The NEW Build Your Own Arcade Controls
Main => Audio/Jukebox/MP3 Forum => Topic started by: gryhnd on July 11, 2010, 05:43:23 pm
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Late last summer I started to mull over another arcade machine, this one for my nephews as they really enjoy our cabs. Being in a smaller house with 5 people, space is at a premium so a traditional upright was out of the question. I thought about a cocktail cab, but it would have meant displacing their family room coffee table and I figured the sister-in-law wouldn't be too keen on that idea :lol
That led me to consider furniture style (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=95265.0), hidden arcade options. Laying in bed one insomniac evening, it occurred to me that what I was coming up with in my head looked a lot like an old console TV from the 50s and 60s. As luck would have it, I came across someone giving away an old console TV on CL. Unluckily, it turned out that the cabinet was not wood but laminate, and wasn't in very good shape.
Fast forward a few months. It's now past the holidays and the nephews have all received DSs and a Wii, and the inlaws feel they have enough video games so I back burnered the project. I still kept an eye out for another console TV cabinet though, as the idea intrigued me.
Luck struck again on Craigslist, and I happened across what looked like a beautiful mahogany RCA Victor. Here's the CL picture:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/craigslist%20009.jpg)
Based on the pic, I decided to go for it so long as it passed inspection. When I got there it of course had some flaws that photos always seem to hide (particularly on the doors, but also some crazing of the finish), but considering it's age I was very excited about the overall condition. I dropped a whopping $35 on it, popped it into my truck, then stuck it in my workshop for another 3 months while life swirled around.
About two months ago I caught the fever again, and began taking a more careful look at what I had brought home.
The CRT was gone, but the bezel and glass were in place:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_8807.jpg)
All the vacuum tubes were MIA, as was the power supply, but the main tuner/electronics rats nest of resistors, caps, etc was still there (albeit in rough shape):
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/1u26/IMG_8820.jpg)
as were the brown bakelite knobs and RCA Victor gilded emblem:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_8819.jpg) (http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_8834.jpg)
Also the original 12" speaker and grill cloth:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_8801.jpg) (http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_8806.jpg)
It was that monster of a speaker that actually gave me a flash of inspiration: this thing could make a kick ass jukebox!
So over many more insomniac evenings, I decided I would go for something that was reminiscent of a car from the 50s, but one being restored and cobbled together in today's day and age. And so was born the Rat Rod (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_rod) (working title...not sure if I totally dig it yet).
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I'm going to run out of time tonight I think, to post everything I've got so far, but here's a start. Bear in mind that the cab is dusty. I don't intend to work on the finish until the major parts of the (de)(re)construction are complete.
After removing the doors and gutting her down to the bare cabinet, here's what I had:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_8797.jpg) (http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_8813.jpg)
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_8809.jpg) (http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_8812.jpg)
For the two left most knobs positions, I opted for a couple of old fashioned style incandescent backlit VU meters. For the larger hole on the far right (where the tuner knob was), a similarly lit volt meter was placed.
All the meters were just a smidge too large and required a bit of either/both drilling out with a forstner bit/enlarging with a drum sander:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_8828.jpg) (http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_8829.jpg)
And with the meters loosely in place:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_8830.jpg)
For the final "knob hole" (sounds dirty), I agonized for weeks over trying to find a suitable ignition switch. None did what I wanted, fit the way I wanted, or had the quality I was looking for (like actually working!). Ultimately I opted for the late model style push button ignition. Jumping ahead a bit, that will be what fires up the computer within:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_8859.jpg)
While not entirely like a dashboard (VU meters?), it was the general look I was going for.
Next up, the "engine"...
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Power plant:
If you don't already know, I'm somewhat of a Craigslist and eBay addict. More by (financial) necessity than any particular fondness for either venue. I also hate wasting ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- that's perfectly useful.
So my list of engine components, after many weeks and months of consideration, consists of:
- ELO 15" touchscreen: $65 delivered
- Rockford Fosgate 400W 4 channel amp, bridgeable to 3 channel: $35
- 10" 8ohm subwoofer, re-purposed from my son's school science experiment (Google subwoofer and non-newtonian fluids): $30
- set of PYLE PLG6.4 6.5-Inch 300W 4ohm Four-Way Speakers: $30ish
- 350W 12VDC power supply: $33
- 24VAC power supply: free - scavenged from past furnace repair (http://www.skinners.us/.599a4b5f)
- 5 Farad capacitor: $30
- VU meter driver board: $30 ish
Decased Acer 4420 Athalon notebook: free ( Edit 7/21: laptop is toast)- Dell Dimension 3000 P4 2.8: free
With the exception of the amp, all the parts are being mounted to the sides of the cabinet. The laptop motherboard is light enough to be screwed into the 1/4 thick mahogany side boards with standoffs. The PSU, cap etc have a lot more heft and required sturdier attachments so I cut a 3/4 piece of plywood to fit within one side recess. Here's the general idea:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_8870.jpg) (http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_8875.jpg)
The Fosgate amp is not yet secured as I have lots more work to do (monitor etc) before it finds its final spot, but that's the basic place it will end up.
And on that note, I bid you good evening. I'm getting the "get off the computer and come to dinner" look :burgerking: More to come later.
(Edits for typos)
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You were serious about making use of parts and things you found. I don't think I'd be able to integrate non pc components like you have.
I really like the look of the RCA Victor. Looks great so far.
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A few more items.
The lower area of the cab, where the old 12" full range driver was, will now contain the two 6.5" 4 ways. In front of those I will be placing black powder coated steel speaker grill. In the middle of it will go this billet aluminum, CNCd, old school style V8 emblem. Found on eBay for a whopping $5 :applaud:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_8860.jpg)
My original intention was to place a remote USB port (for the purpose of loading tunes via flash drive, etc) in the middle of the speaker grill hidden by a (see attached pic below) "Special Edition" emblem, until I found the V8 above.
Then I pulled the "RCA Victor" emblem off the cab, and was going to place the USB port there with said "Special Edition" again hiding it.
Finally I decided to go K.I.S.S., and today I fashioned myself a custom bracket out of aluminum L stock for the USB panel mount jack, and placed it at the back of the cab pointing up. I realized that with the power cord back there, there was more than enough room for 3/4" of USB jack protrusion:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_8885.jpg)
The special edition emblem, however, will still end up replacing the RCA Victor. Being black and chrome, it will tie in nicely with the black grill, aluminum V8, and black and chrome meters/button.
PS - the reason for the narrow strip of MDF with the fan, USB and IEC power jack (out of frame below) is that it will be a fixed panel. This will prevent someone (me?) in the future from yanking out important cords during any maintenance. The remainder of the back panel will be freely removable and will provide plenty of access.
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Slightly out of sequence now.
Yesterday I installed 3 sets of 5-way binding posts to the shelf that will hold the amplifier. These will carry the signals from the amp down into the (sealed) lower speaker bay area. BTW, the 10" sub will be down firing. There's not enough room on the front speaker panel for the two 6.5" and the sub.
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_8879.jpg)
Here's the component panel before I mounted it. Clockwise from top left: 12VDC 350W PSU, 5 Farad capacitor (to help buffer the PSU from transient audio spikes...might be over engineering on my part), 24VAC transformer which feeds into the...VU driver board. And finally a marine dual bus bar for distributing the 12Vs.
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_8869.jpg)
Here's a somewhat blurry close up of the VU driver board. It happens to run off of 24VAC, so hence the 24VAC furnace transformer:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_8882.jpg)
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It's looking amazing so far! Keep up the good work!
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I really like the look of the RCA Victor. Looks great so far.
It's looking amazing so far! Keep up the good work!
Thanks!
The Windshield ( ::) )
A couple more updates, then things might slow down for a while.
My last two terminal rings arrived in the mail yesterday, so this allowed me to make the final connection from the 12VDC PSU to the dual bus bar:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_8889.JPG)
Then it was time to fashion a bezel for the ELO touchscreen.
The ELO I have (used) can't be easily mounted into a cutout from the front, and needs to be back mounted instead (looks better that way too). It has a slight raised lip with rounded corners of about 3/8 radius, and 8 screw holes distributed around the edge.
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_8897.JPG)
I went to work and templated the horizontal section lip into some hardboard, using a forstner bit to do the corners first, then cutting in with my jigsaw:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_8893.JPG)
After I was comfortable with this, I got started on the official bezel, also out of hardboard. It took probably another 30'-45' after it was cut to fine tune it the way I wanted, but I am pleased with the results:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_8895.JPG)
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_8883.JPG)
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Did you keep the black bezel on your screen, or did you remove it?
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Did you keep the black bezel on your screen, or did you remove it?
Kept it. Hence the hardboard bezel conforming to the shape of the lip in the black plastic.
Edit: when I took a close look, it appeared that the black bezel was an integral part of holding the touchscreen glass in place. I didn't want to mess with it, and I saw no benefit to removing it beyond making square corner cuts in my hardboard.
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Next up will be to construct a sturdy support to hold the ELO, via its VESA mount.
I also have some ideas I am working through on how to best dress the bezel. Will post when I settle on something.
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Dammit...I just spent 30' composing a new post with pics, accidentally moved backwards in the browser, then lost the whole darn thing from the form.
Can that be addressed? It's not the first time...
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Second attempt ::)
Today the replacement PSU for the laptop arrived. Previously I resurrected the Acer with a PSU from a different Acer so that wasn't a long term answer. The replacement came in from, you guessed it, eBay, for under $9 delivered. I decided to give it a burn in (upper left resting on the bezel), and at the same time hook up the ELO:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_8898.jpg)
The new PSU seems to run hotter than I expected, even though it is not charging a battery. If it lasts the next couple of days, I might break it open so it can breathe better. You can see it alligator clipped to the broken power jack on motherboard in the lower left of this pic:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_8899.jpg)
My son calls this one "oodles of noodles":
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_8900.jpg)
Because the laptop is decased and all the supports for components are built into the bottom half of the case, I had to come up with a way to secure the HDD. Utilizing an upside down PCB mounting foot in one pre-existing hole, and drilling out a second hole, I was able to lock the drive down:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_8902.jpg)
Finally, a couple pieces of aluminized tape for my HVAC holds the fan in position to cool off the heat sink:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_8904.jpg)
And I'll let everything sit all night and maybe into the weekend.
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_8905.jpg)
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Oh Man.
Now this is my kinda build!
Very nice. Great find with that old set.
Can't wait to see how this progresses.
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So a little bit about my thoughts for the dressing up the hardboard bezel. Comments welcome.
My intent is to first wrap the bezel in a carbon-fiber look adhesive vinyl.
(http://www.ijdmtoy.com/ebay/Carbon-Fiber-Sheet/Carbon-Fiber-01.jpg)
Being nearly black, it will tie in nice with the black speaker grille I will be ordering.
Then I will mount the ELO to the bezel, with either of these chrome torx bolts. They should be a nice contrast to the carbon fiber:
(http://www.chromebolt.com/images/ButtonTorx.jpg)(http://www.chromebolt.com/images/AllenTorxSmooth.jpg)
At the top of the bezel, the final name of this project will be spelled out in these cool chrome letters (http://youremblem.com/store/_realinitials7.php). Right now I'm thinking either "rad2tns" or "nomad". Not married to either yet though.
Finally, if they can fit (space is tight due to the size of the ELO's plastic bezel), a couple-few of these style dash inidcator lights in red and blue in the bottom part of the bezel:
(http://i.ebayimg.com/08/!BuI4ERwCWk~$%28KGrHqQH-E!Evlr98iwBBL+DorN1L!~~_12.JPG)
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...In the middle of it will go this billet aluminum, CNCd, old school style V8 emblem...
I do some IT and web site work on the side for a local auto repair shop. I dropped the emblem off to them this morning and they are going to polish it up to a mirror finish. Even cooler, he said "and I'll hit it with some clear coat to protect it". Sweet!
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The new PSU seems to run hotter than I expected, even though it is not charging a battery. If it lasts the next couple of days, I might break it open so it can breathe better. You can see it alligator clipped to the broken power jack on motherboard in the lower left of this pic:
Well this is frustrating.
The PSU ran fine. Today, my smart strip arrived, so I powered down, installed it, and fired up the laptop to test. Worked fine of course, so I powered down again and went in to the house for dinner and a movie. Something brought me back out to the shop an hour ago, and I fired up the laptop again. Suddenly it wasn't working. Upon a closer listen I could hear the drive spin up, click and shut down, then spin up again...lather rinse repeat.
Crap.
I fetched the official Acer PSU, figuring the cheap one was screwed. Same problem. WTF? I yanked the laptop out of the cab and began going over it. Nothing obviously wrong. Plugged it back in, and...nothing. Not even a spin up. Put the battery in, which I know had a charge, removed the PSU, and tried to boot. Nada.
I removed the heatsink in case I goofed on my last reinstall...even though the laptop used to fire up just fine for a basic boot test without it. Everything looked good. I re-greased and reinstalled it. Next I removed the CMOS battery for giggles. Put it back. Still nothing. At some point I removed the drive, and was suddenly able to boot into the BIOS config. I restored the BIOS to default values, saved them, rebooted and it seemed OK. I put the drive back and everything booted fine.
Figuring the BIOS must have hiccuped, I ran some tests and all seemed well. Scheduled a disk check, and rebooted. Oddly, it took 4 tries to complete, with the system shutting down mid scan then restarting all over again. It finally did complete, and while I didn't scan for bad sectors it didn't come up with any errors of significance.
I'm troubled by this development.
If the drive is failing, could it prevent a proper boot to BIOS (forget about even getting to Vista) and cause the cycling I saw? I've never seen that happen before if so.
Any other ideas on what might cause this?
Edit: I plan to install SpeedFan and see what it has to say about temps, drive condition, etc
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If you're worried about a drive, I can't recommend SpinRite highly enough. Fantastic little program for checking disks out.
Sounds like you got the same prob I'm having with my cab. After the lightning strike, the PC +seems+ to come up, PSU powers up, fans spin, LED's light, then it all shuts down.
From what I've read online, the main recommendations center around a possible ground problem, which could be the case, but the timing is aweful suspect.
What sucks about these probs is that you just have to start replacing things, not really knowing what's bad or good.
I DID however, pickup a PSU tester from Fry's a while back and it tests out fine. Next, I've ordered a PCI POST test card. Should be here in a week. I'll use it to see if I get any POST test failure codes. Here's hoping it's something easy to swap out.
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If you're worried about a drive, I can't recommend SpinRite highly enough. Fantastic little program for checking disks out.
No disagreement there on usefulness. However I could get a decent size replacement drive for far less coin. There's nothing on the laptop other than the OS, and the laptop was free.
I did some research last night and found many others with similar problems, but with a different Acer model. For those, the issue was with the nVidia chip's soldering. Believe it or not the fix was to bake your stripped MB at 200C for several minutes (with a 1 hour cool down) to reflow the solder. :scared
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Well, no comments on my plan, so I moved ahead with ordering the carbon fiber for now. $26 delivered for a 2' x 5' sheet.
Next week I need to order the chrome bolts.
So a little bit about my thoughts for the dressing up the hardboard bezel. Comments welcome.
My intent is to first wrap the bezel in a carbon-fiber look adhesive vinyl.
(http://www.ijdmtoy.com/ebay/Carbon-Fiber-Sheet/Carbon-Fiber-01.jpg)
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Well triple crap. Went out to the shop just now and it's deader than a doornail. Even with the drive out it won't boot to BIOS. Clearly something is fubar'd in there. I popped the CMOS battery and will leave it out for the next several hours while I have other commitments. I'll take another stab at it tonight or this weekend.
Looks like I might be falling back to the old Dell instead :banghead:
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That sucks man, good luck with that
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Very nice looking build
I think the problem you are having is with the smartstrip. I had similar issues with a Mame cab right down to the HDD whirling up and down in rpm's at boot then not being able to power up the pc again. I suspect the issue in my case was the powered USB on the PC drawing current on the smartstrip's switched outlet. I'm not positive that was the cause but it worked fine after i unplugged the smartstrip
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I wondered about the usb power when off not letting the smartstrip do it's thing also.
But the unit I picked up (A philips smartstrip from Walmart) worked perfectly. Course, now, I have no idea whether it's still any good or not. Certainly didn't protect my PC from getting fried :(
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The smart strip was the first thing I removed from the loop. When it's not booting, it won't come up even even w/o any connections.
I pulled the CMOS battery again for a while, and when I replaced it everything booted and rebooted fine several times.
I left it plugged in for the last 5 hours while I dropped my kid off at the airport (woo hoo! 2 weeks kid-less...I know where I need to be spending some time, and it's not only in the shop >:D ) and when I got back, it was again DOA.
Maybe it's the CMOS battery?
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New working theory: bad VGA cable, perhaps in conjunction with weak CMOS battery. More to come tonight or tomorrow.
I know I'm going to jinx myself just mentioning it. :banghead:
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Sigh. It's screwed. I ran into some other issues that I did manage to fix related to video. One was a bad thermal foam pad for what I presume was the GPU. The foam had a tear so couldn't be reused, and the gap between the heatsink and the chip was far too great to use just thermal grease.
I ended up using a piece of copper that actually came out of the RCA Victor:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_8907.jpg)
The copper strip was too thin on its own, so I doubled it up after a cleaning with 800 grit paper, put some thermal grease between the layers and hammered tight on the back of my vice. Then a bit of grease on both sides of the copper and when fitted, it bridged the gap perfectly (gray square on the left is the grease coated copper):
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_8908.jpg)
I could feel the heat in the heatsink from that chip. Awesome. However, the video was still flaky. After I swapped VGA cables it cleared up.
Then back to the squirrelly power cycling. No matter what I did, it wasn't reliable. If I pulled the CMOS bat for a while, it would boot up. But leave it powered down normally for a while and it got the hiccups. I replaced the CMOS battery. No luck. I even reflashed the BIOS. That was fun, because the flash utility wouldn't allow me to run it since the BIOS date was the same as the one I was trying to reflash with. I had to use a hex editor to alter the date code and trick the program. It flashed a-OK, but the problem persists.
When I spent some more time on google and eBay, it seems that this is a very common problem. Almost every MB from this unit being sold on eBay has a power-on problem like mine.
So at this point I figure I'll try the last ditch option of trying to reflow it via the Bake Your Board method. Nothing to lose at this point right? If it fails, then I'll have to drop back to the original plan of using the Dell 3000 and sell off all the Acer parts.
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So at this point I figure I'll try the last ditch option of trying to reflow it via the Bake Your Board method. Nothing to lose at this point right? If it fails, then I'll have to drop back to the original plan of using the Dell 3000 and sell off all the Acer parts.
Well believe it or not, the MB survived the 400F bake in the oven. It did not, however, cure any ills. So pisser. I guess I'll part it out.
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So farking around with the laptop consumed FAR too much of my time. I didn't make the monitor mount yet, which I really must get done. But I did take a little time tonight to drill out the bezel and place the bolts I purchased from Lowes, while I await delivery of the carbon fibre.
I picked up this style:
(http://www.chromebolt.com/images/AllenTorxSmooth.jpg)
with a knurled knob in stainless, not chrome, but far far cheaper. All 8 for the price of 2 of the chrome guys.
I wedged the monitor into place and snapped a few pics:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_8915.jpg)
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_8916.jpg)
Finally, the look I've been getting from most of the family lately:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_8919.jpg)
GTFO of the shop!
(Please ignore the weeds.)
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The carbon fiber vinyl arrived today. It looks REALLY good "in person".
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_8922.jpg)
The dust and specs are just from the cardboard delivery box.
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_8924.jpg)
Close up of the texture. The vinyl is actually jet black, but sometimes reflects light in such a way as to appear lighter. I like it. Can't wait to get it on the bezel.
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While I was away, my previously brushed aluminum emblem was polished up nice and clear coated. The two dashboard lights I ordered also arrived:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_9017.jpg)
I really like these lights. They are a very high quality. Real glass lenses and metal bodies. They also have a nice, moderate glow. I was trying hard to stay away from your typical blinding super bright LED look.
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_9018.jpg)
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_9022.jpg)
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_9026.jpg)
Here's the emblem up close:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_9027.jpg)
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Today I ordered the black perf. speaker grill. Then a quick trip to the hardware store for a drill bit for the pilot lights, some 0000 steel wool for finishing, and four M4-.70x25 screws to complete the monitor mount.
Last week I had made the MDF mount itself. Sort of a shallow "C" shape with beveled edges so to make it easier to swing into position within the confines of the cabinet.
Today I mapped out the VESA pattern:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/Photo0097.jpg)
Drilled the holes. Perfect! Woo hoo!
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/Photo0098.jpg)
and then set the whole thing temporarily into place:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/Photo0099.jpg)
(sorry about the poor quality cell phone pics. I'd left the camera in the house and was too lazy to run in and get it).
I made the mount wider than is really necessary so that I could have an additional surface for mounting any additional components...like perhaps a HDD, or the engine-start relay box.
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Nice! That V8 emblem is MyT Fine!
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Hey grey,
What kind of screws or bolts (or whatever they are) did you use? I've always seen people use this method and I am curious about what type of bolts (you know what I mean) fit the versa holes.
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Hey grey,
What kind of screws or bolts (or whatever they are) did you use? I've always seen people use this method and I am curious about what type of bolts (you know what I mean) fit the versa holes.
four M4-.70x25 screws to complete the monitor mount.
These are longer than the VESA spec because I am mounting through 3/4" MDF. They are about 1" long. Found them at Lowe's in the drawers of various hardware.
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Nice! That V8 emblem is MyT Fine!
Ain't she?! I'm really happy I stumbled into it.
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Time to wrap the bezel!
First I cut off a section of the carbon fiber vinyl a couple inches larger than the bezel:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_9029.jpg)
Then I flipped it over, centered the bezel, and traced out the inside section:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_9031.jpg)
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_9032.jpg)
Next I excised the interior, leaving about 3/4" extra for wrapping around the edge and onto the backside:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_9033.jpg)
The vinyl had a curve to it from being rolled up for so long, so I sandwiched it under another cutting board and set it outside in the sun for a little while to let it relax.
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_9034.jpg)
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_9037.jpg)
Next came to what turned out to be the trickiest part: removing the backing without folding or sticking the vinyl onto itself. For future reference, a helper here would have been ideal, but with patience I succeeded:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_9038.jpg)
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_9039.jpg)
And here's the final product.:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_9040.jpg)
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_9043.jpg)
I still need to poke holes through for the bezel mounting screws (see above), but I'm going to let this set up overnight to give the adhesive time to bond.
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Oh, one tip.
I wasn't super confident in my ability to get the vinyl to lay into the curves properly. I suck at wrapping presents, and this was more complicated than simple right angle corners :dizzy: So on the chance that a bit of MDF might show if my cuts and folding were off, I took a fat permanent marker and inked the inside edge, as well as about a 1/4" around the front face of the inside field.
Looking very closely at those inside curves now, there is one where the vinyl didn't quite cover 100% (more like 99%). The marker did its job because I otherwise can't tell!
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I still need to poke holes through for the bezel mounting screws (see above), but I'm going to let this set up overnight to give the adhesive time to bond.
First thing this morning I poked the screw holes through the vinyl. Here's what the completed bezel looks like now:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_9045.jpg)
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_9046.jpg)
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_9048.jpg)
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Wow, that is look very nice. Very nice indeed. :applaud:
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Jump back to here (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=104021.msg1105913#msg1105913) for bezel carbon fiber application details.
Wow, that is look very nice. Very nice indeed. :applaud:
Thanks!
Here it is with the screen powered up:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_9057.jpg)
None of the guts are in there right now. I have more finish work to do, as well as some woodworking.
I also discovered that the Dell Dimension 3000 has a MONSTER of a heatsink, and a really annoying big ass fan+shroud (http://www.resaleremarketing.net/catalog/k0456.JPG) setup for cooling the CPU that attaches to the case itself (http://www.davelevasseur.com/images/Dell3KnoiseFix.jpg) (not the h.s.), so it doesn't play nice with decasing. I've got a much lower profile heatsink+fan combo (http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggImage/productimage/35-230-010-01.jpg) that arrived today that I will be using...just as soon as the new heatsink bracket arrives (to replace another Dell custom p.o.s.).
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_9050.jpg)
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Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
I've taken some time to start cleaning up the finish on the cabinet, using Howard's Restor-a-Finish.
The good: wow, it really removes years of dirt and grime, and gave the wood a nice glow on areas that are in decent shape.
The bad: it really removes the years of dirt and grime and reveals more damage than I anticipated was there.
Take for example the front base. After cleaning, I discovered it's actually in pretty sad shape. Lots of deep scratches through the finish, poorly executed and incompatible repairs that are discolored and peeling, fine scratches from sanding or steel wool, paint splatters, water stain damage. Etc and so on.
The sides didn't turn out too bad. The front is pretty good, although the bezel area does exhibit the fine scratches I can't seem to get rid of. The top is troublesome...a mix of good and bad. I'm still seeing what I can do to salvage that.
But that base :angry:
My current thought process revolves around using some angle aluminum I have left over from the H.T., which turns out to be the perfect dimensions. I'll take the angle and essentially frame out the base, and then in the open field use the carbon fiber vinyl that's up on the bezel. I think it'll tie in nice with the bezel, and the CNC'd aluminum V8 emblem.
Whether I do that or not hinges on if I can solve the other finish issues to my satisfaction, or convince myself that "hey, this is an old cabinet. It's got character. It's not 'sposed to look new."
The ultimate solution is to go for a dip-and-strip and then completely redo the stain and finish. Not only is that going to be a p.i.t.a., but my local furniture stripper is back logged at least a month. :banghead:
Top during a cleaning, so the shine is the cleaner:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_9066.jpg)
Top after several cleanings, and two coats of paste wax as a test. You can still seem some water damage to the finish:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_9067.jpg)
and the base:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_9059.jpg)
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_9064.jpg)
The photos are kind to the cabinet. In person things look more severe.
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I also discovered that the Dell Dimension 3000 has a MONSTER of a heatsink, and a really annoying big ass fan+shroud (http://www.resaleremarketing.net/catalog/k0456.JPG) setup for cooling the CPU that attaches to the case itself (http://www.davelevasseur.com/images/Dell3KnoiseFix.jpg) (not the h.s.), so it doesn't play nice with decasing. I've got a much lower profile heatsink+fan combo (http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggImage/productimage/35-230-010-01.jpg) that arrived today that I will be using...just as soon as the new heatsink bracket arrives (to replace another Dell custom p.o.s.).
Heatsink bracket arrived today and smoothly replaced the Dell bracket. Here's the before with the big copper monster and no fan, and after with the lower profile hs-fan unit:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_9050.jpg)
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_9069.jpg)
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Hello... hello... hello
Is there anybody in there
Just nod if you can hear me
Only have had time to pick at a few things. I installed the computer so I could fire up the new fan and heatsink. Unfortunately thanks to Dell proprietary CPU fan connectors and weird ass RPM-temp controls, I was forced to connect the fan directly to 12V. Holy mother...the farking thing sounds like a jet engine. Sooooo....now I need to install a resistor to drop the RPM, or I might just pick up a cheap fan controller for $3 off fleaBay.
Next I decided to play with various jukebox software. I see many like Freebox (etouch) but I find it frustrating to use, and the website seems to be only forums which I find kinda whack. Took me too long to figure out where and what to download (it's always beta?), and after install and config, none of my album covers showed up. I can work that out on my own, but if I'm to make this foolproof for others to use, that's gotta happen seamlessly as songs are added.
I'm leaning towards Album Player or eJukebox right now.
Anyway, software is a discussion for another post.
So I altered my plan for dealing with the unsightly base a bit: I decided not to use the angle aluminum which was a bit too much for the size of the base, and went with 1/2" x 1/8" flat bar instead (6ft for under $10..can't go wrong). I attached it using shorter versions of the knurled stainless steel screws (cap screws) attaching the touch screen bezel, threaded into some brass insert nuts. A brief test buffing it up with 0000 steal wool looked promising.
With those screws, and the interior field covered in the carbon fiber, I'm hoping it will fit well with the bezel.
Here's the quick and dirty, sans carbon fiber:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_9080.jpg)
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_9082.jpg)
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Looks Great! Keep the pics coming! :cheers:
Glad to see you went with a regular full size PC mobo.
I luv the carbon fiber look... :applaud:
Thanks!
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I'll follow this thread. :applaud:
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just a question ,
you bought a 400w amp but are powering it with a 350w ac to dc power supply.
are you using this power source to feed the laptop too ?
EDIT :
opps , i take that back , i see you have replaced it with a proper mobo lol :)
( never checked page 2 untill now )
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just a question ,
you bought a 400w amp but are powering it with a 350w ac to dc power supply.
are you using this power source to feed the laptop too ?
The 350W is strictly for the amplifier and a few lights here and there.
The 400W rating on the amp is if you are driving it with 2ohm speakers on all channels. The 6.5" 4-ways are 4 ohms on two channels, and the 10" sub is 8ohms on two channels bridged. I estimate the total RMS continuous to be 200 watts in this config. Suffice to say there's no issues with capacity especially given the 5 Farad cap I've got in between for any potential transient high loads.
This sucker got painfully loud when cranked...I had to leave the shop :laugh:
I ran it that way for hours as a test and there's wasn't a hitch.
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nice !!!! :afro:
nothing like a bit of car audio gear to bring the house down :woot
i was going to use a car amp for my cab also , but decided against it as a local car audio guy said they eat electricity if you run
them off of a transformer / power supply designed to turn 240v into 12v dc .
i took his word for it and used a set of pc desktop 2.1 speakers instead, but used 4" pioneer car speakers as my drivers.
the thing hits loud , really loud . i am surprised by the levels im getting and its only rated at 5 watts rms per driver and 10 watts rms for the sub.
its really nice when things work out :) but its even better when stuff completely surprises you and bowls you over ;D
i love this project by the way . it looks real good. but personally , i'd change the wood colour to a really dark black as it'd make the
carbon fibre vinyl pop better . but great work either way ;)
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Thanks! I went with the car audio gear plan because I couldn't find a good, simple home amp or receiver that:
- was 2.1 or bridgeable to 2.1
- had enough nut
- didn't cost too much
- fit easily in the space I had available
- had "return to last state" for power
That last one was the most important. I couldn't have everything else shutting off with the smartstrip, and not have the audio part turn back on when the power was restored.
So between the Fosgate and the 12V 350W PSU, I only spent about $70 and I've got complete control :)
Color: I understand why you say that (although I think all black would lose the contrast to show off the carbon fiber), but this is going for a combo of retro-styling in the rat rod theme (new and old mashed together), my desire to preserve some of the vintage look of the RCA Victor cab, and being able to have it as visible piece of furniture.
My game room is also my H.T. and it's already loaded with AV gear, so it's not going down there. I basically started this project "just because I wanted to" (see first post). I might either give it my son for his bedroom (yikes!), give it to my in-laws, put it on the kitchen/dining level, or maybe sell it. I dunno.
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i understand completely on trying to preserve it , including the colour ;D
i was just looking at it through my eyes or the way i would do it :P
but i do like it alot and the car audio gear didnt set you back much so it really did turn out to be a great project in the end.
if you dont have much room for it , i'd say sell it . try and recoup a few quid so you can maybe do another project later down the line.
then again , you could always keep it and enjoy the fruits of your labour ;)
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My powder coated speaker grill arrived a couple weeks ago. I've tacked the V8 logo to it with some hot glue to see how it looks and to keep it in place for when I attach it more permanently.
What do you think? Some epoxy most likely? Need something that will stick quite well to the aluminum as well as span the porous nature of the grill.
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_9101.jpg)
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_9103.jpg)
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_9104.jpg)
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_9106.jpg)
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that looks really good !!!
and the v8 logo helps to give it an older look. very nice indeed :)
it gives it an elegant touch.
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Nice. I'm liking this build more and more.
I'd use JBWeld on the grill. That stuff will hold like mad.
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Watching intently. INTENTLY. :o
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hey grey,
I have a question for yah, thought you might be able to give me some pointers. When you were looking for something to house the jukebox, did you already know what you were going to use? or did you take measurements and go around looking for what might fit your screen?
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hey grey,
I have a question for yah, thought you might be able to give me some pointers. When you were looking for something to house the jukebox, did you already know what you were going to use? or did you take measurements and go around looking for what might fit your screen?
If you jump back to my first post or two, you'll see I got the cabinet long before I decided to turn it into a jukebox. So for me it was a matter of finding a screen that fit the space I had available, not the other way around.
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Ahh yeah, that makes more sense.. doh.
I guess I'll have to keep an eye out for something that will fit my 15" elo
hey grey,
I have a question for yah, thought you might be able to give me some pointers. When you were looking for something to house the jukebox, did you already know what you were going to use? or did you take measurements and go around looking for what might fit your screen?
If you jump back to my first post or two, you'll see I got the cabinet long before I decided to turn it into a jukebox. So for me it was a matter of finding a screen that fit the space I had available, not the other way around.
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I haven't been able to get back into the shop lately. The last thing I did was attach the V8 emblem to the speaker grill.
But it's given me some time to consider two parts of the project: lighting and feet.
Lighting: unlike a traditional jukebox with lots of external eye popping light-bling, I wanted something a bit subtler. It also needed to be invisible when the juke is not being played. I decided to place it all behind the speaker grill. I ordered two 15" sound activated red CCFLs that will run along the top and bottom edge of the speaker area (recessed, so not in direct view), which will react to the two 4-way speakers (IOW – mids and highs). Wrapping around the 4-ways will be two blue "neon" speaker rings, also sound activated, but these ones reacting to the subwoofer.
I’ve got about a week before all this stuff arrives, and then I can begin working on the speaker mountings.
Feet: furniture feet, that is, not my size 13s. Since I’ve got a down firing 10" sub I need to allow for air movement out from under the cab. Everything I could find on the market was either too tall, too big, or didn’t have the automotive/industrial look I was going for. While rooting around in my shop, I came across a half dozen galvanized iron pipe end caps. They turned out to look almost perfect in their color, and at about an inch tall and 1.25” wide were just the right size. The problem: how to attach them when they are threaded for a 3/4" pipe? Any matching hardware option raised the height and/or destroyed the look. So I am running a test. I’ve embedded a 2" lag bolt into the cap using some QuikSteel epoxy putty pressed tightly (I hope!) into the cap's threads. I’m going to let it dry overnight at least before seeing how well it stays in there. If it works like I hope it does, I’ll make up all 6 (3 along the front, 3 along the back), then grind "China" off the bottoms and attach some felt or rubber to prevent scratching to floors.
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_9125.jpg)
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_9126.jpg)
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_9127.jpg)
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Nice! That V8 emblem is MyT Fine!
Love that vintage Ford V8 Logo as well!! :cheers:
Fordman
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So I am running a test. I’ve embedded a 2" lag bolt into the cap using some QuikSteel epoxy putty pressed tightly (I hope!) into the cap's threads. I’m going to let it dry overnight at least before seeing how well it stays in there. If it works like I hope it does, I’ll make up all 6 (3 along the front, 3 along the back), then grind "China" off the bottoms and attach some felt or rubber to prevent scratching to floors.
This experiment seems to have worked quite well. I made up two more, and promptly ran out of QuikSteel. Didn't see any at Lowe's, so I've now got to hunt around town and find some more. Need to hit H.D. anyway, so fingers crossed they've got some in stock.
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Finished the footsies today.
Broke out the grinder, and knocked off the CHINA lettering:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_9135.jpg)
and continued until the bottoms were reasonably flat:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_9138.jpg)
then applied some felt circles:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_9140.jpg)
Finally, drilled out the cab and installed the feet:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_9143.jpg)
I'm pleased with the look, and the amount of free air space (for the sub) I achieved doing it this way.
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Next up was the bottom plate for the 10" sub.
First I cut the plate to size, then broke out my handy dandy homemade circle jig for the router:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_9147.jpg)
and presto:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_9148.jpg)
Perfect fit:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_9149.jpg)
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_9153.jpg)
And that's about the end of what my hangover is letting me accomplish today.
[Edit: not entirely true. I also started mocking up the speaker panel for the 6.5"s and the lighting]
It's getting toasty outside, so I've moved indoors to the H.T., and going to take in a viewing of "Killer Klowns from Outerspace" while I've got the house to myself for a couple hours.
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great work mate , coming along very nice
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I still need to poke holes through for the bezel mounting screws (see above), but I'm going to let this set up overnight to give the adhesive time to bond.
First thing this morning I poked the screw holes through the vinyl. Here's what the completed bezel looks like now:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_9048.jpg)
Where did you get the carbon fiber vinyl?
Encryptor
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Where did you get the carbon fiber vinyl?
Encryptor
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=380228603137&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWNX%3AIT (http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=380228603137&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWNX%3AIT)
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Thank you for the link.
Encryptor
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I've not been able to accomplish much in the last couple of weeks. My father in law is terminal with b-cell lymphoma, and so far more important things are rightly taking up my time.
I finished mounting the subwoofer today. I did run into a small snafu earlier on. Because of the way the interior of the cabinet is shaped, I could not get the entire plate for the subwoofer to fit into the lower space and swing it into position without some radical disassembly of the cab. After struggling with it like a puzzle for what seemed like hours, I finally decided to just trim off about 2 inches from the front edge. This gave me just enough room to pop her in. I then applied a slightly wider board to bridge that gap and act as a stiffener. It also will double as a stop for the plate that will hold the two 6.5" drivers.
After mounting the woofer into the cut out, I predrilled and countersunk for mounting screws running around the periphery of the plate. Dropped it into position, slid in the stiffener board and I bolted it down. Finally, drove all the screws home.
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_9243.jpg)
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_9244.jpg)
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Sorry to hear about your father in law. Family first.
But your build is coming along nicely. In fact, your build has pretty much pushed me over the edge on it. I'm scouting craigslist for old radio cabinets now.
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Thanks DrV. Ya, it's too bad he ignored his symptoms for (well) over a year before pretty much collapsing 6 mos ago. We males are notorious for not seeing doctors when we should.
So while my wife took a well deserved night time nap, and the kid was playing Wii, I ran out to the shop for an hour or so.
I mounted the two 15" red CCFLs:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_9248.jpg)
And then ran a really lame sound activated test with me banging my flashlight on the work bench (sound track removed for your sanity):
CCFL Test (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuniXAdSUnM#)
I slipped a scrap piece of MDF in the position the speaker plate will be, which being pale reflects a lot of the light out. Depending on how it all looks when the blue neon rings are installed, I may paint the speaker plate black or wrap it with carbon fiber vinyl if I have enough left over. I'm a tad worried black may douse the red too much though.
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Sorry about your FIL, my Grandfather was the same way, except he passed of Leukemia. Had it for over a year, knew he had it, but never told anyone. He was a true patriarch of our family, and didn't want anyone to fawn over him for a year, however some were hurt that we didn't know our time was limited.
Ok, enough about "real life"
This build is great, and I have been watching with excitement seeing as how our projects are somewhat alike. I still haven't decided if I am going stealth with a "close to original" cosmetic design, or modernizing it a bit with LEDs or Neon. I like the look of your CCFLs, but not sure if I want to go that route.
Can't wait to see this thing fully up and running.
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This build is great, and I have been watching with excitement seeing as how our projects are somewhat alike. I still haven't decided if I am going stealth with a "close to original" cosmetic design, or modernizing it a bit with LEDs or Neon. I like the look of your CCFLs, but not sure if I want to go that route. \
Thanks!
I want the CCFLs to be subtle. They are behind the speaker grill so invisible when off. I doubt the majority of the time the juke will be run in pitch black, so I think by the time I get everything together they won't be quite as bright as they seem in the vid, especially if I go black paint/c.f. on the interior.
Your project is starting with an honest to goodness radio cab. If I had that option I too would strongly consider the stealth route.
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I've been searching for a bit, but can't seem to find the radio controls anywhere. I can put my hands on a bezel, but that's about it.
Been thinking about cutting out the "Philco strip" and making it a flip down door for a monitor to slide out, but there isn't enough depth without then hinging the monitor down on the inside.....unless I went with a small screen....
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I've been searching for a bit, but can't seem to find the radio controls anywhere. I can put my hands on a bezel, but that's about it.
Been thinking about cutting out the "Philco strip" and making it a flip down door for a monitor to slide out, but there isn't enough depth without then hinging the monitor down on the inside.....unless I went with a small screen....
Check out these sites. I came across them when I was researching my cab. Maybe someone there can help you:
http://www.antiqueradios.com/ (http://www.antiqueradios.com/)
http://tuberadio.heavenforum.com/ (http://tuberadio.heavenforum.com/)
The best advise I can give is be patient. It's amazing what can be found or falls into your lap if you aren't in a rush.
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Actually just found a whole radio face and bezel on Ebay for $19.99 with 20 shipping(because he's selling the speaker and radio "guts" too)
I messaged him asking if I could just get the face assembly, but I doubt he'd break up the lot.
I threw a bid in anyway, because a reproduction bezel alone cost $33, and I could probably turn around and sell the speaker and guts anyway.
3 days left, hopefully my bid sticks.
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Greetings everyone.
The Rat Rod project has been...well...garaged for the last few months. A week after my last post, my FIL who was ill with lymphoma, passed away suddenly. Needless to say things have been sort of tossed all over the place since then...literally and figuratively. We've got a lot to do just with the disposition of the estate, and dealing with his vehicle, camper, and home...all of which are out of state.
To top it off the company I've worked for for the last 11 years, and who I helped to cofound 2 years ago as a resurrection of the original that the CEO bled dry, is not going to be able to make it. So come the end of January I'll be jobless to boot.
Sob stories aside, I'm getting the itch to finish this project off! Just not sure how or when I'll be able to yet. I'd like to knock it off before our annual Superbowl Party though, so I guess I have an unofficial deadline of February 6th, 2011 :dunno
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Sorry for your loss man. It really puts these projects in perspective.
My Philco project has also been sidelined until further notice.
The bezel and stuff I won off Ebay happened to be the wrong thing :angry:
I have had it up on a Philco message board for months now, and no biters. :cry:
So there it sits in my garage. I need to move it to the basement to at least get it in a bit drier area. Looks like my winter project has turned into a summer project.
Keep at it, I have been dying for updates from this build! :applaud:
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Sorry to hear all that. I do know the feeling.
The project will wait. That juke is definitely going to be something!
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A smidge of progress.
I spent the better part of a day just cleaning up the workshop. With the summer the way it was (wasn't), pretty much I was just tossing stuff in there rather than putting things back where they belonged. Ugh.
I made enough headway that I was able to get a few things done on the Rat Rod.
First up was measuring and cutting the mounting plate for the 4 way speakers that will be behind the grill, and easing the front edge with a round over bit. The speakers will be mounted from behind, rather than through the holes using black versions of the s.s. gnurled knob bolts I used on the monitor and elsewhere:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_0656.jpg)
Some dark gray primer, first coat of 2:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_0659.jpg)
I was originally going to paint the plate flat black, but then remembered I had some Rustoleum Hammered paint. After it sobered up (rimshot), I realized that its dark gray metallic look, along with the hammered finish, was a real good match to the dark gray speaker grill. Result below while it is drying in the home theater...it was too cold in the shop last night:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_0661.jpg)
Edited for incorrect use of "it's" vs "its".
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Next I applied the "Special Edition" emblem, which happens to cover up holes left by the original RCA_Victor emblem, and also dry fitted the gauges and start button. Yes, she's quite dusty, please ignore that ;D
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_0667.jpg)
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_0672.jpg)
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That is looking great! I like that hammered finish on the speaker panel.
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Looking great my man! One step at a time gets you to where you are going........ :applaud:
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A couple hours in the shop this morning. Lots of wiring and soldering, and permanently mounting the VU Meters, etc. Popped the ELO back in place, hooked up the basics to the PC, and fired it up. Results below.
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/Photo0224.jpg)
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/Photo0226.jpg)
It's difficult with the cell phone pics to see the glow from the VU meters and Volt Meter, but it's a nice warm look.
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Fantastic! :applaud:
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thats a great looking jukebox. when i build my first mame bartop.. im so gonna use this vinyl stuff i think. chrome t-molding and a V8 marquee. heh. thanks for inspiration for a future project.
very cool project.
chris.
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Great details on your juke. Really a sharp retro classic theme. :applaud: :applaud:
Love meters with real needles.
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Those VU meters look fantastic!! Did you have to buy the board that they sell on ebay along with them or did you do it yourself ?
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Sidebar: I'll say it again...one thing I hate about this board is that if you accidentally click away while composing, you lose the whole damn post when you back up. Argh! :angry:
So, again:
Thanks guys!! ;D
Yes, I purchased the driver board from the same vendor (http://stores.ebay.com/jimsaudiostore) the VU meters came from. They are out of China, and whoever they/he/she is, they are very patient and very knowledgeable. They even coached me through how to change the input voltage on the driver board from the stock 24VAC to 18-24VDC (which I ended up abandoning after finding a 24VAC transformer in my shop). Highly recommend them (http://stores.ebay.com/jimsaudiostore).
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There's some cool stuff at that link! I especially like the tube style level meter and board
(http://thumbs1.ebaystatic.com/m/mFv_FNZG9W7lgj2BnlU65rQ/140.jpg)
That'd have been great in my build....
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That'd have been great in my build....
Dude, seriously for your build...I don't think "too late" will "ever" apply! :notworthy:
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:laugh2:
Yeah, it's kind of become "The neverending build". Hopefully, I won't approach PixelHugger in that respect ;)
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Yeah, it's kind of become "The neverending build".
(http://ny-image3.etsy.com/ialcr_fullxfull.57815.jpg)
(dating myself?)
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Hehe I was kind of expecting a pic of that flying dog thing.... ;)
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Hehe I was kind of expecting a pic of that flying dog thing.... ;)
Rock Me Amadeus - Falco HQ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXs93KbBCgY#)
oh wait...Falcor?
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. They even coached me through how to change the input voltage on the driver board from the stock 24VAC to 18-24VDC
Is there any chance you could forward on those details as I would buy these units if they accepted DC as opposed to a 24vac supply! My email is nacimroc@gmail.com! It would be much appreciated!
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Posting here for everyone for future reference. I did follow these instructions, and using this step up voltage board (http://cgi.ebay.com/12V-24V-Step-up-Power-Converter-Module-DC-DC-/170585786149?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27b7b48725) to boost my 12VDC to 24V, it all worked as expected.
Bad line breaks are part of the original email. Too tired to clean them up ;D
On the board, connect the negative port of either
the left
or right VU meter to your power supply
ground, and ANY one of the AC
port to the positive
of your power supply. It is best that this to be
done with a voltage controlled power supply with
current limit for the
first time to ensure there
is no error in the connection ( as we always
do
wrong the first time). Otherwise at least use a
voltmeter to tap the
voltage at the output or
input of the regulator chip 7818 ( the center
pin
of 7818 is ground, and the left pin is input,
right pin is output).
Once it is power up the
voltmeter should have the expected voltage say
24V. If this voltage does not appear, don't wait,
turn the power off
and check the connection again.
The regulator chip can blow in a few
seconds if
there is a wrong connection. The DC supply using
this way
must be 24V to 27V. 18V is not enough for
good regulation and proper
operation of the meter
IC.
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Thanks
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Yay! Warmed up enough today, and with the day off and my son away, I opted to spend a few hours in the shop.
Today I mounted the 4 way 6.5" drivers to their plate, and then attached the subwoofer neon rings:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_0172.jpg)
Sealed the speakers to the plate, and the pass-thru hole for the rings' cables. Just used some black latex caulking:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_0175.jpg)
I slid the speakers into place and ran a test to see how things looked (ignore the wire on the right which is no longer there):
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_0173.jpg)
Pretty cool! I decided I liked the blue rings by themselves and didn't want to muddy them with the red CCFLs, so I moved the red tubes from behind the speaker grill to underneath the juke:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_0176.jpg)
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_0178.jpg)
I'm going to have the rings stay on constant, and the red tubes underneath be sound controlled. It felt more balanced with the rings on, otherwise the lower area of the juke was too dark.
I do have some issues with the rings though. See next post.
(edit for typos)
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I've got some weirdness with the rings I installed in the preceding post.
First let me say that I have hooked the rings up direct to 12VDC rather than through the sound control module. I don't need the module, it's a waste of space, and just another thing that can go wrong. That said, what I am about to describe occurred with and without the module, and whether or not the step up transformer was getting its power from the PSU or from a lead acid battery.
I'll boil it down to this: the rings don't usually light up fully when power is applied. Typically one will glow more than the other (but not 100%), and the other barely has a glow at all. If I pull one of the wires leading from the step-up transformer to the rings, then reconnect it...poof they both light up full bright. This is 100% reproducible. If the rings don't light, disconnect and reconnect a wire to the rings and they work.
This isn't temp related either.
Unfortunately I purchased these rings so long ago that even if I could find the receipt they are out of warranty, and I've mod'd things already ( :banghead: ).
To my eye, it's almost as if the step up transformer doesn't have quite enough kick on initial start to fire up the rings. So with that in mind I scavenged the shop and wired in line (again, between the step up and the rings, not on the 12V side) some resistors and a cap. My thinking was the resistors would delay charging the cap, and when the cap kicked on hopefully the step up had a full load....so to speak.
The capacitor is 220uf, 35V.
A single 68ohm 1/2 watt resistor didn't do the trick. Nor did two. But when I also added a 100k Ohm 1/4 watt, I seem to have hit the magic combo. So far in my short term tests, I can get the rings to light all the time now. I'm leaving it all unplugged tonight and will check again tomorrow morning.
Since I am no E.E., my questions are:
1) Is that cap going to pop at some point? I have no idea what the stepped up voltage is for the rings, but is a 35V cap too low on the V rating? I let it run for about an hour and didn't notice anything unusual, but I know from reading these boards that the wrong cap can go for months or years before popping.
2) The three resistors in line seems kinda lame to me. Any suggestions on what would be better?
3) Am I way off base with this approach?
Thanks!
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_0177.jpg)
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I fired it up this morning, and other than a bit of warm up needed for full glow b/c it's so damn cold in the shop, the neon rings lit right up! Very cool.
However now that I've stepped away for a bit, I think I came at this wrong. The resistor->cap delay would be used to control the energizing of a relay, right? Not in line like I have it, or is it ultimately the same thing. :dunno
All input welcome. Especially regarding whether the cap rating is appropriate or not.
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Well I'm an idiot. It just dawned on me that using resistors in line of course means that my rings should now being glowing dimmer. Sure enough, when I bypassed the C&Rs above, light output went up. A ton? No. Enough that it bugged me? Yes.
In my excitement of getting them to light consistently I didn't notice the output reduction.
:banghead:
So, I guess I'll be looking to some sort of a delayed relay setup.
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I'm hoping the crickets are just because it's school vacation week and everyone is away :o
I can't seemed to find a time delayed relay that isn't as much or more than the rings themselves, and all circuit diagrams seem either overkill or too much for my meager skills.
Maybe just a big ass capacitor by itself? It will take a while to charge, and then remain at the proper voltage?
In the meantime, I finished wiring up the speakers and the amp, and the red CCFLs, then connected a MP3 player up for an audio and lights test.
Check it out, with a styling rendition of Smells Like Teen Spirit by Paul Anka ;D :
Rat Rod Jukebox Test (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYaCuPCT-tw#)
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Clearly Logitech wasn't planning ahead for jukebox use when they made their red CCFL tubes (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16800888071): the distal end of the CCFL itself is not actually attached to anything within the protective lexan tube. So guess what happens when you slap it up next to a 10" sub thumping away? It rattles worse than a snake on crack. Multiply that by two and I thought I was standing next to the world's largest vibrator.
Thankfully my wife was at work :applaud:
So...what to do? Progressing up slowly through three different sized drill bits so as not to fark the CCFL, I bored a hole in the lexan end cap (fairly thick, btw) until reaching the inner sanctum. Next I mixed up some epoxy glue and packed it in through the hole with a toothpick until enough of the stuff was in the end to grab the CCFL. Bonus: it reseals the end cap.
Initial (uncured) tests are (http://www.242sqn.com/phpBB2/images/smiles/thumbs_up.gif)
Next I completed the wiring from the amp to to the VU driver board. The meters work perfectly, except that for "bling" purposes I hope I can figure out how to adjust the driver board so the Vu meters react more. IOW, I don't care about the fact that they read true, I want those needles to bounce, baby.
With no input from the community, I went ahead and ordered off of eBay a timed delayed relay that I hope will work as I need it too for the neon rings. Fingers crossed.
The rest of what I picked at today was mounting the amp, routing wires, etc, so on. Mundane stuff.
I fired up the engine today (PC) and was astounded by how much louder it was than my MP3 player. I nearly fell over when the XP start tune played...and that was at about 10-15% volume.
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_0180.jpg)
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_0186.jpg)
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Looking great! Keep with the updates.
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I wish I could find a pair of working VU meters. My dad had a Pioneer stereo when I was growing up that had a sweet pair of softly lit ones that, like you stated, seemed to bounce to the music. Wish I could recreate that!
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Nice software VU meters that work in Vista and Windows 7 to show playback levels...I gather the XP ones do not, but only function on the recording levels.
http://www.vuplayer.com/other.php (http://www.vuplayer.com/other.php)
Brian
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I was able to tweak the pots on the driver board, and that in combination with turning up the master PC volume (oops), my meters are now nicely bouncing.
Turned out the gain adjustments on the amp were up so high that I was actually playing the PC at a really low level...which of course meant that the signal to the driver board was likewise super low.
Details details...
The sub is thumping mightily, even though the back of the cab is still wide open. Can't wait to see what it is like once I seal up the enclosure!
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Latest additions: I installed the red and chrome pilot light in the toe kick area. Scored a sweet 1950s Chrome V Chrysler Emblem of eBay, then added some more modern chrome and carbon fiber "side vents" to compliment the "V".
Coming soon, also via eBay, is a 1957 Buick "target" hood ornament, like this one (http://www.cadvision.com/blanchas/hood_ornaments/images/buick/buic57-1a.jpg).
Check her out:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_0202.jpg)
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_0205.jpg)
Still struggling with those neon rings. Not sure what I am going to do about that yet. I suppose ultimately I'll have to reorder them.
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I believe I finally licked the problem with the neon rings...at least for now. The time delay relay I ordered worked as it should, however it didn't solve the problem of inconsistent starting of the rings.
What I ended up doing today was to take the second (unused) inverter from the red tubes (one inverter can run two tubes so I didn't need the 2nd), and wired it inline with the existing inverter for the neon rings. This seems to give them just what they need, and a bonus is they glow a bit brighter than before. We'll see how it holds up in the long run, but for now :woot
I'm really digging the way the Chrysler V looks with the chrome side vents, and all the lighting:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/103_0095.jpg)
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/103_0098.jpg)
I am still waiting on the hood ornament to arrive. I hope it works out the way I envisioned. Other than that, most of what's left is just tucking things into place, routing wires, and cutting the back panels. All the small stuff that, while it takes longer than planned, at least shows me the end is in sight!
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(see post above too)
My beloved Canon S3 IS has crapped out, so I have to resort to using my son's point and shoot Kodak for photos and vids for now. Sorry about the poor quality.
Anyway, here's three clips cobbled together showing the Rat Rod starting up by pushing the Engine Start button, playing music, and then shutting down via the same Engine Start button. I've been all about the hardware side of things, so obviously I haven't gotten to any of the finer tweaking of boot screens, etc. So ya, for now you see the ugly XP underpinnings.
At about the 1:00 mark you'll see me reach in and turn up the volume. I guess the camera's mic was already overwhelmed or it attenuates loud sounds, but you can't tell the difference in the vid between before and after. In person though it went from moderate volume to gut churning.
Rat Rod Juke Test 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLhnQF2GsXM#)
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Spent a little time first thing this morning just bundling wires, shortening power cords (ended up taking about 4ft off the Ecostrip), locking everything down with zip ties and mounts, etc.
I did discover that you cannot bundle the excess cord from the USB sensor of the Ecostrip. Doing so prevents it from detecting that the PC is on.Simply running it up one side of the cab, across the top, and back down the other side solved that problem.
Clockwise from top: drive cage, pc power supply, computer, ecostrip and audio amp:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_0001.jpg)
Clockwise from top left: 12V PSU, 5farad capacitor, 24V AC transformer, VU meter driver board, dual marine bus bar:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_0002.jpg)
Looking up in the speaker area are the two inverters driving the neon rings. The black one is the original, the clear one is the second inverter wired in parallel (see earlier post):
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_0004.jpg)
And finally looking at the subwoofer and the inverter (which I painted black for when I thought it would be possibly visible) for the two red CCFLs:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_0005.jpg)
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Well, I'm pretty much done. Still waiting on the hood ornament, and am pondering what to do on the sides...if anything. Then a good dusting, polishing and overall cleaning. I could conceivably bring her into the house this weekend!
Last night I created the vented and removable portion of the back panel that hides & protects the computer, audio amp, etc. out of hardboard:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_0009.jpg)
Then I cut the back plate to seal up the speaker area, recessed the audio sensitivity control for the red CCFLs (the MDF is much thicker than a PCI bracket!).
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_0008.jpg)
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_0010.jpg)
The handle isn't actually structural...it was a "handy" way to position and pull that back plate into place.
Too bad the MDF and the hardboard are different colors, but it's unseen so I'm not going to stress over it right now. Maybe I'll paint them in the future.
Bwahahaha! Right.
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looking good man , nice and clean , wish i could be that clean and organized lol.. hell half the crap i do looks like a big destroyed ball of yarn if u catch the drift...
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looking good man , nice and clean , wish i could be that clean and organized lol.. hell half the crap i do looks like a big destroyed ball of yarn if u catch the drift...
Thanks! I thought my build thread had disappeared into a black hole...I've been talking to myself for the last two weeks ::)
I know what you mean about a ball of yarn. With some of my earlier builds I was more focused on completing the task than putting things together in a neat and orderly fashion. Everything works, but maintenance, mods, etc become a hassle later on. For the Rat Rod I was concerned about the vibrations from the subwoofer making things rattle if they weren't locked down tight, so I had a double incentive.
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I am growing impatient. My hood ornament is still not here. It shouldn't take 9 days for USPS to get a package from MD to MA, but since the eBay seller has an excellent rating I can only surmise that the post office is at fault. Of course this shipment doesn't have a tracking number listed, so I've shot a message off to the seller for help.
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yah ive had some thing coming across country to CA and have been taking extra amount of time, ive been, so far, counting it to the weather issues the East Coast is going through...
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I am growing impatient. My hood ornament is still not here. It shouldn't take 9 days for USPS to get a package from MD to MA, but since the eBay seller has an excellent rating I can only surmise that the post office is at fault. Of course this shipment doesn't have a tracking number listed, so I've shot a message off to the seller for help.
Well whaddya know...it finally appeared today. It shows it was shipped on March 1st. That's 13 frickin' day to go up the coast. I've gotten stuff from China in that amount of time. :hissy:
It's a bit more pitted than I had hoped, but still in pretty good shape considering it is 53 years old. And since others on ebay are going for $40 - $175, my $26 shipped is nothing to sneeze at :)
I'll probably leave it as is (after a polish), but worse comes to worse there is a re-chroming outfit in Fall River. No idea what they would charge though...
From tip-to-tip is 14.25"
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_0016.jpg)
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_0017.jpg)
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_0019.jpg)
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I'll probably leave it as is (after a polish), but worse comes to worse there is a re-chroming outfit in Fall River. No idea what they would charge though...
Sent an email to the company in Fall River. They've done these before, and to rechrome it is $175...way more than I can afford for a single piece right now. So I guess I'll leave it as is. I knew rechroming was pricey. Lots of labor.
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$175... Yikes. Guess I'm gonna leave the old Mustang logo as is on my build. Looking great, you must be pleased with the "result".
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$175... Yikes. Guess I'm gonna leave the old Mustang logo as is on my build. Looking great, you must be pleased with the "result".
In my case at least, it has to be broken down into two parts. I presume the target separates. So there's more labor there just to do that, and then weld them back together.
Last thing I am waiting on is more carbon fiber vinyl to put on the top surface, and then mount the hood ornament through it.
I had a board fall on the left overs from the bezel and tear it up in all the wrong places of course. Would have been just the right amount otherwise. :banghead:
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That hood ornament is fantastic! Yes, plating anything is a pain. I had some shelf brackets and a pinball shooter brass plated. Took more than 6 months. Ugh. They did turn out nice though.
I love those blue speaker rings. This is really making me want to do a juke build :angry:
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are u ready to build my box yet ? lol...
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are u ready to build my box yet ? lol...
Ha! You and I are about as far apart as you can get in the continental U.S. Methinks shipping would be a ---smurfette--- :D
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That hood ornament is fantastic! Yes, plating anything is a pain. I had some shelf brackets and a pinball shooter brass plated. Took more than 6 months. Ugh. They did turn out nice though.
There is one large pitted area on the outermost ring of the target. You can see it as a white spot in this pic:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_0016.jpg)
I used my air die grinder with a soft grind stone and super low RPM to gently take off the oxidation and expose bare metal, cleaned it up with some acetone, masked it off with painters tape, and then hit it with some Krylon Chrome spray. Like all chrome spray paints, it's more of a bright silver than a true chrome, but for the small pea sized area I figured WTF. It's kind of a hack, and if you look directly at the repair it's ugly, but your eye is no longer drawn to that spot like it was with the white oxidation. Since it's also where the target curves under it's a bit out of the line of site, and with all the other stuff going on with the juke it's not something anyone will focus on.
I'll see if I can live with it. Maybe eventually I'll try a different repair or a complete rechrome, but since this juke is in the rat rod theme (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_rod) (and the Chrysler "V" (http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/103_0098.jpg) isn't perfect either), it all pretty much works.
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and then hit it with some Krylon Chrome spray. Like all chrome spray paints, it's more of a bright silver than a true chrome, but for the small pea sized area I figured WTF.
This is the stuff. I found it at Micheal's:
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/__KYRnXoefVg/S8YIR-Vbm1I/AAAAAAAADPM/-KTXKpZ83ho/s400/Krylon+Original+Chrome.JPG)
Some guy used it to make a replica Cylon helmet (http://www.tk560.com/cylonbuild.html). While his pics aren't the best, you can see how it's not true chrome (of course) but not too too bad.
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are u ready to build my box yet ? lol...
Ha! You and I are about as far apart as you can get in the continental U.S. Methinks shipping would be a ---smurfette--- :D
lol...thats what UPS Freight is for...
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Still waiting on the carbon fiber vinyl of course, but I drilled out the top for the hood ornament and have gently tapped it into place for now.
And...I've brought it into the house. Whoa, that's a huge step :D
For now it's in the home theater next to my big MAME upright. Too crowded there though, and half of it is on the area rug and half isn't so I have to shim up the one side.
Might sell the Taito Legends upright and shift everything over to the right, or I might move the juke upstairs...not sure yet.
That aside, can I act like I'm 14 for a minute: "OMFG!!!!"
This ---smurfette--- frickin' cranks and she looks goooooood now that she's inside.
No big surprise, but it sounds 1000% better in the house than in the shop. When @ 1/2 volume it can be heard around the entire house (all three floors), and when you are in the theater room it feels like your intestines are liquefying from that thumping sub.
I'm pleased my friends, very pleased.
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The carbon vinyl arrived yesterday, in 3 days! Considering it also came USPS but from CA all the way to MA, I'm still shaking my head about the two weeks for the hood ornament from MD.
Anyway...I decided the top of the Rat Rod looked a bit too barren with only the hood ornament on it. So ebay to the rescue again, and I have a set of 1960 Olds 88/98 front fender spears coming my way. I think I'll only need 4 of the 6 of these:
(http://i.ebayimg.com/13/!B1e2hcQBmk~$(KGrHqV,!h0E)q2-qTm)BMeqn)ZV2Q~~_3.JPG)
Each is about 8" long, so I intend to stagger two on each side of the hood ornament. IOW they'll taper back from the central point of the hood ornament.
Here's what they look like on an original Olds (again, front fender):
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/--BINGO! Either that, or I was attempting to say "before" but it was too many letters to type--/Oldsmobile.1960.rocket88.arp.jpg)
I like the "sail" on the front of them. I think it goes well with the sail that rises from the tip of the Buick hood ornament (http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_0016.jpg) and extends into the target.
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Nice find! can't wait to see what that looks like all put together.
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Nice find! can't wait to see what that looks like all put together.
Can't wait for them to get here. I'm going to hazard a guess that since they will be coming "economy", I might be in for another long wait.
In the meantime, I applied the carbon fiber and the hood ornament to the top this morning.
I must say I am disappointed in how the C.F. vinyl turned out. Nothing about the vinyl itself, but in hind sight I really should have sanded down the top of the cabinet first. The vinyl telegraphs every little imperfection and spot of slightly raised grain, so there's a lot of what look to be little air bubbles, but aren't.
The additional chrome spears will cover up some, and hopefully also detract from them as well. Plus, if you aren't staring directly down at the surface, the pattern of the carbon fiber also hides the bumps a bit. Plus I keep trying to remind myself that a Rat Rod isn't supposed to be a symbol of perfection.
Michael's happened to have a 40% sale today off of frames, and I found the perfect match for our Steez Monkey Poster for short money:
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_0020.jpg)
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/IMG_0021.jpg)
ps - I pretty much have decided to sell or part out the Taito Game Room Classics machine.
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(accidental double post)
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now all you need a a swinging front protection door made out of a 35 Ford Grille :laugh2:
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now all you need a a swinging front protection door made out of a 35 Ford Grille :laugh2:
That would look totally "rad" wouldn't it! :cheers:
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Nice find! can't wait to see what that looks like all put together.
Can't wait for them to get here. I'm going to hazard a guess that since they will be coming "economy", I might be in for another long wait.
Hey, not bad. They arrived today!
They look awesome. Need a good cleaning with some chrome polish but I'm very pleased.
Unfortunately I don't think I'll get them installed this weekend. We're having a pre-season party for my son's soccer team tomorrow and time is tight. But, the Rat is in place and operational, so that's a plus.
My Taito 20-in-1 just sold, pending pick up tomorrow. Weekend has started off nicely. Well, except for the piss poor Celtics game last night...
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My son's pre-season soccer party was here yesterday, and everyone from the kids to the adults were fawning over the Rat. Comments/questions ran the usual "you made it?", "how did you do that?", "where did you get the idea?", "how much would it cost if you sold it?" and "that's awesome!"
A sibling of one of the team was celebrating his 13th birthday with us. When I told him he could play whatever he wanted on the Rat, his eyes lit up and in he went.
He quickly brought up AC-DC Hell's Bell's. You should have seen his face. He felt like a :burgerking:
Sure makes all the effort worth it! :cheers:
Not sure when I'll have a chance to get the spears installed this week, but I did want to lay them out and see how they will look. IMO: pretty sharp!
The mounting pins are angled to various degrees (no pun intended) to account for the roll of the Olds 88 fender. I might just cut them off, or cut them short, in order to make installation more straightforward.
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/spears1.jpg)
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/spears2.jpg)
(http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/Jukebox/spears3.jpg)
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I've been browsing this fine site over the last few weeks and specifically signed up to comment on this build. I hope you don't mind a newbie bumping a thread.
This has to rate as one of the nicest looking jukeboxes I have seen. It does make me feel inadequate though as I wish I was able to do what you have done. I only wish I had a tenth of your skills and eye for design. :notworthy: It has given me ideas on what I could maybe do in the future though.
Is this still 99% done or is there a pic of the finished article?
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I've been browsing this fine site over the last few weeks and specifically signed up to comment on this build. I hope you don't mind a newbie bumping a thread.
This has to rate as one of the nicest looking jukeboxes I have seen. It does make me feel inadequate though as I wish I was able to do what you have done. I only wish I had a tenth of your skills and eye for design. :notworthy: It has given me ideas on what I could maybe do in the future though.
Is this still 99% done or is there a pic of the finished article?
Hey, thanks man! Ya, she's still at 99% done. I STILL haven't put the damn fender spears on yet! But you're motivating me. I also have a new camera now so I can take some decent shots again.
I'll see what I can do in the next couple weeks.
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I finally recorded a quick and dirty video of the Ratrod in action. I promise to get some good pics of her in the near future:
Ratrod Demo (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yY8r67La5vo#ws)
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Hey Greyhnd
i couldn't find it on your build thread, but what Jukebox software did you end up using? And was this a custom skin?
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"Album Player", and it is one of their stock skins you can download.
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Thanks! It looks great on your cab.
I'm not sure that skin will quite work on mine, but I'm tending to believe JRiver might be a tad too much for my cab, so that player looks like a great alternative.
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Wow, that's awesome! I'm a car guy and love the theme you came up with, great job! :cheers: