I have a silly idea, I want to take two, USB Powered, devices, a DVD/CD RW drive and this Floppy Drive, and combine them in a kind of retro inspired case. Is it a silly idea or worth my time?
Bottom line up front: Yes, yes indeed it was worth it, I like what it has done to tidy up my physical desktop and the CAD can be downloaded and printed for you if you wish.
The Problem
I do use older media devices for numerous reasons, sometimes, with real purpose, other times, just for fun. What can I say, floppies and their drives still bring a smile to my face. I don’t need to use it but periodically, I will put a thing on a floppy, just for fun.
The two devices I have do stack nicely on top of one another but the issue is, when I insert a disk or if I move the devices around the floppy…
I have a silly idea, I want to take two, USB Powered, devices, a DVD/CD RW drive and this Floppy Drive, and combine them in a kind of retro inspired case. Is it a silly idea or worth my time?
Bottom line up front: Yes, yes indeed it was worth it, I like what it has done to tidy up my physical desktop and the CAD can be downloaded and printed for you if you wish.
The Problem
I do use older media devices for numerous reasons, sometimes, with real purpose, other times, just for fun. What can I say, floppies and their drives still bring a smile to my face. I don’t need to use it but periodically, I will put a thing on a floppy, just for fun.
The two devices I have do stack nicely on top of one another but the issue is, when I insert a disk or if I move the devices around the floppy drive tends to just fall off the optical drive, things just get all cattywampus and it just happens to make my desk a bit untidy-er.
Since I do have a 3D printer and I like to design and make things to better my workspace, I looked at this as an opportunity to have a little fun and solve this “problem” with a 3D printed solution and make a retro-inspired case.
Design Considerations
Whatever I do needs to be completely and easily reversible. I don’t want anything permanent, I want this to be easy to take apart and I want it to be screwless assembly. Meaning, I just pop and clip these together.
I am busy so I don’t want to put a whole lot of effort into it. I don’t want to go so far as to “phone it in” but this is going to be a bit of a lazy design. Just something to do the job.
I prefer using PETG as I find I get the best quality prints from them and it tends to be a tougher material. Since I tend to break a lot of things, I need this to be a bit tougher to tolerate me well.
Tools
The tools I will be using to make this idea into a thing are:
- openSUSE Tumbleweed Linux, Framework Laptop 13 computer
- OnShape CAD application
- QIDI X-Max 3 Printer with QIDI Slicer Software
Download
You can download the CAD files from:
Thingiverse.com Printables.com Cults3D
Printer Settings
For this model, I recommend using PETG for the material and a 25% infill but you can do less. I wanted a bit of density for the weight. No support is needed in the print either.
Final Thoughts
The color isn’t quite right but the look works well for me. It was meant to make my desk slightly more tidy. I would like a better matching color for it but getting that tan, Commodore 64 color in PETG is not available. I can get it in PLA but I didn’t design this around the more ridged material.
References
Retro Inspired Optical Floppy Drive Case VideoFramework Laptop 13 Framework 13 https://get.opensuse.orghttps://us.qidi3d.com/products/qidi-x-max-3 https://www.onshape.com/en/ Thingiverse.com Printables.com Cults3D
Published by CubicleNate
Linux, fitness and vintage tech enthusiast with an almost unhealthy obsession with the openSUSE project. View all posts by CubicleNate
Published 2025-10-292025-10-29