Chris’s Blog

I have begun the process of turning my old Powerbook into a tablet PC (mac?). Problem is I am wondering if I should modify the current case, or build another. Here are some issues.

1. The touch screen is expensive. Alibaba has helped out alot, and after speaking to a few different companies in China, I have found a company that can ship a 12.1″ Four wire resistive touch panel for around $55US and also accept payment via paypal. I would have preferred a capacitive touch panel as they let alot more light through, but they are more than double the price.

2. The current case. I would like to use the current case and just cut the hole in the back lid and flip the lcd around, but I am limited in my options to fix this to the base. I will probably end up spot welding some bits on. The other big issue is that the touch panel has less than 1mm clearance – so I hope it fits.

3. Money. I will need to have the rear cover cut professionally if I want it to look good. This wont be cheap, and I am having a hard time finding someone to do it in Japan (because of my Japanese level). The touch panel is also a bit pricey. So the main issue is the case, hopefully everything magically fits and I can just weld and screw the bits together, if not I will need to look at having a new case machined.

Current Condition of the Project.

Waiting for payday so I can order the touch panel from China.

*UPDATE* Looks like I will need to sort out a different case as the touch panel dimensions are too big. Some types of panel are only a few mm off but it makes using the current case (at least the top part) impossible. This now means I have to look at making my own case. I could make it out of wood, but its not really the look I’m going for. I could also try carbon fibre however I have no idea where to start looking to get some in Japan. I originally wanted to have a 30mm thick piece of aluminum milled to fit all the pieces perfectly but the cost was going to be way over my budget (over 70,000 yen).

23/03/09

Got the touch panel in the mail today. All seems well. The people I got in contact with about machining a case were really helpful. They are willing to make it for free! Score! The case design will need to change though because of the machining method. I was initially wanting to have a solid block of aluminum routed/cut to my specifications, but it seems that that would be a very expensive option, and the machines used were not available. The new design will be cut onto a 2mm sheet of aluminum and then folded and welded. It wont look as nice, but you can’t complain when it’s free right?

Here is a video of the touch panel in action.

Received the custom made cover and attached the LCD (See images below). All that is left is to sort out the cable mess.

<Images coming soon>

Finally got it all together. All that is left is to get a power button that will fit in the RJ11 socket hole and try to place the bluetooth antanne so that it works at a range of more than 3 centimeters. I suspect this will be an issue as the original layout incorporated plastic covers to avoid signal interference and my case has nowhere that isnt covered with aluminum.

Tablet in Action