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Rotating monitor construction *Project finished*
csa3d:
--- Quote from: koz319 on April 14, 2008, 08:42:02 pm --- I attached a couple pics
--- End quote ---
Those rollers are and support bar design are pretty "official"! Are those inline skate wheels? What are those fat, vertical support wheels? Very interesting..
-csa
DaOld Man:
--- Quote from: koz319 on April 14, 2008, 08:42:02 pm ---
Is the depth of the monitor the issue?
The 21in. CRT I put in mine (an old NEC Multisync) was freaking huge. I did a bit of planning/playing with the tilt of the monitor to reduce it's footprint front to back. There was no room to attach anything to the rear of the monitor, so I went with a 2 'wooden wheel' setup. I attached a couple pics, I have some better ones somewhere I will try to find.
Have fun!
Koz
--- End quote ---
Thanks for the pics Koz319.. you were one of my best inspiration suppliers.
I think my problem is the space between my CP and the speaker panel.
I think I am going to have to cut out my speaker panel and slide the whole monster up a little.
If I could even put it in the 17" space, my monitor would go below the control panel when turned vertical, so I dont see any other choice.
Im not really worried about it sticking out the back of the cab yet. My cab sits in a corner, so most likely no one will see it. but I know I cant leave it like that, I may have to build a back extension to my cab.
Its been very hectic at work lately and I havent had much time to work on this project.
So im not real sure how it's going to turn out yet.
Please post more pics of your setup if you have them. Very interesting stuff.
Jimbo:
Hey there!
Great progress! :) The way you cut out the wheel to mount the monitor to has inspired me to re-do the way I did mine (originally with a Jigsaw - the first bit of woodworking I ever did) but I love your router way so am gonna do that to get a perfectly round circle. At the moment on mine it doesn't rotate smoothly at all!
My monitor is mounted at 45 degrees which although it does make the cab a bit deeper, it still doesn't affect it too much, and it fits nicely between the CP and speaker panel, and is a nice angle to look at (I think). Having more of an angle might mean you can lower the monitor a bit so it starts slightly below the control panel, and you'll still be able to see the whole screen when playing. Feel free to check out my plans (in my project thread). Not sure how you're mounting your monitor but it may help (even if its to help you decide what NOT to do! LOL ) :D
DaOld Man:
--- Quote from: Jimbo on April 15, 2008, 08:11:44 am ---Hey there!
Great progress! :) The way you cut out the wheel to mount the monitor to has inspired me to re-do the way I did mine (originally with a Jigsaw - the first bit of woodworking I ever did) but I love your router way so am gonna do that to get a perfectly round circle. At the moment on mine it doesn't rotate smoothly at all!
My monitor is mounted at 45 degrees which although it does make the cab a bit deeper, it still doesn't affect it too much, and it fits nicely between the CP and speaker panel, and is a nice angle to look at (I think). Having more of an angle might mean you can lower the monitor a bit so it starts slightly below the control panel, and you'll still be able to see the whole screen when playing. Feel free to check out my plans (in my project thread). Not sure how you're mounting your monitor but it may help (even if its to help you decide what NOT to do! LOL ) :D
--- End quote ---
Thanks for the comments Jimbo. I was pretty pleased with the circle cutting jig.
I have checked your thread out, but it has been a while. Guess I need to go through it again..
DaOld Man:
Ok, after much much time on this project I think I can say it is finished.
I appreciate all the tips, advice and help from all you guys, plus I appreciate everyone's patience with this extremely drawn out post.
First of all a look at the front, horizontal position.
I dont have plexi glass in front of the screen yet, that is coming.
Here is the front, in vertical position:
Here is the back. i went with plywood for the back, you cant see it, but there is a lazy susan bearing between the ply and the back circle of MDF.
The hole in the middle is to let the cords exit, and to allow air to flow to the back of the monitor.
And here is the other side of the back, you can see teh motor mounted to teh plywood and teh H drive and interface board mounted below it.
Here is the back, with the monitor off relay mounted and wired into the monitor power cable.
You can also see an AT type power supply.
Here is one of the skateboard bearings, with the front MDF disk riding against it.
I used 5 bearings on the front disk, and two on the back.
And here is one of the back bearings, riding against the back MDF disk.
Notice the #25 chain attached to the perimeter of the disk.
This is how the motor turns the disk.
The end of the chain also provides a mechanical stop when it gets to the bearing.
Here is the motor drive. The nylon sprocket rides in the chain, and pulls the MDF disk clockwise and counter clockwise.
This setup works well, but it is a little noisey.
Here are the limit switches. These are paddle micro switches, like the kind used on some joysticks.
I put a screw through the MDF disk to strike the switch paddle when the desired position is reached.
The switches are wired back to the isolator board mounted on the back.
And here is a side view. The monitor is sandwiched between two round MDF disks.
The disks are attached with 1/4" all thread bolts.
I had to use nylon cord as bracing to keep the disks from twisting when turning.
This worked out better than I expected.
You can also see in the last picture a block mounted to the front disk.
I cut out a circle of black poster board, then cut out the monitor screen in this disk.
This disk attaches to 4 of these blocks.
You can see this setup better in the first two pictures.
Im using a mala plugin that Loadman made for me. This plugin calls my program, mrotate.exe, which turns the motor on and waits for the monitor to reach its new position. If it doesnt reach the limit within a customizable time, it will turn the motor off.
The monitor takes about 12 seconds to turn from horizontal to vertical, then about 10 seconds vertical to horizontal.
The monitor off relay turns off the monitor while it is rotating.
I had provided an output for this relay, but it is not working, I think it may be a bad opto isolator.
Rather than to take the H drive off the isolator board to gain access to the chip, I just wired the 12 volt relay to the H drive output. This works good because Im not using speed control.
The motor stops good and holds the weight of the monitor, probably because of the right angle gearbox, and the large ratio between the motor gear and the MDF disk, so I dont need a brake.
The whole monitor unit is self contained. I have installed it in Benny B's arcade. It doesnt fit perfectly, and I will need to modify the cabinet to look good. But it is working great.
I plan to document this modification in my thread I started earlier:
Extreme makeover: Benny B's Arcade
So stay tuned to that thread.
Thanks again for everyones input. The idea of the lazy susan was not mine.
Neither was the idea of the chain around the perimeter of the disk.
Im sure there are other ideas I borrowed too. maybe I will go back and give everyone proper credit here soon..
I like the rotating monitor. It is 19" CRT monitor so the vertical looks like a very big improvement with vertical games.
If I build another cabinet, I may go ahead and incorporate the rotating monitor in it. But I may try an LCD monitor next time.
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