dang...this is turnin out nice....im gonna have to try this....ive thought about it...just never did
dang...this is turnin out nice....im gonna have to try this....ive thought about it...just never did
I have a bid in for 6 used cdroms on ebay if I win I just hope they don't all have the same gear setup as the 5 dead ones I gutted but could not use.
Charles
PS I won the auction for the drives perhaps one of them will contain the proper gears
In this post I will point out some things for those wishing to build the linear actuator.
First Credit must be given where it is due!
This isn't my Idea it was first dreamed up and fabricated by Crimson Sky for the Doom 3 Project mars city, If you are new to this forum and have not checked out this case mod do so it is awesome!
As all of you know the linear actuator is made from the drawer mechanism of a cd rom or dvd rom drive.
You probably are thinking "I got and old cd rom laying in the corner I will build this".
It's not that simple all cd rom drawer mechanism's are not created equal!
Here are some things to look for before you ever start buchering the drive.
Holding the drive door facing you open it with a paper clip inserted into the little hole in the front ( for those of you who did not know what the hole was for thats what it's for)
If you cannot find the hole then you probably have a drive with a hinged door in that case pull open the hinged door there will be a slot in the bottom part of the inner tray which is where the paper clip should be put.
Some drives with hinged doors have no slot and do not need to be opened with a paper clip just pull on the inner tray and it should come out.
Now after the tray is out look underneath this is what you are looking for.
You want to see a wide gear strip preferable on the right side but the left side will do as long as it's wide.
If the srtip is very narrow this won't do you can try it but it does not give much room for adjusting the final drive gear on the actuator.
Look at the teeth on this gear strip I prefer the teeth to be coarse not fine toothed.
Also look at the gear setup some drives have a very skinny final drive gear especially the ones with the skinny gear strip. Some drives you have to open up in order to see the gear setup some you don't.
Some drive door mechanism's are belt driven this won't do but you may be able to still use the motor and the intermediate gear and final drive gear if it is the right size.
It's hard to find the perfect combination of parts so you may have to get some used or dead cd rom drives preferably differant brand names and models and use a combination of parts from several.
Or you may get lucky as I did and have a drive that all components were perfect just begging to be used!
But luck ran out I butcherd 5 more drives and only found a few things I might be able to use for the second actuator I'm building.
So bottom line open the door check out the gear strip if it's skinny save yourself the trouble of tearing into it unless there are other goodies you can use.
Hope this helps
Charles
P.S. The rubber stop on the end of the actuator was part of the cdrom as well most cdroms have 4 these.
Update time !
Here is the progress thus far I kinda deviated from the sketchup Idea because of unforeseen problems I ran into.
Anyway the following pics will show you the route I took!
Some may call it jury rigging I call it recycling.
First we had to have some more victims to sacrifice for the second actuator ,count on ebay to provide!
The three on the right do not have the right gearing so they will be spared!
One of these guys on the left is going to take one for the team thus sparing the other two!
Here you see my lcd screens,one for this system and one for the other system.
The front of the lcd screens with their protective cover still on.
The lcd screen out of it's packaging as you can see the ears on the side have been bent 90 degrees in order to mount the screen onto the cdrom shell.What better way to make something fit in a drive bay than to utilize something that was meant for just that! Re-cycling
In this veiw you see the drive rails must be moved forward in order for the screen to be set back farther than a cdrom, this allows for room for the blast door! The rails must also be lowered since the drive shell is upside down!This was a booger to get just right and took many trys but we finally got it!
My first attempt at relocating the drive rails was unsucessful! Good thing I had many more of these! I tossed this one and started over.
In this pic you see the drive installed without the screen this was a test fit and was also the one that had to be scrapped the drive rail on one side did not align with the other side it was off just enough to make the drive shell crooked!
New victim this time I mounted the screen first! The aggravating thing about this screen is the ears on the sides are not the same! one side they are at the top and bottom the other side they are about one inch from the top and bottom!
This is the same pic just a differant angle.
This is also the same pic but a veiw of the other side ! See the differance in where the ears are located.
And yet another veiw.
This is one of many test fits as adjustments had to be made both to the unit and to the case.
And these next two pics are a look inside with the unit installed for a test fit.
These next two pics are test fits with the case front bezel on as you can see the screen sets back just enough to allow for the blast door and guide rails!
Keeping the protective cover on the screen while measureing for the blast door rails will insure that there is sufficient room between the screen and blast door during operation!
Continued in the next post.
Charles
Looks pretty sweet so far! Looking forward to seeing a final result!
Continued:
Here is my second ( and successful ) attempt at relocating the drive rails!
As you can see by the hole on the end the screen was originaly going to be on that end but I changed it because I was going to put nut's on the inside so I drilled these holes larger than my tap size! Then discovered that the ears on the screen are not big enough to allow room for nuts! So I had to switch ends and drill and tap new holes!
With the drive rail waiting to be installed.
In this fuzzy pic you can see I've added braces to keep the screen stationary and to be able to withstand installation and removal. I used a small carpenters square to insure that the screen was at a 90 degree angle.
Here is a better angle of the braces ( better pic too )
And yet another angle of the assembled unit with protective cover removed from screen!
This is a pic of the case and unit before installation.
The unit installed with protective cover removed from screen.
Here the unit is installed with the case front bezel on and the main door open.
Here the unit is installed with the case front bezel on and the main door closed.
Sorry for such a huge post there is more to come so stay tuned!
Charles, (Mightbeamodder) aka Wannabeamodder
Everything you're doing looks totally ace.
But the door on that case...hmm...i think it hides your good work. It possibly be improved...
-Dave
Originally Posted by jdbnsnOriginally Posted by jdbnsn
I am loving this thing, it's admittedly about as fun as watching the Doom3 blastdoor come to life. I've wanted to make something like this ever since I first saw Crimson's worklog, and you are doing a bang-up job at putting it together. Very impressive!
"At the midpoint on the journey of life, I found myself in a dark forest, for the clear path was lost..." -Dante Alighieri
Thanks guys:
What I am going for here is stealthiness.
No one will Know the lcd is there until I open the blast door.
I think it will be cool!
But the main reason is I had already bought this case before I
decided to tackle this it's the old put the cart before the horse kinda thing!
Charles