Scratch Build Web enabled bedside table (webside table) (Software development... Haha) Jan 09

[steveo_mcg]

Well having completed Kotor and been unable to find some other way of entertaining myself until L4D comes out i've got back to this. So got the drill out and started securing the perspex to the top of the unit.



I've put the holes quite far in to make sure that they don't damage the plastic.


Bit more action for mister counter sink should keep the bolt nice and flush.



The bolts are far to long but i've got shorter ones some where but i can't find them so i've just used these longs ones temporarily

This is the temporary sheet of vinyl just to see how it looks but its been fairly rough cut and it has a bit of a crinkle in it so i'll cut another once this tested

And with the screen in place it actually looks like it might work although there is still a fair amount of tinting from the covering plastic.

[Stickeh]

So many times i have thought of doing this, i have itx boards lying around, with 7" tft in my wardrobe, i really should attempt to, but god knows i dont spend enough time on a computer as it is!

Guess it would make a SWEET new alarm clock! Though it'd have to be on 24/7!

[steveo_mcg]

Made a start at the switches and some assorted circuitry. Plan is to mount the switch box towards the top just below the shelf and hold the micro switches for power and reset and the 555 flip flop circuitry for the screen and lamp which i'm not sure how i'm going to implement.

Cheap plastic box to hold the circuitry and switches. So we mark up where the box is going to go and where the holes for the rods to go through. Then some corresponding holes in the box and the unit.



I cheated slightly. I drilled the holes in the side of the unit then I secured the plastic box to the unit and continued the drill to make the holes in the unit, much less hastle than marking up.






Next job is the bits to hold the leds and the switches. Yes those are lip balms... My wife goes through them like air



Junior hacksaw meet lip balm, cut these to the correct size to hold the led but still leave enough space for the microswitch. The duck tape is an excellent way of reinforcing the plastic for drilling.





The hole for the led and the led in place to check it.



The supervisor watches all! Makes sure I keep working and don't start gaming.



The leds all wired up just waiting on some power. On that board there is a couple of spare connections so i can wire up some more powerful leds to make a lamp.

[steveo_mcg]

The acrylic rods perform a handy double rod purpose of extending the microswitches and transferring the light from the box to the out side.





The spring return of the microswitch blows the rod clean out of the unit so we need some thing to block it. I tried hot glue and it just made the switch feel dead on the return so we need something else.






Tesco for all your modding needs.....

Spring cut down to size.



And hot glued in place, I love the hot glue gun my second favorite toy.




I've added a strip board in the batter bay of the laptop to hold a connector so i can relocate the switches from the laptop to the night stand. The ic there is a 5v regulator to take the 15v input from the lappy psu to some thing more manageable. Will probably need heat sunk though.



And here we have the leds tested and they work, YEAH!





The micro-switches and the leds wired together so now all we need to do is hot glue the switches in place and glue the leds into the holders. The rods effectively just float inside the holders between the switch and the spring.




I just put the unit together to test it the leds are only just bright enough to show through the acrylic.


It is.



Don't you just love camera noise.

[Cheapskate]

As the official Bit-Tech killer of ball point pens, I approve.

[steveo_mcg]

I might just go for the title of lip balm killer.

[steveo_mcg]

So with a mild hang over I decided it was the best time to try and attach the vinyl to the underside of the perspex. I knew it was going to be a bugger of job, it was....




Lined every thing up to make sure it was going to fit.




I lined up the old frame over the gap in the top and then measured the distance from the edge of the top to the inside edge of the frame to get the correct coverage.





Just a rough cut to get most of the material out of the way.







Then I neatened up a little. Although i think i took a few mm to much off while i was neatening up but it still hides enough of the silver of the screen. But it might show the matrix at the side I'll live with it.


Peeled the vinyl and stuck it down, really carefully and slowly but....


EPIC Fail....



I've been putting this part of it off and this is why. The effect isn't bad its just a pity I didn't manage to pull it off properly. There's only about a fivers worth of acrylic so its not a complete loss in the future i might try a different technique or try this one again with some more practise.

So last thing to do is to varnish the frame and get it in use.

I'm going to share a technique handed down from the clan chiefs for hundreds of years. Top varnishing method.



Cheap sponges! They are a much easier way to apply varnish than a brush, it goes on evenly, it doesn't drop off hairs you just have to wear gloves to prevent getting completely covered in varnish.



And just for cheaps, what do you do with a biro which has lost its spring.... Use it as a stirrer.





So strip the whole thing back to the wood and give it a good sanding to get rid of the tool marks and the weird finish that ikea puts on it stuff.




The sponge puts the varnish on so well that along with the wood being so thirsty that the varnish is touch dry by the time i've got an even coat.

Couple more coats ought to do it. Then just got to install the 555 switch for the screen back light and a night light of some description.

[steveo_mcg]

Were not dead merely sleeping (sorry).
I've pretty much finished the hardware, the screen still needs to go in but thats it. Been playing with software and come to the conclusion i need another laptop..... argghh. The one i've got has only 32mb of ram which once Linux and X is loaded leaves about 12mb, not really enough for Firefox. I've not tried dillo in years but last time i did it was hopeless. I'm now on the look out for a P2 of similar dimensions to fit. I had a look on eBay but these old Toshibas seem to use funny ram which is stupid expensive, like £15 for 32mb which is just obscene for this project. in the mean time i'm considering lynx which is perhaps more basic than i can really cope with in the morning.


Edit: Just got a sweet looking Sony VAIO (cira 1955 in tradition gunship grey) with a whopping 64mb of ram and a speedy P2 266.... It also is apparently 1024x768 which in itself is a huge improvement over the svga on the old tosh. So were back on, just hope this thing plays nice with linux and cross your fingers the screen is a similar physical size...

[Neji]

Did you try kazehakase? I use it and it's pretty good if you're looking for light but functional browser.

[steveo_mcg]

I haven't tried that no, i'll give it ago another day because my new Sony VIAO arrived today and it really is too nice to hack up and stick in here so back on eBay for it once I've confirmed its all working. However it did come with a stick of ram which once put in the old Toshiba brings it up to a nice round 64mb which is just enough to run firefox so were back to the tosh (saves on soldering). I'm glad of that the sony really is in good nick and comes with its cd rom and every thing it would be a waste for this. It turns out some one on the internet lied to me, the tosh does take standard sodimms from the era, i'm not sure i'll ever get over this betrayal....

[Kumo]

Nice project. Like the idea.

[steveo_mcg]

Thanks.

I've been busy working away at the software, i now have my linux distro booting straight to firefox no need to log in or launch any thing it also goes straight to full screen which is handy given the complete lack of screen space. With one or two tabs open it leaves me with about 16mb to play with but given how slow the laptop is it won't see an aful lot of multi tabbed browsing so it'll be fine. Its not to slow to boot up <3mins from power button to custom home screen on firefox and given how slow the machine is coupled with cheap flash memory thats not too bad.

I'm just working on the php interface to my email so it'll pull my unread mails straight to the home screen, the less clicks on this thing the better. Hopefully i'll have it completed in the next week or two to start on my next project.

[BlackWhizz]

Use OPERA. Its much lighter. And it also supports linux.

[Kumo]

Dillo is even lighter and multitabbed, but has some limitations.

[steveo_mcg]

Originally Posted by BlackWhizz

Use OPERA. Its much lighter. And it also supports linux.

Opera wouldn't really help its as modern and heavy as ff at least as far as this thing goes

Originally Posted by Kumo

Dillo is even lighter and multitabbed, but has some limitations.

Last time i used DIllo it was hopeless as i said above, however i kinda recant that. I just installed it and while its definitely limited its much better than the last time I used it and speeds up page load by a good margin and uses much much less ram. I suppose as long as firefox is available for pages it can't cope with i could use Dillo for the custom home page for it. Thanks for the push to try it again.

[fillip]

Firstly, love the idea for the project. It's nice to see something different to the usual case mods every once in a while.

On to the vinyl. When you're laying down vinyl in this manner, it's best to use some water with a drop of washing up liquid and a squeegee.
Put some water into a spray mister (like the things hairdressers use) and add a drop or two of fairy liquid - you don't want soapy water, but the addition of a couple of drops will help reduce surface friction further and makes the vinyl easier to apply. Then, spray the perspex fairly liberally so the whole surface has a good misting of water. Excess water can still be dealt with later, but too little and the vinyl will adhere to the perspex before you want it to.
After misting you will find that you can move the vinyl around on the perspex surface fairly easily, allowing you to position it correctly before the adhesive starts to fix.

Once in position you use the squeegee to push the excess water and air bubbles out from under the vinyl. Start from the middle and push smoothly out to the edges untill the vinyl is nice and flat on the perspex. Don't push too hard or you will stretch and possibly break the vinyl.

Once you're happy with the finish, wipe the whole piece down with a soft cloth and leave to one side for the adhesive to go off properly.

Note: The surface you apply the vinyl to needs to be nice and clean and free of dust/hairs for the best possible finish.

Hope that helps you.

[Kumo]

I have two more light browser for you: Midori and Kazehakase (yep, japanese names). Maybe a little bit more capable than dillo.