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DShiznit
Guru-in-Training
Joined: 14 Jan 2007
Posts: 3683
Location: The 24th Century
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 Posted: 14 Aug 2010 07:52:01 pm Post subject: Idea: Wrist-Mounted Solar-charged TI-84 |
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I have a TI-84 with a broken screen.
I have a 2x1 inch solar cell.
I have an unusually copious amount of spare aluminum sheet metal.
I have a number of spare digital watches.
I have some experience with basic electronics(flashing light timers and junk).
I want to turn these resources into a pip-boy-esque wrist mounted solar-charged back-lit TI-84. With a watch thrown in, because I'll be damned if I'm strapping anything to my wrist that can't tell time. The simple idea would be to disassemble the components of the calculator, re-assemble them, along with a larger screen, a backlight, and a rechargeable solar-assisted battery, onto an insulated wire mesh I can fit around my wrist, then cut and fold some sheet metal around the parts to make it look nice, insulating the inside of course. You guys have a LOT more experience than me with projects of this caliber, and I have no idea where to start, or if any of this is even feasible or if I'm going in completely the wrong direction. How should I best approach this? Please help me benefit from your wisdom... |
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souvik1997
Guru-in-Training
Joined: 19 Apr 2010
Posts: 2870
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| Posted: 14 Aug 2010 09:02:37 pm Post subject: |
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It is going to be hard to fit the entire contents of a ti 84 into a watch, and even if you could fit it all in you would need a strong wrist if you plan on wearing the watch all day.
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CALCnet Tournament-38%
deviantArt
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qazz42
Vampire Killer
Joined: 07 Apr 2010
Posts: 4177
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| Posted: 14 Aug 2010 09:06:49 pm Post subject: |
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I don't think this is even feasible... I mean, even if we exclude linking and such, I dont think so
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KermMartian
Site Admin
Joined: 14 Mar 2005
Posts: 55751
Location: Earth, Sol, Milky Way
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| Posted: 14 Aug 2010 11:33:30 pm Post subject: |
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Unfortunately that doesn't sound terribly feasible. The TI-84 is sadly a single giant PCB, albeit one from which a few chunks could be removed. Even moving the LCD to an external PCB would require roughly 32 extremely finely-soldered wires, maybe 32 wires in the space of an inch and a half or so.
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Svakk
Power User
Joined: 29 Mar 2009
Posts: 418
Location: Mos Eisley
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| Posted: 14 Aug 2010 11:53:28 pm Post subject: |
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Although this does sound like a fairly good idea, I'd have to agree with the other guys. Its hard to fit an elephant into a pig. However, you have sparked my interest, and what would be an interesting idea would be to turn the broken calculator into a part of a belt buckle, where the screen and keyboard would be hiddin. It would be the normal buckle with the keyboard and screen behind it, similar to a folding open phone, but on your belt.... this, sounds more feasible, since it doesn't require minimal space and you could always store the excess parts in the belt itself.... 
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DShiznit
Guru-in-Training
Joined: 14 Jan 2007
Posts: 3683
Location: The 24th Century
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| Posted: 15 Aug 2010 10:11:05 am Post subject: |
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the idea wasn't to fit it into a watch, but a larger, wrist mounted computer, with a watch thrown in, like a pip-boy:
or an omni-tool:
It sounds like the hardest part would be breaking up the controls into two side-by-side pieces. But weren't you doing the same thing with your calculator laptop Kerm? |
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KermMartian
Site Admin
Joined: 14 Mar 2005
Posts: 55751
Location: Earth, Sol, Milky Way
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| Posted: 15 Aug 2010 10:41:49 am Post subject: |
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Ah, then that won't be quite as hard. It'll still take a fair bit of careful soldering; how are you with that? Also, note that the 84 has a built-in clock already; if you really want to, you might be able to write some software to pipe the clock data out to your little watch LCD.
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DShiznit
Guru-in-Training
Joined: 14 Jan 2007
Posts: 3683
Location: The 24th Century
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| Posted: 15 Aug 2010 01:00:30 pm Post subject: |
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| Oh, well if there's already a clock, I can just use that. My dad has taught me how to solder, though I should probably brush up on it with some less complicated projects first. Where can I get a replacement screen for my TI-84 in the meantime, and can I get a larger one, or would it be easier to just use the same kind? |
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KermMartian
Site Admin
Joined: 14 Mar 2005
Posts: 55751
Location: Earth, Sol, Milky Way
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| Posted: 17 Aug 2010 11:27:38 pm Post subject: |
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| DShiznit wrote: | | Oh, well if there's already a clock, I can just use that. My dad has taught me how to solder, though I should probably brush up on it with some less complicated projects first. Where can I get a replacement screen for my TI-84 in the meantime, and can I get a larger one, or would it be easier to just use the same kind? |
You're better off with just getting the same one. It's a very specific screen, so I'd strongly recommend doing what I did and just getting a broken TI-84 off eBay to get the screen from.
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WhiteValkery
Power User
Joined: 07 Oct 2008
Posts: 493
Location: US
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| Posted: 18 Aug 2010 01:41:36 am Post subject: |
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wow... this sounds cool...
but extremely hard to do...
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KermMartian
Site Admin
Joined: 14 Mar 2005
Posts: 55751
Location: Earth, Sol, Milky Way
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| Posted: 18 Aug 2010 02:01:41 am Post subject: |
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| WhiteValkery wrote: | wow... this sounds cool...
but extremely hard to do... |
Definitely very hard to do without in-depth electronics knowledge and a lot of experience with graphing calculators, but very cool nonetheless if he or someone else manages to pull it off at some point. 
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DShiznit
Guru-in-Training
Joined: 14 Jan 2007
Posts: 3683
Location: The 24th Century
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| Posted: 18 Aug 2010 09:18:57 am Post subject: |
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| KermMartian wrote: | | You're better off with just getting the same one. It's a very specific screen, so I'd strongly recommend doing what I did and just getting a broken TI-84 off eBay to get the screen from. |
How about I just get get a broken one off the head Math Teacher I'm friends with? |
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KermMartian
Site Admin
Joined: 14 Mar 2005
Posts: 55751
Location: Earth, Sol, Milky Way
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| Posted: 18 Aug 2010 01:37:47 pm Post subject: |
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That would work as well. 
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