Hi.
I bagged a problematic Century on eBay for cheap. All it needed was a service and all the sensors cleaned. Lobbed it on the wall but started to think the tape player does look a bit redundant in 2015.
So I dug through my old phones and decided to use my Galaxy S3 as a media player in place of the tape player.
This is a non destructive upgrade, except a little trimming of the front panel. Even if this is degraded back to tape it will look factory.
Measured all I needed to, and drew up some CAD, ready for the laser cutter.
This produced some nice acrylic parts, I sprayed matt black. There is even a button that was fitted to active the home button on the phone.
In the mix above you can see: The main plastic fascia. A black card light blocker, an old 240v to 5v charger & the button.
As the tape function has been removed, it was right to block out the tape and rec button so they never illuminate. This was done with some black card just placed into each button.
Plastic and card parts fitted. This all gets hot glued which is easy to remove if needed.
I had to cut down the USB and audio plugs, as the side space was limited.
Test fitting all the bits from the back...
and the front.
Integrating back into the century. Charger is wired to the 240v feed via a fuse. Audio output is soldered to the PCB aux pins. Phone is hot glued into place.
Testing - all works as expected.
On the wall (excuse the holes, there used to be some shelves there).
No more tape button illuminating.
Close up of the upgrade.
Nice simple project that really enhances the old Century!
