OK – everyone, here it is. I finally singed up and got some of my ideas on my desk mod on a (first time) home page for all to see. Check it out and send me some input. My desk mod home page URL changed on me -server update - new link below Plain text was just put in for the people that get walleye vission from my home page. Also if anyone knows of a any cheap & easy to use 3D rendering programs I can use to creat a photo of my desk mod, plese let me know. http://www.desk-mod.com/
Good luck with the mod. I'll keep an eye on this thread ready for when you post some pics?? Keep us updated?? ....and welcome to the forum!
This thread is a result of my recommendation. Welcome to the forums: It would help if you posted some of the links I e-mailed you.
controlling things by an external voice recognition kit sounds like a sweet idea. I might look into doing this with some of my stuff
I gave up reading that five minutes ago and there are still lines across my vision. Any chance of making a plain text version? *n
My desk mod I was looking over the ZAP’s mod ideas on his web site for add on projects to my desk. Stealth keyboard looks like it would be right up my ally. Being a Millwright at US Steel for 5 years was not a total waste. I just ordered a 6-rpm 12vdc gear motor and 3 - 13 tooth sprockets. It will work much like a garage opener with one driven two idlers sprockets. A door on the front will flip up upon closing and limit switches for stopping the keyboard. I also added some hand dawn photos on my site. Not as good as zaps though. Nevertheless, I am working on it! Thanks for the True Space link in your post Zap! I should have a drawing for the stealth keyboard the week of july 16. Homework first!
About activating lights I have a bit of a small problem. Maybe someone can help me out here. On the voice direct unit, I have eight out puts and I would like to use them conservatively. Out puts operate at one Sec of 12v power when activated. The computer is no problem; I just use one relay to activate the switch. The keyboard 2 relays working off the limit switches to traverse it. Ejection of CD-ROMs, one relay each, hard wired. However, on the lights I only want to use one relay for the main power to it. Is there a circuit out there that I can use to power the main relay for the lights? A latching circuit that works much like an electronic touch circuit. In other words, when the voice direct gives its one Sec power signal the circuit, it applies power to the relay, holding it on till it receives another one Sec signal from the voice direct unit. This way I can say one word for two responses. The direct voice unit records a word for 1.5 Sec long. Eight commands with eight outputs in stand-alone mode. You can chain two boards together to expand word commands. But one should be enough for what I’m doing.
Latching light on! Well I found the flip-flop latching curcuit right after I bought a relay latching curcuit. Oh well... 4013 flip-flop latch
Parts in I just got a load of parts in and started working on the power supply. I used an old case from PSU and added the voice recognition unit and the latching relay for the desk lights. I also hacked up my radio shack radio controlled clock for a touch pad used for a snooze bar. It worked great because it had three buttons linked and I separated them each for 3 push buttons for the voice unit. L-section of the desk is also complete. As soon as I get pictures back and scanned I will post some here and on my web page. http://www.desk-mod.com/
You should make you're webpage an html document. I use mozilla and the web archive page doesn't work.
Web page update soon The page was made in Office XP and should work in netscape and IE. I'm going to buy FrontPage today. I'm learning as I go.
Like I said I'm learning as I go. I reformated my pages but my server will not take the upload so it will be a while. this is a minor set back thought. I'm getting an error 550 uploading if anyone knows what that is??I can link up but...
Site up and running again! A lot of work but I now have it in HTML format. Uploading problem was do to a name of one of my files and fixed it and I was good to go. I have some more work on the site still. some dead links and updates. This week I will be posting some pics of what I have done. I will also make a video of it all working when finished. http://www.desk-mod.com/
First real photos Mounted the gear on the gear motor for the stealthed keyboard. Front panel lay out. L-section of desk I still have to mount the lights and work on the plexie glass top so I can get a photo of what it looks like lit up. Theres more info and photos added to my site in Photos http://home.comcast.net/~johnsreb/index/index.html http://home.comcast.net/~johnsreb/index/DSC00004.jpg I have the voice recognition mounted and working now. I have no idea how this image got so big. Now you can see all my imperfections. DOH! I changed it to a link
Looking good here - it's good to see someone creating an entire system! Including home automation! With you swtiching problems I would go with latching relays. Apply a voltage across they latch on, apply again they latch off. This should work perfectly for your requirements. You could probably get the keyboard tray control down to one output. If you use DPST switches then you can determin which way the current flows depending on which switch is depressed. I'm sure there will be an electronic circuit that will accomplish this for you. Also had a thought about dimming the lights. Using a motor attached to a rheostat circuit the output command up would trigger the motor to turn. This would also allow for manual adjustment. I'm sure you'd also be able to have commands to full and off as well.
