Gayles Jukebox (*Project finished!!! 06/08/2014*)

[rablack97]

Crap my bad, didnt get to the shipping piece of it...will do...

[rablack97]

Here ya go bud, much better.....

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1pcs-48x22mm-SOLID-Aluminum-VOLUME-AMPLIFIER-TEST-KNOB-hy-/300942758729?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4611961349

[rablack97]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1pcs-48x22-Aluminum-Volume-Control-KNOB-CD-Amplifier-potentiometer-fit-ALAPS-/330937860330?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4d0d6f00ea

[rablack97]

Go to ebay and type this into search - aluminum volume knob

All sizes come up, so you have a good choice, and prices+shipping are reasonable.

[DaOld Man]

Hey thanks man, I appreciate it. I am liking the second one you posted. I am a little scared of it shipping from Hong Kong, because of the time it will take, but I may go ahead and bite the bullet.
If I go with this one, I can go ahead and do the mounting method, because I will know the size the knob will be.
This forum is a great resource. I know I would be out in the weeds without it.

[rablack97]

Narrow the search to U.S. only, another may pop up in the states although price may be higher.

Yeah, I would order now, November and December is when HK starts having all their holidays and shut down for weeks at a time.

I do it all the time, takes about 21 days on the norm, however, I order from this one vendor, and his stuff take like a week and a half, I have no idea how, but its fast.

Good luck and hope i helped you move forward on this work of art. 

[yotsuya]

I bought a pair of those aluminum knobs on eBay for less than $10 shipped each time from China. Only took like two weeks.

[wp34]

Nice work so far.  I like how you mounted that monitor.   Aluminum is a great idea.  I may try that on a build I will be doing soon.

Ok, I think I have decided to keep the home made nuts.
Here is a test fitting of the monitor in the front frame.
Backside:

[DaOld Man]

Thanks WP34. I like the aluminum too, and its readily available in a variety of sizes at Lowes.
I used a similar mounting method for "A Little Rage", but this method is cheaper, and simpler because of fewer parts. But in defense of my other method, the clamps and EMT tubing make adjusting the monitor side to side very easy.

Ok, I ordered the 2nd knob that rablack97 posted. I couldn't find any here in the states, so I had to go the Hong Kong route. Supposed to be here in 7-14 days. But we will see.
I think the hole for the volume knob is too large, so I made a doughnut to glue inside of it to make the hole smaller.
Cut the doughnut out of 1/2" MDF, using my circle cutting jig.
The only problem was that I couldn't get the circle cutter down to a small enough radius to cut the inside hole.
So I used a spade bit in my drill press. trouble is the bit walked on me, so the inside hole is not exactly center, so I have an off center hole.
This I do not like.
So its back to the drawing board to see if I can modify my circle cutter to get exactly what I want.
Here is a pic. It's not glued in yet. The white you see around the edge is the primer. I may have to sand this down to make sure the glue holds the doughnut good.


More to follow.

[DaOld Man]

Here is how I am going to retain the marquee glass.
I am using screen door clips, they come with 8/32" thumb bolts.
I used T-nuts to hold the bolts.



And a view from the front.
You can see where I used bondo to fill in above the T nuts.


I am going to have to touch up the scratches in the marquee back. I used chrome spray paint to act as a reflector. I think I laid it down on something before it totally dried, leaving a few ugly marks. looks like I have some finger prints in it too. Must have been in a hurry when I painted it.

[DaOld Man]

Ok just a quick update.
Ive been very lazy lately (blaming it on the weather), but I did make a little forward movement since last post.
Im waiting on the volume knob to get here. I went ahead and ordered another, slightly different design but same size, from amazon.com. Hopefully I can make sure everything in that area fits, and change the knob when the one from hong kong gets here. Or I may decide to keep the one from amazon.com.
I got to thinking that maybe the hard drive needs a vent like the dvd drive, so I added two holes where it will mount.
This should let the air from out side come in around the drive.


There will be about 1/2" gap between the top and bottom boxes, so I think it will allow air to flow between them and into the vent holes.
Im also hoping the fan I install in the bottom, blowing up, will provide a draft that will help draw the air into these vents.

I also made another donut for the volume hole. This time I used a hole saw for the center cutout, and it stayed very close to center.
I measured no more than .02 mm of thickness difference around the edge of the donut.


Havent glued it yet. Still haven't made my mind up. If I use a pot, this will work, but if I use the powermate I have (the guts left over from my last juke project), then this donut inside hole wont be big enough.


I had a lot of trouble getting this thing to work last time, but I am thinking about trying it again. If I use it I will lose the donut and hope there is enough MDF to securely hold the acrylic front. I think it will be enough, but I don't plan to waste a lot of time with the powermate, plus I don't think the shaft will fit the knob I ordered.

[DaOld Man]

Another quick update.
Applying first skin. (no turning back now.)




I used a 2X4 turned edgeways to get the skin nice and square against the juke bottom.
Applied a generous amount of wood glue to the frame, then set the frame on top of the skin.
Tried to leave about the same width of skin (or overhang) on each side, though this will be cut off anyway.
I then used a piece of eucaboard I had left over from last juke, just to spread the weight a bit, placed on top of the frame. Then a couple of scrap 2X6s and then I laid a heavy weight (about 80lbs). To top it all off, my drill went on top.
The glue is currently setting up. After an hour or so I will probably bring it in the house, because the temperature outside is already starting to cool down, then tomorrow I will wrap the skin around and glue the other side.

One more shot of the interior.


Thanks for looking.

[DaOld Man]

The skin installation continues.
I don't remember the board I used on the last jukes being this stiff, but that was a few years ago, and they may be making it differently now.
I am taking the installation onto the frame a few inches at a time.
This is taking an enormous amount of time, because I have to let the glue set for at least an hour between moves.
But once I get around the curved top, it should be home free and finished in one glue session.
Here it is, showing how I am clamping it.


Notice how it is pulling the big spring clamp apart? This is quite a way from the glue areas, so it's ok.
I found the marquee back was being pushed away from the skin, so I devised a wire to hold it tight against the skin.
This would have been a serious problem if I had not caught it, because the glue would have hardened and not allow the other side to push in when the skin is applied to it.
Thankfully I caught that before the glue set.



In an hour or so, I will remove the clamps, dob some glue in there and continue forward.
I was hoping I would get done in time to allow it to set for a few hours, then trim the skin with the router. But I don't see that happening today.
Wont hurt for it to set all night. I would not want the glue giving up from the vibration caused by the trim bit of the router.

[mountain]

Sucks that you are having a hard time at it. I used 1/8" MDF on my Dad's and it was simple. I used a brad nailer to hold it. I have used 1/8 hardboard before on other curvy projects, looks like the stuff you are using, which looks like 1/4". Hope it's all down hill for ya after you get the wrap done.

[DaOld Man]

Thanks Mountain.
Yeah, I tried to find 1/8" mdf that you used, but could not. I did find some 1/4" but I figured it would be too hard to bend.
The stuff Im using is 3/16".
I haven't decided yet if Im going to apply a second skin, I may have to because of the depth of the T molding cut.
But if I do, Im thinking of cutting slots about the depth of half the thickness, across the width to help it bend.
We shall see.

[DaOld Man]

Ok, looks like I had a little success.
Got the last glue session done at around 11:00 PM, then left it clamped and weighed down to set overnight.
Took it out to the shed and put the router with a trim bit to it.
Im pretty happy with it.
Here is a pic of the front:


And the back:


And now the big decision. Do I add another layer of skin?
Here is a picture of the T Molding, against the skin and the back frame (the back is the thinnest, thus less meat for the T-molding slot):



The pros of the extra skin is more meat for the T-molding slot, but the cons are more weight and more work for me.
As you can see, the tip of the T-molding barb will barely break the surface of the frame, and the laminate I will install later will move that barb evn farther away from the frame.
But how deep does the slot cutter need to go?
Ive got an old slot cutter that I can use for reference, but it's out in the shed.
My question is, does the slot need to go deeper than the barb? (Maybe I need to ask this over in woodworking.)
Im thinking about mounting the electronics just to make sure everything fits like I planned.

[a1pharm]

No, the slot does not need to go deeper than the barb, but getting the depth PERFECT without going deeper is effectively impossible.  If you don't go deep enough, and the barb runs into the back of the channel, your molding will appear to "rise" in that spot.

That said, there's no real reason to go much deeper than 1/2 to 1mm of the depth of the barb length, unless you don't want to fish out the dust.

If this thing will be exposed to rapid swings in temperature, the t-molding will theoretically expand, and potentially "bump" into the back of the slot, and thereby push itself out.  However, if you give yourself an extra 1mm of depth and fish out the dust, you should be fine.

You could always just buy that ---smurfy--- stick on T-molding, and forgo slot cutting.  I wouldn't recommend that, and I don't think you'd do it if I did.

Cheers!
 

[DaOld Man]

Thanks a1pharm, I didn't think about temperature making the T molding expand, but it does make sense.

The weather today is sucky, raining and wind blowing, so I have put the wood work off for a while. Hopefully tomorrow I can continue.
I have installed most of the parts for test fitting, and even though I still have to decide how I want to mount the motherboard, everything else fits like a glove.
Here is a pic with monitor, DVD drive and Harddrive installed. You can see how I am mounting the hard drive (same way I mounted HD on my last jukebox, using PC case expansion slot blank covers).
I also need to figure out how Im going to mount the fastening bracket on the back of the DVD. This will secure the DVD drive. Im thinking of a block glued to the bottom, and a screw through the bracket into the block. I left a piece of tape in that area to keep paint off the bottom surface, so I can glue a block there.


And here is a low quality pic of Power supply mounted and everything wired in. (Please ignore the haphazard wiring, this is just a test run.)


The fan laying across the CPU is the one that will mount into the bottom of the juke. The CPU on that Motherboard gets pretty warm, so I figured I had better cool it down while Im playing with the software. This MB did not come with a fan, Im wondering if it had a fan and shroud mounted in the PC case it was meant for? I bought it off ebay, so don't have a lot of info on it. It says "Dell Vostro A-100" on the boot up screen.
I will have to figure out a way to mount another fan that will blow directly on the two heat sinks.
So I have installed WinXP, SP3, ELO touchscreen software, and am currently testing  "TouchTone Audio System" jukebox software.
I wanted to try something different from the XLobby I used before, mostly because it is very hard to find support for XLobby now.
(Or at least it is for me.)
Im already not liking the layout of touchtone, so Im open to any suggestions for jukebox software.
I also need some touch screen games (hint hint).
Im using windows media player to rip a cd to the harddrive and the computer locked up on me! DOH!

Thanks for looking, and Happy Halloween!

[mountain]

Lately I have purchased touch jams and album player and have played with them a lot. They feel and look like Windows, which I don't like. I Keep going back to Etouch. The layout is so easy to use and setup is a breeze. I like version 6 the best as it fits my needs and is very stable.

[a1pharm]

Here is a pic with monitor, DVD drive and Harddrive installed. You can see how I am mounting the hard drive (same way I mounted HD on my last jukebox, using PC case expansion slot blank covers).

I'm stealing this idea from you, thanks!

[DaOld Man]

Thanks mountain, I plan to check out that E Touch. if you like it, it's got to be good.

Steal away a1phram, but you cant steal what is free. Glad my ideas can help someone else. Looking forward to seeing your project.

[DaOld Man]

Life and stuff has gotten in the way of me and this project. But I do have a few updates.

First up, I decided to go ahead and add another layer of skin.
Here it is trimmed up nice and neat.


I am using one of those thick aluminum housing lazy susan bearing for the swivel. (pics later).
I had intended on using magnets, like I did for Brendas jukebox, to allow detention spots when the juke swivels.
I had even drilled the holes for the magnets and attached them.
During a test fitting, the bearing acted like he was grabbing something tight when rotating. After rechecking all my clearances and scratching my head, I figured out the magnets was what was causing the bearing to hang up. The bearing housing is aluminum, but the ball bearings inside the housing are steel, and the magnets are so strong that they were grabbing the balls, making the bearing hang up.
I still wanted the detention points (Mountains idea), because I liked the fact that the juke can turn and be held in place at certain angles.
But the magnets would not work with this bearing, so I came up with a wheel and catch rig.



The wheel is cut from 1/4" MDF. I drilled equally spaced holes around the perimeter of the wheel before cutting out the wheel. The result was half holes around the perimeter.
The wheel has a hole cut in the center to allow the fan to suck air. Also 4 bolt holes that allow bolts to go through the fan and attach to the bottom of the top box.
The catch is a nylon roller I got from Lowes, I think it is for shower doors. It is mounted to a piece of steel, that has three holes. The center hole has a bolt to allow the catch to swivel. The outside hole has a spring attached to it.
As the top of the juke turns, the wheel turns, and the catch engages at certain angles. (Think brake).
The angle that has the top box front aligned with the speaker box front has a bigger hole in the wheel, making it a little harder to turn off that spot.
I still need to come up with a stop, so the juke cant turn completely around, which would wrap up the wires going from top box to speaker box. Also not all the holes in the perimeter of the wheel will be used.

Another pic with the bottom turned, showing how the wheel and catch works. (This bottom will be the top of the speaker box.)




This actually turned out pretty good.

I also got the bottom laminated.



I used shelf liner paper to cover the laminate to prevent scratches. I thought the shelf liner would stick to the laminate but it wouldn't. So I had to use frog tape to hold it.
I scratched the laminate on the speaker box of Brendas Jukebox, so Im trying to be extra careful this time.
I intend to leave the paper on until all the laminate and cutouts in the laminate are finished.

Thanks for looking!

[DaOld Man]

Forgot to add.
I have been struggling with the Foxconn motherboard I had planned on using.
It randomly locks up. I have tried everything I know to do. Upgraded to 2 gig crucial ram, that is supposed to be compatible with this board.
tried different power supply, unplugging keyboard and mouse, unplugging touchscreen usb.
Tried re-greasing the heatsinks.
Tried fan blowing on heat sinks.
Tried tweeking BIOS settings.
Every time I think I got it fixed, it locks up again. Even reformatted hard drive and reinstalled windows XP. (2 or 3 times).
Even tried another hard drive. Also tried unhooking DVD drive.
Nothing seems to work.
I got the board off ebay about a year ago, I think I might have a bad board.
With my sister living about 500 miles from me, I need this jukebox to be very reliable.
So I ordered a new motheboard from newegg tonight.
ECS VX900-1 It is micro atx, same size as the one I have now.
It has a VIA L2007 onboard cpu 1.8 GHZ @ 800 MHz FSB. VIA chipset.
I know nothing about this board, but it does have 7 pretty good reviews.
It has HDMI out, but I wont be using that, only the VGA out.
Actually I don't think I will need a real powerful board for this jukebox, so Im hoping it will work.
And if it craps out, I can send it back to Newegg.
I welcome any comments about this board.

[sabreerbasAlpha]

Moving along nicely this old man. Some nice work also. Looking forward to seeing this finished. 

[DaOld Man]

Thanks sabreerbasAlpha! It is moving along, albeit slowly.

It's colder than a well diggers behind so I had to move indoors.
I decided to peel the paper off the bottom laminate to get a good look and Im glad I did. There were a lot of shavings behind the paper. Shavings from the router cutting out the holes. These tiny laminate pieces could be a source of scratches by being trapped between the surface and the paper.

Im pretty happy with the results. But I do plan to put clean paper back on.


You can notice small chips around some of the drilled holes. These will be covered by the bearing, but I got to remember this next time. Tape on the outside and take drill very slow.
Here is another pic with I think a better angle.


Ok, moving right along.
In process of layout of the speaker bar cutout in the front panel of the speaker box.
I used the router guide I made before to align and mark the speaker bar position.
This guide is flimsy on one side, so I plan to reinforce it with strips of thin wood across the top. (Popsickle sticks?)
But this guide is the same size as the front of the speaker bar, and the laminate on the front should cover any minor slips of the hand.


This guide will be used later to cut out the laminate. (The oval shape on the inside of the guide will guide the router when cutting the front laminate.)

[DaOld Man]

Just a quick update.
It's been too cold outside to apply any laminate. (A heated shop would be so nice. Hint hint Santa!)

I did manage to put together my volume knob configuration.
I don't have any luck with the griffen powermate. Try as I may, it's just not reliable booting every time.
So I am going to use the ole reliable 50K ohm stereo audio pot again.
I found a piece of acrylic rod. Cut it down with my router circle cutter to fit the volume hole in the front of the juke.
I actually cut it too much and had to use some shiny duct tape to build it back up. It needs to fit snug in the hole so the pot knob will be properly aligned with the juke front.
I then cut a round piece out of one of those acrylic "neon" clip boards (blue).
I then glued the round piece to the acrylic rod.
There is a hole in the center for the pot.
I then drilled a hole into the back of the rod, one on each side of the pot, and inserted two blue leds.
The blue ring is the same diameter as the knob, maybe a MM or two bigger.
It forms a nice ring around the knob. (Please get minds out of gutter. LOL)
Here is a pic of it being tested:


And here it is test fitted into the hole: (Minds, gutters!)



Sorry about the quality of the pics, but maybe you get the idea what im trying to do here.
Thanks for looking.

[Fordman]

I don't have any luck with the griffen powermate. Try as I may, it's just not reliable booting every time.

DaOldMan, you may want to try this tutorial for the Griffin Powermate:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,92052.msg966617.html#msg966617

Follow it and the Powermate will work every time. I've had nothing but success with it. 1000+ startup and reboots with not one issue.

Fordman

[DaOld Man]

Thanks Fordman. I forgot you figured out how to make the PM work.
I followed your procedure, but had to go a little different, because when I unplugged the PM, the driver in device manager disappeared.
I think I am still going to use the pot on this build, because I have already done so much prep work for it, plus the knobs I ordered wont fit the PM.
But I will save it for a later build, and try to remember your procedure then.

[DaOld Man]

Just a quick update to let everyone know Im still alive and kicking, and I am still working on this jukebox project.
I have done quite a bit of work since the last update, but I stalled a little (lot) during the holiday season.
I hope everyone had a great Christmas and a very good New Year.

Now just to get up to speed a bit.
I have installed all the laminate on the top box.
Here is a pic of the laminate applied and ready to trim:


And here is a pic with the laminate trimmed up, and the front acrylic installed and trimmed:


Another shot of the front. Paper is not removed yet.


And here is the monitor test fitted into it's home:


On my last build, I cut a 45 degree angle on the edge of the monitor and marquee cutouts (as Mountain did on his). But on this build, I think I will leave the edges square. The way the monitor bezel inserts into the cutout, I think the square edge will look better, plus I screwed up a corner cutting the 45 degree in my last build, so I am a little scared of the water so to speak.
I will leave the marquee opening edge straight too, so it will match the monitor opening.

I have done a lot more work but I wont bore you with too many pics.
I have made the bottom speaker box, need to cut out for the LAN/USB/AUDIO OUT (LUAO) plate. Then laminate it.
I am working on the  LUAO plate now.
I have the method worked out to mount the motherboard.
I have the back door finished (It turned out pretty good.)
I have the volume pot soldered up and ready to install.

Now I need to cut the T-Molding slot. (I am debating rather to do this today, or wait until I get the speaker box ready for its slot.)
If I cut the slot today, I can assemble most of the components in the top box, but if I wait, I can be sure the slots will be exactly the same because I wont have to move the router bit. Anyone got a token I can flip?

[DaOld Man]

Ok, a little update is a good thing, yes?
I have not done a lot of work due to crappy weather and that sometimes annoying thing called life.

Just to get caught up a bit:
Got the T-molding slots cut in the top box:


T-molding installed: back view:


T-molding front view: (The clear protective plastic is still on the t-molding):


Marquee lamp (LED strip) and volume knob installed. (Wiring is still in progress):

[DaOld Man]

It is such a beautiful day out today. So I decided to head out to the shed and cut the T-Molding slot in the bottom (speaker) box.
I took extra time to set everything up just right.
Thought I had the slot cutter in the router nice and tight but alas I didn't.
Just as I started to cut, the bit flew out of the router and landed on the floor and spun like a top.
After I counter my fingers and toes and did I quick blood search, I breathed a sigh of relief.
So I re inserted the cutter into the router, made sure it was inserted deep enough into the router, and positioned it just right. (Again).
What happened was that I bolted a piece of 1/4" mdf to the router table to give me a nice smooth surface to cut the t-molding slot. So I removed this piece of mdf after the mishap, so the shaft of the cutter could go deeper into the router.
OK, I was ready to go for it again, I positioned the box on the table and that's when I noticed that the slot cutter had hit the side of the box and cut through the protective frog tape, and cut a few deep scratches, along with a couple of light scratches.
I went ahead and cut the slots. (I didn't really know what else to do at this point.)
Then I brought the box in the house and examined it closer.
Most of the scratches will be covered by the T-Molding (thank God.)
So I am trying to fill the scratches with wood glue. When that dries I plan to color the glue with a black sharpie.
Here is a pic after glue is applied (that's why deep scratches are white.)


Im ready for a break.

[DaOld Man]

Thought I would pull away from the speaker box mishap while the Elmers Wood Glue dries and post a couple of pics of the interior of the top.
I have found that the wood glue tends to shrink when it sets up, so I have filled the scratches with the glue, leveled off with a straight edge, and cleaned up around it and then wait a few hours, then repeat.
When I am satisfied that the scratches have been filled to flush with the surface of the laminate, I will let it cure for about 12 hours, then color it in with the black sharpie. The sharpie matches the laminate color pretty close, so Im hoping it wil turn out ok.
Now for the eye candy.
This pic is the back of the monitor. Monitor is mounted. You can also see the rear end of the DVD drive, and how it is fastened.
The two aluminum brackets marked left and right, are to mount the motherboard to.


Next pic is hard drive and power supply mounted. Wiring is still a mess.

[DaOld Man]

Just a little update.

Got most of the guts installed in upper box.
Motherboard mounted and most things hooked up.

Testing phase. XLobby music screen. Marquee yet to be installed, the lamp is a little bright, may have to put a dimmer on it:


Side view of volume knob back plate. (protective plastic is still on the t-molding.):


Motherboard and most things connected:


A screen cleaning utility I wrote, called from XLobby main menu. This disables all button touches for 30 seconds to allow the screen to be wiped or cleaned. (sorry for blurred pic):

[Louis Tully]

.

[DaOld Man]

Thanks Mr Tulley.

Putting speaker box together.

T-Molding applied and speaker cutout polished. (Protective clear plastic is still on T-molding):


Speaker bar mounted inside box:


outside view of speaker bar:


Rotate bearing (lazy susan) mounted to speaker box:


And now the router boo boo I experienced earlier:


The scratches are not very noticeable, but they are there none the less. I hate it, but I don't know what else to do to fix it, except put a sticker over it, but stickers are not in the plan.

[DaOld Man]

Just about finished with this project.
Some pics up to now:

Motherboard and bottom fan.


DVD drive:


Power Supply:


Marquee retainer bolt (1 of 4). I added two layers of double backed tape, left the green checkered paper on the top layer
so it wouldn't stick to the marquee plastic:


Marquee retainer bolts in place. (You can see 3 out of 4 in this pic). This worked out pretty good and should make it
fairly easy to change the marquee to a different style or pic:


The marquee in place:


The inside bottom of the speaker box, showing the indent wheel, clicky device that slows the rotation at certain points,
and the stops that keep from turning it all the way around:


I am not real happy with the marquee, so Im trying to come up with a different design.
I am very happy with the marquee retaining bolts, I will probably be using this idea again.

[Le Chuck]

I haven't checked into this thread in a while and man, you've really come a long way!  Looking great!  If you want photoshop help on the marquee send me a PM with what you're looking for and any personal pics you want to have incorporated and I can lend a hand if you want. 

[matt4949]

I love your Jukes. One day I will build my own. I hope it comes out every bit as nice as yours.

[DaOld Man]

Thanks LeChuck, I appreciate all the help I can get. I will get some pics together and send you a PM soon.

Thanks for the kind words Matt! looking forward to seeing your juke!

[Le Chuck]

I mentioned art nouveau in our email but once I started playing with the shapes I really went art deco.  Let me know what you think of this initial draft.  Colors, shapes, style, whatever.  I did this up just to get your creative juices flowing.