Project: Motorized Madness!

[rendermandan]

Here's the next update.

-I decided to take a break from case a little bit and worked on the base unit.

I started with three 7"X12" pieces of thick styrene.

I glued them together to make one large sheet.

Then I cut some 1" high strips and glued them around the perimeter. I left openings on the front and both sides for some motorized trays. -YES more motorized stuff!

Then I cut some 1/8" diameter solid carbon fiber rods. I chose carbon fiber for its rigidity.

I cut some more 1" high strips and drilled some holes for the rods. -Basically these rods will act as rails for the trays to slide in and out on.

Here are the sleeves that go over the carbon fiber rods.

Here is one of the trays. On the bottom side it has the 2 sleeves.

Here it is on the front in the closed position.

And here it is in the open position.

Then I made 2 more for the sides.

Then to make things move. I drilled and installed a ball joint just like some of the previous motorized parts.

I drilled and cut holes in the supports so the threaded rod will converge on a central pivot point.

The servo horn that came with supplied was too small and would not give enough horizontal movement, so I made a larger one.

After making a mounting block and attaching the servo horn in place. Here are all 3 trays hooked up with the linkage to make them slide in and out. THis is the closed position.

Here they are in the open position.

To mount the servo, this is the approximate location. I ran out of ball joints so I have to go get some more before I can continue.

-I should be able to get the base finished this weekend.
-Later!

[M!ST!CX]

OMG,OMG this thing is so awesome,i can now surely said that this is,not one of,but THE BEST MOD i've ever seen in my life.
Im still in schock

[Scotty]

Very very nice. +rep

[The boy 4rm oz]

What can I say, you are WAY to good at this lol. +rep

[p0Pe]

nice work m8!..

guess i missed something but whats gonna be in the motorized trays?

[FrooP]

nice work m8!..

guess i missed something but whats gonna be in the motorized trays?

...stuff?

[rendermandan]

guess i missed something but whats gonna be in the motorized trays?

The tray areas is about 1.5" deep and the widths are around 6" and 10". -So whatever I put there has to be pretty small.

So, at first I'm going to have some led's that shine up and light up the sides of the case.
I also thought about putting an LCD disply in there like this one. http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...ducts_id=20599
But I'm not sure if I can make it fit. -Probably have to take it apart and solder wires to remotely mount the disply away from the electronics. has anyone done something like this?

-not sure what else to put there. -Any suggestions?

[The boy 4rm oz]

No I haven't but it sounds difficult and lots of things could go wrong.

[Omega]

Perhaps put a fan or three on the underside of the computer and make it so when the trays open they get better airflow?

[Roughhouse]

How about placing the LCD so that when the tray opens the LCD rotates out of the tray. This would allow for a slightly larger LCD to be hidden inside.
Here is a simple drawing in paintbrush to help illistrate what I mean.

I think you could even take that front tray and drop the center of the tray to give you more room for the mechanics of moving the LCD out of the tray.

And if you haven't heard this enough, Awsome work.

Just thought of a way this might work nicely. What if you add a screw drive to one side of the LCD and mount a nut about 1" up from the bottom of the LCD, Then when the tray opens the screw drive kicks in and pushes the LCD forward. Youe would probably need a ramp or something inside the front of the tray to push it up and over the tray cover. (The LCD is not really attached to the tray, only hiddeen behind it). Then all you need is a mecanism to push the bottom of the LCD forwad when it reaches its full extension. The pushing would then cause the LCD to move itself into a vertical position.