trader007

i mentioned in another thread about roller tracks for monitors. found the tracks, now i found a way to have my screen slot-load in my truck without even modifying the screen itself in any way.

pics are crappy, i cant find my canon... but the amateur job i did is much worse the then quality of pics, so dont laugh. rollers came from rockler shameless plug because the rollers are top quality for a fair price.



the hinge bar is actually a piece of 3/8 brake line. very tough. the holes in the rollers were the same size as the od of the brake line, so i made the line a little longer then needed and pinched off the ends. won't go anywhere, it still swivels, and best part is how easy it was to do.



i have no metal fab tools (obviously) just a drill, rivets, and bandsaw.

as you can see, the screen fits perfectly, and it works just as good as anything could-






this is screen fully in. notice the bars sticking out the back while closed. i made sure there IS enough room in my dash to accommodate.



when the screen is pulled out, the rollers have a 'stick' point at the end, where it sort of locks into place. this will keep the screen from sliding back and forth when its out.

and you can see here how it will fold down. i dont have the hingebar mounted to the screen yet, but i will simply make metal bands that will wrap around the ends of the screen and attach to that bar (the bar swivels freely).



the only thing i have to figure out is how to make the screen stop at the angle i want when i swing it down. but that should be taken care of will small tabs on the hingepoints.

that, and actually mount this thing under my radio- but that should be easy. this was definitely the hard part, and it only took me two hours with like i said, no skills at all.

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VmtSquad

did you plan to get it motorized ?

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soundman98

looks great!

trader007

no. this is a 'kiss' project. above all else, it must work every time. this is all going in a personal/construction work truck, and my goal is to enjoy the truck-pc more then hate it... so im trying to do everything as maitence-free as possible. i would have just permanently mounted the display and used a trick cover, but i wanted to keep my pioneer radio for am radio and backup in case the computer is ever down. the sound output for the computer will just go into the aux in on the stereo.

motorized would be possible i guess, but very unnecessary.

rdholtz

This is very nicely conceived. How do you plan to handle the cables?

Instead of some loops around the monitor case, many of them have mounting points on the back. A panel of heavier material could attach to those points and connect to your pivot bar. It might even extend beyond the top of the monitor and provide a handle you could use to pull it in and out of the dash.

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trader007

you know, i had just thought of that late last night before bed. if there is enough clearance on the bottom, and i think there is, it would be an easy way to go.

i was also thinking about using foam around the bar where the screen mounts to (make the bar solid so it doesnt spin). if i can secure a loop tight enough around the bar and foam, it should make a nice fully-adjustable swivel point, for the folding up and down motion. the screen itself doesnt weigh anything, but the swivel needs to be tight enough for when i touch the screen it doesnt flop back. there are still a thousand ways to do this swivel, so im not set on it yet by any means

also, i'll take a pic of how the wires fit. this is one of those lucky moments i tend to get here and there, where something just works perfectly without trying. on the lilliputs, the wires stick out the side, and in this contraption they fit exactly underneath the right rail as it slides in. the fit is picture perfect, as ill show you

eigenVector

Awesome job on this! Looks great!

trader007

as you can see, the wires stick out to the sides but they still fit nice

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ThunderStick

I am going to be honest here. Great idea but I think it could use a little more touching up

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trader007

mechanically, its very sound. i already admitted it appears to look like s&^%t since this goes all inside the dash, there's no reason for it to look nice anyway. surely though, anyone with the most basic metal fab shop could make something much more appealing to the eyes... it just wouldn't work any different so its a non-issue for me.

2k1Toaster

And does this fit width-wise into your truck? The problem most people face is that a 7" screen is wider than double din standards state. So taking something already too wide, and adding more onto the width seems like it might not work. Maybe you just have a very large opening in your truck, but for the majority of people, I dont think it would fit too well.

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trader007

no, like i said earlier, thats going to be the next problem. i will have to cut the opening in the truck wider to fit this- but since the screen is already too wide for the hole and i would be cutting anyway, i figured adding more width wont really hurt. it would have been nicer to keep the width of the screen, but this is too simple to not do it this way. and even if the final appearance looks a little weird, i dont care. as long as the screen tucks away and things look somewhat stock i will be happy.

jpinkerton

Lookin' good, hope to see final pics!

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trader007

UPDATE!

first idea was scrapped when i found out it really wouldnt fit as far as height (the radio is too thick)

so, i did it again, and this time it WILL work. check it out

no more height issues, it all fits!

my best idea was to use copper tube for bracing. easy to work with, and strong.


check out the copper that wraps around the bottom. this helped tremendously to stiffen everything up.

the monitor will stick out further then i orginally expected. this is nice because it brings the screen that much closer to me when im driving, but it also means when the screen is pushed in it doesnt go in all the way. shouldnt matter i plan on making a coverplate on the front to seal everything up cosmetically. (and yes, the crossbar is off a little on each end, this is because the rails themselves werent installed perfectly in line. ill shave down that left side rail arm to look more like the right.

everything is actually fairly straight and true. again, its very, very solid and strong. Notice the square where my fog lights button used to be. that is going to have to be covered up and relocated. but the lighter socket on the otherside looks like i probably can squeeze it back in there. i might, or might just cover over it (now that i will have a carpc, i wont need 6 different 12v adapters for various crap lol)

final again, with screen inside



also, the bar on the front of the rails is now immobile. i tapped in #6-32 threads and screwed it to the rollers with screws. i can still add some washers and make the bar pivot, which i probably will if i can end up having it tight enough to hold the monitor in any position. if not, ill think of something else.

all in all, its just a matter of physically attatching the screen now, and some dynatron work (i bought that stuff, trying to do things right. im excited to see how it will look when done)

jpinkerton

Lookin' impressive! Can't wait to see pics of it in the truck!

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