HxC SDCard Internal

The following steps show how to install the HxC SDCard Drive as an internal drive on a CPC6128

• An old faulty 3"inch disc drive
• A Double Contacted Perfboard (160x100)
• A Soldering Iron / Solder
• A Vacuum Pump for Desoldering (if you make a mistake)
• Some 40way Ribbon Cable
• A 26 Pin Socket Connector
• A 40 Pin Socket Connector
• A Sharp Knife
• A Modellers Drill for cutting, drilling
• A DVD Case (preferrably black)
• 3 Micro Switch Buttons
• 2 Self-adhiesive Plastic Motherboard Distance Rods
• Lots Of Old PC Motherboard Jumpers
• Patience And A Big Cup Of Coffee

First we dismantle the original faulty Amstrad 3" inch Disc Drive. You will be amazed how many parts are inside this old thingy.

We will just use the frame of the drive:

Now cut a perfboard to fit inside the frame. I used the Drill for that, but you can use a sharp scissors or a saw too.

Looks nice eh? Well done, but still lots to do now....

Now you look under the frame and drill some holes into the old mounting holes from the Disc Drive PCB. You can use the old screws and drill them inside the new perfboard. On the top you use some Tape Strips to isolate the metal screws. It should look like this:

I used the old screws from the amstrad disc drive to hold the new perfboard.

Next we do a new frontplate for your old Disc Drive from an DVD Case. Open the Case and cut out a piece of plastic with a sharp knife. Its easy to do, as you can see from the pictures.

Fits nice doesn't it? What a good idea of mine ? LOL :-) go on, you still have a lot to do...

Next step is to cut out the Frontplate of the Amstrad Disc Drive. So we can snap in the Display of the SDCard HxC. Remove the Display from your HxC now and use a caliper to measure out the frame and the Display. Then cut out the frame with the drill. It stinks and make lots of noises, but hey we love that don't we? Be careful with the old plastic. Its a thermoplast and you dont need much power to cut that out. It's easy to do. After cutting, use a file to smooth the edges. If you have done it correctly, the Display snaps into old Amstrad Frontplate.

Now open your holy CPC6128 by removing the upper case. Please be careful with the Keyboards foil. Open from right to left side. You can see the foil connection here:

I'm sure you all know whats inside a CPC 6128 looks like. But if you really open it for the first time in your life, then dont be panic. You cant destroy anything here unless you are really stupid or clumsy.

Remove the internal 3inch Disc Drive now. You need a screwdriver to open the two screws on the left of the frame. Pull up the connectors and that's it. Now we can put in our new almost finished SDCard HxC Drive for a first look.

Wow .... yes you did it and it's looking nice. But there's still a lot to do. So lets continue with soldering a simple LCD Cable to connect the HxC LCD Display with the board.

Its easy to do. I used some really simple parts and PC Jumpers for connection. I had 1000s of them in my room and so I decided to use them for this purpose. You can buy a real connector if you like a better look. I am a nerd so i am using jumpers. LOL