I got them from an old Zip disk storage thing,

If i can find the spares i'll let you have some.


AW3K

 

why still a floppy
you must have windows if you still have to work with floppy's
ok i admit i'm running windows 2000 but still i dont need floppy's

 

I use it for my college work,

the email system is not good so can't email files.


AW3K

 

very nice...

planning on geting a shuttle soon

may have a go, wanna keep the shuttle looking sleek and sexy

 

looks real good man, stealthing on lian-li's is almost mandatory, as you cant ruin a case with a horrible beige drive, and a floppy drive would be he hardest. i like the porcess you've used as it's easy to remove etc. i was thinking i was gonna see a flip up panel or sumthing, but i got more than i bargained for.

grea mod man, and well exectued, good guide too

 

Thank you for the comments

i'm glad i'm inspiring others,

thanks
AW3K

 

If you use Win 95/98 or Me You will need a floppy to
format your disks and even make updates..
Some mainboards updates BIOS with floppy disks.

 

Yah very true with bios updates.

Well I like the idea, kind of thinking about doing that with my Zip drive slot when i start modding my front part, since most schools use zips still. So I well need one for my computer anyway. Oh for using floppy well let just say it best to keep in there you never know when you just might need it I mean come on it windows were talking about.

 

Tis nice, but ihmo I prefer normal drive-style affairs, as that's just a little bit too complex for my liking, albeit very neat.

I think the ally fdd stickon one works better, but that's just me (and that ain't fully stealthd)