Uses for old hard drive platters?

[Tony JeffreeParticipant @tonyjeffree56510]

[Tony JeffreeParticipant @tonyjeffree56510]

Over the years, whenever I scrap an old PC, I have been in the habit of dismantling the hard drive, stripping out the (usually) aluminium platters, and passing a powerfiul magnet over each one to erase any data that might be left on them. Having done that, I have added them to the now considerable stack of platters in a corner of my workbench, because it seems such a shame to get rid of the – ther are very flat, very accurately machined, and there *must* be a use for them at some point. However, apart from one that I tyrned into an encoder disc for the tacho on my Taig mill, I don't think I have made any practical use of them so far. There are also nicely machined Ally rings in most of them that act as separators, and again, no obvious uses spring to mind so far.

Has anyone out there come across the perfect application for these perfectly machined bits of metal? Or should I just toss them and regain a bit of much-needed bench?

Regards,

Tony

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

If nothing else you can hang them on strings in the garden to scare the birds, also a use for unwanted CD/DVDs. Ian S C

[Tony JeffreeParticipant @tonyjeffree56510]

Posted by Ian S C on 06/06/2012 11:37:55:

If nothing else you can hang them on strings in the garden to scare the birds, also a use for unwanted CD/DVDs. Ian S C

I suppose you could make them into earrings for East Enders actors too

Regards,

Tony

[David Clark 13Participant @davidclark13]

Hi Tony

Tesla turbine?

regards David

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

Division plate for a dividing head

A mounting for small models

2c

 

Chuck 'em in a box, I bet you a jellybaby you'll use them over the next 25 years

Edited By Ady1 on 06/06/2012 11:50:09

[Thor 🇳🇴Participant @thor]

I use pieces of such platters as small parallells or to protect the milling table. As you say Tony, they are accurately machined, and my harddisks seem to have a limited life span (so I have a steady supply).

Regards,

Thor

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

So they are nice flat Throwaway Parallels which you can drill or abuse

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

Suprise the wife and make her a super three tier cake stand – then she couldn't refuse but make you a cake.

Make a stand with 3 discs and suitable spacers, drill through the top 2 discs and store all your taps and clearing / tapping drills in them – like a drill stand.

Mount about 20 discs with spacers in between onto a broom stick. Point it at your neighbours bedroom – and wait !!

[Gray62Participant @gray62]

Aha, another technology collector – and I thought I was alone in this LOL.

I too have a similar collection of hard drive bits. I've even kept the base chassis in the vain hope that one day I will finish the smelting furnace and turn them into something useful in aluminium

So far I have achieved the same as Tony, a replacement interrupter for my Warco Mini Wood lathe (the installed plastic one disintegrated at around 3000 rpm !!

Suggestions please (but keep them polite and humerous!)

CB

[Tony JeffreeParticipant @tonyjeffree56510]

Hi David –

Yes – the Tesla Turbine sounds like an interesting one to investigate. I will give it some thought!

Regards,

Tony

[Tony JeffreeParticipant @tonyjeffree56510]

Hadn't thought of using them as parallels – that's a good idea. I had thought of division plates, but these days with my various CNC gizmos I don't seem to have much use for them!

Regards,

Tony

[Douglas JohnstonParticipant @douglasjohnston98463]

The drives also contain a pair of very strong magnets, although the magnets in the last one I dismantled were a bit more skimpy than older ones. Some very nice miniature ball bearings are also to be found. I simply cannot understand how this much high precision stuff can be made for so little cost.

Like others, I can't bear to throw this stuff out but will probably never use much of it. The humble inkjet printer is another thing that just has to be pulled to bits when it dies, and can provide some very nice precision ground and plated bars and small stepper motors. I had to use a lot of will power when my washing machine packed in recently and let it go without a post-mortem!

Doug

[Ian PParticipant @ianp]

Tony

I doubt that wiping a strong magnet over the disk surface deletes or changes any data left there. Once you have removed the disc from its spindle and its original writing head its near impossible to read and decipher what's left. It would take someone with an awful lot of resources like a government agency to even try.

Whilst the magnet you used might be very strong its force is not concentrated enough to change the data. Over the years using magnetic media I have seen dire warnings about putting motors, loudspeakers, magnets etc anywhere near floppy and hard disks, and guess what? the first thing you find in a floppy drive is a motor! In hard disk drives there are incredibly strong rare earth magnets only millimeters from the disk surface and they dont seem to stop the drive doing its job!

As to you original question, I've never really found a 'killer' app for the platters although I use one on the milling machine table for the tip of the DTI to run on when tramming the mill.

What I have never understood it whay two disks dont 'wring' together. On paper at least the flatness and surface finish is more than good enough.

Ian

[WindyParticipant @windy30762]

Parts of hard drives have been used to make a dynometer for miniature engines.

A mini-dynamometer for RC engines

The physical design of the DC dynamometer uses a magnetic brake assembly, comprised of a metallic disc and rare-earth magnet taken from the hard drive of a computer, to apply a torque to the DC motor. The torque is transferred through a torque arm into a strain gauge which is used to measure the torque applied by the brake         Ben S. Cazzolato, Lewis Hewton and Heath Miller

Windy

Edited By Windy on 06/06/2012 17:57:28

Edited By Windy on 06/06/2012 18:04:53

Edited By Windy on 06/06/2012 18:08:50

[Gone AwayParticipant @goneaway]

Posted by Ian Phillips on 06/06/2012 17:06:14:

I doubt that wiping a strong magnet over the disk surface deletes or changes any data left there.

I don't doubt that you're right.

Some years ago, I threw out (gave away) several hundred 1.4M floppy disks. To wipe them before I did so, I used a video-cassette bulk tape eraser. Took a while because of the quantity of disks and the fact that the eraser had to be duty cycled. After each session, I dutifully walked as far away as the cord allowed before releasing the eraser switch.

To check, I ran a few disks through the computer only to find that, in all cases, the data was perfectly intact.

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

They also make very good mirrors, if you want to transfer some intense light into a dark cavity then use the Sun and a bracket to hold the disc and direct it into the place you want to illuminate.

Other than that i cannot think of any further use except as a bird scarer.

Clive

[Jeff DaymanParticipant @jeffdayman43397]

If you saw them into quarters with a bandsaw, they melt beautifully in a small crucible made of 3" iron pipe in a charcoal forge. Not a lot of aluminum per disk drive, but if you combine it with some other good grade alum scrap you will have enough to pour some small sand castings. Small tool parts and model parts can be easily made this way.

Once melted, I doubt even the FBI would be able to get data off the metal!

PS – don't use the hard drive outer housings- these are usually zinc-aluminum alloys and may cast well but are poor quality metal for long life model work. The discs themselves are top quality high strength high purity aluminum alloy, as is the centre drum of the drive (the rotor housing).

JD

[V8EngParticipant @v8eng]

Fix a few together as shiny flywheels for small Hot air engines?

 

Edited By V8Eng on 06/06/2012 21:00:15

[Keith Wardill 1Participant @keithwardill1]

At one time, some motorists in Germany claimed that reflections from the disks, when hung in a car, could fool the laser speed traps then being tested – utter claptrap, but there were lots of cars looking like bling christmas trees with dangling CDs and hard drive disks for a while – if you are into bling, you could use them for decoration.

[StovepipeParticipant @stovepipe]

For some model railway enthusiasts, they make a good foundation for a loco turntable.

Dennis

[magpieParticipant @magpie]

Having made a prize winning "rocker cover racer"last year,(see my avatar and album) I have been asked to make many more for other folk. Enter my 12" high stack of hard drive discs,and large collection of bearings from same. As the wheels must not have any metal in contact with the track, I use the hard drive discs to strenthen thin plastic discs. One thing i must warn you all that the smaller discs from laptop hard drives are often made from glass,so not a good idea to throw them into the melting pot. Ian, once i got part way down the pile, quite a lot were 'wrung' togther.

Cheers Derek

[Jeff DaymanParticipant @jeffdayman43397]

Hi Derek,

I haven't come across any glass ones as yet, but will keep my eyes open for them now that you mention it, thanks. They probably wouldn't react well with my bandsaw blade!

Good luck with the rocker cover racers.

JD

[Ed DuffnerParticipant @edduffner79357]

I used to build disk drives at HP Bristol. Model No. C2490A (aka Wolverine 2) 2.1 Gbyte (cost about $4000 each back in 1994 ). The only thing I've seen disks re-used for is as somebody suggested, mirrors. How about melting them down and re-using the ally? Or coffee cup coasters.

With a ferrous coating it's a shame they can't be used as some kind of rotary encoder with the degrees written into the surface.

[Tony JeffreeParticipant @tonyjeffree56510]

Thanks guys – some food for thought there!

Regards,

Tony

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