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silent-circuit
[H]F Junkie
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2005
- Messages
- 16,132
...
(I'm currently taking suggestions for better names -- PM me or post them below! I'll ask a mod to rename the thread if I find something really exceptional.)
The Intro:
I, like so many here, bought a 24" widescreen LCD, the Soyo DYLM24D6 at OfficeMax a little while back. It's a P-MVA panel which is amazing at the price, it doesn't ghost too much (there's some compared with the 5ms Samsung TN I came from, but it's tolerable) and it's gorgeous color-wise save in comparison with my oldschool CRTs... and it's far lighter than them.
My problem with it? It's ugly. Not insanely, hideously, ridiculously, "I'm embarrassed to own it" ugly, but... enough to bother me, a lot. So I decided to do something about it. Here's a stock photo, so those of you who don't own one or aren't familiar with them can properly appreciate what we're up against, here:
I'm building the Soyo a new enclosure, and a new stand to match. Probably going to buy it one of the Ergotron Neoflex stands and tear that down to use as a base.
I have plans.
Have I ever used plexiglass/acrylic for anything? Ever? No. Have I ever done a really ambitious mod before? No. Have I ever even opened an LCD monitor before? No.
Go big or go home, kids. Go big or go home.
A classic color-scheme to go with my new Lian Li V2000B Plus II -- black, black, more black. The occasional clear or smoked gray accent piece. The end result should be something I won't get tired of any time soon. I suspect the plexi alone for this is going to rack up some serious cost, especially since I'm almost certain to screw up a sheet or two in the process (and a few will have to be extremely large...) but it's something I want to do to say I did it and because it'll be mine, not to save cash on a nicer looking 'out of the box' LCD. Plus I like my Soyo, and it seems as if I got one of the "good ones." Not going to tempt fate any further.
Part 1 -- Disassembly and Documentation
With great trepidation I started pulling screws and very carefully keeping track of where they came from. I've only got a vague idea of what I want to do so far as the enclosure, and to go farther I have to know about the internal structure of the display and the various components, as well as what kind of mounting frame or bracing I'll have to fabricate, if any. I also need to get an idea of how much of this thing is just plastic, and exactly how much plexi I'm going to need for certain pieces.
I removed the six larger flat-headed screws holding the (horrible) stock stand on along with the 4 large (but shorter) flat-headed screws that cover the holes for the standard ISO square mounting point that the Ergoflex will eventually make use of. I also took all the smaller "wood" type screws out from around the outer edge and popped the plastic casing off with a small flat-head screwdriver. Below is the result.
And another angle:
From here it just gets worse so far as my low-level panic, but I did it anyway. It's a lot like watercooling for the first time...
I pulled more of the "wood" type screws from around the edge of the internals where they were held to the bezel and pulled the wires for the speakers from their plastic clip terminals (which almost came off in the process, damnit). These screws suck -- some nearly stripped out, but I was very careful. I also removed the two screws holding the PCB with the power switch and the state indicator LEDs because I had zero desire to try and get the gigantic plastic snap connector it used to connect with the bulk of the control circuitry loose. Once everything was free of the bezel I very carefully lifted it away and set it (yes I'm working on my bed -- I'm at college, there aren't many places to work where the screen won't get scratched.) beside the bezel. This was the worst part by far, as the power circuitry for the backlighting, and aside from the metallic tape the OEM used, the main control circuitry as well, were literally free-floating on the back of the panel at this point. I didn't remove the buttons from the side of the bezel as I didn't want to leave it all taken apart right now, but that will be easy once it's necessary, and then there will be nothing connecting the panel and electronics to the old bezel. Here you go:
To prove it still works in this state I lifted it up and took a picture (one-handed) of the screen showing the output from my laptop. Here's the background it's showing just for comparison purposes:
And here's the shot of the panel itself displaying the image with its bezel completely removed -- sorry for the poor picture quality, it wasn't an easy shot to take without help and is entirely out of focus. The blue tint is due to bad lighting and the color reflecting off the sheets -- it's working fine. Gladly.
I then mounted everything up on the front bezel, which is key to keeping it properly aligned until I can build a replacement "rim" for it. Got the laptop connected to it again to test, and it still works perfectly, so my "exploration" didn't kill it yet. (Note: the odd looking spot isn't anything wrong, it's a combination of JPEG compression and the effect of the metallic tape under camera flash -- and yes, I'm making it show a picture of its own guts.)
Part 2 - Coming soon.
Project Smooth Soyo
--||--
(I'm currently taking suggestions for better names -- PM me or post them below! I'll ask a mod to rename the thread if I find something really exceptional.)
The Intro:
I, like so many here, bought a 24" widescreen LCD, the Soyo DYLM24D6 at OfficeMax a little while back. It's a P-MVA panel which is amazing at the price, it doesn't ghost too much (there's some compared with the 5ms Samsung TN I came from, but it's tolerable) and it's gorgeous color-wise save in comparison with my oldschool CRTs... and it's far lighter than them.
My problem with it? It's ugly. Not insanely, hideously, ridiculously, "I'm embarrassed to own it" ugly, but... enough to bother me, a lot. So I decided to do something about it. Here's a stock photo, so those of you who don't own one or aren't familiar with them can properly appreciate what we're up against, here:
I'm building the Soyo a new enclosure, and a new stand to match. Probably going to buy it one of the Ergotron Neoflex stands and tear that down to use as a base.
I have plans.
Have I ever used plexiglass/acrylic for anything? Ever? No. Have I ever done a really ambitious mod before? No. Have I ever even opened an LCD monitor before? No.
Go big or go home, kids. Go big or go home.
A classic color-scheme to go with my new Lian Li V2000B Plus II -- black, black, more black. The occasional clear or smoked gray accent piece. The end result should be something I won't get tired of any time soon. I suspect the plexi alone for this is going to rack up some serious cost, especially since I'm almost certain to screw up a sheet or two in the process (and a few will have to be extremely large...) but it's something I want to do to say I did it and because it'll be mine, not to save cash on a nicer looking 'out of the box' LCD. Plus I like my Soyo, and it seems as if I got one of the "good ones." Not going to tempt fate any further.
Part 1 -- Disassembly and Documentation
With great trepidation I started pulling screws and very carefully keeping track of where they came from. I've only got a vague idea of what I want to do so far as the enclosure, and to go farther I have to know about the internal structure of the display and the various components, as well as what kind of mounting frame or bracing I'll have to fabricate, if any. I also need to get an idea of how much of this thing is just plastic, and exactly how much plexi I'm going to need for certain pieces.
I removed the six larger flat-headed screws holding the (horrible) stock stand on along with the 4 large (but shorter) flat-headed screws that cover the holes for the standard ISO square mounting point that the Ergoflex will eventually make use of. I also took all the smaller "wood" type screws out from around the outer edge and popped the plastic casing off with a small flat-head screwdriver. Below is the result.
And another angle:
From here it just gets worse so far as my low-level panic, but I did it anyway. It's a lot like watercooling for the first time...
I pulled more of the "wood" type screws from around the edge of the internals where they were held to the bezel and pulled the wires for the speakers from their plastic clip terminals (which almost came off in the process, damnit). These screws suck -- some nearly stripped out, but I was very careful. I also removed the two screws holding the PCB with the power switch and the state indicator LEDs because I had zero desire to try and get the gigantic plastic snap connector it used to connect with the bulk of the control circuitry loose. Once everything was free of the bezel I very carefully lifted it away and set it (yes I'm working on my bed -- I'm at college, there aren't many places to work where the screen won't get scratched.
) beside the bezel. This was the worst part by far, as the power circuitry for the backlighting, and aside from the metallic tape the OEM used, the main control circuitry as well, were literally free-floating on the back of the panel at this point. I didn't remove the buttons from the side of the bezel as I didn't want to leave it all taken apart right now, but that will be easy once it's necessary, and then there will be nothing connecting the panel and electronics to the old bezel. Here you go:
To prove it still works in this state I lifted it up and took a picture (one-handed) of the screen showing the output from my laptop. Here's the background it's showing just for comparison purposes:
And here's the shot of the panel itself displaying the image with its bezel completely removed -- sorry for the poor picture quality, it wasn't an easy shot to take without help and is entirely out of focus. The blue tint is due to bad lighting and the color reflecting off the sheets -- it's working fine. Gladly.
I then mounted everything up on the front bezel, which is key to keeping it properly aligned until I can build a replacement "rim" for it. Got the laptop connected to it again to test, and it still works perfectly, so my "exploration" didn't kill it yet. (Note: the odd looking spot isn't anything wrong, it's a combination of JPEG compression and the effect of the metallic tape under camera flash -- and yes, I'm making it show a picture of its own guts.
)
Part 2 - Coming soon.
