The first step in creating a holovideo monitor is to make the chassis. The chassis is a protective case, made out of a folded sheet of metal, that will hold all of the components that it takes to make the monitor.

To begin, download these files so that you can cut your own chassis from sheet metal:

  To Do: Add links to the files mentioned above.

One of the best ways to cut these out is with a water jet. If you are at BYU you can contact byuwaterjet@gmail.com to make a request. If not, you should be able to find a local machine shop or maker space that has one you can use.

The chassis is compose of five different pieces. These are: the power supply deck, the middle section, the scanner, the fan insert, and the optical sled. Each of these has its own specific function, so we'll go over each one.

  To Do: Have somebody check this over for accuracy and see if I forgot anything.

This is the base of the chassis. It contains two separate power supplies, the fuse, screw ports, and a case fan. More information can be found here.

The middle section is the biggest piece out of all of them. This piece contains the lasers, optics, graphics cards, several mirrors, and it also provides a base for the various boards. More information can be found here.

The scanner attaches to the middle section via two posts. This piece holds the support structure for the mirrors, the galvanometer mirror, the spinning mirror, and the parabolic mirror. More information can be found here.

The fan insert is a piece that runs from the middle section to the scanner. This holds two fans that coll the graphics cards. More information can be found here.

The optical sled is a piece that goes on the bottom of the middle piece. This part has holes drilled into it that allow the optics to be mounted to it. More information can be found here.

Once you have the components of the chassis finished, you'll notice a distinctive lack of holes that you can use to mount your components on. This is because the files leave out the holes so that you can get your specific components to fit perfectly. However, you are required to drill the holes. There are only two parts of the chassis that require mounting holes. These are the power supply deck, and the middle chassis. In the coming sections we will cover how many holes need to be drilled, where they need to be drilled, and what they are for. Also, when drilling holes make sure that you use the right size of bit. We recommend a bit that is slightly larger than the screw you will use to mount the items.

On the power supply deck a surprisingly few number of holes needs to be drilled. At most, nine, but we only did five since some parts only require two holes to be secure. These holes are for the fuse, and the screw terminals. The best way to determine where to put your screw holes is to is to position the components inside the case. Make sure that your larger components, such as your power supply don't get in the way. Optimal positioning can be seen in the picture below. One is slightly obscured by an overhang, and the one for the fuse is empty. More holes may need to be drilled for the power supplies.

The middle section has significantly more holes, since it has the top piece where most of the boards are mounted. Again, position all boards beforehand, and make sure that your laser driver and synchronization CCA are further away from you if you were looking at it from the front. Below, you can see the image that has the locations of all the holes, and what parts they correspond to.

After you drill the holes there are a few more things that you will have to do before they are ready to have hardware mounted on them. The biggest of these things is deburring. When you drill the holes, metal burrs will form around the holes. These are incredibly abrasive and often sharp. As a result of this, you will need to use a deburring tool to remove the burrs. Insert the tip of the deburring tool into the hole. Make sure that you have the right size, as there are two sizes in the workshop here at BYU. The small deburrer should work on all of the holes, except for the large ones that the transducer uses. To check if the tool is large enough look at it when it is inserted. If the metal lip of the hole touches the conical part of the deburrer, it should be fine. Crank the handle of the deburrer so that it moves in circles. make sure that it is moving in the direction that the small edge on the deburring tool faces the way it is going. Do this until it feels relatively smooth to run your hands over the hole. Do this to both sides of every hole. If a deburring tool is not available, a file can be used instead. This may unfortunately scratch the chassis.

The other thing that needs to be done after drilling holes is anodizing the chassis. This can also be done after folding the chassis. Anodizing is purely cosmetic, however it is very good at what it does. This can also hide scratches that have come from drilling or filing.

Before anodizing:

After anodizing:

Folding the chassis is fairly simple. Cut into the sheet metal there should be perforated lines. These lines are where you need to fold. We've created a diagram for each section to help you understand how to fold it. Also, refer to the chassis page for more detailed images.

The orange dot represents the bottom/rough center of the piece. Imagine it like a coin resting on top of the metal. All bends are 90 degrees unless otherwise stated. A green dot on a section means to bend towards the yellow dot, and red means to bend away. The lines that need to be folded are also highlighted. Numbers corresponding to the steps are also on the image.

You may need to bolt pieces together after folding.

1. Bend pieces with a number one 90 degrees towards the yellow dot.

2. Fold the pieces with the number two towards the yellow dot.

3. Fold the piece with the number three on it away from the yellow dot so that it bends with the cutout piece.

4. Fold this piece toward the yellow dot. Make sure that piece three is closer to the outside than one.

5. Fold the rest of the pieces toward the yellow dot. Make sure that the smaller piece two is closer to the yellow dot than the blank that touches it.

For this piece make sure that the text that says, “up,” is facing up.

1. Fold all pieces with the number one 90 degrees towards the orange dot.

2. Fold the pieces with the number two. Make sure that the pieces with the number two are over the pieces with the number one when applicable.

This piece is incredibly easy to fold. Just fold the Two green pieces 90 degrees. Direction doesn't really matter.

  To do: Finish diagrams, and instructions. Begin board part of document.