First problem:  While the IDE cable is easily long enough to reach, the device-power cable won't quite make it from the electronics board to the removable-drive docking unit.  It comes up about an inch short.  Figures, doesn't it.

Second problem:  The old "square peg (or LED) into a round hole" problem.  The bi-color "status/activity indicator" LED from the electronics board is a flat rectangular type, while the C=1541 chassis has a hole for a round T1-3/4 type.  Now, technically, I suppose I don't really need the LED at all, since the IDE-carrier docking unit has its own power and activity lights... but leaving an empty hole just wouldn't look right.  Also, the dock's lights are only active when there's a drive carrier locked in place, so it'd be nice to have the USB-to-IDE electronics' LED as a power indicator.

Fortunately, a True Hacker is always prepared to deal with such minor obstacles.  A power connector salvaged from an old AT-style PC power supply gave me a longer power cable...

...and this bit of perfboard provided a T1-3/4 bi-color LED to replace the rectangular one with.  (Rule #1 of hardware hacking – never throw anything away if it has any parts you can salvage!  This was part of a lab project back when I was at ITT Tech; most of its parts have since been recycled into other projects, but for some reason I never got around to re-using these bicolor LEDs.  Until now, anyway!)

So, we transplant the salvaged T1-3/4 LED onto the cable, splice the salvaged power cable onto the electronics board, then install everything into the bottom half of the C=1541 case using screws where possible, and a few judiciously-placed blobs of hot-melt glue wherever there was no good place to put mounting screws or brackets.  (I also used a little hot-melt glue to tack the LED cable down so it wouldn't get caught by the drive carriers sliding in and out of the docking unit.)  The use of electrical tape on the power connections was just because that's what I happened to have handy at the time; I was out of heat-shrink tubing, and didn't feel like making a special trip to Radio Shack when I had a perfectly good roll of electrical tape in the tool box.  And yes, I did consider unsoldering the old power connector from the electronics board and soldering the longer one into its place, but the wires are secured to the electronics board were by a big goop of rock-hard potting compound that looked like it would be a real hassle to remove.  (Not to mention that it's all too easy to accidentally damage something critical if you don't know what else is under that white blob when you start trying to pull it off the board.)

Besides – it just isn't a proper hardware-hack project unless electrical tape, hot-melt glue, and/or duct tape is involved.  Two out of three ain't bad.

So, how does it look when it's all put together?  Let's power it up and find out!