CD/DVD bezel

[PkingRoch]

Since I'm able to watch movies on the machine I'm building, I would like to mount my DVD player on the front of my cabinet.  I'm looking for a bezel to fit around the outside of the player.  Has anyone seen one of these or used one give me a pointer on where I can find one?

Thanks!
Paul

[Ghoward]

Hi,

I don't know of one myself, however it would be easy to make one. Just go to the local hardware store and buy some wood trim of your choice.

Then cut the 4 bits to size with 45 degree miters on the edges. Glue them together and you have your bezel!


Gary

[AlanS17]

Are you talking about a DVD_ROM or a full-sized DVD player? If it's a full-sized player I wouldn't even recommend having the whole thing showing out the front. I'd probably put a door on it instead. Otherwise it sounds like the perfect way to make an arcade machine look like a home entertainment center or some frankenstein electric thing with lights, knobs, buttons. Oh wait... that sounds like an arcade machine! nevermind...

[PkingRoch]

DVD-ROM drive from a PC, sorry.  I could do the miter cuts and that would work.  I know how I work with a miter saw though, and would prefer a plastic one that I could paint black.  If anyone has a link, through it my way!

Thanks!
Paul

[AlanS17]

Do you plan on leaving your coin door locked? Otherwise you could mount it so that it sits right on top of your coinbox. That way you don't have to cut ANY holes.

[PkingRoch]

No coin door, sorry.  It just doesn't serve any function for me.  I have had several machines and pins over the years and I can't say that I ever used the coin door in any of them.  Since I was building this one, I decided that was one expense I could skip.

[AlanS17]

If that's the case then I would say either flush-mount it as well as you can or go with the molding idead. Molding is like 50 cents for 12 feet or something outrageously low like that.

[_Iz-]

I just measured carefully and cut the hole exactly the same size as the drive. Follow the www link below my avatar for pics...

[1UP]

You could use a CD drive cover from a Macintosh.  Looks like a plastic panel with a small button on it.  Push the button and the drive tray opens, pushing the panel open.  You can get different colors and designs for different Macs...

[OSCAR]

How about a splash door like what is used for marine radios?  The radio in my boat has one of these with a flip down smoked plexi cover.  There's a pic of a similar one on this page:
http://www.lafayetteradio.com/marine.html

[PkingRoch]

I just measured carefully and cut the hole exactly the same size as the drive. Follow the www link below my avatar for pics...

This may be the way to go.  The Marine cover looks pretty heavy duty; more than I want.  I don't want the cover to look better than the rest of the cab

[JLR2000]

Here's something I ran across today:

http://www.voidedwarranty.com/modules.php?name=Reviews&op=viewarticle&artid=43

Seems to be inexpensive ($6 - $15?).

I don't know anything about this product or company, I just ran across this and remembered this thread.....

Good Luck.

Okay, here's a better link (actually leads to the product) and it's $15 +free ground shipping....

http://www.pchertz.com/customer/product.php?productid=17190&cat=286&page=1&PHPSESSID=9f8c8eb51710a2272d443b92a7eab0b3

[PkingRoch]

It looks like it's just a faceplate that you use the included 2-sided tape with to stick onto your current drive.  What I'm looking for is something more like this:

<><><><><><><>
<>------------------<>
<>------------------<>
<><><><><><><>

Sorry for the bad graphics.  The <>'s denote the bezel and should cover the cut hole in the cabinet only and allow the drive to slip into the space denoted by the -'s.

Thanks!
Paul

[JLR2000]

Ah.  I think for that you would just use the mounting brackets like you would for the inside of a pc case, cutting the hole to be very close to the size of your drive (like mentioned above).  I just thought you were looking for a way to "mask" the beige drive to be black like most cabs....

Oh well....sorry.  

Good Luck.

[PkingRoch]

Well it looks like it isn't going to get done with V1.0 at this point anyway.  I talked to the wife and kids and they didn't feel they would ever watch a movie or play a CD in the cab so there is little use in making it available.

Thanks for the advice!
Paul

[grafixmonkey]

if you're still thinking of sticking it in there, you can remove the plastic "front" of the drive (should lift off the top w/ some effort when the drive is open) and put the drive behind a little springy wooden door.  Use light springs, and the drive will push the wooden door down when it pops out, and let it spring closed when it comes back.

that's the system used in lots of colorful PC cases where no drives have the right colors on the front.