I replaced the big, heavy linear power supply in my Commodore 1571 disk drive with a tiny Mean Well RD-35A switching power supply. The Mean Well weighs in at just 280g (10oz), so as well as making the drive more reliable, it makes it over 1.1kg (2lbs 7oz) lighter!
The 1571 is a big, heavy disk drive. As well as the steel chassis, there’s a linear power supply with a massive transformer. On my drive this is pretty noisy, emitting a loud hum. We can save a big chunk of weight simply by swapping it out for a smaller lighter modern supply. Compared to say, a 1541 this is pretty easy, since the power supply electronics are all self contained (the 1541 included the voltage regulators and smoothing capacitors on the main PCB).
We can simply unplug the old supply and plug in the new one.
Of course it’s a little more involved than that, since we need to drill out some mounting holes in the chassis. But other than extending and rerouting some wires, that’s pretty much it. A nice easy job.