Jukebox Airflow / Cooling Question

[Fordman]

Hello All,

I have an issue with my jukebox ( http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=90031.0 ). Heat. The Touchscreen runs cool, but in the bottom on my cabinet, it's very warm from the power supply. I do have a 144mm fan I'm going to install to create air flow.

Question is: Do I have the fan blow air in or turn the fan around and have the fan pull the warm air out?

I know the CPU itself has the heatsink fan blow down upon the CPU. So I'm leaning toward blowing air in but I' dont want dust and whatever else blowing in there.

Any Thoughts?

[whammoed]

Dust is going to get in whether you are pushing air in or pulling it out.  Most cooling I have seen pushes air in from the bottom and has a vent near the top for the hot air to escape.  This will likely give you the best air flow.

[BobA]

I cannot see where your PC PS is mounted in the project but if you can get it to vent out of your cab and use the 144 mm fan to bring in air I am sure you can solve your cooling problem.

[Fordman]

The PC is in the bottom part of the cabinet behind the doors.



I was hopng the pedboard on the back was enough for ventilation, but I guess I was wrong!




Thanks for the help. Looks like I'm blowing the air in.

I have thought about 2 fans. 1 to blow in and the other for exhaust.

Any thoughts?

[unclet]

I would think two fans would be too loud ..... but I could be wrong.   

[BobA]

I built a furniture type jukebox a while ago and have since updated it with a new decased PC to help with cooling and to speed it up.   I have 2 ATX supplies in the box.  One for the PC and the other for the LEDs and touchscreen monitor.   Cooling is accomplished with a single fan at the top of the back that blows heat out.   Air seems to come in via the various cracks for the doors and thru the speaker cloth that I have on one of the doors.  I use both compartments so I have a hole between the top and bottom to allow heat to rise to the top where it is vented out.   Having the PC in a case did not allow it to cool sufficiently.

In your cab you could vent out the back with a quiet (large) fan and if you need more air circulation you could increase the size of the pegboard holes.   

Old jukebox project link

[BobA]

Picture of updated interior of top compartment of jukebox.

[Fordman]

Thanks for the tips Boba. I have 2 144mm fans with blue leds to match the Griffin Powermate. I'm going to install them this weekend with 1 on the bottom blowing air in and 1 at the top blowing air out. The PC is already decased. The power supply seems to be really the only thing that is creating it.

I'll take some pics of the installation and the final product.

Wheeeeew!!! This MP3 tagging is for the birds! I have spent a total of 26 hours on tagging. 18 1/2 hours more than it took to build the whole jukebox.

BTW, I have added more ram it it seems to be running a little smoother and the Griffin Powermate hasn't quit working.

Thanks for the time,
Fordman

[kizer]

My jukebox is completely without a back and decased and I have the power supply blowing straight out towards the back. Mine sits on two shelves with with holes drilled in the shelves to lit heat rise and sitting on the very top shelf I have a fan blowing out so heat doesn't rise and build.

I looked for any photos, but appearently I didn't take any after I decased it. I do remember the weekend working on it because it was a long one.