Custom Projects

Below you will find some details on my CRT creation. By popular demand, I have decided to offer this as a limited service one at a time.

Back when I created this project, I had no idea it would become such a topic of interest in the CyberDeck and portable PC communities. To me it was just a fun way to fill some extra time I had between client projects in the typewriter world. Lately it has become apparent that multiple people are interested in this sort of project, and I think it would be cool to get some more of my work out into the world. I’ve always been a fan of the retro-futurism sci-fi style, also sometimes called cassette-futurism. Things like the Jetsons, Aliens, Blade Runner, all those curated universes that created unique analog pieces of equipment. That’s really what birthed all this, so if any of it interests you, perhaps this will too (though if you’re reading this, it already has).

BUILD DETAILS

Now let’s get into the nitty-gritty, the details:

Obviously there would be high labor and safety fees, as working with devices that are measured in Kv present certain challenges. These charges would also include custom fabrication work.

Material charges are separate. Wires, connectors, compute modules, auxiliaries, those are all billed separate. Total material came to around 5-700 for my build, but there are more powerful compute modules available like the Latte Panda. This would be a required down payment. Pay for parts first, labor on delivery.

You'd also need to provide a base television set, and it must power on. Repairs to the original tube are also an additional charge. I am currently only working with black and white, I have not quite figured out how to easily tap into RGB for color CRTs. I'm also not doing Gas Plasma or VFDs, can't offer a service for something I'm not 100% certain on.

Additional complications include what kind of parameters you want. Do you want built in mouse and keyboard? Do you want to maintain certain original functions such as radio? Due to space constraints I may not be able to include everything, but will certainly try my best to offer the best solution.

And finally, my knowledge of battery packs is limited, as such I'm not confident in safely hard-wiring lithium ion battery packs. My deck runs off AC power or D cell batteries, which use various transformers to power all functions at their needed voltages.

You could expect to pay an absolute minimum of 1500 in parts and labor, but no more than 3000 (unless you're doing something crazy. The project could also take a couple months to complete, as there is a lot of problem solving with older electronics, and I need to fit this in with my actual job.

To Recap:

Sounds like a lot, I know. Keep in mind that these kinds of projects take a lot of time, and as the owner of a small business, I need to justify that time. I will also not be taking on a lot of these jobs, so you may be facing wait times as well. You will be responsible for up front parts charges after semi-finalizing design. Providing either a link to a crt or an actual crt (B&W), and labor fees on delivery. Make sure you are vocal about budget restraints up front.