Before: Philips CDi-220 Interactive Player - basically a Karaoke box
After: HTPC, but still looks mostly stock Hardware:
The bulk of the project was done between February 2 and April 22, 2003. Some of the photos are out of order because I was coming back and redoing things here and there. As any work of art, this project is not finished - just abandoned. I am still going back in and changing a thing or two here and there. a trip - ok, trips - to 5 or 6 pawn shops yielded a victim - an old karaoke box by Philips. supposedly in a working condition. it came with one of the ugliest remote controls i've ever seen, looked sort of like a startreck phaser thingie... trash!
 the optical drive tray is covered by a spring-loaded door. reuse!
 the top cover looked a little bent, but otherwise in a pretty decent shape. i may not even have to paint it - keeping it "stock-looking".
 the bottom is 1mm steel - definitely sturdy enough. i'll have to cut a few things out, though...
 are we going to find out if it is indeed in a working condition? how about... no! ripped it to pieces in about 10 minutes. had to use dremel - some screws were impossible to remove, and it was just easier to rip/cut them out. i was so excited to gut it that i forgot to take pictures. it looked old anyway, most of it covered by an EM shield.
 all the parts are held together by tiny allen head screws.
 the bezel looks pretty nice and begs for some VFD action.
 first dry-fit - everything fits like a glove! a very tight glove... there is maybe a few millimeter clearance all-around. pretty impressive, seeing that i just bought the items without really planning them out.
 well, that'll be painted.
 mostly enough room for that PSU. mostly...
 oh, you think my warranty is still good?...
 the PSU has to be flipped around and taken apart some more to make it fit.
 as you can see, when the optical drive actually fits into the front bezel, there will be about a quarter-inch clearance for the IDE cable...
 power socket and the oh-shit switch cut into the back panel.
 110V is socketed, so the back panel could be removed easily.
 these holes will be covered up - but later. they're on the back, so... :)
 the videocard didn't come with a low-profile PCI bracket, but i don't seem to need it anyway.
 power and harddrive LEDs cut and hot-glued to a piece of acrylic, ready to be attached to the bezel. i pained the acrylic to avoid halos.
 the reset button is wired as the two stock buttons below the power button. both buttons will have to be pressed for the reset to work - almost idiot-proof.
 both LEDs will be hidden under the translucent display cover, so when the unit is off, you can't see them.
 there it is. i only had flat-head screws - oh well.
 motherboard stand-offs and CD-ROM brackets are mounted to the chassis with screws and nuts. no, i don't own a rivet gun. yes, i've thought of buying one. these worked out nicely, and i put a dab of superglue to prevent the screws from getting loose.
 fits pretty well - measure twice, cut once? anyone?
 the hard drive will just barely squeeze under the CD-ROM. i will have to mount it sideways because otherwise it gets in the way of the PSU.
 PSU mostly mounted. mostly...
 amazingly, everything fits...
 you can see the hard drive almost touching the chassis.
 i had to cut away some plastic because some components were getting in the way. the VFD itself mounted almost with no problems.
 covered by the dark panel, you cannot even tell that it's been modified.
 and miraculously, the VFD still works! not that i thought i fried it or anything...
 i am reusing a piece of the original PCB that hosted the original buttons, and wiring everything as a keyboard to the VFD's keyboard headers.
 by the way, the LCD will be connected via a serial-to-USB adapter to one of the USB on-board headers.
 having thought about it, i just had to get this one. of course, mod it till it's [almost] broke[n].
 the PCB is pretty small, but will have to be made smaller to fit. i love my dremel...
 you can see the IR sensor on the bottom of the PCB - that will have to be removed and mounted into the bezel.
 the IR sensor is now detachable so if i needed to i could unplug it and remove the bezel, without having to unscrew the IR sensor out of it.
 some more dremel action and hot glue and the IR sensor sits next to the LEDs. no, the LEDs won't interfere with it.
 i went ahead and filled some holes in the bezel with epoxy. if i need holes, i can always add some later.
 and now it's about to get vinyl die treatment.
 duplicolor vinyl die - at your local auto store.
 all taken apart, about to be modded.
 green LED - die!
 there is enough room for LEDs on the back of the drive.
 activity LED is changed to blue, plus three red LEDs on the back of the drive.
 the whole thing glows red when it opens!
 oh, yeah, the paint is dry.
 zalman fanmate - it is going to explode!
 nope, no progress reports. i've redone the whole circuit of the fanmate on a PCB, added a blue LED for visual voltage indication, a bypass header to bypass the while thing (from a switch on the bezel), and 2 (and later 3) fan headers to connect 3 devices to the fanbus.
 some PCB standoffs and acrylic later, and it's done. you can adjust the speed through a hole in the acrylic.
 USB ports and a fanbus bypass switch mounted on the bezel.
 two fans and speaker grills, on push-pins + rubber trim
 using high-speed Panaflo's at 5V for now, might replace them later
 the PSU was getting warm, so i added another fan on the back
 using a USB to serial converter to feed the VFD
 the IR remote receiver is mounted to the chassis
 hm... need to do something about the PSU... still getting warm.
 ok, rewired the USB adapter for 5-pin on-board header
 ah, i know - put some more heatsinks on it!
 cheap black anodized aluminum heatsinks (bought them on ebay a long time ago in bulk) + arctic silver epoxy
 much better - the PSU stays cool and looks...
 all assembled, VFD reprogrammed, buttons back-lit with red
 yes, red LEDs - the photo doesn't do it justice
 just some red LEDs hot-glued behind the buttons
 to be powered off of the on-board 12V fan header
 paint the buttons black, while we're at it
 pre-final assembly - looks pretty messy for now
 so, everything still fits - and works, too!
 replaced the boring Panaflo's with CoolerMaster blue LED fans with rifle bearings, and added a grille for better air circulation
 covered up the holes in the back, as well as added a TV tuner
 upgraded the heatsink, rewired the IDE cabled to be under the motherboard, tidied up a lot
 you can see the TV tuner card and the radeon 9200
 wire loom - not the best choice, but it was fast and easy
 no more IDE cable mess
 ah, and the fans look so good and at 7V are completely silent
 money shot #1
 money shot #2
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