--- Mark Benson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > If on;y I could work out how to drive the spindle > motors, they'd make > brilliant fan assemblies for servers ;). It'd be a > bit noisy but it'd > sure shift som air if you mounted the right blades > in it!
Welll, the motors apparently are similar to stepper motors or something like that, so there's an avenue of research for you. :) As for needing a fan blade, why not use the platters themselves? Drill some holes around the middle of the platters then build a housing around them with an outlet at a tangent to the outside of the housing and another opening in the middle so air can get to where you drilled the holes. What you'll then have is a Tesla turbine. :) Nicola Tesla invented the "bladeless turbine" around 75-100 years ago and it has seen some commercial use but nowhere near as widespread as it could be. The adhesion effect discovered by Tesla is what allows hard drives to work. Air sticks to the surface of the platters and is carried around with them. The heads have a slope on their leading edge so they can "surf" on top of the layer of air. This effect is NOT caused by friction between the air and the platters. The smoother the platters are, the better they work. Hard drives cannot work in a vacuum because there's no air for the heads to fly on. (And the volatile components in the bearing lube would gass off.) Any hard drive used on a spacecraft must be in a container or other sealed space with air or some sort of gas. Lindsay Books http://www.lindsaybks.com/ has one on building your own Tesla turbine and many others on all sorts of practical experiments and projects, including a series on building a complete set of machine tools by starting with a simple foundry to melt and cast aluminum. :) Best thing is most of their books and other info is low in price. ===== http://www.junkscience.com "All the Junk that's fit to Debunk!" __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - online filing with TurboTax http://taxes.yahoo.com/ -- Vintage Macs is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Enter To Win A | -- Canon PowerShot Digital Cameras start at $299 | Free iBook! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> Vintage Macs list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/vintagemacs.shtml> The FAQ: <http://macfaq.org/> Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/vintage.macs%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
