Today we started learning how to program our 68HC11 Evaluation Board (EVB), from Wytec.  That involved sharpening our knowledge of binary, learning hexadecimal, and an introduction to the C programming language.  We compiled a simple program in C which counted in binary, downloaded it to the EVB, and watched it illuminate a bunch of LEDs as it counted to 255.  Much more fun than it sounds, trust me. :-)

And we took our first picture of the "finished" desk.  Then had some fun with Photoshop, in proper Steampunk style. :-)

(As it appeared in the printed catalog of Dunderback & Co., 1894):

Today we integrated the computer and the desk....  This involved cutting a hole in the bottom of the wooden panel of the desk for the electrical cables to emerge, afixing the wooden panel to the bottom of the metal desk, adding a length of metal conduit to conceal the wiring, and putting it all together. :-)

I cut the hole in the bottom wooden panel of the desk by drilling 4 holes in a square, and then using a scroll saw to cut out a square.  (A scroll saw has an easily removable / replaceable blade which can be threaded through a hole drilled in your workpiece, so you can make "interior cuts" without having to cut through the workpiece from the edge).

We also had to cut the metal desk to accommodate the LCD monitor in the "closed" position (in the current assembly, the monitor hits the metal desk as it closes).  In order to do this, we needed to know how much of the desk to cut.  Drew and Matthew measured it, and then I used an angle grinder to chop out the part they marked off (pix will be uploaded later).

To hide the unsightly cables within the desk, I thought some conduit, painted brass-colored, would be nice.  The conduit I wanted to use to hide the cords was too narrow to accommodate the plugs at the end of the cables (i.e. we couldn't just thread the cables through), so I wondered if I could "grind" through the metal, push the cables through, and then seal the conduit back up somehow. 

I originally tried using metal shears to cut the conduit, but they weren't strong enough.  Then I tried a sheet metal "nibbler" (voracious as its namesake in  Futurama... ;-), but the nibbler head was too wide to fit through the conduit as well... (below).  You can see that it did "nibble" a small hemisphere out of the conduit, but I couldn't get it to travel further....

To secure the conduit for grinding, I placed it between a couple sticks of lumber, and placed a dowel beneath it to prop it up high enough to grind, and clamped the whole assembly.

This worked reasonably well (wear headphones!), but the links started coming apart as I handled it.  Before Matthew, Drew and I painted it (later), we used electrical tape to bind it together.  Not a great solution; this will still have to undergo an iteration or two before it's robust enough to fit into the desk, I feel....

Now we were ready to afix the bottom wooden panel to the metal desk.  This required drilling some new holes (since we're mounting it -outside- the desk, rather than -inside-, in order to make room for the PC to fit within).  When you drill holes for a screw, you want to make sure that the drill bit is as wide as the shaft of the screw, but not as wide as the threads (so that the threads of the screw "bite" into the hole you drilled).  Matthew and Drew compared drill bits to find the right size...

After we assembled the wooden desk, we took the monitor apart for painting....

Partially assembled, it looks pretty good so far! :-)  At least we have it to the point where we can turn it on and use it.  The rest will largely be cosmetic touches (painting the metal part of the desk, adding some finishing treatments, concealing the cables, etc). 

And assembled together (mostly) for the first time....  (still needs the back of the chair, and cosmetic touches....)

Last Sunday, Drew, Matthew and I submitted a proposal to our investors (their mom and dad ;-), and thankfully it was accepted.  So I went to the house of the guy on Craigslist (Chris) who was selling the used computer we evaluated, and bought it - a Dell desktop and a 15" LCD monitor. 

When I brought it home, I realized it was going to be harder than I expected to put the components into the desk.  It's a "clamshell" type tower, which means that when you open it, the components are stored in both halves of the case, meaning that twice the effort would be needed to take the guts out and jam them in the desk.  However, I recalled seeing a large stack of very thin computers (HP Slimlines) at Chris's house, so I called him back up and asked about their cost and performance.  They were comparable, so I went back the next day to buy one.  I figured I'd keep the original for use around Milo (the woodshop needs a computer and internet connection - for quick "how-to" lessons, as well as for organizing our inventory - especially the thousands of fasteners we have in the shop - nuts, bolts, screws, etc.  A month or two ago I organized them all in the hundreds of plastic storage shelves we have, then took digital images of each shelf, organized the images into folders which indicate what category and subcategory they belong to, and stored it all on CD.  Elaborate, but fairly efficient for me to do).

When I got to Chris's and told him the original PC was too big for our use, he was kind and actually offered to buy it back.  I didn't take him up on that, but I appreciated the offer - this is one of the reasons I like to buy things off Craigslist - the few problems I've had with the gear I've bought, the people I purchased it from were ready to take it back and reimburse me.  :-)

Anyway - the HP slimline may fit in the desk without even having to take the components out.  As it is, we may just need to cut slots in the metal desk for the CD drive, the on/off switches, and the USB ports, but otherwise they can remain assembled together.

Over the next few days, I finished staining and varnishing the wooden panels to the desk, brushed, primed, and painted the metal frame, and mounted the LCD to the underside of the flip-top.  Painting the metal frame involved:

1. brushing the whole surface with a steel brush, to get the flecks of paint and rust off.  (Note: if the paint won't come off from brushing, leave it on - as my friend Josh said, if it has been there for 70 years, may as well leave it).
2. coat with Penetrol (a priming substance for oil-based paints) - using a "throw-away" brush
   
3. clean with mineral spirits and paper towels
   
4. lightly sand
   
5. clean again (Josh said vacuum, but I just washed it with mineral spirits and paper towels again)
6. paint with satin black oil-based paint using a regular paintbrush

That worked very well - I'll post pix later.

Mounting the LCD monitor to the underside of the desk, however, was trickier.  Fortunately the monitor had 4 mounting holes already installed in the back for installation with a wall-mount bracket, but I didn't have the screws to fit it.  Had to go to Lowes twice to get the right size (6x32, 3/8"), and even still, I think I need to return for longer ones.  Also bought a sheet of 6"x12" welding steel (16 gauge), some brass wood screws (8x32 1/2"), and a set of titanium nitride drill bits.  (I remember from one of my mat sci classes that TiN has a very low coefficient of friction and a high hardness, which means they do well during machining into metal).  TiN looks gold-colored, and in fact many gold-looking watches, jewelry, etc., are actually just steel coated with TiN. 

I drilled 4 holes in the back of the steel plate, and mounted the LCD to it to make sure they fit.  (Sort of).  Then I removed it, drilled 6 more holes for the wood screws, to afix the steel plate to the wooden desk.  (This all could have been avoided if I simply drilled through the wooden desktop, and fixed the monitor to it directly; however, after the staining job came out so nicely, I didn't want to mar the surface with four screw holes).  I then put the plate back on the monitor, then screwed the plate to the wooden desktop (a little awkward, since the screw holes are beneath the monitor edges, but there was enough space to reach them with a long screwdriver - I checked first). 

The result is pictured below.  I intend to remove the steel plate again, possibly contour it with the scroll saw I bought last week (make it a bit more ornamental), and then paint it brass, to match the rest of the fixtures we'll be putting on the desk.  I'll probably take the plastic case off the monitor and spraypaint that brass as well, as Jake von Slatt did on his SteampunkWorkshop.com site.  Pretty fun!

The previous couple of times that Drew, Matthew and I got together, we did a lot of mechanical work - wiring up the CNC motors, sanding the wooden panels of the antique desk, etc.  This week it was time to do some brain work, too.

Since we couldn't proceed any further on the desk until we had a computer to put into it, it was time to decide what kind of computer to buy.  We did some calculations as to what size LCD monitor would fit in the desk, what prices the different monitors and computers cost, and the pros and cons of buying a used one from Craigslist versus a new one from Microcenter.  This required a bit of geometry, a bit of price/performance comparison (especially since we couldn't find an exact match between the computers we saw for sale on Craigslist and new computers to compare their prices too), and a bit of writing to put the whole analysis into a proposal for our investors. 

Our investors, we are lucky to say, are Drew and Matthew's parents.  Their dad, David, came by to pick them up at 4pm on Sunday, and Matthew handed him a blue folder with our 3-page proposal within.  Dave asked if there was going to be a presentation as well, but they demeured.  I do believe they agreed to field specific questions, however.

Fortunately, Matthew and Drew did a good job writing the proposal, because on Monday, our investors let us know that they agreed to fund our computer purchase!  I went ahead and bought the computer we were eyeing on Craigslist, and dismantled it that night to make sure it would fit.

Looking forward to stripping and repainting the metal frame of the desk, ripping apart the computer parts, jamming them inside, and covering everything with nicely finished wood.  Should be fun. :-)

Today, Drew and Matthew came by from 10:30 till 4:30 or so.  We had a trip to Radio Shack, to Lowes, grabbed lunch, and then did some work.  We wired up the stepper motors to the CNC controller board, started sanding the antique pupil's desk with a power sander (needed to take turns to keep our arms turning completely to rubber), and learned a bit about shop tools, plasma cutters (i.e. real-life light sabers!), CNC design, stepper motors, and more.  A good first day!

Wiring up the CNC stepper motors in the shop:

.... and sanding decades of graffiti and chisel marks off the antique desk we intend to turn into a computer....

Matthew would start, then Drew would take over, and then I'd put some elbow grease into it...

A great start!  Looking forward to the finished projects.  Before and after photos will definitely be posted...