Bespoke Home Terminal
From Zanecorpwiki
The goal of the project was to create a wall mountable 'home terminal' incorporating a video-intercom and touch screen control out of commodity parts. The terminal could be used as an video intercom, video phone, security/dog cam, digital picture frame, media server terminal, home automation terminal, and in my case, a firewall.
The guide is written to serve as both instructions for constructing a terminal emin general/em, but also incorporates concrete instructions for building the exemplar terminal upon which the instructions are based. If you have suggestions or make your own modifications to the exemplar project, write 'zane' at 'zanecorp.com'. We'll add on notes, refinements, and variations as you suggest them.
Contents |
The Components
(TODO: provide concrete exemplar list.)
- micro-ATX motherboard with integrated CPU, video, sound, and dual ethernet; I used the Epia EK-8000EG which was the fastest fanless dual LAN available at the time
- wifi card
- flash mem HD
- 7 touch screen
- micro-keyboard
- cheap computer speakers
- tilt and swivel IP camera
- DC/AC converter(s)
Disassemble the computer speakers and remove the cone, drivers, and AC/DC converter. (TODO: picture)
The Case
A oak, birch, and lexan case.
Materials
- oak craftboard, 1x1/2x4' (2x); 6x1/2x4'; 6x1/2x2'
- 5/32 birch plywood (actual)
- lexan sheet (TODO: dimensions)
- steel sheet (TODO: dimensions)
- 14 #6-32 3/8 pan head sheet metal screws + nuts
- 2 #6-32 1/2 pan head sheet metal screws + nuts
- 4 #6-32 3 pan head sheet metal screws + nuts
Tools
(TODO: provide concrete exemplar list.)
- blind dove tail jig
- router
- router shim base
- (TODO) ?? dovetail router bit
- (TODO) ?? router shim
- table saw
- dado blade set
- circular saw blade
- socket wrench
- circular saw (optional)
- chop saw (optional)
Fabrication
- cut the oak boards to length
- route the dovetails using dovetail jig, router, bit, and shim
- using the table saw and dado blades, route groove oak boards for case back
- cut the case back
- trim case back
- cut the metal overlay for the interior back
- cut frame for monitor
- cut frame for lexan
- glue frame for monitor and lexan to box sides
- sand and stain
- assemble and glue
- finish
Lay out the pieces as they would be in the case, and measure. Give yourself a little wiggle room. The interior of my box is ??x??, but yours may vary according to taste and components. (TODO: dimensions and picture). Add ?? for the thickness of the oak board you have you're cuts. The example box used boards ?? and ?? long.
Determine which pieces you want to be facing out and arrange. I marked the corners of each piece of wood at what would be the interior back of the case. (TODO: picture) This turns out to be important because after the dovetail step, the pieces will not be interchangeable and you'll be stuck with one configuration.
Set up the boards for the dovetail jig. Make sure that the pieces are oriented correctly. Odds are, you'll have an exposed pin at the end of one of your boards (TODO: picture). Arrange the pieces so that the exposed pin is at the back of the case.
Place grove so that terminates in a dove tail (TODO: picture). Cut the case back a little big in both X and Y dimensions. Do a test fitting and trim the sides. Set up the fence on the far end from where the trim is taking place. In my case, I was able to raise and use the dado blades to do the trimming and got a very clean cut. Fit the back again and trim as necessary. No need to be super cautious, the grove gives you some play, but if unsure, trim a little less than you need. The chipping action of the dado blade should allow you to trim very small amounts without splintering.
Next we trim the top (or bottom) of the back. Fit the back with both sides and either the top or bottom of the case. Place the unused oak board so that you can see the groove is near the birch back (TODO: picture) and mark about where the groove terminates. Cut a little past the grove. Test fit and trim as necessary. Because of the length of the board, I couldn't use the fence on my table saw for this trimming. Besides, pushing against the short end of the back would probably have resulted in an uneven cut anyway. For this trim, I set the rip guide to 90 degrees and held the piece against the guide, pushing it through to visually trim about 1/16th or less at a time.To trim the monitor and lexan frames, set the chop saw to make a 45 in the horizontal. Set the 1 craft board on its side and cut. Measure top piece and cut 1 board (again, on edge) such that the two 45 degree angles come on an the upper (long side) is a little longer than the interior of the case top. Place cut piece and trim 1/32 at a time or less until perfectly flush with case top interior. Repeat. Now do the same procedure, but measuring the inside (shorter) edge against the side of the monitor.
Once four monitor frame pieces are cut plane the shorter/inner side of the top monitor frame. After first cut, plane 1/32 or less at a time till the shorter side runs flush along the top of the monitor. This sets the board thickness. Plane the longer/outer side of the side of the frame sides. It is critical that that the side opposite the measured be the planed side. Test fit the monitor. (TODO: picture)
