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HDDJ: Turning an old hard disk drive into a rotary input device
by nvillar on November 10, 2008

Table of Contents

HDDJ: Turning an old hard disk drive into a rotary input device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Intro: HDDJ: Turning an old hard disk drive into a rotary input device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Step 1: Crack open a hard disk drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Step 2: Solder wires to the spindle motor contacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Step 3: Probing the motor output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Step 4: Amplifying the output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Step 5: Measuring direction and velocity of spin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Step 6: Schematics and firmware for the HDDJ device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

File Downloads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Step 7: Video summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Related Instructables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

http://www.instructables.com/id/HDDJ-Turning-an-old-hard-disk-drive-into-a-rotary/
Intro: HDDJ: Turning an old hard disk drive into a rotary input device
A couple of years ago we built a fun system that would allow DJs to mix music tracks in interesting ways . Our design called for an input device that would allow the DJ to
quickly seek through a track and find a specific playback position, and we wanted to be able to do this by spinning a rotary control with a flick of the wrist - much like
turntable DJs can spin the record back and forth to do the same.

We found that we had only limited choices for building our device: we first tried to use rotary encoders , but it is not easy to find a cheap encoder that spins smoothly and
freely. Another alternative was to buy some audio equipment (like turntables) that spin well and feel good to use - but this seemed both expensive and wasteful for our
purposes. Then, while looking for inspiration amongst assorted junk in the lab, we came upon a broken hard disk drive with its case open. We admired the quality of the
bearings in the motor that drives the disk plates, enjoyed the fact that even a soft flick would get it spinning for a long time, and wondered whether we could sample an
output from it when it was spun by hand, in much the same way that an electric motor, when turned, acts as a dynamo and outputs a voltage.

The answer is yes - and it's a very simple process to turn a hard disk into a rotary input device that has some unique properties. All you'll need is an old hard disk drive, a
few op amps , resistors and a programmable microcontroller of some kind.

In this Instructable we'll show the basic principles behind this hack, then provide the schematics and firmware for the HDDJ device (shown below) that we used in our
project , and which includes a few extra buttons, lights and a motorized slider for good measure.

Step 1: Crack open a hard disk drive

Old, unwanted or broken hard disk drives (HDDs) are usually free and easy to get hold of. They come in all shapes and sizes, but the most common are the 3.5" HDDs
that are used inside desktop PCs. We experimented with a number of different 3.5" HDD models, and found that most are suitable for our purposes (and would guess
that smaller, laptop-sized disks would work just as well). The largest variation lies in how easy it is to open the case of some compared to others. Seagate HDDs, which
often use plain Phillips screws in the casing, are our favorite.

The first step is to open the drive by removing all the screws that hold the case closed. Often these are torx screws , and you'll need an appropriate screw driver.
Sometimes a screw will be hidden behind a label - so if you have trouble opening the case after all the screws seemed to have been removed, poke at the labels to find
the culprit. If there is a label saying "Warranty Void if Removed," then, for sure, remove it.

Open the case, and reveal the disk platters in all their untouched glory. Never again will they be so free of fingerprints.

Remove the actuator that holds the read-write head, which stops the platters from spinning around freely. It's up to you how much more you want/need to remove (rule of
thumb: anything sharp should go). The only thing that you need to keep attached are the frame, platters and spindle motor.

Thanks to Wikipedia for the "Anatomy of a Hard Disk Drive " image.

http://www.instructables.com/id/HDDJ-Turning-an-old-hard-disk-drive-into-a-rotary/
 Image Notes
1. Unscrew
2. Unscrew
3. Unscrew
4. Unscrew
5. Unscrew
6. Unscrew
7. Unscrew
8. These three were hiding under the label.

Step 2: Solder wires to the spindle motor contacts

Turn the HDD over, with the exposed platters facing down. Some older HDDs will have four wires coming out of the back of the spindle motor , in which case you can skip
this step. Most, however, have an orangy-transparent flat-flex cable. In this case, what we are looking for are four exposed contacts at the back of the motor that we can
solder some wires to.

Image Notes Image Notes

1. We could solder four cables to these four points. 1. You'll probably want to solder much longer cables than these.
2. Or we could solder here.

Step 3: Probing the motor output

This is not really a necessary step, but more an illustration of what exactly we are trying to do.

If you have a access to an oscilloscope with multiple inputs, connect three of them to three of the wires soldered to the spindle motor contacts in the previous step (it
doesn't matter which three). Connect the probes' ground clips to the fourth wire, then set the platter spinning.

The scope images below show the three waveforms that are generated when the HDD platter is spun by hand (the scale is set to 500mV per division in the vertical axis,
and 20ms per division in the horizontal axis). Three perfect phase-shifted sinusoidal waveforms !

The three different pictures show what happens to the waveforms as the platter gradually slows down: they all decrease in both frequency and amplitude by the same
amount.

These waveforms carry a lot of information, not only how fast the platter is spinning, but also in which direction it is spinning (clockwise, or anti-clockwise). More on this
later.

The raw signals, as generated by spinning the motor by hand, are simply too subtle to be sampled directly by a microcontroller, so the next step is to amplify them into
useful levels.

http://www.instructables.com/id/HDDJ-Turning-an-old-hard-disk-drive-into-a-rotary/
Step 4: Amplifying the output
Now you have signals coming from your HDD's spindle motor, it's time to amplify them, and in the process convert them to square waves that can be fed into a
microcontroller.

The amplification can be done with a simple comparator circuit. Each comparator (the triangles in the schematic) has two inputs (+ and -) and one output. When the
voltage on the (+) input is less than the voltage on the (-) input the output will be pulled down to the negative supply voltage, otherwise it will be pulled to the positive
supply voltage or, depending on the model of comparator, float at high impedance (in which case a pull up resistor is required).

In the schematic below we have wired an LM324D opamp to function as a comparator (an explanation of how this works can be found here ). The LM324D includes 4
comparator modules in a single package, which is perfect because in our case we need three (the 4th is not shown in the schematic).

One of the lines from the HDD is used as a reference, and is connected to the (-) inputs of all the comparators. The other three lines are connected to each of
comparators (+) inputs. Not shown in the schematic, but also important, are the power supply pins of the comparators. The negative supply is connected to ground, while
the positive supply is connected to Vcc (in our case +5V).

When the voltage of a signal pin from the HDD is greater than the reference the comparator output will be +5V, otherwise it will be ground. The outputs of this circuit
(second image) can now be connected directly to the input pins of the microcontroller.

http://www.instructables.com/id/HDDJ-Turning-an-old-hard-disk-drive-into-a-rotary/
Step 5: Measuring direction and velocity of spin
In this step we take the outputs from the amplifier circuit in step 4 and input it to a microcontroller to convert them to something a bit more useful.

The images below show the output from the amplifier circuit as the HDD platter is spinning at various decaying velocities. As the velocity decreases the period of the
wave increases. The first two images below show the platter turning in different directions. If we look at order in which the rising edges of the waves occur we see that in
the first image (spinning clockwise) it's Yellow Blue Pink, whereas in the second (spinning anticlockwise) its Yellow Pink Blue.

The code for the microcontroller watches the inputs from amplifier for a rising edge. It also keeps track of which inputs the last two rising edges occurred on (we'll call the
inputs Y, P and B). If we detect a rising edge on input Y, and the previous rising edge was on P and before that B, we know that the platter is spinning clockwise, same
for P, B, Y and B, Y, P. Conversely if we detect a rising edge on Y, and the previous two rising edges were on B and P respectively, we know the direction is
anticlockwise, and same for B, P, Y and P, Y, B. Any other combinations are regarded as noise and ignored.

In our implementation we use a PIC microcontroller. The inputs from the amplifier are connected to the interrupt pins of the microcontroller; these generate an interrupt on
the rising edge of the input. Our code then looks at which input generated the interrupt and which inputs generated the last two interrupts. If a clockwise spin is detected a
'>' character is output to the PC, if an anticlockwise spin is detected a '<' is output.

Because the frequency of the interrupts depends directly on the frequency of the waves, which is proportional to the speed of the platter the computer software can work
out the velocity of the platter from the frequency at which it receives '<' or '>' characters.

http://www.instructables.com/id/HDDJ-Turning-an-old-hard-disk-drive-into-a-rotary/
Step 6: Schematics and firmware for the HDDJ device
For our original DJing project we equipped the hard disk drive with eight additional buttons, six LEDs and a motorized fader to make the HDDJ device. We designed a
custom circuit board and wrote some firmware that allowed us to connect all these controls (plus the input from the HDD platter) to a PC via USB. Here you can download
the files needed to recreate this design in EAGLE format, plus the firmware that needs to run on the PIC microcontroller (youll need a suitable PIC programmer to do
this).

How to test the HDDJ Device

1. Install the driver provided in the ZIP file

2. Plug in the HDDJ to a USB port of your computer (it will mount as a virtual serial connection, and assign it a COM port)

3. Use a terminal program (like Putty) to connect to the COM port, at 115200bps, 8 data bits, no parity bit, and one stop bit.

4. Try spinning the HDDJ platter: you should see a stream of '<' characters appear as it spins counter-clockwise, and '>' characters as it spins clockwise. The frequency
of characters will depend on the velocity of spin.

5. Moving the fader will output the character 'f' followed by a number between 0 and 100. To control the position of the fader type the character m into the terminal
window, followed by a number between 0 and 100, and then hit return.

6. Pressing the buttons will output the character 'b' followed by a number between 0 and 8. To turn the LEDs on and off type the character l into the terminal window,
followed by a number between 0 and 6, and then hit return.

For our project we wrote a bit of software that communicated with the HDDJ via the USB serial line using this protocol. It would be a relatively small (but useful) step to
adapt it to, for example, translate the control sequences MIDI messages, which would let you use the HDDJ with generic music or VJ'ing software out of the box.

http://www.instructables.com/id/HDDJ-Turning-an-old-hard-disk-drive-into-a-rotary/
File Downloads

HDDJ.zip (210 KB)

[NOTE: When saving, if you see .tmp as the file ext, rename it to 'HDDJ.zip']
Step 7: Video summary
Here we have a video summary, showing the HDD connected to:

1. A comparator circuit, which amplifies to the output from the motors.

2. An oscilloscope, which shows the nice amplified square waves.

3. A microcontroller, which takes the square waves as input and uses them to determine the direction of spin. The microcontroller outputs (via serial line) the "<" character
while the disk is spinning counter-clockwise, and the ">" character when it is spinning clockwise.

4. A computer, that takes the output of the serial line and shows it on the screen.

In the video we're pretty excited because we just got this working for the first time :)

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http://www.instructables.com/id/HDDJ-Turning-an-old-hard-disk-drive-into-a-rotary/
Comments
50 comments Add Comment view all 107 comments

Lowkill says: Mar 3, 2011. 5:05 AM REPLY

Does the hard drive needs to be powered or I'm missing something here?

CBMalloch says: Feb 27, 2011. 4:06 PM REPLY

I'm somewhat confused. The sine waves show three phases spaced at 120deg apart, and this implies that the fourth wire is some kind of common. This
conflicts with the idea of "pick any three", because one is special.

Then, the outputs of the comparators show two signals in quadrature (90 deg apart) and one signal that is the inverse of one of the first two. Doesn't seem
like the same device is being shown.

With four wires all alike, I'd expect them to be 90 deg apart, so there would be two pairs of inverse signals, with one pair leading the other by 90 deg. With
three wires and a common (wye) I'd expect the three wires to be at 120 deg apart.

Do your pictures represent two different disk drives, wired differently?

Thanks for the instructable -- I'm going to try it myself.

project dude says: May 11, 2010. 12:50 PM REPLY

Solder what kind of cables, standard electrical cables or audio or video cables?

recordmasta001 says: Feb 23, 2011. 1:43 PM REPLY

22 gauge wire will do fine :)

SaNjA2659 says: Apr 11, 2009. 6:41 AM REPLY

WANT A PARTS LIST, And can somebody tell me, how can I put files into microcontroller, or can I ask to write files there in a radio shack?

offnot says: Feb 6, 2011. 5:48 PM REPLY

You have to read some books about PIC.
If you are a beginner of PIC, I'll recommand you an easy book.

Add me up as a MSN friend, "staybesideyou@hotmail.com"

natman3400 says: Jul 6, 2010. 9:16 AM REPLY

You need a microcontroller programmer.

efiscp says: Dec 25, 2010. 8:47 AM REPLY

I'm gonna implement this as a scrollwheel. A very fast scrollwheel. ;)

the_prototype says: Dec 6, 2010. 1:33 PM REPLY

hehe just realised I'm using exactly the same HDD as you are in the instructable :D
It's an IBM Desktstar, isn't it?^^
Really cool idea, my friends are gonna be like "wtf?" :D

tomtortoise says: Nov 17, 2010. 3:36 PM REPLY

can you make a schematic for JUST the rotary part no buttons or fader or lights and stuff because im thinking of using one of these for the most legit steering
wheel ever for pc gaming

FurtherThanTesla says: Nov 16, 2010. 4:50 PM REPLY

one prob though. Once the platter stops rotating it gets a little upity. the lights blink with the slightest vibration of the whole thing, but once the platter is
rotated again, its running smoothly. I Imagine this oversensitivity could be corrected with a high value resistor, or low value capacitor

FurtherThanTesla says: Nov 16, 2010. 4:47 PM REPLY

Just tested it, and it outputs the Grey Code as expected and behaves just like I imagined. Tesla would be proud :D

http://www.instructables.com/id/HDDJ-Turning-an-old-hard-disk-drive-into-a-rotary/
 FurtherThanTesla says: Nov 16, 2010. 4:12 PM REPLY
It should also give you some error detection. like, it is impossible for it to go from 11 to 00, or vise-versa, so you can tell it is misreading either by going too
slow or too fast and ignore the reading

FurtherThanTesla says: Nov 16, 2010. 4:09 PM REPLY

Hey, my HDD only had three wires (im guessing a motor in a "whye" config) but it gave me an idea. use the green wave as the reference for the other two
(save urself an opamp) and it will output a grey code like a rotary encoder! this will also improve your resoloution since a 2-bit grey code has four states per
revoloution, while your three-phase setup gives three per rev. it goes like this- Green wave is higher than other two= 00, green goes below red=10, yellow
goes up above green allong with red= 11, red starts to fall below green while yellow stays = 01 - This pattern will repeat and give you four steps per rev while
saving an exta op amp! ill try it out and let you know :D

AriderM says: Oct 3, 2010. 8:21 PM REPLY

A couple months back I got this working. I used a Parallax basic stamp 2sx. Used an oscilliscope to find the correct pins. From there I connected them to the
comparator (quad comparator in my case) and fed those to the stamp. It took me a few hours, maybe even a full day, but I got it working. I then took the
serial out of the stamp and had that spit out to my desktop running virtualdj. Using midiYoke and some other stuff I changed the serial data to virtualdj midi
commands. After that I could spin the disk and have the track play. The next step I have planned is to rebuild this setup and introduce a speed controller.
This will allow me to set the speed of the disk by hand, press a button and have the speed controller maintain the disk spinning speed.

Ashiro says: Aug 22, 2010. 8:31 AM REPLY

Minor correction: "a very simple process". Change to: "a very simple process for an electronics engineering graduate with access to a lab for etching their
own PCB."

jhakker says: Jul 14, 2010. 4:40 PM REPLY

I'd pay for one of these !

swathisanthu says: Jun 14, 2010. 11:58 PM REPLY

can u pleas send the HDDJ zip which is working pleazzzzzz

teinai says: Jun 14, 2010. 6:14 AM REPLY

Very very cool. I love the cubic fader tool in your paper too. It makes me very happy to be alive at this time when people are sharing brilliant ideas
incorporating fun, music and technology. Makes me wish I was more focussed at university! Great work!!!

T-Hawke says: Jun 11, 2010. 7:37 AM REPLY

Very Cool. Adding this one to my to do list. I want to adapt or use in windows movie maker for a shuttle knob. Maybe size the platters and the case down to
something more convenient that does not take as much space. Good instructable. Great idea.

mattgilbert says: Aug 30, 2009. 11:26 AM REPLY

Thanks for the instructable! I got one working with an Arduino:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaL5syVlae0

I posted the Arduino code here:

http://www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1251656637/0

Not quite how you did it, but I wouldn't have figured it out without this instructable. I used an old 1st gen iPod HD, and I only needed 2 pulse signals,
amplified with LM386 op amps (would have used a LM358 dual opamp if I had one handy.)

It sends usb MIDI commands, routed by this program:

http://www.spikenzielabs.com/SpikenzieLabs/Serial_MIDI.html

to a shoddy Max/MSP patch that I threw together.

SinAmos says: Jun 11, 2010. 1:21 AM REPLY

Sweet. What about with different inputs? Like actual tracks?

kbishop says: Sep 10, 2009. 3:17 PM REPLY

i got a question though, how do you connect the usb cable to the op-amps, or where does it play it's role on the schematics? i ask this because i'm really
temped to try but never done usb stuff like this before

mattgilbert says: Sep 10, 2009. 5:41 PM REPLY

kbishop, if you mean my Arduino version, the Arduino communicates with the computer over USB, and it also powers and senses the output of the
opamps.

http://arduino.cc/

http://www.instructables.com/id/HDDJ-Turning-an-old-hard-disk-drive-into-a-rotary/
 SinAmos says: Jun 11, 2010. 1:17 AM REPLY
My kind of fun-zeyz.

project dude says: May 11, 2010. 1:02 PM REPLY

too cool

dark_angel000 says: May 2, 2010. 11:22 AM REPLY

this thing is awesome ..................................can i have the parts list too ................i sure am gonna try tp make this thing...................thankx

bmxlife says: May 7, 2009. 4:48 PM REPLY

can I please have a parts list 2

Wessinc says: Apr 23, 2010. 7:58 AM REPLY

Hi Hope this helps. Parts list:
Partlist

Exported from hddj-2.0.sch at 4/23/2010 4:52:42 PM

EAGLE Version 5.3.0 Copyright (c) 1988-2008 CadSoft

Part Value Device Package Library Sheet

B1 RB1A RB1A rectifier 1

C1 CPOL-USCT3216 CT3216 rcl 1
C2 0.1uF C_0805 C0805 rc-master 1
C3 0.1uF C_0805 C0805 rc-master 1
C4 0.1uF C_0805 C0805 rc-master 1
C5 470nF C_0805 C0805 rc-master 1
C6 0.33uF CPOL-USB/3528-21R B/3528-21R rcl 1
C7 22pF C_0805 C0805 rc-master 1
C8 22pF C_0805 C0805 rc-master 1
C9 CPOL-USCT3216 CT3216 rcl 1
C10 CPOL-USCT3216 CT3216 rcl 1
D1 BAT64_05 DIODE-2AC|CASOT23 SOT23 diode 1
D2 D-SMB SMB semicon-smd-ipc 1
D3 D-SMB SMB semicon-smd-ipc 1
J1 PN61729 PN61729 con-berg 1
J2 MA04-1 MA04-1 con-lstb 1
J3 MA06-1 MA06-1 con-lstb 1
J4 MA06-1 MA06-1 con-lstb 1
J5 MA05-1 MA05-1 con-lstb 1
J6 PINHDR2 PINHDR2 1X02 dongle 1
J7 PINHDR2 PINHDR2 1X02 dongle 1
J8 PINHDR2 PINHDR2 1X02 dongle 1
J9 MA06-1 MA06-1 con-lstb 1
J10 DC21P DC21P DCSKTP dcsocket 1
J11 MA04-1 MA04-1 con-lstb 1
L1 FB_0805 FB_0805 L0805 rc-master 1
L2 FB_0805 FB_0805 L0805 rc-master 1
R1 0R R_0805 R0805 rc-master 1
R2 DNF R_0805 R0805 rc-master 1
R3 22R R_0805 R0805 rc-master 1
R4 22R R_0805 R0805 rc-master 1
R5 470R R_0805 R0805 rc-master 1
R6 470R R_0805 R0805 rc-master 1
R7 470R R_0805 R0805 rc-master 1
R8 470R R_0805 R0805 rc-master 1
R9 470R R_0805 R0805 rc-master 1
R10 470R R_0805 R0805 rc-master 1
R11 1K R_0805 R0805 rc-master 1
R12 1K R_0805 R0805 rc-master 1
R13 1K R_0805 R0805 rc-master 1
R14 10K R_0805 R0805 rc-master 1
R15 10K R_0805 R0805 rc-master 1
R16 10K R_0805 R0805 rc-master 1
R17 4.7K? R_0805 R0805 rc-master 1
R18 10K R_0805 R0805 rc-master 1
R19 10K R_0805 R0805 rc-master 1
R20 10K R_0805 R0805 rc-master 1
R21 10K R_0805 R0805 rc-master 1
R22 10K R_0805 R0805 rc-master 1
R23 10K R_0805 R0805 rc-master 1
R24 10K R_0805 R0805 rc-master 1
R25 0R R_0805 R0805 rc-master 1
R26 DNF R_0805 R0805 rc-master 1
http://www.instructables.com/id/HDDJ-Turning-an-old-hard-disk-drive-into-a-rotary/
 R27 10K R_0805 R0805 rc-master 1
R28 10K R_0805 R0805 rc-master 1
R29 47K R_0805 R0805 rc-master 1
U1 PIC18F4550PT PIC18F4550PT PQFP-44 dongle 1
U2 LM324D LM324D SO14 linear 1
U3 L78MXXCDT L78MXXCDT DPACK_3 dongle 1
U4 L293E DIL16 texas 1
Y1 4MHz XTAL/S QS special 1

George1024 says: Nov 20, 2008. 4:05 PM REPLY

My attempt at making one has failed...the hard drive I'm using only has 3 wires, therefore only 2 outputs to measure. Regardless of the direction the platters
are spinning in, the sequence of the rising edges will always be A-B-A-B-A-B-A-B. Back to the drawing board...

pelrun says: Nov 21, 2008. 5:39 AM REPLY

You only need two signals, the third is redundant (it's just an inverted copy of one of the others).

Look up "quadrature encoding" for more details, but essentially it doesn't go A-B-A-B, but A-AB-B-None-A-AB-B-None, and *that* pattern lets you
determine direction. Look at the first two traces in the image in Step 5, you can see the 4 distinct states.

stefannasehi says: Apr 11, 2010. 3:03 PM REPLY

@pelrun do i still need to put the op-amp if i have 3 wires?
how do i wire it to the usb cable?
and what part of the zip file do i need?

George1024 says: Apr 11, 2010. 5:05 PM REPLY

I was able to set up the project using three wires and no op-amps. However, you'll need a microcontroller with built in Analog to Digital Converters
(ADC), like the ATmegas used in the Arduino boards.
As far as I can remember, one of the wires goes into +5V, and the other two go into the analog inputs on the microcontroller. Three wires = six
possible arrangements, so test them all until you start getting proper signals on both analog inputs.

As for the code, you can either write up your own implementation based on the pattern that the two pins' signals will form (which @pelrun
describes above), or you can be lazy and use someone else's :)
My implementation for the Arduino (with lots of comments) is here: http://github.com/George1024/arduino-
turntable/blob/master/Turntable/Turntable.pde

George1024 says: Nov 21, 2008. 2:21 PM REPLY

Thanks, I'll give that a go.

ruzter says: Nov 23, 2008. 10:37 AM REPLY

Yes, mine only had three wires too, but I can get 2 signals 90 degrees apart, enough to count pulses AND know what direction the platter is
turning. i.e use one wire for ground and the other 2 as signals.

MediocreNinja says: Mar 11, 2010. 7:53 PM REPLY

Im guessing parts list is:

Old HDD disk drive

Thats it?

kennethchaco says: Feb 20, 2010. 7:07 PM REPLY

can i conect that to arduino duemilanove?
please help

maxout says: Sep 10, 2009. 7:13 PM REPLY

nice project can't be done without details on part list yet i still want to build it.. i am itching to scratch lolz.. also is this connected thru USB? i mean what
software u test it with? Virtual Dj, etc? please if you can do this project in detail on WIKI would be great.

kyle.marsh says: Apr 14, 2009. 11:44 PM REPLY

Coffee bean: would that be the opposite of defragging?

ReCreate says: Sep 2, 2009. 11:54 AM REPLY

Just remove the de, Fragmenting...

http://www.instructables.com/id/HDDJ-Turning-an-old-hard-disk-drive-into-a-rotary/
 atom heart says: Aug 12, 2009. 5:37 AM REPLY
So are there other solutions for creating djing devices such as timecoded turntables?

chipboy says: Nov 12, 2008. 6:19 PM REPLY

SO IS THIS TECHNICALLY A CDJ U CAN SCRATCH AND TREAT AS 1

ReCreate says: Mar 26, 2009. 5:50 PM REPLY

YA DATS RITE!!!111

Gamernotnerd says: Aug 4, 2009. 5:19 PM REPLY

AND YOU CAN USE IT TO TURN CAPS LOCK OFF TOO AND MAYBE IF YOURE LUCKY IT WILL PUNCTUATE YOUR SENTENCES FOR YOU

ReCreate says: Aug 4, 2009. 6:10 PM REPLY

WOW O RLY?

Gamernotnerd says: Aug 4, 2009. 7:56 PM REPLY

YA RLY _/OvO\_

james.mcglashan says: Jun 12, 2009. 6:26 AM REPLY

how can i power a 3 pin hdd motor i cant find out how i want to make it spin??????????????

Gamernotnerd says: Aug 4, 2009. 5:17 PM REPLY

Connect pin 1 to ground, try the rest with +6VDC. Then do the same but with pin 2 connected to ground, repeat until it does something and write your
findings down. Figure out what pin does what. Be sure to note the rotation of the platters/motor.

richardw106 says: Jul 4, 2009. 7:39 AM REPLY

Is there actually a parts list for this project???

ruzter says: Nov 23, 2008. 12:18 PM REPLY

If you don't have the right torx screwdriver, use a dremmel tool and a cutoff disc to cut a slot in the screw head. Then use a small flat screwdriver to remove
the screw.

view all 107 comments

http://www.instructables.com/id/HDDJ-Turning-an-old-hard-disk-drive-into-a-rotary/