On Fri, 11 Feb 2005, Loboyko Steve wrote:
> Sellam Ismail wrote:
>
> >More likely they were cast iron. Aluminum would've
> >been too expensive and overkill for drive mechs.
>
> I think all 8" and all 5.25" drives up to the late
> '80's were made from aluminum castings. A "Great
Nope. I scrap them all the time. Perhaps some are aluminum, but most I
see are cast iron or zinc. Aluminum is probably 10X the cost of cast
iron/zinc so it wouldn't make sense.
> Acheivement" of cost reduction in electronics was the
> replacement of cast/machined aluminum with stampings.
> I remember seeing my first "sheetmetal" 5.25" drive in
> a Leading Edge computer at a Comdex in the late 80's,
> and the drive was made by Y-E Data. The Leading Edge
> rep said it held tolerances as well as castings as
> long as it wasn't dropped. I've seen this in other
> types of electronics; my first VCR was built on a
> spectacular cast and machined chunk of aluminum; now,
> they are made of aluminum foil. the invulnerable
> Diablo HyType daisy-wheel printers used an aluminum
> casting as a frame; the cost-reduced Qume used
> stampings.
Are you sure they used aluminum? It's easy to confuse zinc casting with
aluminum.
--
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
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Received on Fri Feb 11 2005 - 23:11:12 GMT