Just Another Mountain JukeBox Copy ;) COMPLETED but SPEAKER BLOWN 11/12/2008

[javeryh]

Awesome job!!  I can't wait to see this finished.   

[drawfull]

Awesomes, just awesomes 

Can't wait to see it finished 

Awesome job!!  I can't wait to see this finished.  

Once again, thanks guys! 

Well it's very very close now, and it might be lacquered and therefore essentially complete, really soon... nearly there!



You can see the difference the lacquer makes in this one:



Cheers all

[javeryh]

Very very nice!!  You'd be surprised how fast you can install the components - you are really almost finished!   

[drawfull]

Very very nice!!  You'd be surprised how fast you can install the components - you are really almost finished!  

Yep, very close, and we've already installed everything once. There is virtually no chance of completion by tomorrow though. Gotta leave at 1pm (it's 7.30pm now) so realistically, at the most we have 6 hours to lacquer, let i t dry, polish, install. But we'll likely lacquer at least

[drawfull]

Well, the mother of all cock ups has happened. The wood used for the base was one length of 6" wide oak. The wood for the top, another length although the same batch.

The stain, believe it or not, is the same one for the base and the top.

We really don't know how to fix this


I've attached the pic separately so it will open bigger.

[Kaytrim]

Looks like you have red oak and white oak.  Head over to the woodnet.net forums and post your question there.  Plenty of folks there who are more than happy to help you out, just like here.  As long as you haven't applied the lacquer yet you still have a chance to tweak the color to match.  If the lacquer has been applied then you'll have to either strip or sand it down or apply some kind of gel stain.

Good luck,
Michael

[(+_+)]

Great job so far!! It is very antiquey looking and looks like it'll go with the decor I see in the pics.

[leapinlew]

Looks like you have red oak and white oak.  Head over to the woodnet.net forums and post your question there. 

Awesome suggestion Kaytrim. Good luck fixing that. This is FAR from a disaster and is very fixable. Very worse case scenario is you rebuild the base (assuming the top is the right color choice).

[system01]

Pisser!  I had the exact same problem on my cab.  I went cheap and used Polyshades.  I wouldn't recommend it!

Kaytrim's right, I think a gel stain will be what you want.

Theres also color chips you can add to lacquer/varnish/poly that does a similar job, such as http://www.homesteadfinishing.com/htdocs/TransTint.htm.

Good Luck!

[drawfull]

Hi guys

The base is the correct colour unfortunately. We are sure that the stain is right (ie the same on each piece) just the wood has taken the stain differently.

we did try and apply some blackening stain (might be gel, I don't know its proper name) on the upper half but it didn't make much of a difference.

Unfortunately there is a coat of lacquer on the top, and we were really pleased with the overall finish. We could sand the top and try again, or sand both and fume them.

I'll check the woodworking link posted, thank you for the advice.

System01, I'll look into those colour chips too. I'm sure my dad has come across them before, but I haven't!

Cheers

[DaOld Man]

I kinda like the color on both the top and bottom, just too bad they dont match.
Im sure you and your dad will get this worked out in no time.
The project is really looking good. Kinda wish I had angled my monitor a bit now.

[javeryh]

Kinda wish I had angled my monitor a bit now.

Most definitely.  Too bad it's way out of my skill set. 

Curve + 10 degree angle = 

I don't think the stain looks that bad.  The bottom is separate so it's not like you have 2 adjacent panels that are different colors.  Plus it looks like the volume knob matches the bottom so it ties in kind of nice.  This is one of those things no one but you will notice and if they do they will just think it was intentional.

It looks fantastic.   

[Kaytrim]

Kinda wish I had angled my monitor a bit now.

Most definitely.  Too bad it's way out of my skill set. 

Curve + 10 degree angle = 

Actually it is rather easy if you break it down.  Cut your curve part first.  Then add the 10 degree angel at the base of the curve.

 

[BASS!]

I actually don't think its too big of a deal. If it really bugs you though you could always just get a much darker stain and have it look closer to ebony, that may really contrast well. On a side note, you have an amazingly beautiful house and somehow managed to match the stain to your mantle and that beautiful turn of the century clock.

[drawfull]

Thanks for all the reassurances! I like the black base idea! We will sort something this weekend.

I wanted to document the build permanently, and have ordered a bespoke photo album from epica.com. they're in the states, but their online live support was cool

It's hit me for about $450 and the exchaange rate is bleak, but I am happy. I will post pictures of the completed album once it's here. I lso arranged for some proper complete professional shots to be taken. Gonna be about £100 framed, but that includes the photography / picture I pick

Cheers

[leapinlew]

It's hit me for about $450

[drawfull]

I guess it does look like a lot now I read it lol, I think the basic album was about $120~ - the rest was customisation and shipping... Then again, I really don't think it's too bad, a posh handbag would cost much more and they're both just leather stitched together...

[drawfull]

Just  quick one to say we can't do anything to match the way the top came out, so we have a two-tone juke. We don't have time to restart, sand to wood and hope etc.

Not thrilled, but it isn't as bad as the pic makes out

Cheers

[kizer]

All I gotta say is WOW. That thing is very nice looking.

[Franco B]

Awesome, awesome, awesome project 

I don't think the two tone is a big deal, looks good to me!

You will have to show us some pics of the album, I wanna know what a $450 album looks like! 

[facesmiths]

make sure if you use transparent, your printer has white ink.

There is no such thing as white ink for your run of the mill printer.

Could I just use white transluscent acrylic?

unless your run of the mill printer is an ALPS as they had not only white ink but also metallic and foil inks. 2400 x 2400 DPI too

[facesmiths]

ok now that I got to look at the whole of the thread I have to say MAN WOW! yes I can not wait to see the finished product either. it is going to be so full of WIN that it would be illegal here. (of  course it does not take much here since FUN is illegal too HEH HEH)

really awesome wood work.

[drawfull]

Awesome, awesome, awesome project 

I don't think the two tone is a big deal, looks good to me!

You will have to show us some pics of the album, I wanna know what a $450 album looks like! 

Cheers Franco, hopefully the album will make it in time, even though the content won't be that exciting!

ok now that I got to look at the whole of the thread I have to say MAN WOW! yes I can not wait to see the finished product either. it is going to be so full of WIN that it would be illegal here. (of  course it does not take much here since FUN is illegal too HEH HEH)

really awesome wood work.

Thanks once again all for the great feedback, I have said before it means a lot, but it really does.

There might be a rather big update later today, but we have email issues at the moment, which we've been trying to sort for an hour. I did finalise the art, and that's attached



... Stay tuned (pardon the pun) 

[drawfull]

Despite previous posts, despite thinking we we're going to be forced to settle for a two-colour juke, we decided to take one last throw of the dice.

Say hello to Mr. Nitromoors. This was a big decision, we had no guarantee that the juke top would come out the correct colour. We tested every stain we had and NONE matched what had happened on the top part of the juke. But something HAD happened, and we decided we would never be truly happy unless we tried. So out came the nitromoors. I'm not sure if this is available in the states, but it's a brand name for indutrial strength paint-remover.



We really didn't know how this would turn out, it was a big gamble so close to the deadline. The way it happened, it turned out great! Right backk to the original oak! But, we weren't that happy with the veneer. It is very thin and didn't like the curve of the juke too much when we applied it. So with this new opportunity, we decided to fill it. The filler used is designed to take the stain well, so we slapped it on generously wherever there were cracks or imperfections in the work we'd done:



Once this was set, it was sanded generously. Turned out great. So the moment of truth:

Stained, lacquered, MATCHES THE BASE!!!! 



There are a couple of small imperfections in the above picture, but believe me, it is a fantastic improvement on where we were. The filler didn't take the stain exactly as the veneer did, but the image above eccentuates the problem if it really exists so much. Please disregard

So we could begin finally installing the guts. First was the glass for the touch screen. We utilised the original clips from the monitor surround, and also got the fan installed too:



Then the rest of the touch screen:



And with the back of the screen fitted:



This is where it's up to now. Artwork and everything else should be done by tomorrow, so just loading MP3s and software tweaks to do



Well pleased  

 

[Kaytrim]

Nice Save on the stain.

[javeryh]

WOW.  Very nice.  I can't believe you were able to match the stain.  Incredible job.   

[DaOld Man]

Beautiful!
A work of art my friend..

 

[system01]

Holy Ess!  You should buy a lottery ticket with that luck!  Glad you got it matched.  That kind of stuff really eats at me.

 

[drawfull]

Bit of a mishap with the glass retainer for the artWORK. It slipped and broke. But it's almost there now, Just a couple of pics of things being installed... thanks for the good comments as always

We got a nice and discreet usb hub, it's on the left of this pic.



And it works! I'm using Touchtone for the front-end software and there's lots of tweaking to do. I may still yet change my mind, but I bought the licence so am going to see how far I can get.

Will get the glass tomorrow then it can be 99% done 



Cheers

[Encryptor]

Very nice! What does the top look like where you had to put the putty? Did it take the stain well?


Encryptor

[drawfull]

Very nice! What does the top look like where you had to put the putty? Did it take the stain well?


Encryptor

It looks fine. If you look at the last pic, there's an inch or so that looks white on theright-hand vertical side. That's putty. But, it only looks white as it reflects the harsh halogen floodlight and camera flash much differently to the oak. In real life you can't tell, unless you know where to look. It came out really well.

Cheers

[drawfull]

Just a few loose ends to post about, but am pleased to say (one small thing aside) that my partner's Juke is finished

There have been a few traumas on the way, but I am thrilled with the final product.

We made another small misjudgement - with the positioning of the laptop and the sides of the case, it wasn't possible to hinge down the keyboard without the VGA output lead to the touch screen catching. So we decased the original blue plug and using good old electricians tape, wrapped the guts of the plug. This reduced the overall size by just enough to clear the Juke body, which you can just make out in this picture:



Then it was simply a case of installing the rest of the guts. Mainly the marquee light, glass retainers and artwork.



And with the laptop opened:



Herein lies a problem. We had initially planned to use 2 pieces of 4mm glass to hold the artwork. this created an issue that I didn't think of when making the artwor. I made the art to be just a mm or so larger than the viewable area. this means that due to the thickness of the front piece of glass, when looking from an angle, you can see white paper. I need to redo the art, and I'm doing that this evening. This is how it looks now:



Really pleased, art aside 

Final pic, with the lighting in the room off. There's just enough light through the 220gsm stock to illuminate the art nicely, and the letters stand out really well. In real life it doesn't look washed out at all. Pleased! You'll also notice that there's some glow on the wall. I had hoped that it would more closely resemble the slots in the back door of the cab but I'm still happy with the effect it gives



As you can see, I still need to sort out the software, it's gone nuts! Small issue and will be easy to fix I hope.

Just want to say thanks to everyone on here for their support and more importantly encouragement, it really is a great community.

Finally, I want to say thanks to my Dad, as without his experience and woodworking skill I wouldn't have been able to do this in any way. Cheers Dad!! 

[Kaytrim]

I agree to both you and your Dad.  Now to get started on mine.

[Nvts]

Looks great!

You just put the light across the back supports, yes? 

What is that knob above the door? 

Can you go into some of the wiring that had to be added?  Looks like you have a terminal strip or whatever they call it, and some odds and ends underneath.   You sure went from a Here is the Shell to Here is it almost done really fast.  :p

How well does the sound bar seem to work now that it is all done?

[Kaytrim]

   You sure went from a Here is the Shell to Here is it almost done really fast.  :p

I find that is the case with most of my projects.  Building the Shell is 80% of the project.

[leapinlew]

 

As you can see, I still need to sort out the software, it's gone nuts! Small issue and will be easy to fix I hope.

famous last words!

[drawfull]

Looks great!

You just put the light across the back supports, yes? 

What is that knob above the door? 

Can you go into some of the wiring that had to be added?  Looks like you have a terminal strip or whatever they call it, and some odds and ends underneath.   You sure went from a Here is the Shell to Here is it almost done really fast.  :p

How well does the sound bar seem to work now that it is all done?

Thanks! Yes, we added a strip of wood to hold the light. The lamp has its own diffuser, which is why the illumination from the back of the cab isn't a true reflection of the slots in the door. All that's getting to the slots is reflected light from the inside of the cab / rear of the marquee.

The knob above the door was going to be the main power, but I decided that I didn't want to power the laptop down so it does the speakers and lamp. The reason it's not quite central is simply because there is not enough wood around the frame if we cut the rebate for it centrally.

With the wiring, the mains input comes up from the speaker box into the terminal block then up to the switch and back down to the terminals again. From there to a decased 12V power supply from a wall-wart which powers the fan. The laptop psu comes straight  off the Mains input from the base.

The speakers are adequate for the size of the room it's going in. The sub provides just enough bass so you can feel it without bringing the house down. I'm a little disappointed with the top end, but haven't played with it much and I think I'll be able to fix it in software. One other small disappointment is the adjustment of the bass. It's working but whether the frequency range it controls is really low or something, there doesn't seem to be that much difference between min and max. Could be the 'music' I listen to, dunno. But overall it's fine, and very loud at full volume

It did seem to go quite quickly once the shell was done, but as Kaytrim said, that was 80% of the work. Although we thought about the internal layout quite a bit, no-one will see it so it didn't need the same attention to detail imo as the rest of the cabinet.

I agree to both you and your Dad.  Now to get started on mine.

Thanks Michael, get your finger out buddy!!

As you can see, I still need to sort out the software, it's gone nuts! Small issue and will be easy to fix I hope.

famous last words!

Yep. But I am not too concerned, I am only running music so to speak, am thnkful I don't have a gazzilion emus to configure! Once it's up and running I'll do a YouTube vid which should be sometime mid-week next week.

Cheers all  

[DaOld Man]

Man Drawful!!!
Im at a loss for words.
This thing looks like something you would pay  thousands for at a cabinet shop.
 

[drawfull]

Cheers DaOld Man, I just hope the better half likes it!!

Does anyone run the Touchtone juke software? I have tried loads but this one can use the itunes software as its back-end music player, so it works for me. I was wondering if anyone knew of others that can use itunes, but don't necessarily mention it in their advertising?

Cheers

[nuka1195]

http://xbmc.org

has an itunes plugin, that can import your itunes.xml, but also has it's own db management. i'm really surprised more people don't use it in a jukebox. it's a great free media center, with a lot of support. if you have interenet access to your juke, there are scripts and plugins that add functionality. lyrics script for one, can grab lyrics from lyricwiki.com for the currently playing song. plus the video section handles a lot of formats. no drm though.

i'm currently working on a plugin for mame for it.

edit: forgot, it has support for kareoke.