Bare LCD Case? - Allbrite

anaxagoras · 09-28-2004, 10:38 PM

I have an allbrite bare LCD 10.4" that i was originall planning on fab mounting in my dash.... after many hours of consideration and planning i've decided against this. Now i'm planning on mounting the screen externally (sort of), and need a case to house the pannel, inverter, controller, and touch screen controller. Also i need a case with very thin walls on the top and bottom of the screen (the bare pannel it self only leaves fractions of an inch worth of play on either side).
If this is the pannel, then the sides with X's have very limited space

____X_____X______X________
| .................................................. |
| .................................................. |
| .................................................. |
| .................................................. |
| .................................................. |
| .................................................. |
|___X_____X________X______ |

I realize every case is designed specifically with different controllers in mind, esp in terms of placement of the vga connectors and everything, but i'm just looking for ideas really. and maybee people who have gone down this route, what they've done.

I thought about a radio shack project box, even if they make it in the right size, my god it would look ghetto-fab.

anaxagoras · 09-30-2004, 03:43 PM

anybody?

Maybee someone with experience on actually having made their own lcd case? which i don't particuarly want to do.

alti · 09-30-2004, 04:01 PM

just out of curosity, why are you mounting it out of the dash was it heat output?? Sorry I dont have any ideas on the case yet, I am tring to get my setup working. I think that i am going to install in my dash though.

Good luck!

anaxagoras · 09-30-2004, 04:11 PM

to put the screen in the dash requires some cutting, or mounting it sideways, niehter of which i want to do. I don't want to cut the dash because i plan/hope on selling my car in a year. Also becuase i Just don't have a lot of dash real-estate to begin with and i think mounting it in the dash looks a bit commical, like a clow with HUGE shoes.

I'm going to use some small ball bearing drawer rails to have it slide out of my stero pod area (it will be laying on it's back and oriented sideways as it's to wide to fit naturally), then use hinges attached to a backing plate so the screen will flip up, and finally have an axle attach the screen/case to the backing plate so that i can rotate it horizontally. I'm sure i'll run in to some problems along the way as things always look nicer on paper... specifically how the hell i will lock this thing in place, and hopefully no problems with cable management.

Problem is I don't want to start building my popout system, until i have the screen finished so i can design it accordingly.

Maybee someone has some better ideas for a popout system?

anaxagoras · 09-30-2004, 04:15 PM

Right now i'm toying with the idea of modifying a laptop LCD housing, but most of those have a extra bulk along the bottom, while being very trim on the sides, i need the bottom and top to be trim, and put my bulk on the sides and in the depth of it. Most consumer LCDs that i have seen have to much bulk along the edges so they seem to be out of the question.

My only other option really seems to be making something myself from scratch where I have little clue where to start. Let alone designing something that doesn't look like a coffin.

alti · 09-30-2004, 04:34 PM

Are you mounting the controllers and inverters onto the mounting screws on the back of the screen? I think its going to require alot of depth. I know that my allbright with all of its backlights and tank like caseing is at least 1 1/2 deep without any chips attached to the back. I can not imagine it fitting in a laptop casing.

I plan on putting mine in the dash and did not want destroy the car either. I went to Nissan and ordered all of the dash parts that I planned on cutting / fiberglassing / generally messing up. cost me $125 with tax. It was only plastic that i have to mod though not the structure of the dash.

anaxagoras · 09-30-2004, 04:46 PM

i looked at the mounting studs on the back, and unfortunatly NONE of them match up with more than one hole of my electronics. So it will end up being about 2" thick i'm sure if not more, but my only other choice is to run all kinds of ribbong cables that could break... I have this allbrite and i'm intent on installing it in my convertible, i just wish i knew how. As for fitting it in a laptop case, if i can just get the front of it setup, and somehow extend the depth that might work, i don't really care about the back looking pretty, just having the front be presentable and something that will fit.

I would need to actually alter the dash itself, and i do not have a lot of experience with glassing to fabricate a new bezel, and since i don't plan on keeping this car i just don't see the point to doing something like that.

anaxagoras · 10-03-2004, 12:52 AM

Well, I went to home depot and bought some sheet metal, and fabricated the front half of a bezel, I suppose at this point this thread should be over in fabrication, so I shall continue there for those interested.