Raising a monitor?

[Sentenced]

Hi People, I´m new here and I must say that I´m impressed with all the espectacular mods that I saw here...
It made me want to do something... but I´m not very skilled in some things, so... well, here I am...
The thing is this...
I want to do a mod of all my PC (monitor, CPU, keyboard, but specially... DESK).
I´ll try to explain it as better as possible...
My desk is made of wood, and I want it to look like there´s no PC, until I touch something and the monitor raises, the keyboard and mouse appears and a door opens to show the DVD recorder, the floppy and the ports...
The point is, I don´t how what I must do (besides making the hole) to motorize everything.
Also, I don´t know what is better, to put some guides for the monitor to raise or to push it from below...
The keyboard and the mouse are over another piece of wood with guides, that hides below the desk, I would only need to move it forward.
And the CPU, I would want to put another piece of wood to cover the front, and then mod it to hold the drives and everything, but I would like to have it covered until "the show begins"...

I hope I was clear enough... my english is not the best but I´m doing all I can, have a little patience! :D

Here I have a sketch I´ve done for you to know how the Desk looks now...
http://ar.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/andrescheroni/detail?.dir=/895dscd&.dnm=88f1scd.jpg&.src=ph

Thank you for everything!!!

[d_stilgar]

You made that model yourself? That's pretty good.

http://www.smartdesks.com/computer-desks-fiseries.asp

That link might help for some ideas. I would make the desk as if you going to activate it by a handle you pull yourself, but then put a motor and rail in its place later.

[Sentenced]

Thank you for your quick answer!

The thing is that I already have that desk, and I don´t want to make a new one!

That link you sent me, it looks very interesting, but I think that the monitor would be very low for me to look at it, I was thinking something like a hole of 40 x 15 cm (16 x 6 inches) and the monitor raising from below, vertically.

About the motors and guides, that´s the problem, I don´t have idea what kind of motor I could need! How strong it must be and how can I hold the monitor up without forcing it.

Anyway, thank you very much for your help! You´re helping me think :)

[Airbozo]

For the monitor, if it is a flat panel use computer rackmount slide rails and a belt driven motor (low noise). If you can mount it on some kind of platform the rails could be hidden. I have done this in the past and used a relay driven latch (normally found on security doors) to drive a pin in to lock the monitor in up position, then found it was easier to use those gas charged shocks found on hatchbacks to push the monitor up after a relay releases a simple gate latch. Then just push it down by hand. I fiddled with setting up micro switches to slide the keyboard back in when the monitor went down, but never installed it. You will have to play around with the motors depending on the weight on the monitor. Also might have to look into a gear box for torque.

For keyboard and mouse you can do the same thing using a keyboard tray, more rails and a motor. Another idea would be to use a touch sensitive keypad mounted in the desk. You could even trigger the monitor and powerup from there.

If you have enough of a lip on the front of the desk, you could just stealth the cdrom in there and then mount a slide tray for the mobo and PS mount, and drives, cover up the front with a slick wood door and bang.

I have done the monitor raising with a motor and it is somewhat of a trial and error finding the right motor. I even mounted a tv in a bar that would raise when you clicked on the remote, also mounted one in a wall behind a sliding picture (before flat panel's). A good suggestion to raise the weight of the monitor is to use a spring set from an old secretary desk. there is a platform in them that would hold a 30lb office typewriter (before some of your times...) that would raise and lower with the touch of a finger, then slide right back in. Also look online for counter weighted platforms and such. That may help with the motor issue believe it or not. The egyptians were good at moving things with little effort...

EDIT: I will try and find my motor rating info and a picture or two of the monitor plat form.

[Sentenced]

For the monitor, if it is a flat panel use computer rackmount slide rails and a belt driven motor (low noise). If you can mount it on some kind of platform the rails could be hidden. I have done this in the past and used a relay driven latch (normally found on security doors) to drive a pin in to lock the monitor in up position, then found it was easier to use those gas charged shocks found on hatchbacks to push the monitor up after a relay releases a simple gate latch. Then just push it down by hand. I fiddled with setting up micro switches to slide the keyboard back in when the monitor went down, but never installed it. You will have to play around with the motors depending on the weight on the monitor. Also might have to look into a gear box for torque.

For keyboard and mouse you can do the same thing using a keyboard tray, more rails and a motor. Another idea would be to use a touch sensitive keypad mounted in the desk. You could even trigger the monitor and powerup from there.

If you have enough of a lip on the front of the desk, you could just stealth the cdrom in there and then mount a slide tray for the mobo and PS mount, and drives, cover up the front with a slick wood door and bang.

I have done the monitor raising with a motor and it is somewhat of a trial and error finding the right motor. I even mounted a tv in a bar that would raise when you clicked on the remote, also mounted one in a wall behind a sliding picture (before flat panel's). A good suggestion to raise the weight of the monitor is to use a spring set from an old secretary desk. there is a platform in them that would hold a 30lb office typewriter (before some of your times...) that would raise and lower with the touch of a finger, then slide right back in. Also look online for counter weighted platforms and such. That may help with the motor issue believe it or not. The egyptians were good at moving things with little effort...

EDIT: I will try and find my motor rating info and a picture or two of the monitor plat form.

Thanks for the answer!

The monitor is, actually, a 17" LCD panel (Samsung 740N), 8 cm (3,15 inches) width. I think that the platform is a great idea, and, as you said, the thing is still find the right motor. According to the manufacturer specifications, it weighs 9.7 lbs.
The keyboard is over a tray, with its own guides, so it would be just push it forward, a little easier I think.
The desk itself have a lip, but not big enough to hold the drive. That´s why my idea was to cover everything, not a door, and put some kind of rolling blind or sliding panel activated by the same switch that triggers everything.
That´s a little bit easier, I´ve "stealed" some ideas from the "DOOM 3" mod :P.

So, if you can find that motor data it would be great.

Thanks for everything, this is finally taking shape! :)

[Razors Edge]

You should talk to west Coast costoms. No one else can do the whole moniter rising stuff with a click of a botton then them.

[notochord]

i was actually thinking about west coast customs now GAS tho. those guys used electric actualtors whenever they wanted stuff to pop up.

[Sentenced]

i was actually thinking about west coast customs now GAS tho. those guys used electric actualtors whenever they wanted stuff to pop up.

Aha, I´m not very familiarized with the electric actuators, how do they work?

[Airbozo]

Electric actuators use a worm gear that can be just about any length. They are compact and can be pretty quiet.

Try:

motionsystems.com

They are not the best priced, but they have lots of data.

[.alchinko.]

ok so in 5th grade we did this thing with little motor things and it gave me and idea. so here it goes.

1. put another board by your leggs so that when the monitor was down it would be hidden. also the board you would mount the guide and motor on. then.....

2. take the stand off the monitor and put guides on the sides. and cut a hole in the desk (perceftly rectanglular so that you could put the board you cut out on top of the monitor.)

3. use a motor the just has a rod type thing that spins. you tie a string or something so the rod then have the string go up to the face of the desk still under it but close to the top. then have it go though a idk circle thing so it goes back down to the bottom of the monitor. so... when the motor spins down it pulls the string which wouldget tight and pull the monitor up. ill try to make a skaetch of it once i get my comp. up and going. i think that might work.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/alchinko/detail?.dir=eb6dre2&.dnm=6dc2re2.jpg&.src=ph

yes i know its on paint but im on my mums laptop and i dont have anything else. but you get the pic.


look at Expensive TV's thta pop out of dresssers. i just saw that in run's house.



Billy Lundin

[OvRiDe]

Wow its funny how what old is new again. WCC definately isn't the only people doing that and they didn't invent it or anything, but they probably get the most publicity. :) In the early 90's I co-owned a stereo shop. Several of our distributors sold linear actuators. They are still pretty much as expensive now as they were then. We also were into the whole competition scene as well. One of the guys in our circuit had a Corvette that used about 15 linear actuators in various sizes. The other thing that was very cool about his setup was everything was triggered with magnetic reed switches, so he could walk around his ride with a magnet on his keychain and activate all the motorized panels durring the judging portions of the install. Ahh the memories.. heh.. also it was probably one of the first cars to use a significant amount of neon. It was before all the commercially available automotive kits. He had a sign maker custom bend and build all of it. oh well those were the days.. heh .. Oh back to why I started this post. Beware of where and how you attach linear actuators. Actuators can exert tremendous amounts force in a single direction. Let just say they can rip holes in the rear fenders and/or warp the sheet metal sections of the cars trunk. :redface: but I don't really want to talk about the.. heh