A little progress over the weekend
First, I got my 14" slide rails in, so I drilled them and bolted on some angle brackets to attach the top to.
Then, I got the LED set I'd ordered in, so I hooked it up to test. It's a set that's intended for auto interiors, so it's 12vdc, and it has a little control module with it. Works great, super bright LEDs. I'm going to put 2 tubes on the back of the cabinet facing the wall, and two on the bottom facing down. The goal is for a "wall and floor light wash" effect, but to be completely invisible when you turn things off.
The music sensor works ok, not great, but it should be good enough for this application.
What's nice about this unit is that the control module retains it's last setting from power off to power on, so once it's set in "music" mode, it'll stay that way. a Requirement for a cab like this.
Blatantly copying Paying homage to an idea from Gryhnd's Rat Rod, I picked up these VU Meters and a controller board, to add a little retro flair. Yeah, it's not period, but neither are those LED tubes
Then, I had a little time to even further disassemble the back massager that will eventually (hopefully) become my linear actuator, cabinet auto opening mechanism.
I spliced into the wires that I guessed were controlling the motor. Presto! I guessed right.
Looks like about 24vac on those wires, and to reverse the motor, you just switch polarity.
What's even more fortuitous is that the way this particular unit works, when you plug it in, if it doesn't +sense+ that it's at the bottom of it's travel, it automatically tries to "go home"
This means that with literally no additional work, the powersupply in the unit itself can be used to drive the motor.
All I have to do is wire up 2 limit switches in series with a 3 way toggle switch and I'm good to go.
Unfortunately, I thought I MIGHT be able to use the geared shafts (that normally drive the little spinning "massage fingers"), and I could. Except that at .6 rpm, it'd take almost 5 minutes for it to lift up the required 13 inches
Sooo. I'll be disassembling the gear motor part and driving the threaded rod of my actuator directly from the motor axle. Considering no one will ever be sitting on top of the unit when it raises, i'm guessing that motor will have enough torque.
Next up will be pics of the refinished cab. It's in the middle of the "apply poly/let dry/steel wool/repeat" cycle right now, so it's not much to look at.
Once that's done, it can come inside from the garage and be much more pleasant to work on.