This was very interesting.  After I finally found the right screw driver bit (TORX #8) and got the old HD apart it wasn't anything like I expected.

First there was no stepper motor.  The arm at the back end was a coil of wire between two *very* powerful magnets.  After I finally got the platters off and down to the motor, I was baffled.  It seems that it's built right into the aluminum chassis of the drive!  Is this right?

Well I always have the wind chimes option from the page you mentioned.  (-:

-----Original Message-----
From: piclist-bounces@mit.edu [mailto:piclist-bounces@mit.edu] On Behalf Of Jinx
Sent: Thursday, March 31, 2005 4:26
To: Microcontroller discussion list - Public.
Subject: Re: [EE] Help Understanding DC Motor from CD Player

> Higher speed spindle motors on CD and HD drives are usually three
> phase brushless motors with hall sensors used for feedback to
> create the proper drive waveforms (not so much exact speed control,
> although that follows as well.)  Most of the ones I've seen have
> the three phases connected in either Delta (3 connections) or Wye
> (4 connections

If the CD motor is Delta, maybe this will help

http://home.clear.net.nz/pages/joecolquitt/0hdd.html

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