YouTuber uses 3D printing to repair old 8-inch floppy drives

A YouTube video on the CuriousMarc channel documents the repair of antiquated 8-inch floppy drives from the 1970s. 3D printing was also used to produce individualized replacement parts.

As the YouTuber reports, he had acquired the drives, which were around 40 years old, second-hand. Many had defective components such as read heads or drive belts. In painstaking troubleshooting, he managed to make some of the drives functional again.

To replace broken parts of the read head, he made his own replacement parts using 3D printing. The original drives did not allow for standard components, so custom solutions were necessary. According to CuriousMarc, 3D printing was essential to getting the antiquated hardware working again.

He used both modern PCs with special adapters and a Centurion minicomputer that had also been repaired to check the function. This was able to read data and even load old games like Donkey Kong.

Overall, the project demonstrates the possibilities of 3D printing. Without the flexible production of individual spare parts, many repairs to the 40-year-old technology would have been impossible. The video provides interesting insights into retro computing and DIY repair.