Low Profile Center Console- In Process

[kjp1969]

Here's a little writeup of my center console project, by request. With a career, wife, kids, dog and cat, I get to work on it a couple of hours per week. Its like building a ship in a bottle, except the ship is the console and the bottle is my free time. Of course, this is a "problem" that I wouldn't trade. . .

Its in bare wood right now, with the cupholders fitted and lid in place. Its about 14" by 21", roughly the same length and a touch wider than the stock plastic console. But its only about 5" high, which lets the kids jump over it easily to get to the back seat- the passenger seat slides forward like a Jeep, but its inconvenient, and they're small. All this to explain the slightly weird shape and height- its basically a doormat with storage in it.

There are three compartments- the front holds two cupholders and wiring, and there will be a RAM 1.5" ball mount between them for netbook and whatever else. The blue box below is a 110v outlet box for output from the 350w inverter. The rear compartment has the cupholders, plus maybe a 12v accessory socket.

The center part is the only part that opens- it will have the inverter, CB remote box (for 75wxst) and possibly a future 2m remote radio (also considering a non-remote 2m radio in the dash). There will also be a couple of Anderson powerpole connectors for temporary stuff. The idea is to manage all the electronica that goes along with our trips- laptop brick, DS chargers, Cell chargers, in one place.

The whole thing is cabinet grade 1/2 ply. The top will get a rubber mat of some kind- step-on-able. the hinges will be recessed into the top for aesthetics. The sides will get grey carpet that matches the rest of the truck. The edges are getting aluminum angle to hide the seams- the first part is visible in one of the photos.

Cheers.

 

[Lynn]

Nice!

One thought, if I may... I didn't see any ventilation. If you are going to be running an inverter in there, and especially if you end up putting a 2m in it, you want lots of ventilation, and probably a fan.

 

[kjp1969]

Nice!

One thought, if I may... I didn't see any ventilation. If you are going to be running an inverter in there, and especially if you end up putting a 2m in it, you want lots of ventilation, and probably a fan.

You may! I'm posting this up expecting constructive criticism.

It doesn't show in the photos, but I have two 1" holes directly opposite the fan outlet on the inverter. I'll also keep tabs and cut more ventilation if needed. The nice thing about plywood, carpet and spare time is that I can mess with and change it all pretty easily.

Since I took the above photos, I discovered that one of the front 45 degree corners was a good spot for an external speaker for the CB, possibly for the 2m later on. So in it went, flush mounted. It points at the passenger's knee rather than my skull, but it's out of the way. If it works out, I'll put another in for the other radio.

I also mounted up a latch and lock for the door and made another aluminum piece for the rear.

 

[kjp1969]

More:
Carpet on the sides to match the floor.
Mat on the top for the dog to lay on, kids to walk on. Cupholders for everyone. Electrial outlet on the front, comms external speaker. Vent holes, etc.

I don't like it. The gaps are all wrong. It looks funny. I'll see how it plays when its installed. Maybe I'll paint the rub rails black, defeating their purpose.

 

[Mc Taco]

Looks great. Where do the cup holders come from?

 

[kjp1969]

Amazon, about 2 bucks apiece and they're bare aluminum. They're meant for a poker table.

I tried the external speaker out this morning with my HT Ham and it works great! Even on the freeway and pointed away from me, the sounds were loud and clear. And with the external mic and antenna, the HT is acting more and more like a mobile.

Now I have to wire the console. This could take a while.

 

[1leglance]

I like it...it has a rock & roll road case look to it
The cup holders are super cool & thanks for the info on those, I need some for a project I am building.
Keep up the good work.

 

[kjp1969]

I like it...it has a rock & roll road case look to it
The cup holders are super cool & thanks for the info on those, I need some for a project I am building.
Keep up the good work.

Being both cheap and lazy, I just ordered the cheap stuff from Amazon. You might hunt down some nice stainless ones locally if you want to do it better.

 

[kjp1969]

I'll see how it plays when its installed.

It's all installed, partly wired. It works well so far, but I'll reserve judgement until the first big trip. The dog likes to sit on it while driving, which is a plus.

The whole purpose was to corral all the electrics and electronics on the typical road trip. In addition to the CB, 2m and GPS, I usually have knocking around a cell phone charger, netbook (movie theater) and power cord, audio wires for the netbook, a coupla DS (videogame) chargers, plus all the human residue of a road trip- drink cups and bottles, etc.

 

[grimbo]

Very nice, love the idea of getting all the annoying wires that seem to accumulate these days into a nice clean sorted box.

Any pics of it installed in the vehicle?

 

[kjp1969]

Yes, in fact I did a bunch of the wiring today. I added a 1.5 inch Ram ball mount between the two front cup holders. Right now it holds my Ham HT, but it can also take the Toughtray for the netbook. I might move it to the rear, because the netbook is mostly a movie screen for youts, though its set up for nav as well.

Inside, there's the inverter which is wired through to the front outlet with the cord that's visible. Another outlet is open inside the console.

There are two Anderson powerpole connectors. Each of these as well as the inverter are separately fused through the new Blue Sea fuse block. One will likely feed the CB, the other the 2m. The odd wires are the aux input for the stereo- works for the "movie theater" or tunes, and the antenna coax. Does anyone spy my Father's Day present in these photos? My kids are awesome.

The pushbutton above the inverter is the Battery Brain reset.

 

[Ozarker]

Nice job! I have been meaning to build a commo box as well. My problem is that I have several vehicles that I need to use it in, so it needs to fit the smallest and maybe adding attachments for the larger spaces.

I'll steal your cup holder idea!