26 April 2006
Fabricating The Dashboard Chassis, Pt 1
)Published on April 26th, 2006 @ 10:29:26 pm, using 344 words, 2509 views
Since I don't yet have any welding ability, I drew a to-scale design schematic and brought it to a local fabricator shop. I supplied them with the outer shell of an old and rather heavy-duty computer case (thanks Alan) from which to cut the necessary metal. The steel was of a sufficiently heavy gauge, and the resulting chassis is fairly stiff. Once in the car, it will be held in place by at least one bolt on each side, two bolts in the front, and a series of L-brackets along the top-rear. That should hold it in rather tightly.
A test-mounting of the Alpine headunit and the MTSVO-SC touchscreen proved a precise and tight fit. Were it not for the vibration in a car computer / mobile computing environment, the two units could reasonably be mounted inside it without screws.
Here are a series of photos which show the dashboard headunit chassis, which will house the Alpine headunit and the MTSVO-SC retractable LCD touchscreen, from various angles. The side flaps will soon be drilled so they can be secured to the existing dashboard structure which houses the stock stereo in the Acura CL.
The next stage in the process was to take our trusty dremel tool, some fresh cutting wheels, and a pair of safety glasses and do some mad scientist cutting on the box.
Since the area above and behind the stock stereo in the Acura CL contains several pieces of metal framework which stick out at odd angles, slots were cut into the custom mini-itx chassis, allowing it to slide precisely into position.
After the preliminary cuts were complete, holes were drilled in the side flanges so that the unit can be mounted in the existing housing in the dashboard of the Acura CL.
Continue on to Part 2 of the dashboard fabrication story:
Fabricating the Dashboard Chassis, Pt 2
or, What my speakers are currently pumping...
Infected Mushroom - I'm The Supervisor
This post is the creative work of Yours Truly and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
mobile computing, car computer, Acura, carPC, mini-itx, carputer, LCD, touchscreen, electronics projects
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