LeapinLew: Megatouch -> Jukebox

[leapinlew]

I finished this project while working on the Tempest project. I was originally going to post all this summers projects in 1 thread, but decided it might get confusing for anyone reading who wanted specifics about one project.

I plan on building a large jukebox this summer to replace the one I built a little over 2 years ago. I am going to convert a cabinet I picked up from a vendor. He threw in a small megatouch, which I didn't really want but figured I'd at least take it. It's one of those early megatouches... you know, like this:

Pretty nasty.

I swear, I looked at it all winter long wondering what the hell I was going to do with it. I figured a smaller jukebox would work well for my plans. This would allow us to have a jukebox while I cannibalize parts from the old one to make the new one.

First I gutted it.




I didn't like the squared off shape of the cabinet. I cut some new sides, and added a little more curves for some additional flare. I traced the old sides onto some plywood.

I then free hand drew some extra curves. Nothing too fancy.







I cut some T-mold slots and some 4" speaker holes in the sides and mounted them to the case to get an idea of how it would look.

At this point, I was thinking it was pretty ugly.

I pressed on...

Laminate and spray paint


T-molding and assembly



Well, I guess it ain't THAT ugly.

Next I mounted a 15" Touchscreen. What a pain in the ass... Most tedious part of this project. First I mounted it to some 1/2" Plexi:




The next step I didn't take pictures of, but I was cursing mountains name while doing it (how does he make such clean straight cuts?). I cut a 1/4" piece of plywood to be the bezel. It would sit in front of the monitor, attached with carriage bolts to the 1/2" plywood, and sandwich the monitor. My work turned out fine, but I'm sure there's all kinds of shortcuts that could be taken. I routed a 45 degree bevel around the monitor opening. It took me 2 tries to get an acceptable bezel.

Next I mounted the monitor in the jukebox. Here's a tip if your mounting a monitor by yourself. Tilt the unit on it's side.

The empty slot on the bottom of the cabinet is where the speaker volume controls go.

[leapinlew]

Finishing Shots:









I already changed the grills to a much cooler looking grills. I'm using a Celeron 2ghz Pentium 4. I'm using a 2.1 speaker system by Logitech. I can't remember the specific brand, but it's one that has an external volume control.

[leapinlew]

And the most important thing, I'm running Freebox. If your considering building a jukebox. Definitely use Freebox. Well worth the money. Super easy to setup and get running.

www.freeboxjukebox.com

I've used quite a few different jukebox programs, and this one is far and away the best one I've used. It's on my previous jukebox and I can tell you from experience it's super easy to use. I don't tell people how to use it - they just walk up to it and start playing tunes.

[psychotech]

U R the man 

[Barry Barcrest]

I love this box, everything this guy makes i just awsome... I only have to fit a cam lock and paint mine and i just can't seem to do that. Well done Lew.

[javeryh]

U R the man 

Seriously - you are like the fastest builder around.  You crank out 5 cabinets in the time it takes me to cut one panel!  Very nice work!   

[BUCKETHEAD]

Damn good work!

What a beauty!   

[myntik1]

damn you lew, damn you to hell.  one day I'm going to be cutting edge and you'll copy me.  I swear it

Seriously though I have a touchscreen I bought on here with the guys on the bulk buy.  For 2 days I've been debating whether or not to cut a hole in my basement wall and wallmount it.  After my struggles with taping, mudding and sanding I'm hesitant to go down that road.  I'm picking up a Neo Geo tonight from a vendor and I was going to see if he had an old broken megatouch laying around. That way the juke would be a bit more portable than the cadillac i created before.  This morning I'm sipping my coffee and doing a search to see if anyone else went down this road, and to see if a bigger screen would actually fit in the cab  And I find that not only has someone gone down this road recently, but it's the same guy who I blatantly stole my last juke design from 2 years ago.    damn you to hell Leapinlew

[Neilyboy]

Lew two thumbs up buddy!! very nice work. I started my jukebox about a year ago, and like most of my projects never finished it. Yours makes me want to get back out in the garage and slap the rest together!! Nice job man!!

Neil