Slashdev

Custom Components

To make our mediacenter pc complete we need a few components that you can’t really get over the shelf.

Infrared Receiver

Not too many chicks are going to be impressed when you pull out your keyboard to play a video or browse your music collection. That’s why a remote control interface is a must. For that, there is LIRC. For this project I went for the dirt simple homebrew serial port receiver. It’s worth mentioning that LIRC supports all sorts of receiver hardware, so you have lots of options.

The layout for this board can be found here. All parts where purchased from Creatron Inc. (which is an awesome store BTW).

Power Button

I had a pile of old arcade machine buttons lying around and thought that it would make for an interesting element in the case design. In the center is a blue LED mounted in a LED socket. The black thing on the work bench is what the LED socket looks like. The whole drilled in the button is 1/4″ in diameter.

Case Construction

I found this case at Supremetronic near College & Spadina in Toronto. The size is almost perfect (about an 1/8″ shy on the depth) and it kinda looks like a rack mount computer case.

Supremetronic also carries a wide variety of hardware for mounting components inside of cases such as machine thread screws, nuts, and threaded studs.

These studs for mounting the motherboard are fitted into wholes drilled into the bottom plate with nuts on the other side.

I used hot glue and some threaded copper lugs for mounting the CF-to-SATA adaptor. This way I can easily remove the mounts later on and move them if needed.

Rear IO Panel

With the motherboard in place, dry fitting the IO panel reveals the distance from the bottom edge and left edge of the case where the panel cutout should go.

You know that old adage measure twice cut once? Well I can’t stress it enough. Some essential tools for precisely laying out lines on steel (and other materials too): vernier caliper, steel straight edge, and a scribe.

With the IO panel in place, you can see how the case was just a bit too small. Pretty easy fix though, just took a .150″ file and elongated all screw holes by .150″.

Front Plate

I found these little beauties in an old PC case. In their previous life they served as LED lenses but they also make a great window for an IR receiver.

I also got lucky with the case because there is a small gap behind the front plate just large enough for the flat face of these lenses.

And to hold the IR module in place… more hot glue!

Arcade buttons require a hole 1 – 1/8″ in diameter. For this a hole saw is convenient but you really get what you pay for with tools. My hole saw came from crappy tire, and tends to wobble when drilling so it makes a bit of a mess. However, these buttons have a small bevel which will hide a messy cut.

With the front panel finished, it’s time to put it all together. Here are a few final pics.