"Portabuddy's Car-Puter w/10" screen, 200+ pics"

[portabuddy]

Ok I am the biggest procrastinator in the world... this is the second year running for my project!,

i want to get all of this done in time for the NE civicfest in NY... and i think that a month is realistic for having a night job and only being to work one day a week on it, and that only sometimes too...



let me give you guys a run down... im putting in a carputer.

components

bezel(2 of them)---------------------------$60
plastic epoxy------------------------------$40
SSF Glass and glaze-----------------------$40
10.2" widescreen touch lcd-----------------$440 shipped
epia via sp15000 mobo---------------------$109 shipped
M2-ATX 160 w PS-------------------------$40 w/mobo
300GB Seagate Barracuda 16Mb cach-------$110
1Gb Corsair pc3200 Ram--------------------$70
Panasonic UJ-845-B usb cd/dvd reads/wrights anything-$160 got ***-RAPPED on duties and taxes($80)
radio Xtreme usb fm tuner------------------$80 shipped
ati usb tv tuner----------------------------existing if i can find it, FOUND IT!!!
Holux 213 SiRF III GPS Receiver usb---------$50 shipped
mini usb Keyboard--------------------------$15
2 night vision 2MP web cams----------------$60
OBDII reader a ELM327 can bus usb one-----$152 shipped


...

I got all the stuff right around the time i got my car, and a year later i had the fab work done on my screen, but then something fell from the rafters in my shed and broke the fiberglass, so then i decided to go with epoxy instead... and this stuff is HARD!!!...



Here are some progress shots of the bezzel as i cut it away...












the wires are to position the screen inplace so that there is no glare from my windows, i now have the cars windows tinted BLACK, all of them and yes i have been pulled over numours times...





Some scree shots!!!








and my new radio







here are some more recent pics, i used some foam to sculpt the general forum...










this was suppost to be a flap that reveiled USB connectoins and held my cell phone.. but i ended up gatting rid of it ans smothening it all over...


some modeling clay was used to fill in the blanks...and the first layrs or epoxy


from behind


all covered and in the rough!


all the foam had to go!. so i chipped away at it...


and re-inforsed it woth more epoxy!


i did do it all these just dont show that


this one dose though, at this point its heavy and thick!, but thats good most of it will be sanded away!


good thing i bought two kits!


and what it looks with the screen put in! THATS A 10" TOUCK SCREEN!!!



and a bit more sanded and refined...








that slot is where the eject button is going, i still hade to cut the hole for it and make a button... there will be other things going there too...

[portabuddy]

ok, another side projest was the usb mouse and WiFi antenna...

I want the best reception so i got a 8db gain antenna and began to think on how to make a internal antenna external... i stole a external gps/gsm antenna from work ment for a volvo truck(aprox. $300) and gutted it, Im going to mount it on my roof later. the gsm works on a 1.1GHz and wifi works on 2GHz so i had to scrap that antenna, and i bought the holox usb gps mouse off ebay, since i couldnt get the one built into the original volvo unit to work that had to go too. there was a bunch of circutry in there that was pretty useless, lol.

this is a pic of the antenna befor the butchery and durring, originaly i was going to have the gps under the dash and i was going to use the antenna for my tv, but im going to intergrate the tv antennas into the side rear windows in the form of de-fogger strips insted.(going all the way around the window)



here is a pic of the antennas still put together


here is a pic of the antenna with the rubber boot taken off, the antenna is junk and the boot i used to make the indoor a outdoor. also note the thickness differance, the original is 2mm thick and the new one is 12mm thick, thats a bit of a differnce, i ended up scooping the excess rubber by drilling it out with progresivly bigger bits since the sidewall was quite thick.


the useless guts!


then i had to extract my new mouse!, and it wasnt easy...




I drilled the old threads out and drilled through the brass to the exact outside diamiter of the new one.


and crazy glued it into place nor now...


this hurt me very much, but i had to do it to get it through the nut thing for mounting.


also on the right you can see the new antenna all done and squezed on. this was VERY HARD since i had to stretch the rubber over the antenna, so i greased it up with some nice syn. axle grease i had laying around, this greased everything so i got some spray adhesive used on carpets sprayed my handa and my brother sprayed hus this have us enough traction to slip it over. this took over an hour

then i hard plastic epoxied it into place this epoxy dries rock hard and it ensures that this will be water tight eaven though im siliconing EVERYTHING.


TAAA DAAAA all done and siliconed however i siliconed the top and filled the whole thing(the WiFi antenna) up with silicone too...crazy no?




ANOTHER side project is my display...I got a VFD(vacuum Fluorescent Display) from a friend for $20 its a 2 line 16 charicter display


As it turns out the box was empty???, ok well its a project box now...


im thinking it will go here!...BTW, this piece is only $20.


i used some plasticine to fab up how i want it to look, roughly...


and it will go here...\/





------------------------------<<<<<< all the newer pics will be quoted here...

Originally Posted by portabuddy

ok.... im not goping to be on for a while... im taking my computer apart to make mounts for it all....


heres what it looks like now and what i have been useing as a computer for the last year and a half

Originally Posted by portabuddy

i had to smooth the transition out, and i noticed in the pics that the facets dont look eaven, so those need more work, in person you cant tell at all







here is a ammusing shot to the old one and the new one... i got three total, one got smashed this is the second and my last one just in case :)


the MOBO, Tier one!


the back with little spacers, there is still plastic on it. acrylic is all i had and its easy to work with.



and my work table, its on top of my waterchange tank for my other fishtanks.
note the use of sticks, sharpies and foan to sand with

Originally Posted by portabuddy

lol it is... today i got to playing with fitting everything. then im gonna get paint...



so here are the pics of today... they are by far the best pics of the dash by far... all of the pics i have seen show no depth at all... there is almost 9.5" back of space... thats HUGE!, i was worried... but i have no worries now.

taking the dash apart was easy... to a point. the problem was that the radio is bolted in from the bottom. thats accesable from the lil-cubby where my sunglasses live.


this is the radio harness... took 6-7 min to get to this point.




there are no good pics of the stock unit either so i figured i would take a few pics...














LOOK AT ALL THAT SPACE!!!, my fuzzy hand fits in there with tons of room to spair...


Test fit of the dash to make sure that there arnt any clerance issues...


there where... i moved the SRS light so that i could get the screen in there, the problem is that the vent bolts to one of the posts i moved. so that will have to be.... ADJUSTED!, other then that i was really impressed with the day.

I need to trim here, the epoxy dripped down a bit and the heater controles wont fit right...


Im going to need a more SOLID place to attatch the hdd, so its going onto the knee bolster

^^^^ thats the obdII port thats going to get moved BTW...



here is the other cluster, this will also be painted...


the IR led's will all go where, im going to duplicate the cluster hood, 20 times smaller and place the led's in there like little tiny guage pods.

and the back, just for $hits and giggles...

Originally Posted by portabuddy

Oh this is me asking for a 8mm socket, wondering my my own brother isnt giving it to me???, well as it turns out it was because he was taking the pic...






handsome upside down arnt i?

Some more updates from today

Originally Posted by portabuddy

well since you put it that way, heres some more progress..., im thinking of calling in sick to get some more work done tomarow..

my brother decided to help out and do a bit of carylic work... we had to cut down the mobo backer down to the exact size of the mobo... and the PSU(poser supply) was mounted on some risers of its own... lol, there is no reason for the fancyness, mo one will ever see it, but... meh might aswell..


Oh by the way, i find that its really really hard to take a bad picture with this camera... Dear Lebus i like by DR...







Next was the usb hub... its powered by the PSU's 5V output that used to go to a floppy drive, dont have one of those...

Removed it from the care, which was just too big...


and backed it with plasitc to be mounted...


and mounted it.




But i need more ports, so useing the onboard ports he decided to make a plate...



this is ROUGH!!!, they will all be filed down nice and smooth.


And it will be glues to go here...

and from monday,

Originally Posted by portabuddy

i got a bit more work dont sofar. i picked up some paint and sandable primer...


here is some work with finishing putty...
sorry that its a bit dusty...






More work is needed, some of the curves and lines just arnt perfect...



oh and i did call in sick today, they asked me not to come back , so i have a week off untill i start my new job...

UPDATE:, 10:15pm tuesday...

Originally Posted by portabuddy

ok working on it again... today this is how things look...

I got some areas of interest fixed. and i board out a eject button for the top, thats what the groov is for... no i was racking my brain on how to make the button... and after abandoning my first two methods im going with a third one...





first plan was to line the hole with silicowrap, then fill it with epoxy... that failed horrably... then plan 2 was to sand down a piece of acrylic and paint it fron behind for a cool look... that involves WAY too much sanding...

So here is what i have come up with...im going to make a mould useing...



lol thats right im nutz, im useing playdough..., its its easy and molds realy easy...

See, pop and you have a button...


but its too flexable... Hmm what ever will I do???, i know i'll frezze it! and i happen to have a "drink" fridge to my right... Also a volvo warrany score... i pulled this babey right out of the dumpster, the only thing wrong with her was that the compressor was unplugged hahaha, suckers...







I needed to make a fer chisles, these ??Paddles?? where blunt and i think used for spreading something, so i put a fine edge on them...



Oooooo... shiney, then i hardened them so they dont ware too quickly...

Im also focusing my attention to the Ugly amps... they are OLD like 2000-2002 ish. i kinda forgot about them. i fixed each 3 times and got tired of buying transisters and put them away, they just dont like being cranked... so they are going to retire as component drivers... cranked WAY down... 300w rms im told, but id peg them at 200 tops... they can push a sub good, just not for long.



and im not digging those fins anymore..., SO.....



yes it was outside, the shed was full, it got covered with snow and i forgot about it... that and my fine putty and resin.

ANYWAY....

[20strong]

Hey thats only 31 pics WTF?????????? Sweet project man good luck.

Edit: dang didnt get it in there in time.

[portabuddy]

What do you guys think???

I still need to finish the epoxy on the screen bezzle then clean it up and paint it!, then paint the guage cluster bezzle, then finish the display stuff...

then mount the motherboard/hdd/all the other stuff... fab up camera pods, wire those up, wire up IR LED's. install the keyboard into the visor, fab up a sub enclosure into the trunk(1500watt duel voice coil(takes 3CU-ft))

[20strong]

It is looking great, I love the DIY approach to all of it. It is going to be very original in the end.

[portabuddy]

Originally Posted by 20strong

Hey thats only 31 pics WTF?????????? Sweet project man good luck.

Edit: dang didnt get it in there in time.

more pics comming... Dose anyone know how to get the visor off???

I need to put one of these in there...

[malditoron]

your are insane....look forward to checking it out at the meet if i go..... hot stuff man

[20strong]

Did you consider putting one of those flaxe keyborads in there?

[portabuddy]

Originally Posted by malditoron

your are insane....look forward to checking it out at the meet if i go..... hot stuff man

lol thanks, i have a month to get it done, but i said i had two months a month ago!!! Ah crap!...

[portabuddy]

Originally Posted by 20strong

Did you consider putting one of those flaxe keyborads in there?

I did but they are too bid, i mught get one of those mini PS2 keyboards and put it into the handrest...

here is the one i was thinking about...(its USB)

[webby]

hat is off to you... I can't wait to see the finished project.
wow

[20strong]

I got the perfect Keybord for you.
http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/ke.../3848&cl=us,en

[President]

very very very very very interested dude !!!

[ImTheVoiceOfGod]

Holy crap!