Thread: Screen Install is FINISHED

that screen looks awesome there arby...
so when r u coming to NYC to install mine??

Originally posted by SPyder_Flex97
that screen looks awesome there arby...
so when r u coming to NYC to install mine??

After he stops by here to install mine

Good work Arby. Can we call you the "LCD God" now, instead of Guru?

Originally posted by ODYSSEY


After he stops by here to install mine

Good work Arby.

sorry Oddyssey...Arby is only allowed to touch DSMs!!!!!

Originally posted by SPyder_Flex97


sorry Oddyssey...Arby is only allowed to touch DSMs!!!!!

LOL I second that =D

And yes I meant Idol >:O

Tres

me too, mee too

Ok... Enough of this "Can you do it for me?" cr*p I have an eclipse (yah DSM!) as well, and a 10.4" touch screen I'm trying to mount right now. I've been working on building a mounting bracket that would place the display *in front of* the dash, instead of *inside the dash" like yours Arby. It's a Datalux display, so it has a very sharp looking enclosure that blends well with the black interior of my car. And it looks hideous next to yours

So, how about some tips for those of us that might try to follow in your footsteps...? I've never worked with fiberglass before, is there a steep learning curve with it, or does it come pretty easily if you're used to working with building materials? Could you give a rough (by rough I mean, whatever level of detail you are willing to get into... hehe) step by step guide to what you had to do?

I went to your website and noticed in your forums a thread on removing the HVAC controls... This is something I was also considering. However, I was thinking about something a little more in depth then what the people in that thread discussed. I work for a company that (and this is a vast over simplification) builds things using air pumps, valves, mass flow sensors, temperature sensors, and the like. So I was thinking about actually replacing the HVAC controls at the valve level, instead of trying to use the existing hardware and ust replacing the actual controls. Any thoughts on that? (I'm not sure what your qualifications are, but you seemed to know a lot about this topic base don the comments you made in that thread). My main concern is the accessability of the affore mentioned valves.

Well, that's enough "questionage" for now... I know that's a lot, so I'll consider myself lucky for any response I get

There are basically 4 steps to making something out of fiberglass.

1 - Make a mold. This can be just about anything you want. I used water-based air dry modeling clay because of the curves I needed to sculpt.

2 - Lay the fiberglass. Fiberglass consists of cloth, resin, and hardener. Once you mix the resin and hardener, you have just a few minutes before it dries. You lay out a small piece of cloth, and brush the resin/hardener mix onto it. You then lay the soaked cloth over the mold. The wet cloth will be soft like a wet paper towel, and can conform to the contours of the mold. I used 3 layers to make it sturdy.

3 - Remove the mold. I used water-based clay, so I got a hose and washed away all the clay, leaving the fiberglass shell.

4 - Finishing. This is the most time consuming part. It consisted of putting on some body filler, sanding , repeat. I kept filling holes and sanding until it was perfect.

There are pictures of the whole process here (and I just updated it, too)

http://www.arbytech.com/carmp3.php

Originally posted by novalis

I went to your website and noticed in your forums a thread on removing the HVAC controls... This is something I was also considering. However, I was thinking about something a little more in depth then what the people in that thread discussed. I work for a company that (and this is a vast over simplification) builds things using air pumps, valves, mass flow sensors, temperature sensors, and the like. So I was thinking about actually replacing the HVAC controls at the valve level, instead of trying to use the existing hardware and ust replacing the actual controls. Any thoughts on that? (I'm not sure what your qualifications are, but you seemed to know a lot about this topic base don the comments you made in that thread). My main concern is the accessability of the affore mentioned valves.

All of my knowledge of ac systems is from tearing my dash apart and playing with stuff. I'm a computer engineer, I don't work on ACs

The controls in the eclipse are almost all mechanical. Steel cables move things around to divert the air to the different vents. The only digital part seems to be the fan speed and on/off control.

It would probably be an easy job for a mechanical engineer, but that's not me.

mmmMMMMmmmm Information... Yum! Thanks for the reply.

I'm curious about one thing with respect to the fiberglass though... I would have thought it would be more effective to have made a negative mold instead of a positiv mold. Then the visible outside portion of the fiberglass would have been "finished" already... Isn't this how it is usually done? Or perhaps did you try that and find some hidden catch that causes it not to work well fo rthis application?

Also, where did you mount your computer? I'm thinking I might have room to fit it in that same space (especially if I succeeded in removing the HVAC controls altogether).