Stevie's JukeBox *Mo Pics!*

[DaOld Man]

My little brother Stevie loves music and probably has 2 or 3 hundred cd's.
After seeing Mountains jukebox, I got the idea to make one for Stevie.
And like Mountain, I am on a tight schedule. Stevies birthday is next Saturday and I hope to have this juke done before then to give him as a present.
First of all, let me say that this juke box was inspired by Mountains juke project, and is a blatant rip off of his juke.
But I would also like to say that my wood working skills are no where near that of Mountains, so I dont expect my project will be anywhere close to as nice as his, so please dont compare it to his.

There will be some major differences between this juke and Mountains.
First of all, I plan to use some pretty good sounding speakers, so I had to make room for them. I am using Creative Inspire T-3100. IMHO they sound very very good.
Also, I had a 15" ELO CRT touchscreen that i bought off ebay a couple years ago. It is heavy, and takes a lot of rear-end room, so my juke had to be a lot deeper than Mountains.
I also plan to include a CD-rom so Stevie can put his CDs on it.

I know there are some great looking Jukes that folks have made on here, this is my first, so if it turns out a fraction as nice, I will be happy.

First, the computer Im using is a ASUS A7N266 with an AMD 900 MHZ processor.
60 gig harddrive and 256 megs DDR ram.
Here it is on my dining room workbench..


Here is a pic of the monitor and speakers:


I cut out the marquee area using the router jig I made for my rotating monitor project:


Here is a close up of the marquee area:


Here is a test fit of the monitor:


Here is the front with the cutouts for the speakers:



The separators between the speakers are pressboard in that pic. I later cut those out and used MDF to seperate the speakers.

More to follow!

edit: images fixt

[DaOld Man]

Ok, here is a pic of the rib attached to the front panel, also you can see the mounting bolts for the monitor and the small bolts for the marquee retainer.
I am using 1/4" carriage bolts with MDF spacers to attach the monitor with. I will be using 4 L brackets on the monitor.
My marquee retainer will be 5 plastic bathroom mirror hangers. They will attach to the small bolts, clamping against the plastic of the marquee.


And here is the monitor pedestal, which also happens to be the speaker box. (Notice the shim made from a wooden yardstick?)


Here is the front panel sitting on my workbench. I am ready to apply the 1/8" black plastic. (Plan to that in the morning.) You can also see the bottom of the speaker box better.


Im using my skill saw case for a prop to hold up the top of the front panel.


And here is the first cut of the plastic. I cut it a couple of inches taller than the front panel. It was already a couple of inches wider. I plan to cut it with a laminate cutter the same way Mountain did his.


Tomorrow my plans are to glue the plastic to the front panel. Wish me luck, cause gluing laminate is another first for me..

Edit: changed black plastic thickness from 1/4" to 1/8" (It really is 1/8)
Edit images fixt

[DaOld Man]

Got the black plastic glued on. It went on pretty good. Im letting it setup for a couple of hours before I move it so I can have room to work on the back panel. According to instructions, it will probably need to set up for a couple of days before I start whacking away at it.
The cement went on good, but the fumes it puts off made me a little light headed.

Sorry I didnt get any pictures. Its just too hard to take pictures while Im doing something I havent done before.
Plus I didnt want to risk getting cement on my camera.

At first, I had planned on just dropping the plastic on top of the front panel, since I had plenty of room around the edges, but a little voice told me I should use wooden dowels to separate the two pieces until I am sure they are lined up. (Thank God for the little voices!).

I ran out to Walmart last night and bought 3/8" dowels. (5 of them).
I did a few practice runs before I applied any glue. Its a very good thing I had the wooden dowels. I think I would have been in big trouble without them, since 2 out of three times I got the plastic way off center.
Using the dowels allows you to slide the piece until it is positioned where you want it.
I dont think there is any turning back after the two cemented pieces touch.

I will try to get some more pics soon.

[mountain]

Looking great! Your brother is going to love it. It looks like it will be heavy!

I was hoping some other members would come along and put their twist on this design.  I can't wait to see what you do here, I will be watching.

[jban4us]

I had to laugh when I read the thing about the yardstick. One such device is also a part of the cab I am currently building, to hold the monitor shelf level. Great minds, eh?

[DaOld Man]

Thanks Mountain!
Yes, it will be heavy. The monitor by itself probably weighs 20-25 lbs.
Thats why I thought I would go with 5/8" particle board. It is much lighter than MDF, but after I started working with it I can see why it is so much lighter. Thats why Im using MDF for the speaker boxes, because that part will be taking the brunt of the monitor weight.
Im using 3/4" MDF because I had some scrap pieces from previous projects that I needed to get rid of anyway. (Good thing I didnt throw them out, but heck, I dont throw out anything.) 1/2" 0r 5/8" MDF would have been better for this project.
On a side note, I couldnt find the 1/8" MDF that you used. Not at Lowe's anyway. Didnt check Home Depot.
Im going with some type of board that they did have that is 1/8" thick and seems to bend easily.
Im going to double that for more strength.

jban4us, yep, you should see some of the rigs I can come up with in the spur of a moment. LOL

[DaOld Man]

Got some more work done today. It got too hot out in the shed so I had to quit until later this afternoon.
Here is the back, door is cut out and T molding slot is cut.


Here is the front panel with the plastic. This is just before I started trimming the plastic.
Notice the router table I threw together out of scrap pieces of MDF. (Thanks Mountain for the idea.)
I like the way this homebrew table works. I have decided that a factory made router table is now on the Christmas wish list. Notice the 3 in one oil for the trim bit bearing.


And here is the speaker box, before trimming.



I started by drilling 1/2" holes in the plastic with a paddle bit. I ran the drill fast and applied pressure slowly.
I drilled one in the marquee area and one in the monitor area.
I also drilled the hole for the volume pot shaft at this time.

Notice the practice hole I drilled first in the outside corner. Never hurts to test first.


I also drilled holes in each speaker panel.


After drilling the starter holes, I started trimming the access plastic. Here is the laminate trim bit in action.


I drilled out the inside panels one at a time, just stuck the hole I drilled earlier and put it over the router bit. Then just went around the inside edge.
Here is a pic of the finished product:


Of course I wont peel off the protective paper until the very end.

I played around with some scrap plastic trying to get a rounded edge to use around the marquee and speakers.
I have a 1/4" rounded router bit, but I couldnt get it to work right.
I may have to settle with a straight edge.


Edited for spelling.
Edit: images fixt

[javeryh]

Looking good DaOldMan!  I wonder if there is a better way to upload your pictures - they are quite small.  I'm very interested in this project since I have also recently started a mountain-inspired jukebox of my own.  I'd really love to get a better look at the details of your project!  Keep up the good work! 

Maybe I should set a deadline on mine too since you guys seem to really move with an end goal in sight!   

[DaOld Man]

Thanks javeryh!
I uploaded the pictures to the thread where everyone posts pics, then I linked them to this thread.
You can blow them up a little bigger if you go to that thread.
It would be neat if you could blow them up from here, but you cant.
Here is a pic of the finished trimming job I did this morning.
You should be able to blow it up from here.
If you really rather me do it, I can post all the pics from now on out in this thread, but that means I have to write my text first then post all the pics after the text. Unless someone knows a better way of doing this.
I have been shrinking the pics because they are over a meg each before I retouch them.
I will try not to shrink them so small from now on out.
Anyway. here is teh fruit of my work this morning:

[mountain]

Looking good!!

I sent an email detailing how to post those images 

[DaOld Man]

Thanks Mountain!
let me give what you suggested a try..
Here is the pot I intend to use for volume control..

Edit, one more time..



 

[mountain]

 

[DaOld Man]

I think I got most of the images fixed. Thanks Javeryh for pointing that out to me.
And thanks Mountain for the corrective procedure.
Guess you can teach an old dog new tricks! (Or is it old dog old tricks??)

Last night I applied primer to most of the parts. I figure that since its going to be so close when assembled, id better paint what I can now.
Today I got the first coat of black paint on the marquee frame and the speaker boxes.
I also painted the bottom plate and applied primer to the back plate (I forgot that piece last night.)

I also bought a 8' 2X4 at 84 Lumber.
I plan to saw out a L shape in a corner of it. Hopefully when this part is finished it will give a base for the Juke to sit in.
The base will go around the bottom of the juke, maybe I will try to router a curve to the outside corner of it.
The aim here is to have a solid base, that kinda looks like quarter round.

[Neverending Project]

I love these tight deadline projects. We get all the projecty goodness condensed into post-after-post of updates. All the meat, none of the wait!

Great looking so far. I can't wait to see the finished project.  Your brother will love it!

It may be just me, but seeing project announcements like this make me want to do more projects for other people. And as an added bonus, it gives me one more way to procrastinate on my own projects!

[DaOld Man]

I love these tight deadline projects. We get all the projecty goodness condensed into post-after-post of updates. All the meat, none of the wait!

Great looking so far. I can't wait to see the finished project.  Your brother will love it!

It may be just me, but seeing project announcements like this make me want to do more projects for other people. And as an added bonus, it gives me one more way to procrastinate on my own projects!

Thanks Neverending Project!
Yes I enjoy doing things for other people.
And it definitely gives you good reason to put off your own projects.
I have 3 projects on hold right now, mainly because of this one.
I need to get back on "Benny B's Arcade". I need to finish the modification I did for the rotating monitor.
(BTW, the computer MB I am using on this project came out of Benny B's Arcade, since I have already upgraded it.)
I also have a Capcom Bowling machine and a video slot machine that need tons of TLC.

Now my wife has caught site of what im doing and wants me to build her a jukebox next.
(Hang on just a little longer Benny B! LOL)

[Barry Barcrest]

I am thinking i might try your idea of mounting perspex onto the wood after my failed attempt at using vinyl. It's looking good, i will see how it looks with that protective paper off.

[javeryh]

Looking really good!  How did you cut such nice curves on the interior of the panels?  I am debating on whether or not to make some sort of adjustable circle cutting jig but I don't really know how - it also seems like it would take a while to do...   

[DaOld Man]

I am thinking i might try your idea of mounting perspex onto the wood after my failed attempt at using vinyl. It's looking good, i will see how it looks with that protective paper off.

Actually, that wasnt my idea.
I saw it first in Mountain's thread.

Thanks for the kind comments!

[DaOld Man]

Looking really good!  How did you cut such nice curves on the interior of the panels?  I am debating on whether or not to make some sort of adjustable circle cutting jig but I don't really know how - it also seems like it would take a while to do...   

I cut the curves with the same rig I made for my Rotating Monitor project:



I would like to build a better rig, like the one Mountain made for his projects:



I cut the inside ribs by making two cuts. First cut was outside radius and second cut I made by moving the pivot point 1 inch toward the router, which cut a smaller radius, resulting in a rib 1 inch wide.
This does take a lot of time, I which there was an easier way to do this.

[javeryh]

I made a circle cutting jig but it requires me to drill a hole at the exact distance I want the radius to be (instead of an adjustable arm) so after a few projects there will be too many holes in the MDF.  It's also not as precise.

I saw the one mountain made and it looks easy enough to build except I'm not sure how the knob tightening part works exactly.  I think I'm going to give it a shot.   

[Franco B]

Looking good buddy!!

That looks like some damn unforgiving fiddly work going on there, good stuff!

Keep it up, im enjoying the regular updates. 

[DaOld Man]

I made a circle cutting jig but it requires me to drill a hole at the exact distance I want the radius to be (instead of an adjustable arm) so after a few projects there will be too many holes in the MDF.  It's also not as precise.
 

Yeah, my rig is starting to look like a slice of swiss cheese. I will probably retire it after this project.

Good luck on your task of building one like Mountains. Someone needs to do a good writeup on how to build one. (I didnt do a search, so there may already be one. if someone knows there is, a link would be appreciated.)

[DaOld Man]

Looking good buddy!!
.....

Thanks!

UPDATE:
I test fitted the bottom, front, and side panels today. (Sorry no pics, but I will get some soon.)
I need to do a little tweaking on getting everything square.
I have found that i do not like working with pressboard. I dont think it was intended to be used in projects like this.
It is not very strong, and a screw will bust it if you go too deep.
I guess if you covered it with laminate it would be much stronger. But only the front of this project will have laminate.
Oh well, that pretty much answers my question of using it as an alternative to MDF in arcade cabs.

I think on  my next one (for the wife), I will use 5/8 MDF.
I have one of those 15" LCD touchscreens that everyone was buying off Ebay. I plan to use it on the next one. That should cut the weight down considerably. Also less wood overall, because it can be a lot slimmer front to back, should equate to less weight.

[Encryptor]

I to would like to know how mountain made his jig. Maybe he would do a writeup for us if he has time.

mountain - would it be possible for you to do a writeup on how to make your jig pictured above?



Encryptor

[Donkey_Kong]

There are a few other alternatives to mdf as well. 3/4" Birch plywood runs about $28 a sheet at my home depot. MDO is another alternative, it's a bit lighter than mdf and the dust isn't as nasty. It usually comes primed and if not it's a really nice surface that's easy to prime. MDO is probably at least double the $$ compared to mdf though.

[javeryh]

I to would like to know how mountain made his jig. Maybe he would do a writeup for us if he has time.

mountain - would it be possible for you to do a writeup on how to make your jig pictured above?



Encryptor

I started making one tonight.  Details have been moved to Woodworking.

[mountain]

Sorry guys, I just saw this. I am in Phoenix traveling for work and have not had time to check in.

javeryh, looks like you are well on your way to having that circle jig built. You should start a thread in either Project Announcements or Woodworking for future reference.

The adjustment knob is easy. You should be able to find the knob at your local hardware store. All you will have to do is find a t-nut to match it. I used a washer in between the knob and the 1/4" grooved piece.

Here is the picture of the t-nut side.

[Encryptor]

Thanks mountain. That pic of the underside helps a great deal. 


Encryptor

[DaOld Man]

Just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in...

AND to say this project is finished!
I worked evening shift all last week at my job (3:00 pm to 11:30 pm  15:00-23:30)
So my work on this juke was a couple hours in the morning and 3-4 hours at night after I got home.
Stevies BD party was yesterday (Saturday), so in order to get it done in time I stayed up all night Friday night and completely finished it about 1 hour before the party.
It was a big hit with everyone there and Stevie was speechless.
So that right there made all the sleepless nights well worth it.
I still need to order a long IDE cable to hook up the CD Rom, and tidy up the wiring a bit (I didnt realize I was out of wire wraps until I needed them Saturday morning.)
I took more pictures that i will try to post later on today, i dont have time right now.
Thanks to all who helped and morally supported me, especially Mountain.
So, until later, have a nice day!

[leapinlew]

I guess working your ass off the night before is the theme for these jukeboxes.

Lets see some pics!

[Franco B]

Glad you got it finished in time, good work 

As you said I bet it made it all worthwhile when you unveiled it 

But yes, lets see those pics!

[DaOld Man]

Well, here are some pics.
Got to remember, I was in a hurry and probably missed a lot of good opportunities to take pictures.
If anyone has any questions about how I did something, please feel free to ask.

Ok, here is a picture of the ribs and two braces. The top center brace also served to mount the marquee light, which is a LED strip from Groovy Game Gear.


(I have tried to keep these pictures in order, but they probably are not).
This next pictures proves they are not in order.
Here is a side panel, and a brace:


Here is the speaker box. (I touched up teh paint in the corners later).


Here is the back of the speaker box. Notice how teh back panel extends to both side panels to aid in bracing them.


Here is the first layer of skin. I attached the skin to one side with screws along the bottom, I then smeared glue on the side panel and ribs, and wrapped the skin around. i used a lead weight (about 60 pounds I think), to hold teh skin until the glue dried. I then turned the cabinet over and continued around the other side. I put the weight on this side until the glue dried. I also put screws along the bottom of this side too.


I didnt get anymore pictures of the skin installation, but I basically repeated the process with the second layer.
The result was the skin coming up flush with the edges of the back and front panels.
I screwed up cutting out the skin pieces. I used a table saw to make the cuts. The material is a 4 X 8 sheet, and I cut the skins by myself. (This is probably not a good idea). Because the sheet was so flimsy, it was very hard to keep straight while cutting, so I wound up with a crooked cut on the second piece. This resulted in a "crack" along the back panel. I had to fill it in with wood putty, which cost me more valuable time.

Here is a picture of the center rib, with top brace and marquee lamp installed:


Here is teh back of the marquee installed. Notice the mirror clamps I used to hold the marquee in.
The volume pot is attached to the marquee.


I mutilated an old PC case to get the mount for my Cd ROM. Here is a picture of it and the back case fan. The fan is a variable speed with a temp sensor.


Here is picture of the CDROM/fan as viewed through the marquee opening.


Here is the back, with a lot of dust on it:


Here is a dark picture of the CDROm and the startup mode switch:


Here is a picture of the hard drive mounting bracket: (cut from the Cdrom bracket):


This is the back with the power supply fixed to exhaust air. I used a 90 degree power cord to connect it.
Notice the AC power cord coming out of the case. I touched up the paint a little on this part later.


This is the air inlet opening. it is covered on the inside with black vinyl screen:


Here is the power switch setup. the relay turns on the duplex outlet. The monitor and speakers will plug into the outlet. The power supply cord is hardwired to the AC power cord inside the duplex "handy box".


Here is the base. (And a very messy can of paint!). I made the base out of a pine 2 X 4.
It has an L shaped cut on the inside for the juke box to sit in. I was going to route a rounded corner to the top outside edge of it, but I ran out of time.
Notice the scab on the back? I cut one two short so I had to cut in in two and put a piece in between.  I used teh scab to hold it all together. That piece is in the back of the juke, so it's not noticeable.


And here is the finished product.
This was before a good dusting and cleaning the plastic to remove my finger prints.


I put 3/4" chrome T-molding around the front and back edges, but I didnt get a picture of that. The chrome t-molding looks really good, and really improves the over all look.

I am using X-Lobby for the juke software with windows XP as the OS.
The switch in back allows one to choose whether to startup in X-lobby or Windows when the machine is turned on.
This is accomplished by switch grounding one pin of the printer port. I wrote a small app that starts X-lobby if the switch is in a certain position on start up.
This switch will allow Stevie to boot to Windows where he can rip his Cd's to the jukebox when he wants.
I still need to order the long IDE cable for the CD rom, and tidy up the wiring a bit.
I will try to get more pictures then.
But for now, Stevie is happy, and that makes me happy!.

(Now on to the wife's order for a juke!)

[DaOld Man]

I missed a pic that I thought might be interesting..
This is the monitor mounted, view from the back.
You can also see the hard drive mounted..



Radio Shack has a 32" IDE cable online. Im going to check the local store to see if it is in stock.
If so, I will install it. At that time I plan to get more pictures to post here..
Thanks for looking.

[ShoLouie]

  Great job on your jukebox, that would look sick in my bar

[Burke LaShell]

If Radio Shack doesn't have the IDE cable, I recommend monoprice.com.  They have fantastic prices on cables.
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10227&cs_id=1022700&p_id=1245&seq=1&format=2

[soup]

I mutilated an old PC case to get the mount for my Cd ROM. Here is a picture of it and the back case fan. The fan is a variable speed with a temp sensor.

Hmmmm...not a bad idea to use a variable speed fan + temp sensor. I was thinking I might have to replace my two fans on my juke with some $$$ 'quiet' ones as at low volume their producing too much noise.
Good job 

[DaOld Man]

Great job on your jukebox, that would look sick in my bar

Thanks!
this was my first juke, and I learned about some things I will improve on the next one.
Top of the list of improvements is the weight. this thing turned out heavier than I had expected.

[DaOld Man]

If Radio Shack doesn't have the IDE cable, I recommend monoprice.com.  They have fantastic prices on cables.
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10227&cs_id=1022700&p_id=1245&seq=1&format=2

Thanks for the link. That looks like a very good deal..

[DaOld Man]

Hmmmm...not a bad idea to use a variable speed fan + temp sensor. I was thinking I might have to replace my two fans on my juke with some $$$ 'quiet' ones as at low volume their producing too much noise.
Good job 

Thanks!!!
So far the fan hasnt run at full speed, which is a good thing. I cant hear that fan or the power supply one running at all from the front of the juke. I'm hoping the oversized hole i cut in the bottom back will let plenty of air in and help in cooling. i was worried about the monitor putting off a lot of heat too.

[DaOld Man]

I to would like to know how mountain made his jig. Maybe he would do a writeup for us if he has time.

mountain - would it be possible for you to do a writeup on how to make your jig pictured above?



Encryptor

I started making one tonight.  Details have been moved to Woodworking.

Good job on the writeup JH! now i got to make me one!!