Thread: 2006 Ford Focus - CM's First Carputer

If I understand this, you'd like a 2-DIN box that plugs into the dash. Except for the plug-in system, that's what I did on my carPC. You'll have to make a couple of additions, and they'd be good on my system, too.

I went through a couple of different system designs before I began work on an open-back, 5-sided box; that starts about post #472 of my worklog (if you're displaying the standard 15 posts per page, that's page 32). The screen mounts on the closed front. You might want to consider enclosing the back, or at least mounting your plug-in device(s) there; you'd have to allow for the intake of cooling air. One option would be to leave it like mine, and plug in your cables before sliding it into the dash. The downside of that, I discovered, is that it takes a lot of dash depth to house the cables, and it takes a bit of magic to get them to curl into place nicely as you slide the PC into its position. A miniaturized, server-style folding cable arm might be very good here. At the least, you'll have to figure out an interface that takes your screen, touch panel, power, sound, and multiple USB plugs into account. I say multiple USB plugs because some USB plugs need to go directly to the mainboard -- wireless, GPS and touchscreen come immediately to mind -- and the rest can work on a hub.

I haven't built the bezel yet, but the plan is to build it so the touchscreen can be removed, a few mounting screws removed, and then the PC slid out, without removing the bezel. The touchscreen is larger in both dimensions than the 2-DIN opening, and the bezel I have in mind will allow that, since I'm leaving the touchscreen in its case.

You'd have to engineer a mounting system that holds the PC in place, rather than screws; a rail system would certainly work. You could also form a cage of simple aluminum angle and mount that in your dash. It could be a track for the PC to slide on. I would think that, if your pull handle was at the bottom of the screen, it could be your locking device; pivoting it somehow would release the PC and monitor, and then it could be the way you get the PC out far enough to unplug everything.

Power is another consideration. I used a panel-mount receptacle on mine. You could do something similar, but I'd recommend using an oddball receptacle that doesn't accept a normal plug. You don't want someone plugging a 12V system into 120V, because that would make terminal smoke come out. Instead, plan to have a small external power supply you can take with you -- a power brick -- so you can plug it in and use the PC. You might even look around for an old power brick that puts out 12V (they're rare) and find a receptacle that takes its plug; use that for your receptacle and use a similar cable to bring in the car power, and you'd be ready to go with no manufacturing issue.

After you've measured the space available in your dash, one good starting point might be to consider a chassis from Blk02si. He has this thread and this thread in the Fabrication area, and a website. He can customize to suit your needs.

If you'd rather build your own chassis, you could produce a design similar to mine using flat aluminum panels and aluminum angle stock. It's a pretty basic design that could be built with minimum tools, and it's certainly strong enough to carry around; mine is overkill -- it would be strong enough with half the fasteners.

Information on tools required is included in my worklog.

I'll watch to see what you come up with. This is a very interesting project you have going, and an approach I might have considered way back in my design phase. I'm more of a manufacturing guy than a programmer, so I'll help you with ideas where I can.

Building a case for the house is a neat idea. It would let you do a lot of testing before you build one in the dash.

Rather than using grease, just make one of the mating parts -- probably the channels -- out of nylon or Delrin. That will give you the lubricity you need without the mess. You might make a 4-corner box of aluminum angle for the receiver, and put nylon strips on the corners of the chassis. Then the chassis would slide into the receiver box without lube.

As for the plugs, they're okay individually, but pushing all of them in at once means an awful lot of force, and they have to be dead center and very solid, or you can end up with pranged pins on the video. You might consider adapting some sort of docking station device.

For locking system / handles, look around at the types of mechanisms used for hot-swappable devices in servers.

Originally Posted by soundman98

i have a custom bracket/box that i made for a intel 945gclf(if i spelled it wrong, its the cheap intel motherboard from the mp3car store) that i made to fit in my dash, it holds the motherboard and one pci card-and was designed around using a bybyte lcd fram to attach the monitor to it- I can take some pics if your really interested, or if you would like it, i would be happy to get rid of it--you would just need to take care of the shipping charges.

i had to scrap the idea after not having enough clearance behind the radio(i want to say i needed close to 14" of depth, and had 12")

Sounds interesting -- I'd like to see the pix.

Originally Posted by Caliber_Mengsk

Thanks for the offer, but my dash is more restrictive. I've got about 7" of depth. Max dimensions I have to make it is 7"d x 4.75"t x 7.5"w. The mobo I want is
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813121359
The dimensions of the mobo are 6.75 x 6.75 so it'd fit in the max dimensions pretty well.
Here is the entire system I plan on at some point.
http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/Pu...Number=7486689

I know the video card doesn't matter at this point (and yes, it's a PCI graphics card and will work on practically any computer. I've seen videos on youtube of the same card playing crysis on medium graphics with around 30fps... so it's pretty peppy for something that could go in a carputer.) so it'd actually be less. Also, the case is just if I used it as a home pc (same for video). So that would drop the price a bit more I'm looking at about $120 if I don't count the case, video, and hard drive. (I have at least an 80gb sata 2.5", and I also have a 160gb one in my laptop, in which if I got this whole system working, I'd sell the laptop and put the 80gb in it.)

Anyway, I took a few pics of the screen outside of everything... I'll clean them up real quick then edit this post if no one posted anything new.

That's the motherboard I'm running, and it's been good.

For the PCI video card, you'll want to find a way to tie that down. PCI cards have a way of working loose in a high-vibration environment. You could probably use a vinyl or rubber biscuit on the top panel, placed so it presses the video card in place (gently) when you screw the top on.

That board already has onboard video also isn't the Mimo a USB monitor meaning that it does the video? I had about 8.5" of depth for my build and I'm using the same MB. With keeping everything in the dash there is barely and I mean barely enough room for everything.