DIY rotating display

[sdsnl]

Recently the DVD drive on my laptop stopped working, and I decided to disassemble it and recycle a little part in there. The little wheel that holds your disk in place and spins it around for the contents to be read is perfect for a rotating display to show off your fossils or minerals.

 

Step 1. Glue something to the bottom as a base to increase height and stability.

Step 2. Glue the end of a string to the wheel.

 

 

Step 3. Put on a disk, bottom side up.

Step 4. Spin the disk around so the string wraps around the wheel. To avoid the string being stuck under the wheel, hold it upward while spinning the disk.

Step 5. Let your treasure hop on and pull the string!

 

 

[Fossildude19]

Ingenious and Eco-friendly!

I like it.  

[caldigger]

I just tore my computer apart to try this and now my laptop doesn't work anymore.  I don't like this one! 

All kidding aside, this is pretty neat. does it spin only as long as you pull the string?

[GeschWhat]

Brilliant!

[sdsnl]

3 hours ago, caldigger said:

I just tore my computer apart to try this and now my laptop doesn't work anymore.  I don't like this one! 

All kidding aside, this is pretty neat. does it spin only as long as you pull the string?

Yes, and it will spin however fast you pull it. When the string runs out, you will have to wrap it around the wheel again for another round of spinning. Kind of like those toys you have to wind up for them to move

 

It's actually pretty easy to take out this part, DVD drives on laptops are often only secured by one screw, remove that and you can pull the whole thing out, it will disconnect itself from the data connector as you do this (you can find disassembly guides online for your model, many models have full disassembly and reassembly videos on Youtube). Then you just unscrew everything on the drive (all Phillips screws), use a little bit of force to pop things out (careful about the springs on the rods on each side) and you are done. You will also find some nice lenses which could be repurposed as microscopes, and some strong magnets, which, I don't know, you could glue small fossils on to make fridge magnets?  Hard drives and cameras also have lenses and magnets.