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Design 2. Designing the In-Dash PC After getting the LCD, I did an accurate model to see how I could mount it. |
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Design 2
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I finally received the Lilliput LCD and
ripped it apart. All I need are the guts, which come out to the Hitachi LCD
Panel, the touchscreen, the LCD controller board and the touchscreen control
board. The touchscreen flex tab is shown going straight up, but actually wraps around the LCD. |
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Next I did a rough model of the stock Subaru radio bezel (Subaru P/N 66065FE090). Its not perfect, but it will help me determine how to approach mounting the LCD. Sometime this week, I may be digitizing the top half of the bezel to generate an accurate model of the bezel so that I ensure that any parts the I make will mate properly with the bezel. |
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Next I assembled the head unit and bezel to show the relationship of the bezel to the volume that I will be using to hold the EPIA-M motherboard, hard drive and power supply. |
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Now that I have the relationship of the head unit to the bezel, I disabled the head unit and enabled the EPIA-M and touchscreen. Here I can confirm that space is getting tight and there is no way to mount the LCD on the back side of the radio bezel and still have room for the EPIA-M motherboard. There is just not enough room behind the head unit to push the board back. Remember, there are going to be a few cables sticking out the back. |
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From the front, the
touchscreen has to stick out quite a bit. Now the key is to fabricate a bezel
that doesn't look out of place. My bezel will fit over the top half of the
existing bezel and will incorporate some switches.
In order to make it fit, I will have to cut away parts of the existing bezel so the LCD will fit. I will also be drilling holes in it to bolt the new bezel to the existing one. |
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Rather than leave it to the
imagination, I roughed up a bezel using Inventor.
This is really ugly. If I want to install the motherboard in the dash space and keep the LCD flush looking, I'll have to do better than this.
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What's Next?
At this point I will have to build it and see how it really fits. Its tough to
model the dash opening since there is so much going on in the back (wires,
openings, etc.). By actually building it, I can see how well it fits and
where I can shift things to make it fit.
I've decided on using a 3.5" HDD instead of a laptop 2.5". The 3.5" are cheaper and faster. They also draw more power and are not as resistant to shock as the 2.5", but I'll be floating it in a bed of sorbothane.