On my last post I documented that I began the next phase of my CarPC project with the Slim DVD Drive mount. For the most part things were moving along well until I came across two minor issues.
The first problem was that the hole I drilled in the back of the storage bin for the cabling was centered. This prevented the DVD drive from sitting all the way back because the USB connections are actually situated on the rear left side of the dvd drive not the center. I drilled a second hole in the back of the bin more towards the side so that it was inline with the connections on the back of the DVD drive.
The second problem was that while the second hole was inline with the connections on the back of the DVD drive, the hole was only large enough for the cables to pull through. There was not enough play for the cabling to slide back out of the bin to allow for the DVD drive to sit all the way to the back. Once again I was not able to slide the DVD drive all the way back, which prevented the door to the storage bin from closing. I resolved this problem today by making the hole larger in diameter. The drive now sits all the way back providing enough room for the storage bin door to close.
I also added one other element to this part of my project. I had planned on attaching the dvd drive directly to the styrofoam blocks using industrial velcro. I overlooked the fact that the velcro adhesion will not be stable when applied directly to the styrofoam. Actually, it very well may adhere but if I decided to remove the drive for some reason then the whole velcro will tear off along with the styrofoam. So to provide a more ideal base for the velcro I decided to install a metal shelf.
I had an old CDROM collecting dust so I decided to gut it and use its metal base for the DVDROM shelf in my storage bin.? I used a combination of tools to cut sand/file the metal plate. I attached the plate to the styrofoam using silicon adhesive. The DVD drive is now attached to the metal shelf using industrial velcro and the shelf is attached to the styrofoam blocks using silicon adhesive.
Now that’s all out of the way…here are the pics. I want to also reiterate the fact that I am not entirely concerned? about the cosmetics of this part of my project because the drive is basically sitting almost floor level and will rarely be used (mainly for any software installs requiring cd/dvdrom, or maybe the occasional dvd rental prior to a road trip). Otherwise no one will know it’s even there unless I have the storage bin door opened.
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