Loud & Low 8th Gen Civic - Time to say good bye to her.

[Radioactiv]

I like what you did with the 9886, I have one and was looking to put a tablet in with them, how are you connecting them? I may have scrolled over it.

[IBleedMusick]

Glad to see the log finally posted I thought I would've beaten you to a completed build first but you know what happened so I'm tuned the F*** in . It was fun brainstorming and planning this build.

[scooter99]

Sorry guys, good news bad news! Good news is I'm here. Bad news is I'm not on my computer. My work computer took a shit this morning. Tried to boot up about 5 times and it just won't. So I've had to move to the office's extra computer. It doesn't get used much. Stll running Windows XP, DRE STOP LAUGHING, and it's slooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwww as hell!

So I may not be able to post pics today, it may have to wait until tonight when I get home on my computer.

saw the dash progess in Adams thread, damn it looks good!

I will be doin an install for a guy with an iPad sliding in from the top similar to yours,

How did you get the cuts so perfect, router I presume? sorry for all the questions, you just do clean work and I want mine to look as good as yours, thanks for the help!

No it's all good. I don't mind the questions at all actually. I use some construction paper to do my templates, and then transfer the templates onto whatever wood I'm using. In this case it's 1/4" birch ply. I actually use a jig saw on a slow setting and a very fine blade for those detailed cuts. But, kind of like cheating, I've been a contractor and carpenter for about 15 years now so I've had some experience in using a saw.

Thanks for the complements.

I like what you did with the 9886, I have one and was looking to put a tablet in with them, how are you connecting them? I may have scrolled over it.

Well there are a few different ways.

You can either use the Ai-Net port and get an adapter for RCA's for the Auxillary input, then do a 3.5mm headphone plug to RCA's and go that route.

Or you can spend the extra cash and get the Bluetooth adapter from Alpine, not sure what the model number is, I haven't seen it in a while. Then you can go the bluetooth route, which I understand is good as well, although I've not tried it with a tablet. My phone I know sounds way clearer on bluetooth vs rca.

The last route, this is what I'm doing, is a converter. The dock for my galaxy has an HDMI port on it. I'm using that to go into a converter which takes the HDMI signal, and converts it to dual HDMI outputs for video, RCA's for audio as well as optical too. I don't have an optical source anymore since I sold the Bit One, but I'll be using the RCA's out to the adapter for the Alpine. Using this Alpine unit will also allow me to control volume from the steering wheel on the head unit.

Hope that answers your questions. Let me know if you have anymore. I know obviously the Samsung Galaxy Tab and the Ipad are different tablets, uless you ask the apple people who think Samsung is stealing apple's ideas, but I think the basic ideas are the same on how to get them to work in the cars.

Glad to see the log finally posted I thought I would've beaten you to a completed build first but you know what happened so I'm tuned the F*** in . It was fun brainstorming and planning this build.

I very much appreciate you're help in getting this rolling! I can't wait to see what our ideas look like in person!

Ok let me see if I can get some damn pictures up on this stupid relic of a computer! Be back in a bit!

[Jon Brang]

Looks sick. Im def. tuned in for this one.

[scooter99]

Ok here goes nothin!

I tried doing this once before and I wasn't so happy about how it was working out. SO I decided to start over.

So I pulled the head unit yesterday, and then pulled it out of the dash kit and got started!

The way I decided to get this done easier was to use the docking station for the tablet. Last time I tried to do a fiberglass pan, and it just wasn't working out the way I wanted it to. Also last time, I had it positioned more to the right of the dash kit, and really off centered. This isn't perfectly centered but it's about as close as I could get and make it work. Details!

Marked it out to cut.

Cut it out short, so I have room to adjust a little bit for a good fit.

Little more. This is for the angle of it. Trying to have it slant back a little bit but not too much and also not have it be too straight up.

So that was about right where I wanted it. Little bit of trimming here and there for a square fit, but otherwise I'm happy.

[Trey_Dog650]

Damn this build is so intense man. Looking forward to see how you pull it off!!!

[scooter99]

Now it's time to get it attached, temporarily. I'll be using epoxy to make it permanent but for now, I'm using hot glue so that if I have to move something or adjust, I can just cut it out and not have to destroy anything. 1/4" block to space it out on the side.

Sighting down so you can see the point of the docking station is even with the dash. I was very happy about how this worked out.

And the angle.

Now it's time to get the sides filled in, and the back done etc. How do I do that? I use construction paper. Could use cardboard, but I find this is easier to work with. Cardboard can be jaggad sometimes if you're not using the sharpest blades, and cutting this with scissors gives you a perfect sharp point to trace on.

Template time!

Time to take it and make some wood out of it!

Picture is kind of dark, but its working out well.

Hot glued it down.

This was about the time I took the dogs to the dog park last night. It was getting close to dark out, so we took off.

Came back and tried to get a better pic, but it's not the greatest there either. But I think you get the idea!

Tablet in.

[scooter99]

Now that that was done, it was time to brain storm and figure out how to make it look even and good. I decided that the right side was the high point, it's pretty obvious, and that in order for it to look geometric, I'm going to probably be best off trying to duplicate that angle and height on the other side. So how do I do that? Got out the old construction paper again, cut myself a little piece and then drew out another template. Once I did that, I figured that if it was a little high, that would be ok and I'd be able to sand that down. Too short may not look right. So off to the wood I go!

and this is what I ended up with.

Somehow my back shifted so I had to trim out a little more dash. Not a problem.

Then it was time to make it all work. I had to keep the sides close to the tablet itself, so I needed to make sure I went over the edge of the dock. This will leave me a little on the front to retain the angle, and still gives me between 1/16" - 1/8" on either side of the tablet. I don't want it to move around too much, and at the same time, don't want it too tight either. That's what I was after.

Was trying to show you the closeness of the angle, but it's hard to tell there cause it's taken at an angle, but it's damn close!

Tablet in!

[scooter99]

Ok so now that the back, and sides are in. It's time to make the face of it. I knew that with the sides being angled that way, there was no way to get it to match up on the flat tablet surface. SO I decided to go flat with the insides and then I'll round off the sides when it sands out. It'll make more sense later.

So lets make a tempate. Yes that's a penny. That's what I used for my rounded edges.

The tablet will be able to slide out from the top. The face, or border, whatever you wanna call it, will keep it in place while driving etc. That's the idea. Removeable, yet sturdy!

cut it out

And there you have it.

So that's where I stopped last night. I actually took the face frame out, and then epoxied everything else in place. So today, it's nice and strong and sturdy! I decided not to epoxy the face frame in place, cause I think I need to finish off the back plate, and body fill and finish it to the dash piece. Once that's done, I can paint it or put suede in, or whatever I'm going to decide to do with it, and then do the outter frame.

So I think tonight, I'll work on doing all that. I need to fill in the right side hole, and the left side hole from the vent. Then I can body fill it, smooth it, etc. So I'll work on that tonight and see where I get. LIttle bits at a time!

Thanks for checking it out guys! That's all for now!

[IBleedMusick]

Oh Im laughing my ass off at the XP comment but I know how it is in some offices so I feel your pain. I can't wait to see what all these damn ideas look like too, hopefully there are a few things in here that I can use myself.