Cobra-matic : Retro Bakelite Phonograph

Berticus: I've got the drive torn down again and 486Hawk from austinmodders is guiding me. I got sidetracked on work stuff this week but will give the soldering a shot next week.

DaveW::redface:, yes the ram is setup for dual channel but I set it up that way without really understanding what I was doing. I just followed the manual for installing the ram which said put them in the same colored slots

Quote:

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To enable Dual Channel mode with two or four memory modules (it is recommended to use memory modules of identical brand, size, chips, and speed), you must install them into DIMM sockets of the same color.

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Too jet lagged to sleep last night so I had a go at the DVD Rom.

This has to be the toughest soldering that I've ever done. At 2.5x magnification, I could barely see the connections. How you guys do this I'll never know.

This is to move the dvd eject button to a limit switch on the lid. Those 2 black wires are 30 gauge.

For the tray sense switches, from this:

To this:

The switches are about the size of a pencil eraser.

If you ever have to de-solder something this small, Chip Quik works like magic.

Next up is the limit switch for the lid and computer code to sequence it all.

d_stilgar: Thanks for the rep!

And to the unnamed person who asked for a tutorial on the copper etching, will do. I've got another project waiting in the wings in which etching figures prominently.

I've spent the better part of a day getting the drive back in working order. I've been posting progress pics over at Austinmodders.com but haven't really given you guys a full breakdown. So here goes...

If you review the worklog, you can see that I cut a window in the top of a hub locking, tray loading slim line drive. This makes the DVD visible while its spinning (which is cool) and makes it look more like a record player (which fits the mod theme). The problem is in changing out DVD discs. Windows doesn't know a new disc is in the drive because the drive hasn't reset (a Windows (f5) reset doesn't work).

What make it reset? Pushing the button on the front and opening the tray which clues the DVD rom into the fact that a new DVD is coming. When the tray closes, it resets the drive. Its pretty simple actually. Making it reset without opening the tray is a little more difficult. Add to that the drive needs to stop before you can pull out the DVD makes it an interesting problem.

With the help of electronics kung-fu master, 486hawk, I've learned that you have to simulate the eject button press and simulate the open tray event. By soldering wires to pins 3 and 4 of the drive control header, and using a relay, then I can simulate the button press by shorting the two pins momentarily.

The header is found here:

A close up shot:

I used an ohm meter to test all 10 pins of the header with the button pressed and open to find that pins 3 and 4 were the correct ones. YMMV.

With that done, then I de-soldered the switches and soldered wires to the contacts. My drive had 2 switches but after testing, I only need to trigger one to reset the drive. The two images in the previous post describe what it looks like after soldering.

Lastly I had to remove the mechanisms that physically move when opening the tray. Wouldn't want it to pop open.

Before

After

Then I soldered on connectors for the switches and added a small limit switch to the lid to sense when its open.

I then sealed the entire underside with foil tape to keep out any dust.

It works as expected when connected the phidgets controller but I'll need to test further when connected to the motherboard to be sure it works properly.

Finally, here's the link to the austinmodders.com discussion.

http://www.austinmodders.com/modules...ewtopic&t=1467. Thanks again to 486hawk for all the help! To anyone who wants to try it, I hope the pics and description help. The only hairy part was soldering to the header. I was fortunate to have access to a decent soldering iron (Hakko 936) and a great deal of luck.

That gets me pretty much back on track which is seeing how badly I can plug up an airbrush with glow in the dark paint. :)

Till next time...:up:

nice work man... i would of put a break in the cd rom power lines and waited or it to stop the swapped discs and turned on again.... but ur way works to ???

Thanks for the comment. I tried cycling the power by disconnecting the drive. It still locked up Windows Explorer.

Wow. Just wow for the electronics work. I'd have been way too scared to try anything that small. Excellent work. +rep
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Mercedes-benz 260 d history

Thanks blueonblack! More luck than skill but I'll take it. :)

I've been modding, brain modding. Based on my last foray into circuit design, I've learned to ask first and cut second. It helps reduce the general TBCS confusion level. :redface:

So, here's my attempt at a circuit that gives a momentary pulse and then waits a period of time before opening the second relay. This is used to first simulate the eject button being pressed and the DVD rom tray opening. I'd appreciate comments on whether this is overkill or any changes that I should make.

I'm leaving this diagram in place for completeness. I was never able to get it working.

Note: R3 can be varied to increase the duration of the wait. The LEDS connected to the relays are there for testing purposes.

Also, I've got a normally open SPST switch on the lid of the CD. To make this circuit work, do I need to swap it for a normally closed SPST?

Oh yeah, I'm using Circuit Wizard to simulate the circuit. I picked mine up at Maplin's in the UK but it looks like its available in the US through Kelvin.com although more expensive than Maplins.

Thanks for the rep & comments d_stilgar & Xpirate

An update for your perusal.

Still waiting on a couple of parts for the DVD rom circuit so I took a look at another problem. When Cobra-matic up & running, the video card and HD were running on the high temperature side. (Both of which were passively cooled) I didn't like the looks of an add-on fan on the video card, so why not a new one, video card that is...

And one of these:

Only problem is the ram heatsinks and the fan leds are blue which don't fit the theme of the mod. The heatsinks were easy.

The leds took a little bit of effort, dremeling, and chipquick.

Silenx 60mm fan mounted on the HD:

Thanks for looking!

great looks cool...

nice work with the leds man

Beautiful work, not sure why but lots of copper sure helps that retro look. Love that VGA cooler, I have those same heatsinks on my video card. I'm actually looking for a pretty copper cooler for it for transplant into Clockwork, the Accelero I have on it now is cool but not that pretty. What make/model is that?
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XJ

DonT-Fear: Thanks! The ChipQuick made easy work of the de-soldering after that it was simple

blueonblack: Agreed, the XFX card is (was?) a good card but the green and silver really didn't match the overall look. The cooler is a Zalman VF 1000. Here' the review that made me decide to replace the stock cooler.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article769-page1.html

Today was a good day to mod!:banana:

I dug out my Paasche VL airbrush. I got it years ago as a christmas gift but never got around to using it. I then loaded up an ounce bottle of Floquil crystal clear with a quarter ounce of the orange glow powder. The powder only stayed in solution for 2-3 minutes before it settled in the bottom of the bottle. I had to keep shaking the airbrush to keep it in solution. I was blown away with how well it worked.

You can see the texture of the powder. Oh yeah, it went on great but more importantly how does it glow?

You be the judge, :)

Remember the bezel?

It got some paint also. It needs some glow too but the paint will need to harden up first. This is all brush work so no airbrush here.

In the meantime, I started sanding out scratches from the case. Ever hear of 12,000 grit sandpaper? The guys who know bakelite (what the case is made from) tell me I can use it to sand out scratches and polish the case.

After a few hours of sanding, the case is exceptionally smooth but still doesn't have the shine that I'm looking for so next step is the buffing wheel.

I also breadboarded the circuit but the relays aren't closing when I power down. It appears that the capacitor is still holding a charge. I'll continue to play with it but I'm falling back to the phidgets board to control the DVD.

:eek: Wow! That glow is excellent!! Can't wait to see the bezel.
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Chrysler Sohc V6 Engine History

well said /\ i agree 100%

Absolutely fantastic! The attention to detail is phenominal!

12000grit?

that's just too cool... I want some!

Looking great man... keep it coming.

Thanks for the comments guys! I'm glad you like it. I was extremely stoked that the paint came out as well as it did.

blueonblack & DonT-FeaR: I'll have some bezel pics for you this weekend and a few other glow accents.
Ouch!: Thanks, man! More details to come, stay tuned.
Langer: Eh, you can have it. After hand sanding my way through 1500 to 12,000 in 11 increments, I'm pretty well done with sanding. :)

Spent the evening watching the election results and shortening cables. I've got some connectors to paint before pics. More soon. 8)

cool im looking forward to it..

GO OBAHMA... cant spell..

McCain should have won. Ok, enough with that.

lookin good so far!

Ack Frontpage! Now its serious, where's my dremel? Time to get this one finished. :)

Thanks Jon!

Thanks SXRguyinMA! Politics done, back to modding.

Spent the morning polishing and painting the knobs and bezel. I painted an indicator line on the on-off and volume knobs as well as a painted in the recesses on the fan pointer.

The fan pointer mounted:

A little glow:

blueonblack & DonT-FeaR? Is this what you were looking for?

Finished wiring the case by adding connectors so the motherboard can be easily lifted out if anything needs to be reworked. Still need to add another usb header cable for a goodie that has yet to be delivered.

In the upper left corner is the on off switch and the phidgets input/output and servo interface boards. In the middle, the black square is a Gigaware Ultra-compact usb hub that will be connected to the motherboard header. It's the smallest one that I could find that takes an external power supply. The retractable cables can be pulled out from the bottom of the case if needed. In the lower left corner is the phidgets usb encoder for the volume knob and the Top Shelf Labs LED Controller.

Shortened the psu cables and put heatshrink on the ones that are not being used. I debated whether to remove them entirely but decided to leave them.

Need to test the wiring, finish the case polishing, and add a few other tricks that I've still got up my sleeve. Getting closer though...thanks for looking and stay tuned.

This is really looking fantastic! Very nice work. I love the fact you started with phonograph instead of a standard case. It's nice to know this old phono has a new life and will not end up in some dump some where (at least not for the next several years!) :D
+rep

no thats not what im looking for :( its like 100x better :) frigan super duper man...

DonT-FeaR: Glad you like it :)
ContraptionMaker: Thanks man, I love the style of the old stuff. Naw, no dump for this one. ;)

simply superb, amazing quality in this build. Good work, can't wait to see the finished piece!

:eek: That dial is AWESOME. This whole thing is great but it's been a while since a photo did that for me. Wow.

+ rep yet again
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Jugalettes

like it.... pfft i love it

hot damn that looks ace! good modding :D

I'll be honest. I am loving this. Bravo!

nice work there dude. i hope i can also mod something like that. availability of materials here is a major problem

blackbox: Thanks! Where are you located that materials are a problem?

Matthew, DonT-FeaR, blueonblack, Vision, SgtM: Thank you for the kind comments and the rep. I'm pretty happy about how its turning out. It's been over a year since I started this thing and its time to bring it to a close. Sorry for being out of pocket but I've been working hard to get it all wrapped up. So...

Polishing is finished, labels are on, all that's left to do is…nothing :banana::banana:

I could bore you with details but I think I'll let the pics do the talking.

One last thing before I visit the "Is your worklog finished?" thread, when I was sanding down the case, I found these on the bottom side.

They were pretty far gone but this one in particular gave me an idea.

I made a new label; one a little more appropriate.

I think you'll agree, no?

Maestro, a little traveling music if you please. This one's moving to the land of completed projects. ;)

OMG, that is so beautiful! Excellent work my friend, a true masterpiece! And thanks for the TBCS plug there on the disc ;)

Thanks jdbnsn! I figured it started on TBCS then it should finish here too. :)

Oh. My. God. That was absolutely awesome until I saw the data sticker. *That* is one of the coolest things I have seen! An absolutely perfect finishing touch. +rep for sure

:bowdown:
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Honda nsr125 history

/\ agreed that made the cake so to speak

video, video!!! start a chant..

:redface: Thanks guys glad you like it. Without you guys encouraging me, it'd have been another year before I was done. Least I could do.

It all turned out great +REP