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Guest ajmatson

Wow I have to give you a :thumbs-up: for that one it looks like a real sweet project. I can't wait to see it finished.

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Thanks for the guestions and comments kindingeling and ajmatson. I will be hooking this up to my KVM switch along with my gaming machine. This will hold a pc, a telephone and a network switch. The router is still under warranty and it will sit on top of it, don't want to void my warranty on the Buffalo G router. The phone that is going in is a 1964 French style phone and the handset will sit in the cradle which will be on the top and the rotary dial will be in the face of the switchboard. My plan is to have the cables that a real switchboard would have on the table to plug into the sockets up on the face, in my case I will have cables on the table that will plug into sockets that will be on the face which will go to each computer in the house. As I go along here you will understand what I'm doing, I hope. I'll try to help everyone to understand as I go along. Happy Modding to ya.

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Does yer mum know that you are building this yet? Or is it gonna be a surprise? :)

Well, believe or not, my mother lives with me. I'm married for the second time and between my wife and I we have 5 children and 6 Grandkids. All of our kids are grown and my mother is 83 yrs old and she still drives. So, yes, she knows about this project and gives me pointers about the switchboard. Happy Modding to ya.

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Looks cool...

 

Totally off topic, but has anyone ever noticed how people look down if you save you live with your mom, but give respect if your mother lives with you? Its like being on totally opposite ends of life, and props for taking care of your mom, my granddad lived with us for a year and a half until we couldn't take care of him anymore, now he's in a nursing home. Its hard work to take care of a parent, be married, and still find the time for personal projects, my mom almost never was able to go out and have a social life because she had to keep an eye on her father in law.

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Looks cool...

 

Totally off topic, but has anyone ever noticed how people look down if you save you live with your mom, but give respect if your mother lives with you? Its like being on totally opposite ends of life, and props for taking care of your mom, my granddad lived with us for a year and a half until we couldn't take care of him anymore, now he's in a nursing home. Its hard work to take care of a parent, be married, and still find the time for personal projects, my mom almost never was able to go out and have a social life because she had to keep an eye on her father in law.

Thank you nan0click for your appreciation. You are a 100% correct, even if she is still able to drive I still have to open bottles, can and such because she doesn't have the strength to open them any more. Even the pull tabs on a can of tuna, I have to open. Carry her laundry to her room, it's these little things that I need to be around for her but at the same time I'm handicapped and she cooks my meals and those little things for me when I'm not able to. So if you put the two of of together, we equal 1. lol She has lived with us now for 5 yrs. She was living in Dallas, TX in a assisted living complex and wasn't happy there, so I drove to Dallas and my sister hired some people to load the trailer and van and I drove her back to my house in Virginia and last year we all moved to Maryville, TN. Happy Modding to ya.

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The other day all that was left was the front panel above the table are and the very top of the unit itself. Today I have the front panel above the table are installed. So here are the pics that I took today.

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The next 2 pics are shots from looking thru from the top and bottom.

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Now to cut the top panel and install it and put the bottom panel back on, then I can start getting the computer parts and the network parts installed and the tid bits that are to be going into the unit. So until then all comments and ideas are welcomed and remember Happy Modding to ya.

Edited by EM3Bilko

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I put on the top piece. I have 1 full sheet of this plywood that I've been using. The scraps that's left over will not cover the top portion of the switchboard. I didn't want to cut that full sheet for such a small piece, so I went looking to see if I had anything that would cover the top of the unit. I found a piece of particle board that was perfect fit in length and a little wider than what was needed. It had 2 metal bars running down the length of both edges. I took the circular saw and cut a 1/2 inch off of the width and it was just fine with the other side having about a inch and a half farther off of the back, I have 2 inches wider on the bottom piece so this way the back looked uniform with the top and bottom being wider. So now have some photos showing the switchboard having all pieces together. Now I will need to go to the lumber store and get some edging to put onto the unit. So here are the pics for ya.

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So there you have it. Now I have to go to the lumbar yard and get some trim. So until then all comments and ideas are welcomed. So remember Happy Modding to ya.

Edited by EM3Bilko

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Since this unit will have a computer and other things that will be going with the PC. This update is about getting power to inside the unit. So the things needed is a socket to plug the power cable into and another socket to plug the PC and any thing else that needs the 110volt AC current. The first plug is the type that you find in a old pwr supply and the second socket is a wall socket for 110volts AC. Some cable with 2 wires and a ground wire in the area of 5-6inchs in length. Soldering iron, some solder, a box for the socket to mount into.

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The first thing to do is to cut a opening for the pwr supply socket and put the socket in and screw it into place.

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Now that I have the socket mounted then it time to solder the small piece of cable with the 2 wires and ground. So strip the insulation back on all the wires about a half inch back and tin each one. Once you have that done, then it's time to solder the wire to the pwr supply socket that I just mounted. The wires will most likely be colored green for ground, black the hot side and white the neutral side. Once I had all that done then it was time to mount the box that the 110volt AC socket will go into. I placed the box between the rear opening and the other socket that I had just mounted. I mounted the box by screwing thru the bottom of the box to the floor of the Switchboard. I pushed the cable thru a opening that are located in a box of this type. Once the cable is thru the opening and in the box then it's time to hook the wires to the 110volt socket. On the back of a wall socket it does tell you were the wires go. The green is ground and there is a screw that is painted green which is ground, so attach the green wire there. Now you can either push the wire into the hole or use the screws that are on the side. If you have solid wire then go with the holes in the back of the socket, if you have stranded wire then use the screws on the side. I used the screws on the side of the socket and there is markings for white wire and the only one left is black and only one screw left, so screw the black wire there. Once all the wires are mounted then put the socket into place and screw it down until it's secured. This is how it will look when done.

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This is all I have for now. All ideas and comments are welcomed and remember Happy Modding to ya.

Edited by EM3Bilko

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My hands feel like small clubs because they are so swollen from all the screwing and unscrewing that I have done on this project. I measured out the center of the top panel by measuring from corner to corner. Once I had center I centered the 120mm fan on the mark and then traced out the opening for the airflow of the exhaust on the top panel. I then inserted my earplugs and put on my safety goggles and drilled out the center with a 1/2inch drill bit. With the hole now in the middle of the drawn out area I then cut as close as possible to the line with my jig saw. Once I had the hole cut I then took a bastard file and filed out the rest of the opening to the line. When I had that done I marked the four corners and drilled the holes for the mounting screws of the fan and grill. Then I mounted both the grill and fan to the top panel for the exhaust blowhole. Here are a few pics to show what I have and what I did with the parts.

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Now I have a blowhole to help keep the heat down as much as possible. Next I added coasters to it.

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Then I mounted the PC frame where I wanted it to be so that I'll basically have easy access to the parts that going into it.

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My wife and I had a jam session this morning about what to do with a keyboard, being that there is a computer in this thing. So here are a few more pics and see if you can figure out what I did.

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Well, have you figured it out? Okay, I'll finish for you. Here is the rest of the story.

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There it is, a place for a keyboard. When I finish that area I'll have a drawer on slides so that the keyboard will be able to slide out and I won't have to move it somewhere to use it. It will stay on the drawer and I'll hook this whole think up by way of a KVM switch so that way I'll have a monitor and mouse to use or at least the monitor I have enough mice around where I can put one with the keyboard. So there you have it, the rest of the story. See you next time, same time, same channel. All ideas and comments are welcomed and remember Happy Modding to ya.

Edited by EM3Bilko

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