--------- 06-18-04 --------- Well, I have adapted to using the Point-Of-Sale terminal as my main monitor and I'm now very pleased with it's contrast quality and native resolution (1280x1024) which gives me plenty of room to work on graphical projects. As it is now, it's a very dominating feature of my room and is warranting some agitation. It's wonderful to use but has some downsides. 1. The back of the unit still houses space for a Single-Board computer, which I have since removed. This is wasting space on my already tiny desk 2. This unit was designed for wall-mounting and not sitting on a desk. Therfore it is excessively reinforced for my usage. This makes for an extremely heavy unit. The screen itelf only weighs 7 pounds, but is currently attached to 10 pounds of aluminum 3. The power supplies that feed the screen create alot of excess heat. Just as much (if not more) than a standard CRT. This is starting to raise the temperature in my room, and that's not something I'd can live with in the summer months. 4. The speaker amplification quality of the unit is not indicative to playing music at CD quality and I would prefer to use a speaker set. But the unit is hogging too much desk space to allow for one. 5. The touchscreen proved to be too awkward for graphical work, so I removed it. So I no longer have the need to leave the unit as-is. I've looked over the technical documentation for the screen and I should be able to power it without using the Power supplies that it's currently running off of. I've ordered a 12v 5Amp power brick that will supply more than enough juice and can be easily adapted to power the screen independantly. With that problem out of the way I will be able to build a new, lighter and more attractive frame. So I have the construction worked out in my head (mostly) and I have the 3/8" polycarbonate to make it. Now I just need to wait for a few things to arrive before I can get started. In the end it will look remarkably similar to my first model. Only much MUCH larger.
--------- 07-19-04 --------- After lots of fiddling about with various parts I had to order and some unavoidable delays, I finally managed to get this project completed. Parts involved - HP F1104 12V 5A power brick - 8" Stainless steel cabinet handle - 4" Stainless steel cabinet handle - Rubber insulated wire clamps - Bulky SPST Toggle Switch - 2.1mm barrel power connector - RED chrome housed LED - 0.75" square extruded Acrylic rod - 0.365" polycarbonate sheets - a few dozen 7-32 stainless steel screws, bolts, and hex-nuts I've probably spent around 30 hours soldering, machining, assembling, unassembling, machining again, and reassembling over the past 5 days to get it to look like it does now. I finally got to use my tapping set, which I used to thread holes into the 2-inch acrylic square rod braces that hold the hold things together. In the end I managed to shave 20 pounds off the total weight of the monitor. It's still not very lightweight, but I'm sure it's one the the lightest 20.1" LCDs I've ever messed with. As you can see, but not specifically interpret, the inside of the monitor base is lined in bright white marker rag paper which is illuminated internally by a 12" UV Cold Cathode which gives the monitor a ghastly glow when powered. The 12V 5A power brick is conveniently housed inside the base, and when plugged in is dimmly beaming that green light through the front. If I decided later on the remove the blacklight I have a secondary red LED power indicator on the left side. And I finally found a use for my custom 60mm bomberman grill! Success tastes so good
The 20.1" screen was purchased on eBay, or rather was scalped from a Point-Of-Sale unit that I bought there for $500 The previous modified 15-inch LCD was made by scalping the guts from a used Gateway FP1530.
