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The Multi Touch Coffee Table project has officially begun! Yesterday I went to Best Buy and picked up a 23″ Dell widescreen LCD monitor to use for the table. I had mixed feelings about tearing it apart right as it came out of the box.

I started by removing the plastic housing of the monitor. This was a lot more straightforward than I was expecting! Once the stand was removed with two screws, there were two more underneath it that had to be removed.

The front and back halves are merely snapped together. I started with the lip of the bezel near the bottom of the screen and worked it loose. After the first clip popped loose, the rest followed suit with no problems. The power and adjustment switches need to be removed from the case or unplugged from the control unit to really get the case out of the way.

Once the case and power supply were out of the way, the hard part started. The plastic case is like an insurance policy for the LCD. You can bang up against the plastic with a screwdriver like a clumsy doofus, but once it’s removed you’ve got to be gentle with what’s inside.

Separating the layers was difficult. Not physically hard, you just had to find a method to get the metal frames to unsnap from each other without damaging the screen in the process. Once I was able to get the frame to separate, it was gravy from there on out.

The intimidating part about the whole ordeal is holding the LCD matrix in your hands. It’s wafer thin and you just know you’re gonna do something stupid and wind up breaking it!

Luckily, I didn’t do something stupid since the LCD array is still in one piece! In the photo to the left you can see the LCD array (black screen) and the light panel with the diffuser and opaque sheet laying on top of the metal frame that holds them all together.

At this point, I’ve got to do some more research, but I think I have to remove the polarizing filter from the LCD screen. IR LEDs will make it through and show up on camera, but I’m not sure if the image will be good enough.

With everything in pieces, I decided to wire it all back up and see if it worked.

I used the LCD array, backlight, metal frame and a t-shirt for insulation purposes and rigged it all up so it would stand up.

It works! I didn’t damage anything – which is a good thing! I checked the view from various angles and all looks good so far. Now that it was working as I had hoped, I disassembled everything and secured it all in a towel until it came time to do some testing with IR stuff.

I then turned my attention to the PS3 Eye cam which will be used to “see” where the screen is being touched. I disassembled it and removed the lens. I don’t know where my Exacto knife is at so everything is on hold until I can find it and remove the IR filter.

Since everything is going rather swimmingly at this point, I need a table to house it all in. I initially thought about building my own table, but after mulling it over last night I decided to try and find a vintage coffee table from the 50′s – or at least one that looks vintage! My other project is a 1957 RCA Victor Deluxe television that is identical to the one on the left, but has a darker wood case. My plans are to replace the guts with an LCD Flat Panel TV.

It’s a color set, but something is amiss with the electronics. Maybe someone let the Magic Blue Smoke out of it at some point. The audio is ASTOUNDING, but it has no picture. I’m not a TV electronics guru, so when I opened the back of the TV I just sort of grunted and closed it back up.

I’d like to find a coffee table that would match or go along with the theme of this TV to add some 21st Century tech to some cool retro style. It needs to have storage underneath to house the PC, camera and backlight setup.

Check out the photos below for what I’m looking for. Do you have something like this in the Memphis area you’re willing to part with? if you do, let me know!