How to: Make the U.S.S. Enterprise From a Floppy Disk

Andy shows us how to make the U.S.S. Enterprise from an old floppy disk. If you have any other related tips, please leave us a comment. Continue reading for the instructions.

Floppy disks are a thing of the past. However, that doesn’t mean you have to toss them in a garbage can. Pay a tribute to another thing of the past (or, the future?)–The Starship Enterprise–and you can reminisce and recycle at the same time

Step 1

Find an old floppy disk. You’ve got them somewhere at the bottom of a dusty drawer. For this project, it has to be the kind with the metal shutter – not plastic.

Step 2

Take the old 3 1/2″ floppy disk and break it apart so you can use the metal shutter and the hub of the magnetic data disk

Step 3

Snip the tabs of the opening of the shutter on the wider side of the two sides of the opening

Step 4

Fold the wider portion of the shutter at 90 degree angles to just above the shutter opening

Step 5

Fold a portion of these pieces back up (again at 90 degrees, but opposite the original folds) to form the warp nacelles. (Note: For more realistic looking nacelles, place a no. 2 pencil on the edge of the dust cover and roll the metal around it instead of bending it at a 90° angle. This will create a tubular shaped nacelle. Slide the pencil out of the metal tube and repeat on the other side.)

Step 6

Make little snips halfway through the narrow sides of the shutter to facilitate placement of the disk hub (the saucer section)

Step 7

Place the hub on, putting the neck up through the hole closest to the edge of the hub, and inserting the edge of the hole in the hub through the slits you made