PCI L-Bracket Extenders

[K-TRON]

The Dell PCI riser I am sending you has two holes in it for mounting.
They are 1" above the PCI slot. The riser is 6" long, and the holes are 5/8" in on one side and 3/8" in on the other
The holes are large enough for 3/16" bolts/hardware

I would scrap that optical drive and get a small form factor mini SATA one from a laptop
You can also cut that media card reader down to save space. They are generally 75% hollow anyways.

K-TRON

[Batman_360]

Hey, does anyone know of any places online to buy custom-length standoffs, motherboard screws, PCI bracket screws, PSU screws, fan screws, etc? Putting the standoffs through 3/8" wood will require custom standoffs.

[K-TRON]

Yes I do,
http://www.mcmaster.com/#spacers-and-standoffs/=4k7ls7

If you need case screws and such tell me what you need. I have hundreds of extras I can send. You would need to buy custom standoffs from the link above

Good Luck

K-TRON

[Batman_360]

Now there's a useful website! I think the closest product to mobo standoffs are the male-female threaded hex. How do I go about finding my thread density on my mobo screws?

[K-TRON]

I wouldnt worry about the thread density of the nuts, just get nuts at a hardware store which fit the standoffs.
10-24 is common
10-32 is also common (this is the machine thread version of the 10-24)

The first number is the thickness. I am not 100% sure, but I believe everything under 1/8" diameter is governed by numbers 2 - 12

The 24/32 numbers are the thread pitch. The larger the number, the more threads there are per inch of material.
So 32 has finer thread than a 24 bolt.

First narrow your search and find something which can go through the material selected. The female threaded part can always be ground down with a grinder/dremel (so the motherboard isnt like 3/8" away from the wood)
Than get nuts from a hardware store or from mcmaster carr

K-TRON

[Batman_360]

Thanks for that info, bud. I'm going to spend the winter break gathering parts.

As for the secondary-screen idea, what kind of intermediary hooks an LCD panel up to a computer? Is there any way I can buy a busted netbook, or old P4 dell junkheap, off Ebay - then simply disassemble the computer and extract the screen/wiring?

I guess I'm wondering if the attached "wiring" as mentioned above is even swappable at all, or if it's permanently fixed to the chassis or motherboard of the laptop.

With holiday deals making digital photo frames sale-tastic, could I pick one of those for cheap and use it? How about a DVD player? I want to go after the product with the most noob-friendly wiring.

On overstock.com I found a Lenovo replacement Thinkpad optical drive for $15. I am probably going to use that... nice and slim (not that my CD drive was ever the limiting factor), *and* it has the clip middle instead of a tray, so it can hold CD's sideways. Phew. Slot loading would be better but it's louder and more pricey.

EDIT: Also, since my power supply will be the thickest part of this computer when turned on its side (3.5"), I was wondering: are there any small-form-factor power supplies which do not cost a FORTUNE? I saw $150 and up for 500w supplies.

[K-TRON]

Dang, I just sold a 1.5U 600watt power supply on ebay for $50.
I have a 5" screen, which connects via coaxial input. I dont remember the specs on it. Shoot me a PM, and I can see what I can work out on price. I used it for my first homemade laptop project. A bit hard to navigate XP on, but it works

A good 600 watt 1U power supply will run you about $200
Most LCD's from laptops are hard to interface to, that is unless you have a spec sheet for the screen which tells you what each wire in the ribbon cable does.
To my knowledge, there is no one size fits all converter out there which converts the ribbon cable into VGA or DVI

K-TRON

[Batman_360]

What does "1U" and "1.5U" mean? Are those measures of thickness?

[K-TRON]

U is a dimension of thickness
1U is 1.5" thick
1.5U is 2.25" thick
2U is 3" thick

K-TRON

[Batman_360]

So these power supplies, also on eBay for $47 and $9 shipping, are legit?
http://cgi.ebay.com/EMACS-1U-600W-H1...#ht_3430wt_939

If so, this is very good news for my case! No longer must it be at least 3.5" tall!