Amiga Floppy Emulator Project

Though you folks would like to see my latest Frankenstein creation 😀 Just so you guys know I still like goofing with Amigas from time to time…

I got tired of my SD Card Floppy Emulator being stuck in my A4000 tower case, so I set out to try and fine an external case. Most external Amiga Floppy drives are butchered PC AT drives with a load of fancy wiring and the emulator didn’t seem ot fit in any I tried.

I found 2 types of internal to external floppy adpater on eBay. One was really expensive and used a genuine 23-pin plug, but required you to have a PCB sticking out of the back of the Amiga. The others were cheap and hacked together using ribbon cable and a molex power cable tail done by some Greek fella. I bought the cheap one (naturally, no need to over do it!) and tested it with the Floppy Emulator and it worked like a charm, albeit via a chopped about 25-pin connector, but I still needed a case…

I asked around for cases abut no-one seemed to have much that fit the bill. (I know you pinged me about it Gaz but I think you’ll agree it looks more awesome like this!) So in a fit of “I wonder” I bought a Commadore 1541 floppy drive (the 5.25″ lump for the C64/VIC20) off eBay (it was maked as US so don’t worry I didn’t kill any good hardware as far as I know…) I removed the original floppy drive, circuit board and HUMUNGOUS linear power transformer (the latter would make a good doorstop) and cleaned the case up.

I set about looking for parts. I found a 5V mains PSU in a little metal box on eBay, 4 quid from China, I bought a proper 23-pin plug to fit the port correctly. I dragged out an old PC floppy cable which looked ripe for hacking and got my dad to solder up a neater, better floppy adapter with no power wiring connected. I made up a male/female extension to get the thing into the case as it wasn’t long enough.

I reused the mains power wires, including the nice big clunky 80s power switch and fuse holder, mounted the Floppy Emulator in a 5.25″ adapter tray, and sat it in the front and lashed it all together, I even wired up the LED (with appropriate resistor) for that 80s retro look (alas it doesn’t flash with the drive, but eh) 😀

All in all I think it’s one of the neatest hacks I’ve done and I think it looks very appropriately Commadore-ish even if it’s not quite the right era for the Amiga. Apologies to the 8-bit crowd if my use of the 1541 made you cringe 😉

Amiga Floppy Emulator Project

2 thoughts on “Amiga Floppy Emulator Project”

  1. Hi Matey,

    Good post.

    My Desktop A4000’s floppy is causing trubs so I may need a replacement, and this looks good enought.

    Regards, Michael

    aka rockape

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Your Locale for News, Information, Meeting Times and other Club Affairs.