IDE CD drive - eject pin?

[motorollin]

I want to extend the eject button away from a CD drive without butchering the drive itself, and I'm wondering whether there is an eject pin in the cable? If not, is there any other way to make the drive eject (not through software) without pressing the eject button on the front of the drive?

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moto

[mongo]

Nope.

[Hodgkinson]

I know that you don't want to *bucher* the drive as such, but a hardware modification should be dead easy. Just unscrew the lid, find the eject button, solder on some wires and add an external button.
Could I inquire as to why to wish to extend the button?

Hodgkinson.

[motorollin]

I want to hide the drive, so the eject button would be obscured. The problem is that the eject button is on the front of the tray itself, so when I eject it the button moves with it. I think if I solder wires on to the contacts on the button the wires will get in the way of the movement of the tray. I could try to find a different drive, or I could try to trace the contacts back to some point inside the drive. Not sure how feasible that is though.

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moto

[Hodgkinson]

I've never heard or seen a drive like that (Well, not 5.25" anyway). Im afraid the only way foward I can see is to either trace the wires back, or try to find a different drive and do a similar mod.

EDIT: :-? I assume that you still want to be able to load/unload CDs from the drive once it’s been moved? Assuming that, you've got the perfect drive - If the button is on the front of the tray, im baffled as to why it needs to be elsewhere...
Eg, If the eject button is hidden = Hidden tray = Hidden (And unusable) drive...

[motorollin]

It's a laptop CD drive like this one:



I am planning on building a custom case, and I want the drive to be totally hidden. So part of the case itself will be cut out and attached to the front of the drive, and will move with the tray. Of course this means the button will be covered up, which is why I want to relocate it.

The drive itself isn't necessarily "perfect", it's just one which I happen to have. If an alternative slim tray-loading CD drive with the button not located on the edge of the tray were available at a reasonable price, then that would make things easier (assuming the contacts for the buttons are fairly easy to solder on to).

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moto

[Hodgkinson]

Ah. Now I follow your plan ;-)

Conversely, I've never seen a laptop drive with the button not on the edge of the tray.
In that the only way that I am aware of is to follow the tracks back. And disassembly/soldering is going to be a lot more tricky due to it being a laptop drive.

EDIT: Or maybe make a flexable section of the cover, perhaps?

[motorollin]

Hodgkinson wrote:
Ah. Now I follow your plan ;-)

Conversely, I've never seen a laptop drive with the button not on the edge of the tray.
In that the only way that I am aware of is to follow the tracks back. And disassembly/soldering is going to be a lot more tricky due to it being a laptop drive.

I'll take it apart and have a look!

Hodgkinson wrote:
EDIT: Or maybe make a flexable section of the cover, perhaps?

Sadly not possible due to the material I am planning to use.

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moto

[SteveSMS]

motorollin wrote:
Sadly not possible due to the material I am planning to use.

Concrete? Titanium?

[Hodgkinson]

I’m guessing acrylic/Plexiglas - It has a habit of breaking.

[Zac67]

I'm afraid the logic for the button sensor is in the tray itself (most everything besides the IDE I/F usually is).

The only feasible way I see is a HW/SW combination: use some unused data line (parallel, serial, joystick port, secondary mouse button, ...) to hook up a button and write a small prog to monitor that line and issue an eject command when necessary.

Another option is to run a flexibel cable from the tray to the back of the drive, but that's probably hard to do in the first place and might become a source of trouble later on.

[Hodgkinson]

Doh. I'd forgot about most of the hardware being on the tray - Zac's right :crazy:
Well, there's plenty of eject programs on AmiNet, anyway.

Couldn't you cut a small square in the front material just larger than the button, then make glue the small square (Or make another smaller square) back onto the button?

Just thought on: If you do glue anything to the front of the drive, make sure to leave a recess for the button. Having the eject button pressed 24/7 could make life interesting :-D

[motorollin]

Hodgkinson wrote:

SteveSMS wrote:
Concrete? Titanium?

I’m guessing acrylic/Plexiglas

Keep guessing ;-)

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moto

[motorollin]

Zac67 wrote:
I'm afraid the logic for the button sensor is in the tray itself (most everything besides the IDE I/F usually is).

Ahhh, bugger! That's this drive back in a drawer then ;-) I might have to go for a full 5.25" drive, though that's not ideal. Although actually, it might be narrower (though taller...) and would of course have power button which is separate from the tray.

Zac67 wrote:
The only feasible way I see is a HW/SW combination: use some unused data line (parallel, serial, joystick port, secondary mouse button, ...) to hook up a button and write a small prog to monitor that line and issue an eject command when necessary.

I considered software, but I really want a proper hardware solution in case of emergency.

Zac67 wrote:
Another option is to run a flexibel cable from the tray to the back of the drive, but that's probably hard to do in the first place and might become a source of trouble later on.

Indeed. I don't want bodged wiring moving around too much as it's bound to come off.

I think a different drive is the only solution.

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moto

[motorollin]

Hodgkinson wrote:
Couldn't you cut a small square in the front material just larger than the button, then make glue the small square (Or make another smaller square) back onto the button?

That might be the only way to get it working with this drive, and I did consider it. The problem might be that the button is very, very small and might not have enough surface area to which to attach a piece of the case.

Hodgkinson wrote:
Just thought on: If you do glue anything to the front of the drive, make sure to leave a recess for the button. Having the eject button pressed 24/7 could make life interesting :-D

Heh, yes I had thought of that :-)

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moto