LeapinLew: Jukebox 2.0 using Freebox - COMPLETED!

[leapinlew]

So I have been wanting to upgrade my jukebox that I built a little over 2 years ago. I was trying to decide if I was going to build one from scratch, or convert something. When I found a stand up Midway Touchmaster 7000 with a broken monitor for a very good price - I jumped on it.

I squirreled it away, and I've built quite a few projects waiting to work on this. Well, now's the time. For those of you who don't know what a stand up Midway touchmaster cabinet looks like, here it is:

This isn't my cabinet, but I failed to take a picture of it before I stated working on it.

Here is the first pic of my cabinet:


The plan is to drop in a new 19" monitor in the bottom and install a 12" LCD in the top section. I'm going to reuse the bezel and all the metal components. I'm going to cut new wood sides  with 3/4" Sandeply and use black laminate for the finish.

...

I started on it this weekend and was able to get the wood components cut and started laminating. I used a flush trim bit to cut out new sides.


And here it is put together:


Test fitting the marquee and bezel:


Laminated front:


The cool thing about using this cabinet as a template is all the decision work, such as the height of the screen, angle of the monitor, etc, is already done. I was also able to re-use the touchscreen overlay off the old monitor - which was a good find since those overlay's can be expensive.

I'm going to use Freebox since it rocks.

[IG-88]

Curious, why not just laminate over the existing sides instead of making new ones?

[leapinlew]

Curious, why not just laminate over the existing sides instead of making new ones?

I wanted a different middle section. The current section has a big cut out for a coin slot and I wanted the round subwoofer holes. This block is held together with glue, blocks and staples. I haven't really come up with a good non-destructive way to disassemble a cabinet built this way.

Also, I'm building mine 3/4" taller so I can place some neon lights underneath.

[IG-88]

Ah...I see. I should've looked closer. Fine job by the way.

[Barry Barcrest]

The first juke i put together was a conversion of a JPM gamebox. It really looked the part when we did it, it's no dismantled around my friends place after the overlay got broken. However he picked up a replacement on the weekend so it look like i might help him put that together. Not as ambitious as your build though we just removed the graphics and upgraded the PC. Those JPM Gamebox cabs already look like a jukebox sort of shape though if that makes any sense.

If this is half as good as the megatouch conversion you did i am sure it will be awsome.

[Stobe]

For those of you who don't know what a stand up Midway touchmaster cabinet looks like, here it is:

Looks to be another great project, Lew.

But I'm glad you attached that photo.  I thought this was the Touchmaster:

[Benevolance]

The plan is to drop in a new 19" monitor in the bottom and install a 12" LCD in the top section...I was also able to re-use the touchscreen overlay off the old monitor - which was a good find since those overlay's can be expensive.

I'm not familiar with this - it sounds like the overlay can be put down over top of a regular LCD screen to turn it into a touch screen. Is that the case?

[leapinlew]

Yeah... a touchscreen is pretty much an overlay on top of a normal monitor. I'm going to use a CRT since it's from a CRT and has the curve of a 19" CRT.

[leapinlew]

I purchased a 19" Wells Gardner SVGA monitor to mount in this cabinet. I needed to transfer the new monitor to the old frame:


After some maneuvering, I managed to get it moved.

[javeryh]

Looking good.   Any ideas on theme/art? 

[leapinlew]

Looking good.   Any ideas on theme/art? 

Not much art going on. It'll be a black, chrome and red neons.

[Stobe]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
When do you sleep?

[leapinlew]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
When do you sleep?

Yeah, ain't that something? I did that last night around 3:30am. I normally don't sleep too much, but last night was extra non-sleepy. Whatever...

[Benevolance]

Enough Slurm will keep a man awake for days.

Did the Touchmaster have actual games? In the first picture, it looks like an order kiosk of some sort.

[leapinlew]

Been slow moving on this one as I had to finish another project. I'm back on the jukebox and made some progress.

Here it is all rebuilt.

In the background, you can see my last jukebox that I'm replacing with this one.



It's built pretty solid. Glued and screwed, baby!


I mounted the T-molding, speaker grills, and test fitted everything:




This is an inside view of the speaker grills.

I'm using these black metal speaker grills on the inside and I have some large chrome ones to mount on the outside. I'm using 12" speaker grills and 10" Neon rings mounted inside the holes.

[leapinlew]

Here is the marquee area almost done. I have a few decisions to make on how I'm going to finish it, but I'm sure I'll have something figured out soon.



It's a 12" 4:3 LCD. It's from a Point Of Sale (POS) system and I'm not at all impressed with it. I'd say POS stands for something else. Anyone know where I can get a decent 12" LCD? I considered a 15" widescreen LCD, but it's actually too big.

[Blanka]

What speakers are you going to put in?
2 one-foot woofers are not going to give great sound. They only deal with 20-180Hz or so, which is a very small bit of the audio spectrum.
You better put some midranges and tweeters top-left and top-right for some stereo image, and maybe a 1 foot one at the bottom centre as a sub-woofer.

[leapinlew]

What speakers are you going to put in?
2 one-foot woofers are not going to give great sound. They only deal with 20-180Hz or so, which is a very small bit of the audio spectrum.
You better put some midranges and tweeters top-left and top-right for some stereo image, and maybe a 1 foot one at the bottom centre as a sub-woofer.

The subwoofer holes are just for looks. I'm using Logitech Z-2300's.

[leapinlew]

Got the computer setup today. This should give you an idea of the screen size in the marquee area. 12" vs 19".

[leapinlew]

Spent nearly the whole day working on the top monitor mount. I still have some finishing work to do on it. I mounted the main monitor. Hopefully next weekend I'll be finishing up with it.

[IG-88]

Hey Lew, what exactly was that model of monitor you got?

[leapinlew]

Hey Lew, what exactly was that model of monitor you got?

Hey IG - sorry I'm so late to respond. It's a WellsGardner D9500. To use the overlay, you need to use a true 19" CRT monitor. I tried using a U3100, but it's limited to 640x480 unless you install the SVGA kit. Apparently you can ask WellsGardner to install the kit before you get it, but I didn't know that before I ordered it. So, I'm going to use it on a different project, and I'm using the D9500 on the jukebox.

[leapinlew]

All done! The biggest pain in the ass was the marquee/video window. Overall, it turned out pretty nice. I recommend this route for anyone else looking to do a jukebox. Finding a used megatouch without any boards is getting easier since they've phased out the CRT models in favor of the LCD ones.

So finishing pics:










Marquee/Video Window is on a 12" LCD. I originally had some issues with these LCD's, but after setting the MHZ to the proper amount (70MHZ) it displays just fine.


Here it is with a video playing. The video has a green tint to it (it's not the screen)




All thats left is to get the black and red skin working. I'm working Barry Barcrest and his team to get it.

Speaking of Freebox... it's an absolute rock solid, easy to use program. It comes VERY highly recommended by me. You can get it at www.freeboxjukebox.com. Good stuff.

For those of you curious, I used a 12" speaker grill and 10" red neon speaker rings to fit inside. It's a bit on the flashy side, but I think a jukebox needs to be flashy with some raz-a-ma-taz.

And thats going to do it for me for this year - I've already put the tools up. I only published a few projects on BYOAC this year since I didn't do too many innovations. If you'd like to see any more pics or anything, let me know. I'll be posting a youtube clip shortly.

[leapinlew]

Excuse the blur in the beginning...

[Blanka]

With those Hummer rims, how much road tax do they charge you on it? 

[DaOld Man]

Wow! Great job Lew!
Man I gotta get me some of them speaker covers!

I have just added (yet another) project to my list.
I will probably be bugging you to death when I finally get around to this one.

Again, great job!
 

( and a afro dude for good measure) 

[javeryh]

Amazing job.  You work incredibly fast and produce stunning results.  How do the two screens interact with one another?  Is that something that is easy to set up? 

You are also a big fan of Freebox - I am trying to decide which software to use for my juke and it's definitely on my list.  Are there any other features other than playing audio files (like picture viewing)?  Also, can it interact with any other software (like running a .exe or something so I can set up games like bejeweled)?  My wife cares more about pictures and games than the music.   

[Franco B]

Great work Lew'ster!! 

Love those speaker grill's they make it look mean as ---fudgesicle--- 

[Donkey_Kong]

What speakers are you going to put in?
2 one-foot woofers are not going to give great sound. They only deal with 20-180Hz or so, which is a very small bit of the audio spectrum.
You better put some midranges and tweeters top-left and top-right for some stereo image, and maybe a 1 foot one at the bottom centre as a sub-woofer.

The subwoofer holes are just for looks. I'm using Logitech Z-2300's.

I bet the neighbors won't mind that you went that route...LoL

Very nice job. I like how it fits in a corner yet still packs a punch, and those grill covers rule!

[DaOld Man]

Lew, where can I get the Freebox software?
The download links on the freebox site are down..
Judging from the comments left, it has been down for quite a while.

[javeryh]

The link in the thread on this site still works (in the Jukebox forum).

[Knievel]

Nice work Lew!

One mean looking juke, it's screaming for a Harley logo.

[kizer]

Nice Jukebox.

Mine sorta looks like that in particle board because I never finished the prototype box.

[Barry Barcrest]

Awsome box lew, looke really nice finished.  I still need to put mine back together although i am thinking of trying what you did with this box.

[Martijn]

i am also implementing the z2300

can you show me pictures of how you mounted and placed the sub and speakers?

Nice Birdie ! 

[blueznl]

Sweeeeeet! 

[Santoro]

Nice Lew, I missed this until now.   Got a link for those red neon rings?  I am still pondering the bling options for my new slim cab.