LCD Case mod

[Slinks]

I have this small LCD i want to mod in to my case.. i thought it might be cool to have it on the top of the case and have it raise up when the computer turns on.. I was wondering if some one could come up with a design to make it raise up using like a servo off a R/C car or plane or anything else.. if any one can come up with some links on a actuator i could use i could design a linkage of some sort. kinda like how the hinged automatic doors open but sideways and much smaller. here are some pics..

[zackbass]

My first bit of advice: This isn't going to be easy. But, it you wanted easy, you probably wouldn't be here anyway.

You will need to make a rail system for the screen to travel on. This is going to require some premade sliding brackets, or quite a bit of work to make something yourself, either out of plactic or metal.

The second thing you'll need to do is pick a locomotion system. You could either go with a gear drive sort of thing, or a pulley and string type system. I would suggest going with a servo motor, since they have plenty of torque. They are pretty easily modified so that they turn continuiously instead of the short range of motion they normally have. The tricky part would be producing the right signal to tell the motor to move. I don't know much about that end of it, there is probably an easy workaround for that.

[Slinks]

I dont realy know anything about RC car/plane servos but from what i can tell they arnt controled by radio they are run off a little power supply that recieves a radio signal and then it givese the servo voltage to move.. it seems there are two voltages for servo's 4.8V and 6.0V from what i can see.. i could be totaly wrong sence like i said i know nothing of them just from what the sites that sell them say... My other problem is there is about 50 billion types of servo's and i have no clue what i could use.. if any one knows anything about them i would apreciate some of your knowledge... i figure ill need one that will do about 180 degree spin or if they make adjustable ones even that would be better. Thanx

[zackbass]

Here's a few websites to get you started:

Computer controlled servo driver hardware:
http://www.pololu.com/products/pololu/0290/

Modifying a servo for continuious operation:
http://www.portlandrobotics.org/robots/servo/

Very simple motor driver schematic:
http://www.uoguelph.ca/~antoon/gadgets/servo3.htm

[divemaster]

no room in side that thing to go up and down????

[Slinks]

Originally posted by divemaster
no room in side that thing to go up and down????

Do u mean verticaly sliding in and out instead of rotating up like a door... no not realy the compressor, tubing, rad/fan take up most the room inside the only place i could do that is the very back and id like it closer to the front.

[Slinks]

Thanks zackbass for the links.. the contiuious operation link may be helpfull to me but the computer controler is way beyond me i dont have any coding skills what so ever so that probably wont work... if u could find somthing that turns on and off a servo with like a momentary button that would be somthing i could use. Cool idea though.

[San7a]

If you don't mind me asking, where'd you nab the LCD and for how much?

Good luck with the mod... Don't electricute yourself!

[Slinks]

Originally posted by San7a
If you don't mind me asking, where'd you nab the LCD and for how much?

Good luck with the mod... Don't electricute yourself!

Wish i could tell ya.. i baught it like 2 years ago from a random online retailer. i think i paied like 125 for it.

[San7a]

It would be really sweet if you could mod that LCD into a few 5.25" or 3.5" bays (Not too keen on its size), but I can see you don't have a lot of room with that VC case.

What'd be cool is if you could find some kind of way to move the vapor cooler itself into some kind of external box and grab a Lian-Li or something to sit it on... Moving the hose in through the bottom onto the processor.

Stop rambling, stupid. Ok.