Inspire meeee!!!

[xmastree]

Here's another idea I had whilst looking through the bits of my 5.25 drive.
A thing like a card slot, with photosensors inside it. And a credit card with holes drilled in the edge. Push it in to activate a microswitch at the back, but it will only work if the holes are in the right places.

[guitar.child]

i wonder if you could so something liek a coke machine. just the coin slot. so when you drop a coin in the turns the machine on and when you hit the coin return it turns it off. that would be kinda cool. that would be neat for an idea a coke machine with a side panel that lit up when you turned it on and have the seletion buttons disguised as cd drives. just an idea.

[GT40_GearHead]

i wonder if you could so something liek a coke machine. just the coin slot. so when you drop a coin in the turns the machine on and when you hit the coin return it turns it off. that would be kinda cool. that would be neat for an idea a coke machine with a side panel that lit up when you turned it on and have the seletion buttons disguised as cd drives. just an idea.

you could leave the coin in there, you know.... for dark days

[DaveW]

I knew you guys wouldn't let me down! I've been inspired. So much that i might have to make 20 cases to work all these idea in together!

Jon, i like your sketch, and it reminded me of something that i was going to do, (have a single red LED glowing when the computer is off) and i realised that i could incorporate that into that switch you drew! And then the switch would be...hmm...tel you what, i'll be back tonight with some sketches of what i have in my head now, thanks to everyone for all their great ideas!

xmastree, i'm thinking about that sensor that you were saying, but it would take a hell of a lot of PIC programming to get it to recognise a particular signal pattern. It might be possible...how many pins does the touchpad have? Looks like a whole Busload there...i really like the idea, but it might be more trouble than i can handle at the moment.

Thanks guys- I will be back!

-Dave

[DaveW]

OK, i managed to get that sketch scanned in, although my scanner's chopped a bit off. This was that idea that i was thinking about, and what i think Jon was talking about earlier.

-Dave

[jdbnsn]

I have been looking at that sketch sitting on my desk and I think it needs improvement. I could try some modification, would you like to see more alien tech, or more industrial?

[DaveW]

I'm not sure...

why not go for what feels right? I trust your judgement on this one. I'm liking the design so far...but i suspect it might end up being made with what's lying around. I might have to watch the gear, because of the width, so have you got any suggestions for making it...taller and slimmer?

If push comes to shove, i can re-arrange the locations of the buttons.

I think i'm going to use the buttons i sketched above for the CD drives, unless something better comes up. I'm signing off for the night (it's night here) so i'll see you tommorow.

-Dave

[jdbnsn]

Sure Dave, I can make it slimmer. I think the way to go is lose the gears. They are not as appealing as I once thought, they look kind of corny. I drew up a really rough draft of a box you can mount the button on. What I would do is remove the gears and put custom cut piece of metal or plastic (thick is good), with the shape being circular but having rounded "bumps" on four edges in a square formation. Look at the picture:

You go to a junk yard and find an old bike, take the brake cable and strip the plastic coating off to expose a metal snake-like cable and attach as shown above. Cut a box out of a car speaker grill and flatten it, then bend into a box. Mount a metal plate on the top with your patented angle cuts in it then paint to match your case. Mount the button off center or center (which ever looks better to you). Attach the brake cable to the four "bumps" you made on the ring around the button and fix the to the corners of the box to hide the cut edges. Lastly, (oh how cool this would be!) grab a large washer (biggest you can fit in the interior of the box. Buy one of the cheapo 1.5V motors the use for small toy cars and such and sand off the gears on the axle. Replace the gears with a strand of rubber band that you cut to size and wrapped around the now cylinrical gear post thingy. With another rubber band (cut), painstakenly glue around the edge of one side of that monster washer to make a track of sorts for the motor to grip. Mount a plastic spray bottle cap (tiny one like what comes on a sport drink at the gas station) on the other side of the washer and cut a hole out of the bottle cap on one side or both. Paint the inside of the cap ( or if you have the patience mount aluminum foil on the inside). Build some sort of platform that will hold the motor and washer together as needed to make it turn. Mount an orange LED with wires running through the front of your case (not attached to any of the above mentioned parts. This would give you a rotating hazard light and you could figure out how to make it turn when you wanted it to. What do you think? If you're not pressed for time I could build it for you but it will be a couple of weeks before I can get started.
Jon

[DaveW]

Wow, now there's an idea! I hadn't thought about putting little rotating hazard lights onto the case, That idea is amazing.

I'll go into the cellar if i get a chance and see if we have something lying around that will help to make this. We've got plenty of those little motors lying around, so i'll have a look and see what i can throw together later in the day.

Thanks for all the great ideas, this is really beginning to come together!

Maybe i can even make a sort of orange cap, if i have enough perspex left over (which i should) and i can make some interesting features for the left hand side of the case as well...I think i need to get some photos of the case, i'll make an attempt to do just that after i've done a couple of hours of studying.

It's crazy, i had a million ideas for this case, so many sketches and doodles, and then all of a sudden my inspiration just dissapeared. If you've ever been in that situation you'll know just how frustrating it is. Thanks for getting me out of my creative rut guys-and i really mean that!

Oh, and if you have any other suggestions related to the above themes, then feel free to drop them in.

-Dave

[jdbnsn]

Glad you liked it, let me know if you need help throwing it together.