Here is the deal... for my carputer project, I'd like to use a Xenarc touchscreen, but instead of mounting it into the nav tray like Rotary Rasp or MazdaManiac, I want to make the screen similar to the factory one, and be able to hide it when the computer is not in use.
I already got the top center nav trim piece and the cover for the screen, but I don't have the mechanism that allows the screen to hide away. I don't necessarily need a motorized solution - one that's manual and uses dampers + spring would be fine. Although motorized (with a servo and stuff) would be nice.

Does anyone have some ideas / pointers how should I approach this? I mean, I'm not sure where to look for the components. I have some basic idea how this could be accomplished but don't really know the details.

I'd appreciate all input - thanks!

 

Are you saying you have the factory nav housing?

 

No. I have the bigger trim piece that goes on the top of the dash and the rectangular cover for the display that fits into the opening.
The big piece is the one that has the openings for the radio/climate control display and the center speaker of the Bose.
I don't have the frame around the screen and the rest of the stuff.

I suppose a picture would explain it better but I'm away from home until the weekend.

 

I saw something similar to this on the show Pimp My Ride. Basically they took a touchscreen notepad computer and had a brace for it that could be hidden in the glovebox and pulled out for use. I think they might have fabricated it themselves, so you might want to look into that.

 

So you have the dash panel and the "hood" for the screen, but no motors and no "faceplate" for the screen, right? If so... boy you'd better get some molds of that bad boy.... there are many who'd kill for it.

Where to go from here? Well... fab up your own "faceplate"/mount with the hood.

How to make it open and close... hobby (R/c car and plane) servos?

Hmm.... could always try getting a good look at pics (or the real thing if possible) of the nav dash parts and see how they made theirs work...

Sorry i couldn't be more help...

 

if you had a factory housing then use one of those interior light tv screens that flip down surely you could use that as a good starting place?

 

Yep, you got it.

I don't have a way or knowledge to make molds...

Exactly. My trouble is that I don't really know what shops / sources should I check for parts that would make this possible. Are there some shops for RC cars and planes? Or where could I get some small, probably plastic dampers and sliding tracks? Then I could use some sort of a spring to open the screen and the dampers would make it not to rapidly pop out. Something like that.

Yes, that would be a way but my main concern is not really how to motorize the assembly. First, I have to create some kind of a housing. Or maybe just attach the top of the screen to the front edge of the hood via a hinge and make the bottom part slide on some tracks backwards so the hood can be closed and then the screen would lay flat, display facing down. Even if it's done manually, that'd be OK with me. I could then always figure out a way to operate it via a servo if I wanted.

That's my plan too. if I could take a good look at someone's nav screen, that'd help. I imagine the dealer would not be too happy if I walked up to the dealership and wanted to look at only the nav screen, without the intention of actually buying an RX-8 :p
Unfortunately, I haven't seen very detailed pics of the nav screen either that would show how the housing and the open/close mechnism is done. I have a hard time to figure out how much space do I have to work with to hide the screen. The pics that show the dash panel removed give some hint but not exactly enough. At least I can see that there IS some space

 

There is a good amount of space under the dash.

 

I'm seriously thinking about using this (thanks for the link, Rasp).
Trouble is, they are out of stock. Have to ask them whether they will have it anytime soon. Then, question is if it would fit or not... preferably with being able to close the stock nav hood when the screen is retracted. If not, then find a way to mold something, using the dash top trim piece. Or maybe the mechanism can be removed from the in-dash housing and could be used stand-alone. We shall see.
Another concern of mine is that I want everything to be solid and absolutely no rattles are allowed. I'm picky like that :D

Edit:
Unfortunately, the above site will not have that particular housing back in stock (they quit carrying it). They have other options that are all motorized... but not sure if they would fit in the space I have to work with. I certainly wouldn't want to disassemble those motorized units to try to rip out the mechanism and gain some room.
I have to take apart the dash and measure... fun, fun fun (not).

Damn Mazda for not including a suitable DIN mounting location anywhere.

 

I'm getting the feeling you're stealing my ideas!

If you didn't know, I have a patent on everything I think.

So far, you owe me $0.02.

 

But of course I do :D
It's much easier if someone else does the thinking for me :p

 

Where do you live, maybe we could meet at go over this. Considering we want to do the same thing.

 

Foster City, about halfway between San Francisco and San Jose on the peninsula. Pretty far from L.A...

 

oh well. I thought i'd ask anyway.

 

I think that $0.02 belong to me.
If I have your stock nav cover, it would made the job alot easier. Min is made from a non nav bose cover. Fitted a 7"touchscreen with handmade plastic and aluminum hinges on two side(the white part is the hinge, will be colored black). The trim poeces around the screen and housing not attached yet. the screen held open with two cabinet magnets on two side. I am just waiting for the audio mod to replace my fm modulator. Maybe someday I will do a diy.

 

.

 

two more.

 

Wow... that's exactly what I was thinking about. Care to share more details about your setup? Like, how did you fabricate the hinges? How did you attach the top edge of the screen to your fabricated hood? The more details the better. I'm full of questions :D
If you have any way to do a write-up, that'd help me (and probably others) a great deal.

Props to you for having the cojones to cut up your dash :D

 

Holy &*^% that is awesome! You MUST do a DIY on this one... :D Especially the hinges.

 

I'm jealous!

I have an extra dash piece I could do that to. I need details!

 

Do a DIY


you da man if you can make an auto open and close one

 

The hinges were very custom made from scratch. I will post a diy as detail as possible, so you can use the idea of it. I am going to need some time to document everything.

 

Can't wait... really.

Thanks!

 

Wow that looks really hot. Thats exactly what I wanted to do. Is it motorized?

 

I saw a drawer for the screen availabe somewhere on the web. I don't have time to search for it right now.