Experiment 1: Hard Drive Sander
This experiment basically turns a Hard Drive Disk into a Disc Sander. I had an old 160 gig hard drive that frustratingly did not work, so I took it apart. I had originally considered making a mold and casting my own Torx screwdriver in metal to undo the uncommon screws, but I found a Torx head that fit, so I did not have to cast my own. If you make a HDD sander, excercise patience when removing the components, because I am sure you do not want to break the important stuff like the motor. I left the motor and platters intact and then rearranged the platters so that they were directly on top of each other, as to add more support. I cut some sandpaper to be the right size and then sandwiched that between the top platter and the washer on top of the platters that held the stack down. I tested the sander (before it had sandpaper on it) with a PSU I already had and the platters spun up, so I must have the right kind of "dumb" drive, one that spins up just by plugging into the PSU Molex connector. I will be purchasing another PSU to act as a permanent power supply. When I get that and hone some blades, I will make an update!