Tag Mclaren.

Took the drive out and added the eject wires.

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Then put some electrical tape over it to stop it shorting and closed it back up. For now.

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Oddly the unit has 3 lenses in the front. One is for the IR, one is for the power LED and the other one does nothing. So, after finding these.

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I am going to remove the green one from the drive when I can power it up and find out which pin is +, then extend it into this.

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Well we've run into a big problem. The drive tray is too wide. It fouls the inner front cage and the alu bezel.

Not sure what to do about it yet, and am not really in the mood now. I go home in the morning. I can take the tray out, might need to do that and cut it down about .5mm both sides. It won't affect the drive at all.

Just annoying, but then it was all going too well.
 
ALXAndy said:
Well we've run into a big problem. The drive tray is too wide. It fouls the inner front cage and the alu bezel.

Not sure what to do about it yet, and am not really in the mood now. I go home in the morning. I can take the tray out, might need to do that and cut it down about .5mm both sides. It won't affect the drive at all.

Just annoying, but then it was all going too well.
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Looking really good
Have you removed the original front of the drive or is the complete tray to wide
 
I have removed it yes. I knew that did not fit through the hole... It is the entire inner tray that is too wide.

I packed it away earlier and have been thinking. Basically I don't want to cut the tray. It will be extruded crap plastic and will just melt. So, that leaves me no other option than to file the face panel. Thankfully it is only the sides. It does mean I will need to paint the inside edge though, but I can live with that. It's literally 1mm each side.

Either way I am off home in the morning.
 
ALXAndy said:
I have removed it yes. I knew that did not fit through the hole... It is the entire inner tray that is too wide.

I packed it away earlier and have been thinking. Basically I don't want to cut the tray. It will be extruded crap plastic and will just melt. So, that leaves me no other option than to file the face panel. Thankfully it is only the sides. It does mean I will need to paint the inside edge though, but I can live with that. It's literally 1mm each side.

Either way I am off home in the morning.
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Unfortunately Tag made custom drives for their players (Gen1 has two lasers, one for music and the other for DVD). Not sure if Gen2 had the same laser pick ups but they were definitely custom to them. Its just a pity to cut the front. What about an external or laptop drive ! I am sure that will give you a smaller tray and with the number of builds you have completed there must be something in your build box
 
I'm not cutting the front dude. I am going to file it.

The only other option is to put a slot loading drive in there (pretty sure I have one) and make a custom piece to put in. I'm not that worried about filing it out.

We'll see. I have plenty of time to think about it.
 
Could you file or sand the edge of the tray instead of it's not far out?
I've got a bare slot-load Blu-ray drive from a PS3 if that's any use to you. Very unlikely to be region free though if Sony live up to their rep.
 
Sort of but no.

It has like a duct for it to slide in and out. If I do anything to the tray I will lose the outer wall of that duct.

What I may do is give it to you when you come and get your GPU to machine out. It is only the sides. But there is a radius there and that is the bit I am concerned about wrecking.

Edit. I found the slot loader. It's from my 2015 Alienware. Problem is I remember it being picky about reading original music CDs.

I dunno man. Maybe I will mod the tray.
 
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That should explain it. It is the outer of those channels that makes it too wide. That is why when I took the original front bezel off it looked like I had good clearance. It was only when I had screwed the drive down (that is done now, the mounting screw bit) that I tried to force eject it (no PSU still) and yeah. That is why it has pliers marks on as I couldn't figure out why it was getting stuck.

I can probably cut the sides off. It doesn't need to be the entire length, just what comes out of the front.

BTW the silver bits are just double sided taped down. I wondered why the drive was extra skewed and it turns out the LED and a couple of plastic bits were stopping it going in flat.

I knew this was going to be the most fiddly thing. I called it too :D Seriously, even getting the original Tag drive lined up is a ball ache.

Edit. To add, I can get the tray out. I know 'cause I did it earlier. So I will cut it. I will pull the silver pieces off and machine a proper plate to go in there too.
 
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I would say modify the drive as getting a good finish on the face isn't going to be easy. Plus the gap is going to look odd being that big
The only issue is, if you take material from the side runners, will the disc move in/out correctly and when it spins up will it move around in the drive due to the extra clearance thats been introduced
 
Unfortunately anything that would cause any heat will cause a problem (dremel etc). Would say it needed filing down so theres very little heat generated
RIP to the drive
 
It wouldn't have worked. The drive is 1.4mm too wide. The sides that held it in the track are less than that. That was the problem, as soon as those outer tracks come off? that's it, game over.

So basically the front of the unit has to be widened. That is the only option. As soon as you take off those sides it just falls out.

Edit. Bought a used Sony one. But yes, I am going to have to open the front at the sides.
 
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The original unit is a Philips. Like, the whole assembly. Problem is it’s not SATA and doesn’t read dvds.

Off home in 20 mins. Lots of little bits came today and when I get back the psu will be here so I’ll have a ton to do.

I’m going to send it down to Cenedd if it’s cool for him to mill. I have touch up paint that matches the finish perfectly. So it’ll just be a case of painting the inner lip.
 
I'll have a go for you. If we're talking less than a mm, you might be better (and quicker without shipping two ways) to file it. Decent file with some safe edges would let you keep it square.
 
Cenedd said:
I'll have a go for you. If we're talking less than a mm, you might be better (and quicker without shipping two ways) to file it. Decent file with some safe edges would let you keep it square.
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Only thing putting me off that is the rounded corners mate. If I trash those it’s game over.

Just got home I’ll email you later.
 
ALXAndy said:
The original unit is a Philips. Like, the whole assembly. Problem is it’s not SATA and doesn’t read dvds.

Off home in 20 mins. Lots of little bits came today and when I get back the psu will be here so I’ll have a ton to do.

I’m going to send it down to Cenedd if it’s cool for him to mill. I have touch up paint that matches the finish perfectly. So it’ll just be a case of painting the inner lip.
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I didn't realise that this was just a CD transport & I was comparing it with my own unit they has two heads. As for the connection in the back, I am not sure but the unit had lots & lots & lots of outputs l
 
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