Flip That Floppy!

by Chewy1993 in Circuits > Reuse

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Flip That Floppy!

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Have lots of floppy disks (or diskettes if you prefer) sitting around from the 90s? Are they filled with useless drivers for computers you long since gotten rid of?

If you answered yes to either one, then you have all the materials that you need to start making floppy [anything you want], as long as you already have a gluegun and some glue.

This Instructable is not so much a how-to guide as it is some basic ideas to show you what you can do ( and some of the basics of working with floppys of the 3.5" species)

I hope this fuels your imagination, and shows you what you can do with what seems like trash.

If you don't want to make anything out of any floppy that is special, use another - I found gems like Day of the Tenticle, Win 3.11, and MS Flightsim 5.

Desk Organizer

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These retail for quite a bit of money, but this is free!

Mine has 4 compartments, one with 2 'drawers', one for a bigger object. the other 2 are for pens/tools.

You can arrange yours anyway you want, but 2 floppys should be as deep as it goes, any deeper, and it'd be too big for your desk. These are quite free-form, like any of these projects. It all depends on what you plan on using it for.

Pen Holder

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I made this a few years ago, while in a club at school. It's simply a cube without the top. I added some decorations.

I found that keyboard keys, mouse encoder wheels, a fan, and some assorted electronica work great to decorate it.

If you would like, you can make a stand for it out of a speaker, like I did.

Box

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This box is just like the pen holder, but with a lid!

For the spring, use the floppy slider and bend it.
For the handle, use the dataholding circle inside the floppy, and bend it.

Options include: dimensions, lid type, spring type (you could make it out of the circle if you'd like(for a softer lid opening).

Floppy Freighter

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For my final project, I made a Floppy boat.

It's got a wheel house, a lower deck, and the main deck.

You could add tape to the inside to make it water tight if you plan on making it set sail. Underneath the deck, you can place a  battery and other electronics if you'd like to make it remote controlled or a bot. It's definitely got the room for it, as it's about 15"x8.5"x3". You could even make the lower deck accessible by combining the lid of the box with the floor of the main deck.