Digital Picture Frame, part deux.

I really got into this project last night, so I had to finish it today as soon as I got the chance. I got up to Grandpa's Garage this morning as early as I could to make the hardware needed to attach the laptop to the frame, and the frame to the wall.

I found 2 thin pieces of mild steel that were just the right size for my project. For some reason, this ALWAYS happens in Grandpa's Garage. First, I had to determine how the laptop should be oriented to best fit the frame opening. Since the screen is centered in the right/left direction on the laptop, it is easy to center the laptop screen in the frame opening. However, the screen is NOT centered in the up/down direction... which you can see in this picture from last night.

If you remember from part one, the dimensions of the screen are about 8x10.5" and the frame opening is about 8x10" so alignment in the left/right direction isn't as critical as alignment in the up/down direction.

So, I had to figure out the up/down orientation of the laptop, and then make sure that I could easily remove/install the laptop and still have everything lined up. So, once I got the laptop just where I wanted it, I cut two small blocks of wood that will friction fit the laptop into the frame. You can see the blocks in the picture below.

With the vertical orientation secured, I set out to make the brackets, which would serve 3 functions:
1. Firmly attach the laptop to the frame.

2. Provide a place to hang the frame.

3. Provide accurate left/right alignment for the laptop screen.

You can see(barely) the brackets I made in the picture below.
















The bottom bracket in the picture is used only for holding the laptop securely to the frame. The top bracket actually sticks out about 1/4" from the laptop, and is used only to provide a support for hanging the frame. I could have made some 1/4" spacers to go between the bracket and the laptop to provide more holding force between the frame and laptop, but the lower bracket seems to be strong enough on its own.

I painted the brackets with a Rustolem Flat Black Textured paint. I like the look alot... it makes it look like someone knew what they were doing. Finally, I used a small cable staple in the middle-bottom of the frame to hold the power cord, provide some strain relief, and make the cord descend from the center of the frame. Without this, gravity would likely eventually unplug the power from the computer. As you can see from the picture above, the battery is removed from the "bottom" of the laptop. This was done because it was no good anymore, and the less weight you have hanging on the wall, the better.

Here is a picture of the finished product, hanging on the wall.



Well, I hope you liked this project, and feel free to let me know if you have any questions, or if you build one yourself.

Later,

Ryan

Digital Picture Frame

So, a friend showed me this and this.

Of course, I had to make one. I had an old IBM 600E laying around (thanks Dad!) that would be a great candidate.

I dug the laptop out of the back room, and started getting it setup for this project. After about 10 minutes, the backlight went out of the screen. Great. Google helped me find this, and after about a week of waiting, I finally had a new backlight to install. These laptops were constructed by first laying the backlight on the table, and then building the entire laptop around it. It isn't really THAT bad, but it was a chore to get the old one out and the new one in.

With the laptop up and running, I was ready to move on. I decided that I wanted to keep the laptop as "whole" as possible, but wanted the package to be as compact as possible. So, I figured I would "flip" the screen so that it would be visible with the laptop lid closed. Since I already had the screen out for the CCFL replacement, I'd get down to the business of cutting the screen.

Here's a pic with the screen removed.













So, I needed a hole in the lid that was the same size as the one in the front bezel. I decided to use the front bezel as a template, and used a knife to scribe the dimensions for the hole into the lid. Here's a picture of that, too!













I used a jigsaw, a workbench, and some creative clamping to cut the hole in the top of the lid. I got really involved in that, and did not take pictures. But, here's a picture of the complete laptop, with the screen reversed. There was plenty of ribbon cable to accommodate flipping the screen. There was NOT, however, enough of the 2wire CCFL connection to flip the screen. I had to splice in a few inches of wire to make the connection.














So, I decided to do a trial fit of the frame, to see if it looks as good as I thought it would. It does!



Stay tuned for part 2, where I make a bracket to hold the laptop and frame together, and provide a way to stick it to the wall.









Later,

Ryan