Touchscreen frame

Posted by royalj7, Jul 24 2009, 02:42 PM

So since there is a big hole in my wall with a semi functioning touchscreen, I thought I should get on this project. The problem I have mentioned in the Elo Hot Deals thread is my glass pane is not attached to the rest of the TS, so I have to have some way to secure it. Tape would have been fine, except the tapes I've used interfere with the touching functionally and make the TS pretty unusable. My solution is to build a custom frame that will support the glass from the bottom, off the touch surface, and hold it secure using some foam. Below is two models of the frame. Pretty simple. The colored sections on the back view are routed sections to accommodate a 1/4 inch "shelf" (Green section) to support the glass and 3/8 inch nominal foam (Tan color) to hold the glass firmly.

Front

Back


Below is a picture of the real frame, dry fitted together

I decided to use popular for the frame because it was one of four woods I readily can pickup at my local HD/Lowes. Of the others, Fur isn't suitable for frames and while I could get a pretty clear grade of pine, pine is very porous and takes a pretty skilled woodworker to make it look good. I'm not that great The only other choice, Red Oak, is ok, but pretty hard on the tools. I could have used the oak, but Popular is soft, close grained, and not as expensive if I screw up. If I lived closer to a lumber yard or woodworking store I'm sure I could have gotten a more exotic species, but alas I would have had to order on the internet and the shipping gets pretty expensive for that kind of thing.

For the stain I picked a Dark Walnut. I'll probably put two coats of the stain and two coats of poly on it. The next thing I need to decide is how to secure the frame to the wall around the touchscreen. I'm still pretty stumped on that.

Sliding rack on the cheap

Posted by royalj7, Jun 14 2009, 04:32 PM

As i mentioned in a previous entry, I was having a bit of a hard time deciding how to secure my rack so it was accessible but also not always in the way. So I got some heavy duty bottom mount drawer slides and screwed two 2x4 runners to one side. I then anchored the slides/2x4 assembly to the floor. Moved the rack to sit atop the 2x4 and secured it. Now I get a sliding rack for a fraction of the cost. Couple things though. One, the sliding motion isn't all that smooth. I need to pull/push it from a low center of gravity to get it semi-smooth. Also, the slides and 2x4 add about 4" to the rack height, so that could be a problem if you are space limited. All and all I'm pretty happy with the solution...now if I could just get my Nuvo Music Port to work as well.


The slide attached to the 2x4

The assembly mounted to the floor (used tapcons to anchor)


Rack secured to the sliding rails, extended


Sliding rails retracted

Nuvo system ordered

Posted by royalj7, Jun 8 2009, 11:26 AM

Welp, I pulled the trigger on a whole house audio system. I ordered the Nuvo Essentia system with the Music Port from SetNet last week. They were able to ship the amp and keypads right away, but I won't get the Music Port till tomorrow (I think).

Nothing like unpacking a new toy

I did pretty exhaustive research on which system to go with, and below are some random thoughts:

- The keypads on the EG6 look really nice. They are also monkey simple to mount and install.
- I'm not a fan of the Allport design or it's use. The Allport is Nuvo's way of collecting the keypad and speaker connections in one place. It sounds good in theory, expect it's in the form of a two-gang wallplate. It makes it pretty hard to mount into a rack. I had to fabricate a wood bracket that holds it in the rack.
- I felt like an idiot when I first mounted the amp. I screwed it in and though, crap my rack must be some type of non-standard design. However, I found out the mounting holes on the rack are not spaced evenly, even though it looked like it to me. I just moved the amp down a couple spaces and the holes lined up fine.

Head scratching moment


- I'm struggling a bit with what to do with the rack. To have any type of access to the back the rack has to sit out from the wall a good bit. However, I obviously won't always need to fiddle in the back of things, so I'd like to somehow move it between the two positions (like a much more expensive sliding rack...you get what you pay for I guess). The problem is the rack is pretty unstable right now, and I don't have that much in it. I was going to bolt it down to the floor, but that kills any hope of being able to move it. So I can either bolt it down where I have access to the back and it sticks out into the room like a sore thumb, secure it against the wall and hope I don't have to mess with any wiring after my initial setup, or find some alternative way of keeping it stable other than bolting it to the floor.

Racking it up

Posted by royalj7, May 15 2009, 08:38 AM

I know, terrible pun. So, I picked up a used server rack off Craig's List this week. It's a simple 42U two-post design, so nothing fancy. Got it for $50, plus all the patch panels and wire management modules got thrown in for free.

On of the first things that will be going in it will my by DA amp. Felix (MavRic) has been real helpful sharing his experience with the Nuvo EG6 and Music Port. I suspect that is the way I'll be going. I'm looking to order the system in a week or two. I'll eventually be putting my touchscreen PC and my WHS (CQC) server on selves there too.

Upcoming HA purchases

Posted by royalj7, May 11 2009, 11:19 AM

So, I’m about to really jump into some additions to my home automation system…and by additions I really mean starting it. I am going to use this blog as a place to put my thoughts and decision making process on paper and I’m going to create a Showcase thread detailing what I’ve done.

So right now I’m looking at purchasing a couple components pretty soon. They are:

1. Whole house audio system: I’m about 90% sure I’m going with the Nuvo EG6 with the music port. Two things are important to me for my whole house system, first is the use of keypads. Unlike most people on the board it seems, I think my primary control method will be wall mounted keypads, as opposed to a single touchscreen or a portable remote like an iphone or Q1. This requirement really limits my selection when coupled with the next point, which is access to my digital music with metadata available at the keypad. So, while the HTD, Breath, and CAA systems were all on my short list not to long ago, none can provide keypad metadata cheaply. The other option is rolling my own system with a PC and separate amps, which would get me metadata, but no keypad support. So, the Nuvo with Music Port fits both of those requirements. If anyone knows of another solution please chime in.

2. Automation software: This is another one where I was leaning one way but recently have changed directions. I thought for the longest time I would go with Mainlobby, simply because the cost of entry was lower than most other products I was considering. I fully understood the more I did the less and less economical it got, but for my initial scope it was a pretty attractive package. That changed with the CQC sale. I am now the proud owner of a CQC license. So, I plan on installing the hardware I have, then getting to work on the software side of things.

3. Movie Server: Sage is pretty popular on CT, so I’m going to get the HD2000 unit to serve up my ripped DVDs. I had hoped to use my Xbox360 to stream movies, but the road block I’ve run into is I can not rip the DVD and keep the 5.1 sound and play it on the xbox. Or atlest I haven’t found a way. So, I’m not sure what I’m getting into, there seems to be a lot of folks using My Movies with Sage, and I’m not sure how they work together or what My Movies adds, but this along with the whole house audio has the most “bang for the buck” to me, as I see myself using it the most.

4. Touchscreen: I plan on having a single in-wall touchscreen in the high traffic area of the home. I’m planning on getting one of the Elo screens off Ebay. Since I don’t have a spare PC around I’m looking into what’s going to drive the screen. Some of my thoughts are in this thread. When it comes down to it, I think I’m enamored with the idea of the small uITX systems, but I don’t know how much benefit I’m really going to see over a microATX system. I’m probably going to go with this build.

Component Form Factor Brand Model Price Size Cubic in
MB microATX ECS GF8100VM-M3 60 9.6x9.6
Case microATX Apex DM-387 45 12.75x15.75x3.9 783
Memory G Skill F2-6400CL5S-2GBNT 23
CPU AMD LE-1640 Lima 40
OS Microsoft XP Home 90

5. I’m picking up a 2-post rack from a local source of Craig’s List. $50 for a 42U. I plan to put the Nuvo, touchscreen computer, and current WHS on it.

6. Who doesn’t want to know what their power usage is and then work on ways to reduce it? In that vein, I want to pick up the Brultech ECM-1240, another popular product here on CT.

7. Last but certainly not lest, an Elk EZ8 system. Security is a bit of a dilemma for me, as two plus years ago I wired the house for video, network, and voice, and it was a bitch to put it mildly. Not so much the running of the wires, but the drywall repair, working in the 130 deg attic, and the spider infested crawl space, paint matching, etc. So while I’m the first to say “Go wired” to anyone that asks, I think it would take an act of God to get me to open my walls up again for wired sensors. So, I don’t know how keen I am on wireless PIR, window/door contacts, etc. I can’t imagine they work well, but I’ll probably try them out and see how much pain there is.

I already got the CQC part, just because I wanted to take advantage of the sale. At $600 it was a bit too pricey for me. Next is the rack, which I’m getting this Wed and after that I’m thinking of ordering the Nuvo system, probably in two weeks or so.

--Jamie