As I mentioned, I wanted the toaster to pop up under some condtion, like shutdown. To do this required two things: actuation and power. I thought I might use the works of this wind up toy to supply the power mechanically. But it hasn't happened. Still got the toy.
These are the cardboard prototypes I put together. Originally I was planning on using a new Nano-ITX board, but they weren't available. Next I looked at a normal mini-ITX board. But there just wasn't enough margin in the size. Those are the two boards here. In addition is the 2.5in hard drive and an outline of the planned DVD drive.
Then I had a reference to Ampro from a friend. They had a nice passively cooled 1.4 GHz Pentium M LV board. They aren't set up for low volume retail even though parts of their web site imply it. But they eventually came through and delivered. But it took a while, and in the mean time....
I started working out the mechanics and electronics of the "pop-up" mechanism. Here is the solenoid attached to the release for the spring bound plunger.
Breadboard to prototype the control mechanism for the solenoid. Originally, I planned on having the solenoid activated when the toaster shutdown. But the plan is to have it running all the time. As of now, the electronics aren't hooked up. Maybe someday I'll hook up to a gpio on the board or something....
The board arrives and the major components are layed out. Now the jigsaw puzzle part of the game begins. Remember I said everything about this project was trial and error....?
The DVD and hard drive became one unit with a little electrical tape and spacers for air flow. Laptop drives are so ridiculously small and light that this works well. The connecting IDE cable does most of the support anyway.