VOY desktop viewer

[Eric_Ardros]

Damn…can’t remember his name but I know he is an a-hole.

I’ll assume that was a loving gibe.

Yes it was, lol. He was referring to @ChronowerxLLC, whom we all know has taken the step to install small LCD screens in his hero Mk X builds to function as either the Science or Medical version with the touch of a button.

They’ll be static screens like the originals. I’ll probably get Duratrans printed, but eventually my goal is to learn how to do the screen-printed with colored gel layers Okudagrams that were used in early TNG seasons. I think those look the coolest, though they’re obviously way harder.

Wow, dude! That sounds like some seriously challenging experimentation there! I’m interested in seeing how that turns out for you. Would be kewl to see some screen graphics done up in the same way as for the show

[Rob]

We only hurt the ones we love.

[ChronowerxLLC]

We only hurt the ones we love.

Yea…don’t I know it!

[norbauer]

OK, Vegas sidetracked me a bit but I’m back on the case of the VOY viewer. The laser cutters at the Artisan’s Asylum are always broken, and they’re expensive anyway, so I’ve decided from now on I’m going to outsource laser cutting. I’m working on sending out a sheet of the plant-ons to be cut right now.

I’ve also been a bit frustrated working with the vacuum formed monitor part for the past few days, so I had a crazy idea. I was thinking I could fabricate an encasement for the monitor from sheets of laser cut acrylic, which I’ll then weld and blend together with some glazing and sanding. The radius is a simple 2mm and will be easy to add while I’m at it with the plant-ons. I’m not sure how it’ll come out, but I wanted to to give it a try alongside working with the vacuum formed part and see what is going to work best.

Note that the bottom part (which in the kits comes cast as resin) is just here for me to get the dimensions right so everything fits together perfectly; I’m not fabricating that.

[RustyH]

yup epilog lasers are always breaking down, mine is still down and out for the encoder reader, but I hope to have it back up and running next week as my part should be in.

[intelvegas]

im really looking forward to seeing it finished it looks great already and i love the idea your planning multiple models i tried looking for the base with no luck but maybe there will be some avalible or info on how toi where to if anyone starts building more than 1 or 2, but its great Ryan and look forward to hearing and seeing more on it. exellent work =/=

[norbauer]

Thanks, Phil. If you set up a saved search on eBay for “APC power manager” you’ll get a notification the next time one is listed. They come up every few weeks.

[norbauer]

My scratch-built viewer screens worked out pretty well.

I welded together the laser cut layers yesterday and then used my table router to put a 1/8" radius on the front outer corner (for some reason, I can’t seem to find roundover bearing bits in metric dimensions).

I still need to do the same on the inside around where the screen sits, but that part came back from the laser cutter out of tolerance, so I have to order a replacement before I can do that.

I’ll do some body filler and glazing work and then prime it and then I’m pretty sure it’ll come out looking much cleaner than the vacuum formed ones. And the payoff is this:

The back panel seats perfectly into the screen housing, and I already have pre-cut holes that I’ll put threaded inserts into to hold everything together like on the originals.

Except that mine will have a nice clean robot-cut profile.

If you have an HMS kit, this design should fit nicely over the cast base. These are the laser cut parts you need:

Monitor Body Side.dxf (2.5 KB)
You’ll need two.

Monitor Body 1.dxf (6.0 KB)

Monitor screen frame.dxf (6.6 KB)

25mm

5mm

8mm

Monitor Body 2.dxf (21.5 KB)

Monitor Body 5.dxf (8.0 KB)

Monitor body 6.dxf (68.8 KB)

Monitor body 6 insert.dxf (50.7 KB)

Monitor jig.dxf (47.3 KB)
This can be used for registration when gluing the layers together.

[zredthunder]

Wow, nicely done.

[eclu123]

Whoa, this is looking amazing!

[JPG]

Does anyone know where I can find a kit for Janeways ready room computer. What I’d like to do is modify it to house an iPad (that can be removed when need be) for an actual touchscreen experience.

[Buddahaid]

There is no complete kit I’m aware of. Mike Moore sold vacuform upper screen and resin cast transition part to the base a year or so ago at TPZ. The base is an old APC UPS that gets modified. Feek61 at TPZ might be able to help find a “kit”, but he never came through when I was asking. I’d start looking for the UPS as a starting point.

[JPG]

Thank you!

[norbauer]

Well, at long, long last all the parts finally came in to replace the ones that were cut out of tolerance. I welded the viewer screens together using my custom jig.

I had to cut a shelf into the cast part, but otherwise it fits very well.

(I’m holding it at a bad angle here, but that back part does sit flush with the black cast piece.)

Added the radii using my router table. (Sorry, forgot to take a photo of this step.)

Then body filler to smooth over the steps (laser cut acrylic isn’t super precise, especially at different thicknesses).

Today I sanded and primed, better to see the spots I have to go over again with filler tomorrow.

Progress!

[pielock373]

WOW that’s a project! Nice.
Steve

[Buddahaid]

Looking really purdie Ryan.

[Nicksdad]

Man, those are awesome.

[Eric_Ardros]

Really pleased to see some progress on this! They’re coming along great!

I sooo want to get myself one of these, lol.

[zredthunder]

Im so very pleased to progress!

[norbauer]

Yeah, this has been the most epic slow-going project ever (well, I guess since those TMP Scanner IIs)—a combination of my taking my merry time to idealize certain aspects of the design, but I’ve also gotten stuck with the craziest delays from laser cutters for these parts. Aside from the first set being cut the wrong size, the replacements from another vendor took literally six times their stated lead time.

At any rate, I think it’s coming along nicely. I’m starting to fret now about the graphics. Does anybody know a source for any VOY viewer graphics?