Portable cab. Ideas on how to close it up?

[jedimasta]

A few years back I built myself a cocktail cab out of a small dresser I found on the sidewalk. It served well for a while, but ultimately didn't fit anywhere in the house and so was relegated to rarely being used in the garage. Last week I decided to cannibalize it to make a compact and portable unit that only required a TV or projector to hook it to.

I had an idea in my head how I wanted it: a basic box to hold the laptop and power supply that drives the software with a hinged lid with sticks and buttons attached. Being the impulsive person I am, and a veritable amateur when it comes to woodworking, I put it all together, but fubar'd the measurements here and there, which leaves me with an open faced front. The laptop's lid has to be opened in order to turn things on, and to do that I need to push on a latch on the front cover. Lifting the hinged lid get's me at the box inside, but if I don't leave enough room for my fingers, I can't get at the latch on the front of the laptop.

When I cut the depth of the top panel, I didn't account for this, so the sides are cut to its length. If I put a front side up flush with the rest of things, I won't have enough room to pop the lid, but if I pull the front wall out a bit, I get an unsightly gap on the top and sides. I'm looking for ideas from the more experienced. How can I close this up cleanly, without cutting all new panels for the top and side, and still leave room internally? It's a creative challenge for sure. I've attached a photo to help clear up what I did wrong in the first place.

[knave]

The laptop should have a setting on the bios that lets you disable the switch on the lid. Letting you use the laptop with the lid closed.

[jedimasta]

I think you're misunderstanding. The laptop works fine with the lid closed, but in order to get to the power button, I have to open the lid. In order to open the lid, I have to get at the pushbutton latch (the lighter colored section) on the front of the case.

[thomas_surles]

I had the same issue as I am usong a laptop in my cab. For now I have to open the door and power it on. But here is the solution I found.

[jedimasta]

That's a thought, but not without obvious risks. I was hoping for a power-on-by-keyboard option, but the bios has no such option. It's got a power-on-by-LAN but since this is portable, I'm not always gonna have another system to send that signal. Thought maybe there might be a way to fake a wake-on-LAN signal and create a switch to plug into the ethernet port, but Google hasn't graced me with any results on that search.

[Malenko]

some sort of slide out panel, like a sliding keyboard tray? then you drop the front face of the panel, slide the laptop out, power it up, slide it back in.

[dkersten]

That would be my solution as well, put the laptop on a platform with slides under it or on the sides, then the part that is open in your pic should have a hinge on it (euro hinges work best usually as they have springs to hold the door shut and you can easily use an overlay and not have to flip the door out of the way of the slides).  Open the "door", slide the laptop out, power it up, slide it back in and close the door.  A decent ball bearing slide like an accuride will have a rubber stop that will hold the laptop tray in place pretty well so it isn't banging back and forth when transporting the cab.

[knave]

I think you're misunderstanding. The laptop works fine with the lid closed, but in order to get to the power button, I have to open the lid. In order to open the lid, I have to get at the pushbutton latch (the lighter colored section) on the front of the case.

I understood.

Some options:
Remove the lid...leave the connections in place and slide it under the laptop. (in case you ever need the screen for maint.)
Wire another switch to the power button.
Leave it on all the time.
Check for an option to start up when power resumes in the bios.

[jedimasta]

But here is the solution I found.

So after considering my options and doing a little more research I decided to go this route and it works great. I wired it to a new button on the case and now I can close it up tight.

Thanks everyone for your input.

[thomas_surles]

But here is the solution I found.

So after considering my options and doing a little more research I decided to go this route and it works great. I wired it to a new button on the case and now I can close it up tight.

Thanks everyone for your input.

Thanks for being the lab rat for me. Now I will do that on mine

[jedimasta]

It's a handy solution, just know that the connections for the button and the button itself are really sensitive so make sure your soldering iron isn't hotter than it needs to be otherwise the button itself won't depress.