Black Beauty Project Build - 06 Ford F-250 Super Duty **1/27/18 - New pics starting on page 41**

[graham0599]

http://www.rchelination.com/setting-hp-dps-1200fb-power-supply/?doing_wp_cron=1383225207.4715270996093750000000

Suggestion for running your amp and whatever else you need for 12v. These power supplies are awesome and are made for extended use. I just got a pair for $35 shipped to play around with on ebay they're all over. It says you need a resistor between the two pins but lots of people just use a straight wire, that's what I did and it powers up fine. There's also a way to make it run 13+ volts that I'm sure you could google.

[scooter99]

Thanks for the info. I'll look into them.

So a little update. I am going to do some testing today. I haven't watched Soundman Amplified in a while, but he did something that may eliminate my volume bullshit head ache. I picked up a Satechi Media Button based off of this video I watched. I'm going to test my set up and see if this works, but what it appears is that I can turn up and down the volume on my tablet with this button, it has vol up and down, track forward and back, and play/pause. I've tried it on my phone and it works.

It's a little pricey at $35 off of amazon, but if it works it'll be well worth it.

Now what he did, and this is what I want to test, is he went from his iPad Pro to an apple airport express, out to an Audison bit 8.9 (Audison's newest processor) via optical toslink from the airport express unit. Now, he's using the wifi from the airport express for music streaming, and then the bluetooth for this media button. I'm not going to do that, I'm still going to use the Octava unit, via HDMI and then optical output to the JM-1. What I want to make sure of, is that the volume can still be controlled via the tablet, as he is working. If that does work out, then I will be using that and I'll be molding it into my steering wheel controls.

Here's my dilemma with that. My steering wheel controls on the right side, has volume up and down, skip, mode, and then it controls the temp and fan for the HVAC controls. Well the media button is just slightly bigger than the area that would take up the audio controls and would impede the fan and temp controls. Here are some pics.

Steering wheel as a whole. using the right side controls.

This is with the button on. It's up as far as I can get it, and centered as well. You can see the button goes down just into the upper inner corners of the two hvac buttons. I don't know if it's possible to shave those buttons down, so that it can fit in there and still have those buttons.

Another idea is to just make a mock up of the switch panel, and then center the button and just eliminate the OEM buttons all together.

I thought about seeing if I could put the hvac buttons back here, but I don't think I want to cut up the switch panel just to get them back here. Plus I'm not sure how much room I have back here, or how thick the actual switch panel is. So I'll have to do some research on that. I'll have to remove the wheel and gut it basically to figure that out. I'm not really there yet.

The HVAC controls are going to move in one of two places. The first option is to the lower left side of where the HVAC controls are now. Which is where the trailer brake system and an empty cubby is.

The other option that I prefer I think, is to put it up here in the cubby in the ceiling.

The differences between the two, are simply how long to make the wires. Both are about the same distance as far as arms reach goes. Both ways are going to take molding it into place.

I also have to decide if I can do without the controls on the steering wheel. It's a convenience and believe it or not, I use it ALL THE TIME. It would be a matter of changing habits.

So those are the things that I'm working on now. Shop is still a mess, but I think I'm going to set everything up today and see if it works out the way I want it to with the remote. After that I may get some filler on the dash piece and get that moving a little bit.

Hopefully I can get some pics up later.

[bsneon98]

You got the sack itchy! lol

See youve been watching sound man videos

[scooter99]

Yes sir I sure did. I actually stumbled upon those episodes. I haven't watched in so long, it popped up in my email, so I said what the hell. It actually was perfect considering what he's doing compared to what I'm doing, it gave me some ideas and possibilities.

He's using the iPad Pro, which I'm not obviously, but he's using a processor and trying to include optical toslink signal, which I am as well. I wanted a remote or knob, recall, that I could adjust without having to use the Ampere Audio JM-1 remote, and without having to adjust via the tablet screen or the buttons since I won't have access to them. This remote does what I need for that to happen. I tested it, with the Octava being fed from the tablet via HDMI input, and then used my sure electronics DAC with SPDIF converter via optical toslink. I was able to adjust sound on the tablet with the remote and it worked perfectly. Exactly what I wanted it to do.

HOWEVER, I had an equipment failure between the bench test in the house, and the bench test in the shop. I was going to take it to the shop and hook it up to my amp and do some testing out there, but somehow, I burned something up in the Octava unit. I can smell it. The optical toslink output no longer works on it. The Analog RCA outputs work just fine. But the optical no longer works. So now I'm at a stand still with it. I know for a fact it worked so I'm happy about that for sure. I have a video of it working and of course me talking about it all, I'll have to edit this and post it here later. Its' uploading now.

I did end up purchasing a new HDMI converter however last night. I got a ViewHD converter. Significantly less than the Octava unit was, but I'll do some testing on it to see if it will do what I want it to do.

Another thing Doug is using what I was thinking about what the apple airport express. It has the optical output on it, and also streams via wifi, not bluetooth. The issues I'm currently running into with that is that for Android to work with it, I think the tablet has to be rooted and I'm not sure i want to go there. I know so very little about rooting and I don't want to ruin my tablet. So I'm going to continue to work with this set up I currently have and see if I can make it work best for me.

Ok, now then, after all that, I did end up doing some other work as well. I managed to get the dash going a bit. Although this may be another fail moment. I'll explain, at the end.

First let's see some pictures.

Basically the last time I left off on this tablet install it was here. I still needed to fill in the large gap on the right side, and the littler gap on the left hand side. So I got started on that. I taped up a piece of abs that I had laying around so I could get the area drawn up to cut out.

Next I placed that and held it on the front, while I drew the outline from the back side.

and cut it out. This should fill in nicely.

Time to work it in place. I know, I still need to pick up some good CA Glue. But this works for me for now.

Next I had to sand down this little glue glob that ran over the edge of the insert.

That's easy enough with a mini sanding wheel on the dremel.

[scooter99]

Next I taped up the tablet so I could put it in place for body filling. Some may ask why am I doing that? Well here's the answer. On this tablet case, insert, whatever you want to call it, recall it's just a cover that the tablet snaps into and then a leather flap went over the front of the tablet. Well, as with any case, there are cutouts for things like buttons, the spen, the speakers, etc. They are literally cut out of the top or front of the case. So there is not a sold frame all the way around. There are voids. I wanted to eliminate those voids because I want the tablet to be completely flush fit into position. So, in order to do that, I need the tablet in place while I do the body working so that it will create a flush fit and fill all of those cutouts, but then also not impede into the insert and prevent the tablet from sitting in properly. So there you go.

Moving on.

To fill the gap on the left side, where i cut out the HVAC Vent, I just cut a little piece of abs to fill the biggest part and then CA Glued it into place.

Next I taped off all of the edges to prep for filling. I don't want to smooth the edges out or get rid of the lines. I'd like this to look like it belongs there. Really the top and left side are the most important, but I also didn't want anything getting into the vent area etc. Don't need to go adding work to my project. LOL

Finally I got out some Rage Gold filler and my tile. I used these as filler plates, cardboard tends to soak up the filler. We had these laying around when we bought our house and it makes for a perfect filler plate.

Then I put on the first coat. I'm actually pretty pleased with how it turned out for a first coat.

HOWEVER, Let's get back to the issues. So having not done this in a while, I didn't estimate well on the hardener vs filler. I didn't seemingly put nearly enough hardener in. I put the filler on, went away and set a timer for about 20 minutes, went and did some yard stuff, and came back. Wasn't set. SO I walked away from it, another 30 minutes, came back, wasn't set. So I said forget it, it was getting late and I'll just check it before i go to bed and see how it is. I'll just have some extra sanding to do. Still not set. I went out there this morning before leaving for work, and it was set up but still sticky not in a hard enough zone to even sand it. I've set it in the shop window, so that when the sun hits it today (supposed to be like 73 today) it can warm it up and kind of bake it a little bit. Hopefully I can sand it tonight.

If not, I'm not sure what I'll need to do. I guess I'll have to scrap it off and do it over again, I don't know.

So it was a semi successful day with some pretty big failures at the same time. My life story, one step forward, two steps back.

Hopefully more on this tonight.

[boometro]

put it out in the sun for a cpl hrs. if you used some hardener it will kick with the heat. no sun then possibly try a heat gun

[scooter99]

put it out in the sun for a cpl hrs. if you used some hardener it will kick with the heat. no sun then possibly try a heat gun

Yes, that's why I put it in the window in my shop. So it will get the sun on it this afternoon when it's warmer. I didn't want to leave it out, I thought about it, but I didn't want to take a chance in one of my dogs thinking it was a play toy. LOL

I'll check it tonight.

[boometro]

it needs uv light and heat. as long as your windows do not block uv it you should be ok.

[bsneon98]

I had this same issue last night, just used a heat lamp and it worked fine

[Wood]

Looking good so far bro! I'm the type to ALWAYS put too much hardener and end up working like a mad man lol... Tuned in for the rest