touch activated case

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x1600c

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 24, 2004
Messages
406
hi guys...
though its in the early stages, I believe my modding project will be a suscess. basically I'm adding touch sensors to the case so that items such as the cdrom, power, reset, maybe the UV, can be controled with a mere touch to a specific portion of the case. so far I've stripped down the case (ie. removed almost everything that can be removed from the case without cutting it to pieces) and I'm build one sensor stack.I'm posting here because I would like the users of hardforum to be able to contribute their ideas to this project. If you guys have any ideas about the items below just post here or PM me

-color (the case is a centurion 2 (coolermaster)) the color must go well with the extruded aluminum front!!!

-window cutouts

-what I should put in there when I'm done

-any links to hardware that would make this case own...
 
This project sounds awsome. Where are you getting the sensory stuff?
 
the sensors are based on the 555 timer IC. I go out to radio shack get the components and in about 45 mins I have soldered together a little bundle of joy. the circut diagram is in one of the "project" books the red one, you know the one about what you can do with 555 timers).

after I create that circut you will also need to create a circut that can convert the pulse output of the sensor into something that will close a circut for the duration of the pulse. so I found an old reed relay that was sitting in my room and some standoffs, a few (circa 5) minutes later I had hooked up the the relay and an LED to the circut. so now if I touch the yellow wire the LED activates and the relay closes the circut for about 1 second. the wires from the relay then go to whatever needs to be toggled, motherboard powerswitch, anyone?
 
Interesting. Could you do the same thing by getting a touchlamp sensor from Lowe's or something?
 
you could, but I think those sensors operate on a higher voltage than mine... either way I think its more fun this way
 
This is definitely one of the most innovative projects/mods I've ever heard of...this is absolutely brilliant! I can see companies in the future (near or not too far) using this idea, if it's not already out there. You should patent this form of computer function, honestly, I would buy a case with touch sensors on it, you would make money from me. If this all goes well for you, I would be willing to pay for you to mod my case like that sometime, seriously!
 
lesman said:
This is definitely one of the most innovative projects/mods I've ever heard of...this is absolutely brilliant! I can see companies in the future (near or not too far) using this idea, if it's not already out there. You should patent this form of computer function, honestly, I would buy a case with touch sensors on it, you would make money from me. If this all goes well for you, I would be willing to pay for you to mod my case like that sometime, seriously!
Click to expand...

I would never buy a case with touch sensors. I can see my dog wandering up to sniff it and she pops open the DVD-ROM tray, turns all the lights on and off, reset the machine, and so on. Worse yet, drunk friends would come over and to the same thing. :D

Seriously, this is a really neat idea.
 
Are you doing all the sensors together, or on the individual devicees? Having a pop-open menu would be pretty neat. And i'm not sure if there are color changing cathodes, but switching the lighting in your case with a touch would be cool. It'd be pretty interesting to go from all blue to all red, and then maybe to random changes like in Christmas tree lighting.
If there aren't any multiple color cathodes in existence, then I suppose you could include two sets of different colored ones. This would probably be more difficult to hide though, so maybe something could be done abou that as well.

Anyway, good luck. Sounds like it'll turn out great.
 
Or you could even use the sensors in a way to control the speed of your case fans!
 
that would not be necessary as my computer is nearly silent as it is, and I don't feel like ordering digital pots
 
Doesn't Apple do this already with their LCD monitors? I SWEAR that little On button is touch activated. <-- Cool to, because your FINGER can hover over it, and slightly press it, but if you try using the mouse or something silly to get it to work it won't unless you push pretty hard.

However!!
TAKE Pics! I want to see this project :) I'm going to watching like a hawk, because it would be fun to try as well.
 
twyztyr said:
I would never buy a case with touch sensors. I can see my dog wandering up to sniff it and she pops open the DVD-ROM tray, turns all the lights on and off, reset the machine, and so on. Worse yet, drunk friends would come over and to the same thing. :D

Seriously, this is a really neat idea.
Click to expand...

Yes i was going to say something to the sort.

Chances are if a friend who knows bout the fact that its touch sensitive, and isnt really a computer guru, will start hitting it to make you mad.

As well as a freind who doesnt know, there's the possibility of someone leaning on it, making stuff go wild.
 
Since pop-open panels can be annoying, just thought of something else that could possibly prevent things like that. Just have a sliding panel over the sensors.
 
x1600c said:
hi guys...
though its in the early stages, I believe my modding project will be a suscess. basically I'm adding touch sensors to the case so that items such as the cdrom, power, reset, maybe the UV, can be controled with a mere touch to a specific portion of the case.

-what I should put in there when I'm done
Click to expand...
You know the best thing you could add would be a touchscreen of some sort modded into the case to round out the theme. You can find touchscreen overlays now fairly cheap. Even the 7" touchscreens for cars with the VGA input are below $400 in some places. It might seem like alot, but that gives you an idea of what to expect for a complete product. Building it yourself is always cheaper.
You could also get a full size LCD and buy a matching touchscreen overlay for that. If you think touching a cdrom panel to open it is cool, try touching a picture of it onscreen to open it! You can draw onscreen, type with a virtual keyboard, etc. Something like this would go so well for your touch-case!
It would be easy to disable touch activation, with a single touch switch at the top or something :0) It could cut power to the bank of additional touch circuits. That would prevent those drunkards and dogs from ruining your day :0)
 
i think you should hook up the power switch to a "clap on, clap off"...just imagine the possibilities... :D
 
Apple have done this for ages, just look at the middle generation ipods, not a 'real' button in sight. Though that doesn't make it any less cool! i would love a touch sensitive case!

Good luck with the project, and post some pictures or your circuit diagram already :)

Glen.
 
Yeah, I've used a lot of Apple machines with those touch sensors on them...didn't think about that until someone brought it up!
 
Picture 8.jpg

Picture 7.jpg

Picture 4.jpg


this is one of the touch sensors, its a little buggy right now (I need to change the reference capacitor) as you can see, I have 2 PCBs(one for the sensor and one for the relay), I could make this whole thing alot smaller, but I want to get the case together first then tweak the design. the yellow wire is the sense wire, the blue/black twisted pair is for power, and the green/black twisted pair
is for the output.

for scale I put a AAA battery and a 9v next to the thing. god I love lithium cells

don't tell me anything about the quality of the pictures. it was taken with a $10 webcam... you understand :D :D
 
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