Amstrad 6128plus + Gotek: Part 3 (Using the internal 3" drive externally)
16The 36-pin male Centronics connectors arrived so I set about creating the cable. Got it working on the 2nd attempt. In hindsight, maybe the original pinout I was relying on was indeed for the German Schneider 6128 machines.
The 6128plus Centronics pinout is here:
https://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/Connector:2nd_disc_drive_(CPC664,_CPC6128,_CPC6128%2B)
And the internal drive's 26-pin IDC pinout is here - ignore the Centronics pinout!
https://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/DIY:Floppy_Drives
The EME-157 drive in the 6128plus uses +5VDC for the drive motor, simplifying the power requirements.
If you want to 3D print a case instead of going through the hassle of modifying an existing case, there's plenty of designs floating about, for both an external 3" drive or using the Gotek as the external drive - a simple Google search will find them.
The final step will be adding an ABBA switch - this is quite important when using two different types of drives as a lot of disk software expects to be on A: drive ... so if you try to run software from an original 3" disk in drive B:, or even if you have a Gotek as the external drive B: and want to load a disk image, then the software might be hardcoded to load further from drive A:.
The ABBA switch alleviates this issue by allowing you to switch the drive letters around by simply flicking a switch.
A nice collection covering all the machines is here:
https://acpc.me/ACME/BRICOLAGE/ABBA_Switch.pdf