Here is my standalone jukebox.
Initially my plan was to build an arcade cabinet and after weeks of pouring over websites and forums and designing my ultimate machine (4 player, 29” screen, mortal kombat cabinet I decided to add further buttons for a jukebox (0-9 etc))
However not long before I was about to order all the joysticks, buttons, encoders etc I came across a jukebox forum and settled on the idea of a standalone jukebox. So with the arcade cabinet shelved for the time being it was full steam ahead on Project Jukebox.
DESIGN
From the outset I wanted a machine that would be easily moved around so to this end the design had to be small enough to be portable but yet large enough that It couldn’t be toppled over or broken by mistake. I settled on the free standing design used by Clanggedin and LeapinLew as this seemed like the perfect model for my requirements.
So with my design drawn up I went to my Dad to start the manual labour side of the project. He’s a bit of a gun with any type of power tool so I deferred to his expertise at this stage and merely provided a supervisory role where required.
FRAME
The frame was made out of timber we had out the back and was quickly assembled with glue & tech screws. I had a couple of old shelves in the shed which were close enough to the perfect size, so used one as the base and one for the motherboard to sit on.
The cabinet front, top and sides were initially going to be mdf (and then painted) or a good quality timber (sanded and stained), but before I went and purchased the timber I wanted to make sure everything would work together so as Dad works in an engineering company I managed to grab a few pieces of machinery packing crate wood which was about .5mm thick, fairly lightweight and strong. My theory was to cut it all to size, add the screen etc and see how it turned out.
As I was using a pc speaker system ( I have a Tsunami 5.1 system with sub which works great and is really loud. Added to this it has its on volume control box which I wanted to use also. So holes were cut in the front cabinet panel for the subwoofer, two speakers and volume control box. A hole was also cut for the lcd screen in the front screen cabinet panel.
The hardest part was making sure the screen would mount properly, luckily the screen I had, had 4 mounting holes in the center back of the screen so it was simply a matter of cutting a big enough wooden chock on each side of the frame the width of the screen and then laying two wooden beams across the chocks and then drilling holes in the beams to line up with the mounting holes on the screen. A few long screws later and the screen was mounted, using washers to get the screen to line up flat to the cabinet.
Two casters were bolted to the rear of the base and two heavy duty bolts were screwed into the front of the base and using locking nuts allow the cabinet to be adjusted by simply loosening the nuts and screwing the bolts in or out to level the cabinet. This also allows the cabinet to remain in a sturdy position and not move about when being used.
CABINET OVERLAY
As I said earlier the plan for the cabinet was either to paint it or stain it, however a mate was around one night and suggested I take it to his friend who is an upholsterer and see what he thinks. So after heading down to visit the upholsterer he suggested putting a vinyl overlay on it instead, he showed me about 30 different samples from tan, purple, green and black. I settled on a black leather-look vinyl.
The upholsterer then went to work and a week later I picked up the cabinet and was blown away by the transformation. He managed to glue a thick foam to the cabinet and then glue and staple the vinyl covering over the foam. This produced a great ‘soft’ touch to the cabinet and due to the way the foam was cut around the holes, the vinyl tends to curve into the holes cut for the screen, sub etc, giving it a great natural bezel. All for $100!!!
I found a couple of old speakers in the shed that no longer worked and took the plastic speaker covers off and glued them to the front of the cabinet, covering the pc speakers and speaker holes and effectively duping people into thinking there are some top quality speakers inside the juke.!
THE GUTS
I managed to score a 15” Samsung 510N touch screen off of ebay for $300 and after a little troubleshooting and downloading a touch screen calibration tool, it runs like a dream.
The PC is an old one I had lying around – P4 2.3ghz with 512 MB Ram. It’s probably a little bit too powerful for what is required but id rather have power in reserve than having to worry about overtaxing a lower spec system. I’ve installed a 60g HDD for now, which I will probably update to a 300g in the future.
The PC is running XP Pro and is set to load the Jukebox software on Startup. I’m using Freebox which I find perfect for the touch screen setup. Freebox has the option to power down the ATX when the program is closed so with this enabled, it effectively gives the jukebox just an on/off option. Added to this there is no mouse or keyboard attached so its as close to ‘foolproof’ as I am likely to get. Perfect for those little brothers or sisters.
I’m using a 5.1 Tsunami PC speaker system that was lying around not being used. My plans for the jukebox are for it to be in the games room or entertainment area out the back so for those needs the speaker system is sufficient. If its required for parties I have an RCA cable that I can plug from the sound card into an Amp/Stereo system to give it the required Oomph!.
THE FUTURE
There is still a bit of work left to complete the jukebox, this week I plan on gutting the PC and installing the motherboard, HDD and PSU onto the shelf, and to install the back door. I plan to cut a hole in the back door and attach a PC fan to help with cooling. At the moment I have a black covered wooden panel which is velcroed to the back of the cabinet but this will be replaced with a hinge to allow access to the cabinet. A door handle will be attached to the door to make moving it easy, simply tilt the jukebox backwards holding the handle and roll forwards on the castors.
CONCLUSION
Overall I am extremely pleased with how the Jukebox turned out. The overall look of the juke is fantastic and I used it at a party last weekend and received compliment after compliment (along with a couple of orders!), The colour scheme looks great, being black with the center features, screen, volume control and sub being silver.
Total price of construction was approx $430, as I only had to pay for the touch screen, covering and a couple of castor wheels. Everything else I already had surplus in the shed.
The Juke now takes pride of place in the house and is always a topic starter, it certainly beats flipping through cd’s all day long.
Unfortunately I didn’t think of taking photos during the construction phase so the pics below show the cabinet with covering, speakers, screen installed, but with the PC yet to be gutted and installed.
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Topic: New Jukebox Project (Read 2335 times)
