Problem I am having with my current build

[RanmaPhreak]

I am in the process of building an R2-D2 PC. The problem I am having is I want the CD Rom in the head of this R2 Unit as well as I would like to have the ability to have the head rotate 360 degrees. Dose anyone know of a way to acmplish this. The CD rom can be SATA or PATA if anyone knows a solution to this I am open to eather solution.

[Bucko]

Do you want the head to be able to spin 360 degrees total, then has to spin back the other way, or do you want it to be able to spin around continuously?

[jdbnsn]

Does R2's head need to be able to rotate 360 continously? i.e. 720, 1080, 1440 etc... If not, and you only need 360 rotation, stop, and rotate back, then you should be able to mount the drive and just use cables long enough to provide slack.

[jdbnsn]

Ha! Bucko is still the fastest draw!

[Redundant]

Why not just below the head? It would blend in with R2's blue panels nicely and not interfere with the "facial features" of R2 (i.e. the eye, projector, and blue/red circle.

[Drum Thumper]

Why not just below the head? It would blend in with R2's blue panels nicely and not interfere with the "facial features" of R2 (i.e. the eye, projector, and blue/red circle.

Even if he goes that route he's still gonna have problems with the cables going to the facial features.

Bucko's on the right track, as usual!

[Spawn-Inc]

if you want it to spin fast or alot in one direction then you can build this but in a bigger scale.
https://www.superclearance.com/shop/image.php?productid=44904

if you do this with sata it will be alot easyer than with ide too.

sorry i g2g bed so i will leave you with this. if you have each wire on a seperate copper track you can have it spin freely like the phone cord adapter shown in the picture above. since your going with sata it would only be 11 wires to worry about. if other members understand what i mean by the picture feel free to explain better. its 4:10am and i'm tired so bare with me. if no one understands it i will clear it up tomorrow.

http://img375.imageshack.us/img375/4113/poweriw4.th.png (http://img375.imageshack.us/my.php?image=poweriw4.png)

[Luke122]

Spawn.. that's a KILLER idea! +rep dude.. brilliant!

On that note, I'm sure that in the industrial sector, some piece of machinery somewhere uses a similar device for more than enough connections for SATA. Maybe get into some industrial electronics suppliers sites, and see what you can find.

Spawn, do you know the name of that device?

[Spawn-Inc]

i googled tangle free phone cord. i only got two pictures though.

here are some links to it.

link 1 (http://www.educational-software.com/philips-southwestern-bell-tangle-free-adapter-details.html)

http://phonecoinc.com/thumbn/TIDIC.jpg
thats call TidicordTM Adaptor

http://phonecoinc.com/thumbn/telco.jpg
that one is called Telcor twist top


and here is a better drawing of what i meant in my first post.
http://img118.imageshack.us/img118/6532/powertx1.png

[NightrainSrt4]

Why not use something like a gyro, like from a bmx type bike. Im not sure what materials your using for lil r2, but put it in the center, where i suppose would be his neck, attach the head and body to the correct side, and run the cables down through it. when you spin r2's head you still have to deal with the cables twisting though, but you wouldnt have to deal with them wrapping around something. Just kinking and whatnot from the twisting. Not sure if you get what i mean....

Just this way you dont have to really worry about slack, just you cant spin it continuously, but you should get more travel than if you just wired it up and let it wrap around when it spun.