Find a simple floppy drive and check how it's placed there, it's the same spring shape and the same preload logic. It can be intimidating the first time (and hard to describe), I agree, but it's dead simple eventually.

konc wrote on 2024-03-27, 06:57:

Find a simple floppy drive and check how it's placed there, it's the same spring shape and the same preload logic. It can be intimidating the first time (and hard to describe), I agree, but it's dead simple eventually.

Ok, if people have succeeded at it means it can be done haha

I think you can just made sure that the spring will press the flap to the front bezel and that should be it.
When you insert the disk into the drive, the disk will keep the flap in the open position so there no complicated mechanism in there.

If it's anything like on the external drives then you've got a slight problem, since the pin that holds the spring in place is located on that cutout piece of the flap, and it seems to be missing on your flap.

edit: forgot I recently obtained an internal zip 250 IDE. Added for future reference.

I succeeded, it was actually just as simple as konc said.

The painting could have gone better, and I definitely should have chosen "bone" instead of "white" from that company's library of colors hahah. But if it comes down to it, I could just take off all the bezels and have them professionally lacquered to a single color at some company. The drive works and that's what makes me happy 😁

I think I could maybe try polishing it a bit with some very fine grain paper or something, so it's smoother.