Slimline Drives and the 26-pin Connector
Some of the cheaply available USB floppy drives inside contain a 26-pin slimline floppy drive, sometimes manufactured by TEAC Corp.
They function exactly the same as a regular floppy drive, they are just smaller and have a different pin-out.
I have listed the pin-out for these along side the normal 34-pin drives so you can use either. However not all drives follow this pin-out, so please check.
Below is my first attempt of one I converted to run from an Arduino Nano and it works perfectly. (I had to bypass the diode on the Nano board so the drive had enough power)
See, its just a 26-pin drive after you remove the USB interface board.
Yes, I sanded the nano down to see if I could fit it in the case
but forgot about the thick wires! I'll re-wire that soon...
Buy one
You can now
join a waiting list for purchase of a ready-built drive (with custom PCB, not a hacked Nano) slimline drive shipped to you.
Build one
Can't wait?
View a step-by-step guide to build one that fits inside the drive case and ends up looking very neat like this (even the cover fits back on):
Even the lid fits.
You'd never know this had been done.
