CFA-631 Hacked External Enclosure

[CF Tech]

The CFA-631 is a great solution for internal 3.5" floppy bay mounting of an LCD . . . but it sometimes might be handy to have an external mounting option.

Since there are now lots of low cost USB/Firewire external cases available, we thought we would take a look at what would be involved to install a CFA-631 into one of these cases. We specifically chose a case that was silver to complement the silver face on our CFA-631, but you could also use a black case with a black face CFA-631. Some of the cases do not have a front opening . . . you would not want one of those!

Here is what we will use out of the external case:


There is also a USB cable, power brick and power cable that will be discarded.

First up is positioning the CFA-631 into the case with the included brackets and screws:


Now we need to strip the unused components out of the case. Removing the shield at the back of the case exposes the interface board:


Remove the interface board, then the fan and power switch board are visible:


After removing the fan, interface board and power switch board, you have basically an empty case with the CFA-631 mounted in the front.


Next up you will need a couple of nylon ties (for cable strain relief) and the WRUSBY03 cable:


Run the WRUSBY03 through one of the holes in the back of the enclosure, and plug it into the USB connector on the back of the CFA-631:


Make sure it is seated properly :


Then use a couple of nylon ties to make sure that the connector will not be ripped off the back of the CFA-631 if the case is dropped or picked up by the cable:


If you wanted to be a bit AR about it, you could tape up the holes in the back of the case, and maybe find a grommet that would protect the cable where it exits.

Next, you basically slap the top of the case on and secure it with the trim strips:


Then you are ready to plug it into a USB port and load up the software: