Sunday, April 10, 2005
DIY: Inwall 15” LCD touchscreen :: Part 3 (The Finished Piece)
Here is what my inwall 15” LCD touchscreen looks like finished and installed. In this post I have the complete parts list you’ll need to build you very own.
Assumptions: You have an opening ready for a touchscreen, all the required wiring (power, VGA, Cat5e, audio/mic cables, etc) are all in place. You are familiar with wood working, drywall, and electronics (soldering, etc).
The Parts:
- 3M MicroTouch ChassisTouch LCD Screen. You can also convert a standard LCD screen into a touchscreen and mount that on a frame too.
- CanaKit CK122
- A Serial Data Transmitter (which converts serial over cat5e cable). If you computer is located near the screen, you can use a standard 9pin serial cable. I’m over 50’ so I had to use this converter. (See part 1 for more info).
- A pair of Tiny Laptop Speakers (check out Digikey, I used a pair from an old iOpener device)
- A Microphone (Optional)
- Few feet of 4 conductor wire (alarm or telephone wire)
- Soldering Iron
- High Strength CA glue
- Wood and Woodworking tools (for the frame)
- Stain and Wood Finishing supplies (for the frame)
- Patience!
In my first post (DIY: Inwall 15â€? LCD touchscreen :: Part 1 (The Parts)) I went over the electronics I’m using (Note: I changed out the NEC touchscreen for a 3M chassis mount screen). Once you have the opening ready, all the wiring in place, and the touchscreen you can begin constructing the frame. Since, all LCD screens have different mounting requirements, I’m not going to cover the construction of the frame in any detail. It’s like building a traditional picture frame, except you can build it out of wood, metal, plastic, whatever you feel like… I wanted a style that would match my house, so I chose Alder and stained it a dark merlot. Depending on your placement location, you might be able to mount the screen directly to the wall and then build the frame around it. You will need to play engineer during this phase, figure out how to solidly mount it in your particular situation. I didn’t have the convenience of having a closet or access behind my screen so I had to design in a way I could easily remove it for maintenance. If you want to see a few photos of the frame under constuction, check out the photos from the second post (DIY: Inwall 15â€? LCD touchscreen :: Part 2 (The Frame)).
The next step was putting all the pieces together. I don’t have any photos of this procedure (my camera’s battery was low). But next time I remove the screen (prob. next week), I’ll take some photos and post. I used the CanaKit 2W amp to power the two little laptop type speakers. I wanted to have the speakers incase my interface has some feedback sounds (like clicks and chimes). The speakers are mounted left and right of the screen, I just glued them in place with a high strength CA glue, no sound holes we drilled either… the sound will resonate thru the wood. Remember, I don’t need Hi-Fi sound, just feedback sounds. The real background house audio will come from a 12-zoned Russound CAV6.6. I also placed a microphone below the frame, in the sheetrock), that ties into the home automation controller (HAI OmniPro II) and can be used for security purposed or for a message center (voice notes).
After the hard part were done, I plugged in the power and serial cable and used four concealed wood screws, two on the top, two on the bottom, to mount the frame to the rails on the wall. They are in the shadow reveal area and are invisible to the eye (see part 2 photo “Mounts”).
The project wasn’t that tough, like everything around here, the only thing that was tough was finding time to finish it. But the end product is better than anything I have seen before… maybe it’s because I built it exactly how I wanted it.
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COMMENTS
Awsome project. Love to seehow you use it. What software, what features you will use on the LCD and how it will work together. Please let us know.
Chris,
Ha! Good catch… I need to spend more time proofing my posts…
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Shane,
The total cost for touch screen and parts was about $600.
I bought the touch screen off ebay for $350. I don’t think people knew what it was or they thought it was ripped out of its frame. The 3m ChassicMount screen retails for about $700…
If you’d like to add a touch screen to your LCD, I use Touch Screens, Inc. 1-800-753-2441 (Ask For Scott).
Danny
Amazing, i’ve been following this story, and i’m amazed by the results. Congrats!!!
Great Project. Big ? is what software did you use? I see it was asked but didn’t see a reply. If you wrote it all yourself, can you share it?
Thanks,
Matt
Hi Matt, I created the interface in Flash… it ties into my Automation server, which is written in .NET… It’s still a work in progress, but gets the job done… I hope to have it all done soon..
Danny
I would like to make one of these screens, but i am not sure how to connect the screen to my desktop computers graphics card. could you give me more details on how?
Thanks
Hi,
Could you give more info on how to convert an LCD into a touchscreen please?
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