i had to cut away some plastic because some components were getting in the way. the VFD itself mounted almost with no problems.

covered by the dark panel, you cannot even tell that it's been modified.

and miraculously, the VFD still works! not that i thought i fried it or anything...

i am reusing a piece of the original PCB that hosted the original buttons, and wiring everything as a keyboard to the VFD's keyboard headers.

by the way, the LCD will be connected via a serial-to-USB adapter to one of the USB on-board headers.

having thought about it, i just had to get this one. of course, mod it till it's [almost] broke[n].

the PCB is pretty small, but will have to be made smaller to fit. i love my dremel...

you can see the IR sensor on the bottom of the PCB - that will have to be removed and mounted into the bezel.

the IR sensor is now detachable so if i needed to i could unplug it and remove the bezel, without having to unscrew the IR sensor out of it.

some more dremel action and hot glue and the IR sensor sits next to the LEDs. no, the LEDs won't interfere with it.

i went ahead and filled some holes in the bezel with epoxy. if i need holes, i can always add some later.