Another update:
I have been working on the front panel adding audio and USB ports along with “power on” and “case lamp” switches. As you will see below, I had found some interesting touch switches and wanted to include them in this solution. I decided to not put USB3 ports on the front panel mainly because I could not find any in my collection of parts and the source that I had used for the BenFenix front panel upgrade kits was out of stock with no availability date projected.
From the last update the front of the case was sadly unfinished as seen here.
From my component salvage box I decided to use this USB2 board that had Mic and Head phone jacks. Originally the assembly had 4 USB2 ports but I needed only two so I cut printed circuit board (two layer so I could easily see where to cut). The sheet metal bracket seen in black here and the front panel was about the correct size but I cut both to my size requirement.
I had decided to use portions of a black plastic cover, sized for a 2.5” drive slot, for my touch pad surfaces. Here is the front panel with the audio and USB port bracket mounted and window slots cut for the touch switch assemblies.
I made up the mounting brackets shown here along with the small wide “u” shaped stiffener brackets. The black plastic “touch pads” and touch sensor circuit cards along with the relays that I used.
Touch Sensors:
The stand alone touch sensors used are momentary and toggle capacitive units from Adafruit.
Link:
http://www.adafruit.com/category/35
Part numbers: 1374 (Momentary) and 1375 (Toggle) @ approximately $6 USD.
I have each touch sensor pulling up a relay and the load is managed by the contacts of the relays. The relays are 5 to 6 VDC and “Power On” touch sensor is powered by pin 9, the 5 VDC Standby Power and the “Case Lamps” toggle touch sensor is power by 5 VDC from a 4 pin Molex run from the PSU.
Relays:
Link:
http://www.newark.com/nte-electronics/r40-11d2-5-6/signal-relay-dpdt-5v-6v-dc-2a/dp/10M0344
Part number: NTE RD40-11D-5/6 @ approximately $4.5 USD.
Things are never easy and I lost a day when my first wired up touch sensor did not work. A very simple circuit that took me several hours to understand and determine that the used relay was defective. Solution was to purchase new relays and junk the used ones. And I know better then to assume… so I just chalk it up to ego getting in the way of good practice.
I used my ink-jet combination printer copier and copied the circuit cards. Then cut out near life size images of the touch sensor boards. I glued the cutouts into place in the plastic touch pads and used these to drill holes for the touch sensor LEDs to show through the pads.
And from the front.
The surface wiring took a little while to sort out and then I made up some (4) LED holders and placed them to help illuminate the viewable portions of the hack. This is really a matter of taste and some will not like this feature. So the system is nearly complete and runs very well as seen here.
This project is nearly completed. I need to identify the Z97 ITX motherboard for the “high” performance that I envision. Also, I have decided to go for a pair of 120 mm noctua fans for the CPU cooler (on order due mid-week next).
More to follow.
Good modding,
neil