2002 Mitsubishi Magna VR-X - 15.4" ultrabright LCD, fabricating... - Page 4

BiGGy · 07-13-2007, 04:20 AM

^^yes i fully understand that. Thanks for your concern.

Started the bezel fabrication, ill add a brief description each update instead of each picture. Questions are welcome.

I masked off the area around the dash contour with scotch tape, then covered in foil and dabed around the edge of the opening with a dry sponge so the foil sits flush. I taped the corners of the foil to stop movement. The first layer will be the one touching the vinyl edge so it needs to be hand sanded down the track, the first layer is rage gold body filler with some resin mixed in. I added a dowel cross support down the bottom Waited for the filler to touch dry then added a couple layers of 225g fiberglass matting to give it some strength. Wait for the fg to fully cure, pulled it off, trimmed it down. Made some wooded cross supports and glued them with hot glue. Fleece stretched, glued and clamped. Out of daylight for today.

BiGGy · 07-15-2007, 02:30 AM

I realized today that my climate control unit is never going to fit into the dash with this screen, its just too wide. Its going to have to go into the glovebox, which takes a bit of the OEM feel away

. When I buy a fusion brain I may see if its possible for the carputer have complete control over the air con. Ill also thinking of putting OBD in this upgrade. On the dash, ive decided to put two 5.25" bays. One for a dvd/rw slot load and a fan/temp controller with a useful external volume control. Also got a bt dongle and a mic for phone integration.

I used some scrap pieces of RHS box cut them at 150mm and welded together for the fascia for the 5.25" bays. For the screen I cut out some plate with dimensions exactly to the viewable area I want for the screen which is 329x205. i tacked some handles on to pull it off. Wax and pva applied to the steal where its going to touch the fiberglass for easy removal. wet out the cloth, wait for cure, added one layer each side, waited for cure, removed the steal and trimmed it back. Will add several more layers I would think, to stop any flex.

Also we are in the process of moving house (down the road). So im not starting led brightness upgrade till im nice a settled in the new house.

mrbean_phillip · 07-15-2007, 04:35 AM

Ahh, I like what I see here

Good job on the new fascia so far, cannot wait to see the end result! Keep us posted, this is going to look nice....

Beanie

BiGGy · 07-15-2007, 04:39 AM

fanx

NiSlo · 07-17-2007, 10:17 PM

Wow.

That's looking like a great start to a pretty big undertaking. I'll be eager to watch this progress.

Subscribed

BiGGy · 07-21-2007, 04:54 AM

More bezel work done. The fleece warped the framing a bit so I had to foil up the dash again and build it to shape again, as no resin touched the tape last time I didn't bother taping. The rest of the glass applied to the rear, 7 heavy layers total. Wood frame for for panel fascia and to give a uniformed edge, it will be epoxy glued in.

The pic with the loom shows a cut and shut job done to make the fuel gauge work without the center trip computer. Cutting the green/yellow wire short and tapping it into the gray one.

Ordered some bits from pccasegear.com.

Made a little diagram on my thoughts so far for the ultra bright sunlight readable upgrade to the lcd.

Going to order LED supplies on Monday.

BiGGy · 07-21-2007, 04:57 AM

....

BiGGy · 07-21-2007, 05:10 AM

Forgot about the wifi. Buying a neat little usb wifi card with external antenna option from Jefa and and a 2.45GHz omni 9dBi external antenna from rfshop, this thing has a 10km line of sight range. Will have to have a good house setup to get good range, but im really looking forward to playing with this thing.

long.1 · 07-24-2007, 11:29 AM

Hey BiGGy,

I figure it's about time I went on the record as a keen follower of your work. I'm sure your worklog, photos, and fabrication have encouraged many Aussies into starting their own projects. Keep up the good work, as I'll continue to follow your progress with subscribed interest.

Cheers,

Long.1

NiSlo · 07-24-2007, 07:52 PM

Mate, that's coming along great. You obvisouly had a pretty good idea of what you wanted it to look like while you were working on it.

It's gonna look tech with the fan controller in there too!

BiGGy · 07-25-2007, 02:40 AM

Thanks long, nothings to hard for a DIY

I also think the fan controller will look pretty good, with the gauge style lcd and 7 backlights to choose from I can match the colour with my front end skin.

BiGGy · 07-29-2007, 03:25 AM

I rang up the local LED company to make my order, turns out they made allot of mistakes via email. They quoted me single led pcb prices on the double ones, which means it pretty much doubled the price straight up, with the dimmer, + tax and postage it was going to come to over $400, pretty steep imo for a handful of LEDs and resistors. I went with a US company for the LEDs, they sell 12" LED bars made up of 4x 3" detachable bars with 3 LED per bar. The LEDs are spaced 1 inch apart so I bought 7x12" bars to cover the whole screen with an even 84 LEDs. Each LED has a brightness level of 5000nits and a viewing angle of 90 degree with a power drain of around 10ma. They claim that these LEDs dont generate any heat at all, but I'd like to see that first hand. Came to a total of $170 and are on there way. I still need a dimmer.

Also my first attempt at a RR skin main menu is attached. Im making it in photoshop first. Pretty pathetic, it took me like 2 hours to get that far, im such a nub at this insanely large program. Basicly im trying to create a mid mounted menu that allows for two widescreen viewing areas top and bottom, to give a multitasking skin that can make use of my tall screen, for example gps top half and full music lists bottom half. I want it red to keep in theme with my dash cluster colour. If anyone wants to help me out with this skin, im all ears! Contact me! Until then, im slowly learning photoshop with some helpful online tutorials.

BiGGy · 07-29-2007, 03:54 AM

Ive decided to take a mold of this when its done, to form a cloth free, filler free, clean copy of it, so there will be many more pics of this before its done.

Bezel pictures:
Forming the bottom end with filler, one picture im showing 2 of the 4 mounting points attaching it to the dash. Aluminum tabs will be drilled and glassed in to slip under these screws. Now the shape and curves are right I just need to smooth everything over, correct the edges, sand it back ready to be primed. Im not sure if cutting the double DIN slot now is a good idea, it will be easier to make the mold with that part covered in, and cut it out of the pull off final piece. The pink stuff is Easefill, the green stuff is Rage Gold mixed with some polyester resin.

I should start the LED casing next weekend.

BiGGy · 07-30-2007, 07:29 AM

With some software help from a random mp3car user my screen is now very, very sideways

Heres a screeny.

sporty_drew · 07-31-2007, 01:33 AM

looking very good, I see you've made some progress since i saw this on the fg forums. I've made my skin and am also finishing up a skin for a friend so i can give you a hand if you need it. I was thinking about making a portrait skin since i think I'm going to try what your doing

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