Re: TV Lift

["E. Lee Dickinson" <lee@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

"Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:oIadnRDtId3GM7TZRVn-tA@xxxxxxxxxx
> "E. Lee Dickinson" <lee@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
>
> How's your TV lift coming?

Hey, Bobby --

I just threw some pics up on my website of my two projects I'm curently
working on.  Both are "finished," with the exceptions below.

The first is a flush-mounted PC in my kitchen cabinet. 8" Lilliput
touchscreen. The computer itself is in the back corner of one of my base
cabinets, where it has connection to FM antenna, cable, and ethernet.
Machine is running Windows Media Center Edition, which -- through virute of
it's "10' interface", makes for a GREAT touchscreen interface.  Pull up
recipes. Watch TV. Listen to MP3s! All the things one wants to be able to do
in the kitchen.  Add to that some plugins for pretty weather, movie
listings, etc, and it's very, very slick.

The second is the one you asked about, my projector lift.  It worked
beautifully for a month, before the motor burnt out. Pics of that online
too. This was a very, very DIY project. It moutned up in my bedroom ceiling,
where I used an X10 appliance module to raise and lower both the home-built
lift and the store-bought roll down screen.

As I said, the motor burnt up. Also, I occasionally had to reach up and
adjust the projector after it "landed."  I'm going to re-build the thing
with drawer slides as guides, and an off-the-shelf linear actuator. I
believe you mentioned these same two items when you were talking about your
dog bowl lift. :)

When building mechanical things, I reference Gordon McComb's "Robot
Builder's Bonanza" and Edwin Wise's "Animatronics: A guide to animated
holiday displays."

The lift, as I said, worked well for a while. Getting the limit switches
adjusted was tough. The real problem I had was, when I cut into my ceiling,
discovering my ceiling joists are not straight or parallel.  I built the
projector lift as a 14.5" square. Had to use my Stanley 18oz Fine Adjustment
Tool and repatch some drywall. Measure twice, etc.....

The new version will be put off to this summer, when business is rolling
along a little better. But I'll post some more pics then.