Hi all,

I’ve already created a few programs of my own, that still don’t work, but I’ll post them as soon as I got something that does what it’s supposed to.

Anyways, one of the things that bugged me most was the fact that my board and the wires and loose components were just on my desk, and anyone could easily tinkle with it and break it. I looked for something that held everything together. I first thought about building it all in into a simple plastic box, but I designed something in cardboard which was actually pretty good.

The cardboard design was just the beginning, because I was actually planning on building this design in aluminum scrap from PC cases or something. In real life I’m responsible for the telecoms of my company (which I will not name here), and as such I came across an old phone (a Nortel M3902), instead of aluminum scrap which I was looking for in the first place. It struck me that the size of the display of the phone was almost the same as that of the Nerdkit, so this is where I thought about building it all into a phone.

On this link -- http://picasaweb.google.com/116627484347353830566/NerdkitsBox?feat=directlink -- you can see the pictures of my original cardboard design, and of the Nerdkit in the Phone. Note that at the bottom of the phone I built in an on/off switch, because that was actually one of first annoyances with the Nerdkit (the fact that I had to plug in and take out the battery the whole time). I’m still thinking about where and how I’m going to build in the programming switch. Probably somewhere on the side. Spoken of which, I’ve taken out a piece of the side to build in the serial interface. Byt the way, in the pictures of the cardboard design you’ll notice that a piece is missing. This is because the tape of the breadboard stuck so hard that I had to cut it out, in order to rip the cardboard of the tape. The battery was under the “shelter”-part (where the display was), the cabling of the display, the on-off switch and the battery went under the “shelter”-piece, through the vertical piece.

My next project is of course looking for ways that I can still use the buttons of the phone to do something on the Nerdkit. A calculator maybe, or an FM tuner (I had to rip out the hands-free speaker though, to make room for the battery and the serial interface), or … a phone!

Hope you guys like it, and may it inspire other people!

Cool idea, I'm sure as time goes by, you'll find a use for the keypad!

I like it...

Rick

That is really neat. Why can't you use one of the switches (email) that are there already for the programming switch?

As I eye my phone.

Ralph

@Ralphxyz: well, besides the hook switch there's isn't really any tumble key on the phone, meaning you would have to keep a key depressed while uploading, which doesn't seem that practical to me. Besides that, I'm not really sure how the current of these keys kan be passed on to the breadboard, but that's more a lack of electronics knowledge on my part ...

@Rick: well, once I did fuigure out how the keypad works, I was thinking to make a simple calculator thing, just for the kicks.

You should be able to do a pin interrupt and latch the button push until the next push.

As the keyboard would be usable so should be any of the buttons.

Ralph

Hey, Tom. This is what I call "an excellent jobo". It inspired me to pay a visit to an electronics junk yard looking for a box to do something similar to what you did. "Muchos thankios my friendo".

Tnx Tropico! :-)

I mounted my kit to a piece of scrap wood, this makes it easier to keep together and move. I left extra room for additional breadboards and added a temporary power switch, I will add a permanent one soon. I plan on changing and building circuits alot that is why I left everything exposed.

Here are a few pictures with the Temperature Sensor project running.