Chevy/Earnhardt Themed Juke

[joey1207]

Hi All,

I am making a small wallmount juke for my father in law as a surprise for him, He is a HUGE Dale Earnhardt fan, so I figured I would really try to make it as earnhardt and racy as possible. I apologize for not taking pics from the start, but here is where I am so far. I used 1/2 inch MDF and black formica to top it. I am using a 15" Monitor, and a Griffin Powermate for volume control. I will be using pushbuttons (ordered but havent came in yet), and a Hagstrom KE24 keyboard encoder. All I have so far is the front of the box made, covered in formica and the powermate mounted. I routed out the back to sit the lcd in. The pic shows the lcd components, but they were just temporaried up for the pic. I will be using an ITX motheredboard with a 1.2 ghz Celeron processor with 1 gig of Ram. The push buttons are the mini's from Game Cabinets Inc. I will run SKJukebox (SalmonKing, great piece of software) The chrome trim around the monitor will match everything when it is complete, so dont  flame me too bad.....anyway, here are the first 3 pics of the build.

[mountain]

Lookin good. How are you planning on finishing the edge?

[joey1207]

I am thinking chrome trim or t-molding around the outside edges, not the facing edges, but all around the edge of the design just so it enhances the shape.

[mountain]

Have you located any 1/2" T-molding? I looked for some while building my Dad's jukebox without any luck. I did find some, but the minimum order quantity was like 100'

[joey1207]

I havent found any yet, gonna test with some adhesive auto trim, if it looks bad, I will bite the bullet and order the 100'   

By the way, totally amazing job on your dads juke, truly a work of art 

[mountain]

Thanks!

Let me know if you do go with the 1/2" t-molding, I may be able to offset the cost by buying some from you.

Keep us updated with pics! 

[joey1207]

Havent had much time to work on it lately, but here is the juke with the pushbuttons installed, I hope to make major progress over the next few days.

[joey1207]

I now have the hagstrom keyboard encoder, the power button (removed temporarily) and the monitor mounted securly. I have built the stand for the systemboard, but am waiting on the glue to dry. The bottom pic is just to get a feel for the shape of the box.

[joey1207]

I got all of the buttons soldered and connected to the KE24 encoder. I am building a small cover that will hide all the wiring, in the picture it is just a cardboard mock up, with the ITX motherboard sitting in place, just wanted to see how it was gonna fit.

[joey1207]

Here are a couple of updated pics. I took it all back apart, did the body work, painted the sides with a metallic silver textured paint, then added the pinstripe around the edges, and topped it off with 2 coats of clear. I have also added the rivets around the facing edges, and the the speaker grills, I am still undecided on the grills, any suggestions? Trying to keep it as race car like as I can.

[leapinlew]

I am still undecided on the grills, any suggestions? Trying to keep it as race car like as I can.

Fabricate some that look like hubcaps, or headlights.

Can you work some sort of checkered flag into your artwork somewhere?

[joey1207]

The checkered flag is already complete, the back of the box is painted that way, and will show on each corner of the cab when in place.

[joey1207]

Okay, I think I came up with a speaker grill solution, though not "perfectly" true to NASCAR, it is as close as I could get! I bought a 12$ remote control truck, took the wheels and tires off, cut them down with a dremel, and, well, there you have it......Not perfect for the box, but way better than the round fan grills. My wife said it was more pimpin than racing, cant win for losing!

[joey1207]

Okay, almost there.        Got almost all the cosmetics done(still lacking outer trim), as well as loaded the os and jukebox software, only loaded one cd to test, so in the morning, I have to load up the music, make a couple of config changes, then its off to my Father n law! Here are a couple of pics, I will post more tomorrow when it is all thru.

[mccoy178]

Very cool!  I'm sure he is going to dig that.  Nice work on the tires.  Very creative.

[joey1207]

Thanks a million mccoy!

Here is a final pic with it up and running, also, there is a pic that shows the hidden power button under the side.