New build, wurlitzer style jukebox - rhapsody

[korbitz]

Hi all,

Been awhile since i did any projects, my arcade machine is in hibernation, so the wife wants a jukebox and we are both agreed on the shape.

I like the shape and size of the wurlitzer so i am basing my design roughly on it.



Here is the amp with power supply (will be replacing the power supply wit something that can take 500 watts)



A picture of the speakers (shamelessly ripped out of an old car) 



And the computer plus touchscreen, running XBMC 'frodo', all setup and ready to go



Will start construction within the next couple of weeks, weather dependant.

Wish me luck

Cheers

[korbitz]

Okay i've updated the design/color to show each part clearer, the tubes will be semi transparent enough to allow light from RGB leds to shine through.
The 7 metal trims around the outside are there to hide the joins in the plastic and for show 

The pc is a HP touchsmart q1105, touchscreen works well, spec is high enough for what it needs to do (run XBMC)
I am running the re-touched skin, which will allow users to run videos of Vevo, and access loads of digital radio stations.

The chrome control panel will have a griffen powermate, a digital display (not sure what i,m putting on it yet and some buttons, power/radio/lights/etc)

The subwoofer will be on the base pointing downwards with a neon ring, placement of the 2 speakers is undecided at the moment.

[selfie]

Hi Selfie,

I got a question for you regarding bending plastic/perspex/acrylic, in my jukebox build i will be attempting to make the outside light tubes, obviously the straight pieces are easy enough  , what would be required to bend around a circle if at all possible, i will do the straight parts using the oven method and onto a mould, can i do the same with the curved sections?

Here is a link to my project. http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,130980.0.html

Cheers

I would steer clear of using a drape mould for the straight bits if you can. The easiest way to do the straight bits would be to get acrylic tube and cut it length ways to get your two half round "tubes".

If I were doing this I would blow mould curved parts. Either in one piece or four smaller pieces, dependant on the size of your oven.

Your moulds will be two pieces. The base board is a flat sheet of mdf with a hole in the middle for an air fitting then the board need to be covered in some felt or similar soft material. The top sheet will have a hole the shape where the acrylic meets the box allow at least 100mm around the edge of the "hole". Put a small radius on the edge of the top sheet of the mould, just enough so the edge is not sharp.

You said you have and oven you can use. Heat a piece of acrylic  that is the size of the mould boards, when hot, put the acrylic on the bottom mould and clamp (with lots of clamps) the top mould on and turn on the compressed air though the bottom. The amount of air will determine the height of the dome, you will need to vary the air manually to get them all the same height.

Top mould should look like this


Clamped and blown


ignore the crazy dude in the background, and no that is not me...

[korbitz]

I would steer clear of using a drape mould for the straight bits if you can. The easiest way to do the straight bits would be to get acrylic tube and cut it length ways to get your two half round "tubes".

That was my initial thought about the straight bits, but sourcing acrylic tubes the size and color i require aint so easy in the back-waters of Scotland

If I were doing this I would blow mould curved parts. Either in one piece or four smaller pieces, dependant on the size of your oven.

When i said oven i meant my kitchen stove as you lot from across the pond call it, max length is only 17 inches

Your moulds will be two pieces. The base board is a flat sheet of mdf with a hole in the middle for an air fitting then the board need to be covered in some felt or similar soft material. The top sheet will have a hole the shape where the acrylic meets the box allow at least 100mm around the edge of the "hole". Put a small radius on the edge of the top sheet of the mould, just enough so the edge is not sharp.

You said you have and oven you can use. Heat a piece of acrylic  that is the size of the mould boards, when hot, put the acrylic on the bottom mould and clamp (with lots of clamps) the top mould on and turn on the compressed air though the bottom. The amount of air will determine the height of the dome, you will need to vary the air manually to get them all the same height.

This is were i got confused, how would i create a curve that is standard in height across the length of the acrylic/plastic, the picture shows a dome, would i need to create lots of holes in the base mold to achieve this?

Thanks for the reply though, given me some food for thought there, i dont doubt i will have further questions when i get to the stage of molding the plastic

[korbitz]

Okay after doing some research on the 'blown' method i now understand what i need to do, the top curved section will be split into 4 sections and as each section will be exactly the same size and shape, i will create a mold and 'vacuum form' my plastic into the required shape. This is one headache out of the road, not saying it will be easy but at least doable with the tools in my limited tool-box

Many thanks for the inspiration selfie 

[selfie]

You should be able to source clear tube in various sizes, then lay a coloured sign writers vinyl on top.

Vacuum forming is a different process all together. It uses a porous mould that the material is formed over.

This is what I mean by blow moulding.


You can do it at home with a jigsaw to make the mould and an air compressor to blow the "dome"