The Ultimate 7" LCD mod

[Ali_2k]

Alrighty, This is a mod i have had planned for ages, i started
it a while back and it kinda tailed off as i got stuck with school work and
stuff... but now, the real modding begins! :)

The idea i have is like this:
It is a barebone system, so its gonna be "great fun".. apparently
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b89/Ali_2k/computer_mod.jpg

The screen is mounted on some kind of "hinge" so it can be layed flat, or
lifted up to be viewed. The only problem was, i wasent ready to start cutting
holes all over the damn thing, so i did some other things to the comp:

I needed to mount the Video/power input board, so i filed some holes
out of my network card's PCI bracket :D

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b89/Ali_2k/DSC00017.jpg

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b89/Ali_2k/DSC00021.jpg

Next up is the side panels, cut out with funky hex heads (i dont enough room
to screww them on, so i guess some double sided tape will do)

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b89/Ali_2k/DSC00025.jpg

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b89/Ali_2k/DSC00026.jpg

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b89/Ali_2k/DSC00027.jpg

I got emensly fed up with drawing all my ideas for the screen mount
and then getting them all wrong so i moved onto computer drawing! i
got sketchup and been fiddling for a few hours, made a nice shockplate
for my RC car and then the front of my comp lol...

Sweet huh?
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b89/Ali_2k/compmod1.jpg

Funny.. i was just gonna model the front and top sections... but i just couldent stop!
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b89/Ali_2k/compmod2.jpg

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b89/Ali_2k/Computer223.jpg

So im now at this stage.. the sides are cut, but not yet fixed with fans.
the hinge needs to be finalised, and tested, then i can start cutting some holes wheheee

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b89/Ali_2k/DSC00247.jpg

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b89/Ali_2k/DSC00242-1.jpg

[Mountain Dew]

what do you need to do to hook up an LCD

i have a 12" and an old PDA screen laying around

i love that idea tho
but will teh top be open when your using the LCD tho?

[Ali_2k]

First of with LCD's is.. they couldent be any more arkward for modders.. the main reason being is, you can get hold of them so easily, but they are a real bitch to get working.

A basic screen will need:
- The correct video type (for computer thats RGB/S-Video)
- the "control board" (this is tha board that converts all the data comming from the computer output into a format sent through the ribbon cable
- a screen

Although possible, it is very very hard to run across a device screen, such as your PDA ones, that will be adaptable for Pc use. the best bet is to look at buying a "Raw" LCD from a wholesaler or manufacterer.

and about the case being open when the screen is up, yeh i think it will be, as when its down it will be set down partially into the to panel.. i mightbe able to mod the chassis, but that could make the whole thing have the rigidity of a jelly.

[Mountain Dew]

ah ok thanks for the help

[Ali_2k]

Weeeee, im finally gathering a bit of pace on this, today i ran down to Argos after school, and picked up a Dremel, fantastic 10% employee's discount ftw! :D

a quick between the leg shot of the box lol

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b89/Ali_2k/DSC00257.jpg


anyways, after a bit more sketchup i realised that if i want the face of the screen to sit flush against the top case, im gonna have to let it sit down into the drive bay... :sad: i then remembered about some guy using one of these (http://www.mini-itx.com/store/?c=5) on a case mod, and thought that would be just about perfect to square this problem.

Now what i need is some help, whats the right cutting disc for me to use for getting a hole cut in this damned case, the alu is 1mm i think, can anyone direct me wich one is best on the Dremel Uk site?

[a.Bird]

Yum. I would track an I.P., investigate, travel to the United Kingdom, stake out, sneak in, stare at him in his sleep, and "kill" for a dremel.

[chedabob]

Ali: you did a mint job on that connector mount. how come you arent mounting the board internally? im sure with a soldering iron, you could possibly re-route the composite connector off your graphics card to the lcd, so that you dont have a messy cable on the back.

hell, if you had some car dent filler, you could desolder the connector completely, then fill in where it went. would look tight.

[simon275]

Nice Idea having the screen ontop. Would be good for lans you could games reasonably well on a 7" if u sat close.

[Ali_2k]

Ali: you did a mint job on that connector mount. how come you arent mounting the board internally? im sure with a soldering iron, you could possibly re-route the composite connector off your graphics card to the lcd, so that you dont have a messy cable on the back.

hell, if you had some car dent filler, you could desolder the connector completely, then fill in where it went. would look tight.

aye dude, i did think about that idea, but never considered it a viable option, if that makes sence.. i mean it could be done that way, or it could be done another way, and i felt personally that just mounting it inside with the ports on the back seemed like a simpler way.. and i dont tend to look at the back of my comp much lol

but asides from that, a little update, i hopefully will get the hole cut tommorow, and if not then deffo over the weekend... im gonna take this slow, so i dont mess anything up (there are no "replacement parts" unlike my Tamiya Wild Dagger :P)

[YoungBlood]

Hmmm Dude.... WHY U SPEND SO MUCH ON A SAITEK ECLIPSE.... helll... you cudda saved 20 pound making your own >.<

[Ali_2k]

*shrugs*

[Mec]

Great plans :-)
Check this:
link1 (http://www.radikalmod.hu/upload/news/2750_szakmaicomputermode3.jpg)
link2 (http://www.radikalmod.hu/upload/news/2750_szakmaicomputermode4.jpg)
link3 (http://www.radikalmod.hu/upload/news/2750_szakmaicomputermode5.jpg)
8)

[Ali_2k]

Wow, my god it has been a while, but here it is, finally some progress on my LCD mod! Ive altered my plans for the design and decided to put it on the front. So i picked up my dremel, grabbed a cutting disk and went for it! So here we go, back on track and moddin' it hawt!! Keep Tuned! :twisted:

Heres the front plate cut off, phear the dremel!
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b89/Ali_2k/DSC00110.jpg

The cleaned up cut out.
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b89/Ali_2k/DSC00109.jpg

Partially mounted with tape! :grin: Will use filler and make a complete clean face
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b89/Ali_2k/DSC00108.jpg

Heres a shot of the side panel bolts - superglue ftw!
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b89/Ali_2k/DSC00106.jpg

The other side
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b89/Ali_2k/DSC00105.jpg

Completed bolts.
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b89/Ali_2k/DSC00107.jpg

[LiTHiUM0XiD3]

i was gunna do something like this..... but there was one small problem........
I STEPPED ON THE LCD SCREEN!!!
;(

[.Maleficus.]

i was gunna do something like this..... but there was one small problem........
I STEPPED ON THE LCD SCREEN!!!
;(
LOL! erm... I mean, I'm sorry.

[chaksq]

Ali: you did a mint job on that connector mount. how come you arent mounting the board internally? im sure with a soldering iron, you could possibly re-route the composite connector off your graphics card to the lcd, so that you dont have a messy cable on the back.

hell, if you had some car dent filler, you could desolder the connector completely, then fill in where it went. would look tight.
Seems like a good idea but I can see where someone would not want to mess with a new (Not to mention expensive) video card. For keeping limited cables I suggest making your own super short cable only as long as needed to cross between the two connectors. Thats just my $.02

Overall I think the case looks great!

[DaveW]

*shrugs*

Lol...best response ever.

Looking good dude, +Rep for the worklog so far, although your photos could be sharper. Try sitting the camera on something, or using a tripod, if possible.

Photos are a good size though, coming along well.

-Dave

[Ali_2k]

Thanks for the support guys, im just glad im finally pushing this along :D

and also, sorry for the fuzzy pics just grabbed em with my phone camera

Anyways, im going to cut some more stuff this evening will get some images up by tonight hopefully :) :)

[Ali_2k]

Hey again guys, Little bit of an update here, some nice pics too :)

First job was to enable the screen to sit as far back against the front of the chassis as possible, In order to do this, I had to cut out a large section of a alu panel that supports the front ports:
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b89/Ali_2k/DSC00115.jpg

I removed the button panel, will do something interesting with this later xD
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b89/Ali_2k/DSC00120.jpg

Now I had a clean space to fit the screen I needed a solution to secure the screen to the chassis. So the screen is supported by something solid, not the plastic bezel.
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b89/Ali_2k/DSC00112.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b89/Ali_2k/DSC00114.jpg

A perfect fit!
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b89/Ali_2k/DSC00116.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b89/Ali_2k/DSC00117.jpg

Here on the back you can see the rear of the screen, it looks like its come from a factory!
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b89/Ali_2k/DSC00119.jpg

In order for teh bezel to fit snug around the screen, I had to dremel out some grooves for little notches on the screen:
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b89/Ali_2k/DSC00118.jpg

This shows the power/video input board (part of the screen setup) Its just hanging here atm, so I need to develop a bracket to keep it secure:
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b89/Ali_2k/DSC00122.jpg

And check this out! The screen (for some reason) hangs at a slant, which you may think sucks.. BUT it cuts out virtually all light reflections, which imo is awesome!
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b89/Ali_2k/DSC00123.jpg

Stay Tuned for more after I get back from Spain - I will fill up all the gaps and make it look like a single front panel - so hawt!

[Commando]

Absolutely Wicked... +Rep

[chaksq]

Very clean install, it looks like it belongs there. I like it! Have fun in Spain.

[Ali_2k]

Heyhey,

Next update :) with the screen secured to the chassis, I can now start work on making a new front panel, yipee xD

Ive ordered a 5 1/2" to 3 1/2" bay convertor, so I can create a solid support for my CD drive as its smaller than a normal one... Should arrive in a few days.

Ive made a few cardboard cut outs to see what I have to fill in with car body filler, or another idea to cut a solid plate out of aluminium.. hmm :)
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b89/Ali_2k/DSC00157.jpg

And I had a quick fiddle with the button panel, well and idea at least. power button on the left, HDD led in the middle and reset on the right. The buttons are te same hex heads i used on the window panels, keeps a theme going quite nice :)
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b89/Ali_2k/DSC00159.jpg

Well, thats all today, I have some work to do over the next few days so next update will be around the weekend :)

[Ali_2k]

weeeyheeey, Hi again chaps, sorry for kinda dissapearing on you all the time... i hate procrastination... anyway, finally got back round to working on this damned bezel meaning the mod is comming close[r] to completion. :banana:

so, two years later and im finally going to finish it all up, heres a few snapshots of what ive worked on over the last few days:

The second layer of p38 onto the bezel:
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b89/Ali_2k/DSC00319.jpg

Edges sanded to a crisp corner:
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b89/Ali_2k/DSC00318.jpg

Inserting the balsa wood to fill out spaces
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b89/Ali_2k/DSC00321.jpg

Another shot of the bezel coming into shape
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b89/Ali_2k/DSC00322.jpg

oh and one of the reasons ive been sidetracked...
painting a WWII M1 helmet... dum de dum (not finished :) )
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b89/Ali_2k/DSC00314.jpg

I will be finishing off the last bits of p38 soon and move onto priming and painting

until next time, all the best

[Luke122]

Welcome back! Good to see you return to the site, looking forward to more updates on this mod. :)

[chaksq]

Hey nice, I'm glad to see this project get finished, I remember looking at this a while ago and thinking it was neat.

[Ali_2k]

Hi and cheers for the support Luke, and chaksq, i also remeber looking at this for quite some time lol...

anyway, couple more pictures, not that exciting but hey least im getting something done :)

filled in some of the craters left by my shoddy filling with some fine filler:
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b89/Ali_2k/2f4040bf.jpg

did a third layer of p38 on the corners to make them even crispier:
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b89/Ali_2k/097db6b8.jpg

With a bit of luck i'd have finished it off tomorrow and can get on with priming it ready for paint. the next step is to create a perspex cover for the entire thing... however sourcing that stuff in small quantities is tough.

what do you reckon to the outside edges of the bezel being silver and the rear of the perspex a panther black to cover the joins and bezel of the screen..?