Case suggestion for 2 floppy system

[whartung]

I have an SB180, I'd like to tinker with it, but it's a bare board. I have the 2, 5 1/4, floppies for it, and I have a 3rd party power supply.

But I'd like to get a powered case for it.

I'd like something that's just enough for the PS, board, and two floppies. Ideally I don't want to stuff it into a mini-tower. That's just too big (assuming you can find one with 2, open 5 1/4 bays any more). Power is +5 and +12, couple amps each I guess with the floppies.

So, if anyone has some ideas on what I could look for, I would appreciate it.

 

[Chuck(G)]

If the drives are half-height, scavenge an external DLT drive on that auction site. You'll get a beefy power supply to boot and still be able to keep the drive for later use.

 

[Ruud]

Maybe a box for external SCSI drives? Available for 1, 2 and more drives. So pick the size that suits you best.

 

[whartung]

If the drives are half-height, scavenge an external DLT drive on that auction site.

Like this? Do these things have brackets that accommodate 1/2 height drives?

Maybe a box for external SCSI drives?

Most of them don't have open faces, designed for internal drives.

My other concern is clearance for the computer board.

 

[alank2]

I did what Chuck suggested and it worked out great.

 

[whartung]

it worked out great.

How did it work out? What did you need, and what did you do?

 

[alank2]

I picked up a DLT external drive enclosure with drive from eBay for I think less than $30. Pulled the DLT drive from it and put a pair of Teac 55GFR's in there for use with the Altair 8800C I built.

 

[Chuck(G)]

I found old external DLT boxes to be much cheaper than ready-made new cases. The icing on the cake is that the power supplies are generally pretty beefy. The other benefit is that you don't care if the drives themselves work.

 

[whartung]

So the DLT cases have holes for the half height devices? I took a glance at one, and the PS didn't see (according to the label) to be that beefy.

This is the bottom label from the one I linked earlier (a DEC unit):



I read that as "100-240v 0.7-0.4 Amps". That seems low for pair of floppies (assuming it provides both +5 and +12 as well).

Is there space for a circuit board in the bottom of these things?

Is there enough height with the drives?

 

[Chuck(G)]

Depends on the unit. Two half-height drives fit nicely. As to mounting holes, you may have to drill your own, but that's no big deal. 0.7A at 100VAC is 70 watts, so not too limp-wristed. (240V at 0.4A is 96 watts).

You can also use some FH external LTO drive boxes as well.