The 'Three Ton' Hard Drive Destroyer

Barence writes "Last year, PC Pro welcomed a DIY-style hard-disk destroyer into its Labs to wreak havoc on some unsuspecting platters. Now the technology has moved on, with the Ideal 0101 — a device that pierces disks with between 2.5 and 3 tons of force. 'It's not the quick cut-and-shut process you'd assume it is,' says PC Pro's reviewer. 'Instead, the 0101 seems to enjoy its particular method of torture.The punch emerges from the side of the bay, slowing piercing its way through metal, silicon and glass, before retreating once the disk is destroyed.'" I attached a video clip.

Kind of silly.

[Lumpy]

A drill press works faster and is a lot cheaper. granted it does not have bright green lights and a lot of over-engineering, but hey.

Can they make it do some laser effects and add a smoke machine so it looks really cool?

Re:recycling

[Abstrackt]

I use them as fridge magnets. I've even made a few clocks with the platters, it's a fun project to teach the kids that just because something is useless for its original purpose it doesn't mean you can't use it for something else.

Re:Force?

[vlm]

I'm pretty sure they mean pressure not force, since I honestly doubt that a 2.5 'ton' of force is needed to punch through a hard disk

No they almost certainly mean force. Shop presses are sold by force. 1000 psi hydraulic tubing, fittings, pump, and o-rings vs some diameter (area is what actually matters) ram equals X tons. The shop press manufacturer has no idea what shape die you'll install. If its a wedge, I guess the area is theoretically zero at the point and the pressure is infinite. More likely limited by the compression strength of the metal in the die.

Here's a Harbor Freight Chinese 20 ton press, less than $300 delivered.

http://www.harborfreight.com/20-ton-shop-press-32879.html [harborfreight.com]

Chinese presses used to be famous for shipping with cast iron plates instead of steel plates. People die or are horribly wounded when the cast iron inevitably shatters. So be careful and/or buy or make your own steel plates. Another thing to look out for is Chinese "1000 psi" fittings and hoses might not actually survive 1000 psi when brand new, much less after years of abuse. So buying a press 10 times bigger than you think you need is not all that bad of an idea, assuming you can afford it.