Build Your Own Arcade Controls Forum
Main => Project Announcements => Topic started by: hobsonschoice on June 26, 2009, 04:41:58 pm
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Using an second hand laptop from ebay, faulty screen and crashing.
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stripped down to its bare essentials and fault fixed.
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2nd hand flat screen monitor from ebay. HPL106
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Monitor stripped down and power strip removed leaving the bare screen and housing.
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connecting peripherals, CD drive, HD, VGA board etc to test out of situ.
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Close up of VGA board and ribbon cable, I was always a bit worried about this ribbon cable a i moved it around so much i was afraid it was break, but it lasted through.
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A cheap USB hub, one of two, purchased from ebay.
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The above usb will be enclosed in the cab so is not really important but i want another 2 ports at least available from the side of the cab so i bought this, another cheapy.
This is a 4 port usb hub which the bottom two ports rotate 180 degrees, the idea is to push two through the side of the cab and leave the remaining two inside, I had to bust it open though to allow access to the two interior ports. very cheaply made and almost fell apart, but will suffice.
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Discarded power strip from monitor, totally unneeded
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ok, on to the build,
Now you'll see where i'm going with this.
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all bits cut
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Monitor position test. Usb cable and touch panel controller all connected.
A note on the panel, It is a 70€ kit from ebay which takes all of about 10 mins to install, just install the controller drivers that come with the kit and place the panel over the monitor. Once you have it running, use double sided tape to stick to the monitor but avoid taping within the outlined frame of the circuitry. When you get one you'll see what i mean.
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Used an old plastic bread board as a motherboard mount. Screwed holes through it and aligned holes with the back of the monitor housing so with two screws i could attach the motherboard to the back of the monitor. cabled strapped MoBo down and secured VGA board and Hard drive.
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Primed front panel and also decided back panel did not have to be a complete panel but rather a frame for the rear of the cab.
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Back frame
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Back and front routed and t-molding test fitted, Painted yellow.
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front panel and sides screwed in from the front as i shall be hiding the front with a plexiglass face.Sides painted black.Slots cut and tetsed for cd mount and usb slots.
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Cut plexiglass using the front panel as a template and applied a coat of yellow paint on the inside to get a gloss effect.
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Ok, in with everything, Powerstrips, usb leads, a 12v adapter to run the fans independently, switch for fans, on/off switch and mobo set to hibernate on button press.
Cd slotted and hotglued, I used a cd adepter board to extend through to a usb hub. You could also just get an external cd drive to do the job.
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and another angle so you can see a bit more of whats going on.
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and bit of messing with configurations etc and a bit of framing for the monitor and a test run. The only thing left to do now is replace the monitor frame with a better one and hang her on the wall,
The sound system is connect via Bluetooth dongle and bluetooth speakers but the audio jack is still freely available in the back of the unit for hard wiring if need be.
jukebox software is Album player.
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And another of the old girl.
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And finally at home on the wall.
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Just a piece of cable trunking to mount to hide the mains cable and ready to play.
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Looks nice. Good work.
What are you using for speakers? I am assuming the flat screen monitor is a touchscreen monitor (if so what brand)? Why not drop the power cord into the wall behind the box mount so you do not see it hanging there?
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That looks really good! I like how you did the sides recessed in like that with the rounded over front and back panels.... damn I wish I had thought of that! I also like how that plexi turned out, and I'm digging the yellow! If only you had posted this just a little sooner!! I am working on one that is pretty similar to yours, the main difference being that I am incorporating 5x7 speakers built into mine, which is really making things cramped inside. It's cool to see a similar design, and see a different approach to it. That turned out really nice, and the plexi definitely turned out to be the way to go for you as opposed to the vinyl wrap. Great job, simple but well executed... I like it! Two questions, where did you get the monitor frame and what are the dimensions of it?
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Unclet,
Iwanted it to be removable so i could get easy access to the workings for mods, upgrades etc and besides the landlord wouldn't appreciate me destroying the wall! lol
Even my bar is only secured by two screws to the wall.
The Monitor is a run of the mill HPL106 falt screen, see above, 3rd post. I just overlayed a touchscreen panel kit.
I simply cut a hole exactly the same size as the monitor and dropped it through, The monitor housing has flanges which were the perfect depth to sit flush with everything.
You can see them on the piccy of the monitor above.
Sound system is Sony SRS-BT100 wireless Bluetooth speaker and a Belkin bluetooth dongle