Build Your Own Arcade Controls Forum
Main => Project Announcements => Topic started by: clonestar on September 01, 2004, 05:19:35 pm
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I've just started to make a combined stand alone jukebox and vpinmame cabinet
(http://www.rawdistribution.co.uk/silverballs/duke/cab1.jpg)
The card is covering a boxed 10 inch sub, heres the rear view:
(http://www.rawdistribution.co.uk/silverballs/duke/rear1.jpg)
The two 8 inch speakers were also in a box but I am rebuilding a similar sized enclosure within the cab and the tweeters that were in the cab are being mounted in the area where the marquee would be if this were a mame cab.
(http://www.rawdistribution.co.uk/silverballs/duke/screen1.jpg)
This is the compaq rackmount tft screen I bought off ebay as I felt the flat screen gave me more freedom when it came to cab layout.
(http://www.rawdistribution.co.uk/silverballs/duke/gubbins.jpg)
This is the rest of the gubbins that is going inside, a 200w amp driving the 10 inch sub, 150 watts driving the two 8 inches and the tweeters, 100 watt driving two 6 inch two-way sony speakers again in the marquee area.
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OK So no one out there is interested in my project, how about a little encouragement for a newbie?
The real reason I am moaning is I have spent several hours (and quite a few pounds) changing the cab around with nothing much to show for it yet. I found these 2 pictures of real wurlitzers and decided to make the front speaker grill look a bit like a combination of the two, which meant moving the whole speaker assembly further back from the front edge.
(http://www.rawdistribution.co.uk/silverballs/duke/wur1700big.jpg)
(http://www.rawdistribution.co.uk/silverballs/duke/wur2104.jpg)
Another advantage of taking every thing apart was that I could cut the slots for the t-molding on the cross pieces that I should have done before but didn't have the router bit. If anyone is interested in what I have learnt from my mistakes herre are my two tips so far.- Buy the cutting bit they sell at t-molding.com I thought $33 was too much and I could get it cheaper locally. It ended up costing
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OK So no one out there is interested in my project, how about a little encouragement for a newbie?
It's not that their is no interest in your project but you really don't have much to show yet. I'm sure when you have more of the cabinet built people will comment.
Gary
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I added the top section today and I am way pleased with the way it looks.
(http://www.rawdistribution.co.uk/silverballs/duke/top1.jpg)
I don't know if you can tell from the photo but the top section is curved. I wanted something quite rigid for this so I soaked a piece of ply in the bath for an hour before fixing it to the contours. Then I had to take it all off again to cut the speaker holes!
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I like it so far but a couple question.
1. What are you going to do about the marquee. I dont see any place for a light.
2. Wont playing VPinmame and Jukebox at the same time both be playing there own sounds.? Are you going to have to turn off the sound in VPinmame to play the jukebox?
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looking pretty darn cool. I like to see what people do to make jukeboxes. looks like you can get some pretty good curvature out of soaking a peice of plywood. How thick is it?
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Hi Guys
Just to answer your questions walls83, and you might want to sit down before reading the next line - At the moment I am not planning to have a Marquee! The main job for this cab is as a jukebox and the marquee is not necessarily in keeping with the look. The intention is to have the Vpinmame as a sort of hidden feature. I have a small collection of pinballs (about 16 mostly bally from the early eighties) that I will shortly be opening up to the public. Everyone who comes always mentions a particular game from their youth and I thought it would be nice for them to be able to play a virtual game on their favourite machine. But now you have me thinking and I might incorporate a marquee between the top speakers. The would be no problem with space as I could route out a slot for the strip light and there are two more layers to go in front of the speakers anyway. One of hardboard with cutouts covered by audio transparent black speaker cloth and one mostly cosmetic layer of metallic grill.
MiKman the curved ply is about 1/2 inch thick, the rest of the cab is 3/4 inch ply.
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Cool. I cant wait to see the progress...
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Made a frame to take the screen today, but when I fitted it I found out that the top was not quite square. What happened was that I measured the diagonals to check everything was square but when I took it apart to move the speakers back I didn't check again. Still I put most of it right but didn't get much done as I had arranged to take the kids to see Hellboy this evening.
(http://www.rawdistribution.co.uk/silverballs/duke/screen2.jpg)
As for the Marquee I thought what I might do instead is have a silverball on top like the header on Data East's Tommy pin table.
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I started laying out the control panel yesterday on a piece of mdf, expecting to do several versions but I'm pretty happy with what I ended up with.
(http://www.rawdistribution.co.uk/silverballs/duke/control1.jpg)
It's ok for you mame cab builders laying out circular buttons in almost random clusters on a large panel, but all these square buttons are murder to line up. As you can see I still need to tweak a few (taking the picture helped me decide which are out of line). I was torn between making the placement holes on the large side and adjusting by the screw collars or going for as accurate a hole as poss. In the end I cut holes slightly undersize and made small adjustments with a file, not finished yet I hasten to add.
I expect when I fix the control panel on I shall start suffering from functionallity hiatus syndrome. That is when enough of a cab is built to become useable you stop working on it while you play with it all the time. Luckily with the jukebox I can carry on listening while I work.
If anyone one is interested heres what the buttons do. I am using Virtual Msic Jukebox and the blue triangles slide the album trays left or right. The blue rectangles are for SKIP and RANDOM and the squares whites are numbers 0-9. The orange rectangles are SELECT and CANCEL and the round white buttons select between three different music libraries, mine (parental guidance explicit lyrics) the wife's (sentimental ballads) and child friendly.
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This thing is looking unbelievable so far - keep the pictures coming!!
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My one comment on the control layout. Having select and cancel stacked on top of each other like that. Just begging for the wrong button to get hit accidentally, especially in the middle of a party involving adult beverages. my thoughts would be to use a larger red triangle as the select button in place of the stacked buttons and then placing cancel off someplace safe.
Overall, it is looking to be a sweet cabinet. Keep us updated.
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Let someone else use my jukebox? At a party? But seriously I see your point but as the cancel only wipes one digit it's not too much of a problem. What I will do is change the colours of the two buttons next time I am ordering from suzo. I was thinking of the select button white and leaving the cancel as orange.
I have just cut the perspex (lexan?) for the control panel overlay and screen cover. I hate working that stuff and I'm not looking forward top drilling the holes for the buttons.
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Too late to do any drilling so heres another photo:
(http://www.rawdistribution.co.uk/silverballs/duke/lights1.jpg)
I turned the lights on constant for the photo but if you want to see them work and don't mind waiting for 3.5Mb to download then heres the link
www.rawdistribution.co.uk/silverballs/duke/MOV03509.MPG (http://www.rawdistribution.co.uk/silverballs/duke/MOV03509.MPG)
right click and save target as otherwise streaming the file you won't see the effect at all.
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looks sweeeet so far! I can't wait to see the finished product!
What jukebox software are you running?
:D
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Do you have a link to the 'colour organs' / LED lights you are using?
Nice little video. Keep the pictures coming.
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The software I am using is Virtual Music Jukebox. The light organs came from the discovery store
www.thediscoverystore.co.uk (http://www.thediscoverystore.co.uk) but as you can see they are having a revamp and don't have the lamps listed on their site. Our local branch (Cwmbran - South Wales) has loads of them at
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I started work on the bottom speaker grille tonight. First I cut a piece of hardboard to match the speaker cutouts painted it black on one side and stuck on audio transparent cloth with a spray on glue:
(http://www.rawdistribution.co.uk/silverballs/duke/board1.jpg)(http://www.rawdistribution.co.uk/silverballs/duke/board2.jpg)
I also painted the edges of the speaker cutouts black.
(http://www.rawdistribution.co.uk/silverballs/duke/black1.jpg)
Then I pushed this into the gap at the front of the speakers and begun fastening down the metal grille by screwing on flat alu bars. As you can see I am only about 2 thirds across. The metal didn't come big enough to do in one piece but it doesn't really matter as I wanted the vertical bars anyway and I can join the grille behind this.
(http://www.rawdistribution.co.uk/silverballs/duke/grill1.jpg)
Of course at this point I had to crank the volume right up to check for rattles and now my ears are ringing a bit. (no rattles though!)
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man those lights are cool. I can't wait for the finished product. It's really gonna have the classic look you are going for no doubt in my mind. great job!
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Finished the grille and test rigged the bottom lights on one side only:
(http://www.rawdistribution.co.uk/silverballs/duke/lights2.jpg)(http://www.rawdistribution.co.uk/silverballs/duke/lights3.jpg)
The lights at the bottom are not sound activated (although you can get a module for them) but they switch through about 8 different patterns at random and you can get some excellent effect by luck. If fact most of the time you would think they were sound activated.
Remember that the front edge of these lights will be behind a piece of clear perspex, partially mirrored on the back so the effect will be a bit more subtle than in these pictures.
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This thing is looking great - I hope you have plans and a materials list you can post when you are finished!
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Plans? Well I am kinda making it up as I go along! But I do have a drawing of the major pieces I made in order to get the most out of the sheet of ply so I can probably reverse engineer some plans - If I'm not too busy making the next one that is!
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Clonestar,
Would you be willing to pick me up a set of the lights and ship them to the U.S. for me if i send you the money? Those are what i have been looking for, for the project i have been working on. Could you give us the dimensions on those lights?
Thanks,
DigitalDj
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First of all Digitaldj I will check the stock of those lights and get back to you asap, plus I will give you the dimensions (before and after I hacked them)
I have been working on the control panel, boy I hate cutting perspex (lexan) I wired up all the switches and lights and it worked fine with the i-pac, then I remembered I need to get the buttons out from the back for inserting the artwork.
After a lot of grief I succeeded without breaking the wiring (pictures to follow) but I want to get this right first time so if anyone is interested in helping me decide on a font the artwork is on display here:
http://www.rawdistribution.co.uk/silverballs/duke/index.html (http://www.rawdistribution.co.uk/silverballs/duke/index.html)
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Thanks!!!!!!!!
Digital Dj
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Just saw this! I love the lighting effects!! If you get around to it, a few closeups of the materials you are using to get the retro psycho-delic-phreak effects would be great! This thing is killer. Can a Mamey go to a jukebox??? ;D
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I sat down to wire up the cp the other night thinking it was a five minute job, it took ages but came out well.
(http://www.rawdistribution.co.uk/silverballs/duke/cp1.jpg)
I used blue hook-up wire for the switches and mains cable for the 12v light circuit. I relealised afterwards that a couple of pieces of cat 5 network cable would have been great for the switches as each segment has 8 different coloured wires in it. Well at least I know for next time.
As I said before I had to take the switches out of the buttons to fit the artwork and as no-one commented on the font link above I took the plunge and went for the keep on trucking font (the fat/phat one)
(http://www.rawdistribution.co.uk/silverballs/duke/cp2.jpg)
(http://www.rawdistribution.co.uk/silverballs/duke/cp3.jpg)
(http://www.rawdistribution.co.uk/silverballs/duke/cp4.jpg)
(http://www.rawdistribution.co.uk/silverballs/duke/cp5.jpg)
The artwork is more black and white than it looks in these photos.
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That looks sweet, dude! Now, when are you dropping it off at my place ;D :P ?
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Clonestar,
Have you had a chance to see if there are some of those lights around where your at that i can purchase? Who are the lights made by? Don't worry i am not going to copy your idea or anything, i have a jukebox in progress with a whole different look kinda of a art deco look. The lights (color organs) would fit in behind some transparent white plastic so you wouldn't even see the housings. I am also wondering how they are made because i thought of modifying them to do something else also.
Let Me Know!
Thanks,
Digital Dj
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The lights don't have a makers name. They are sold in the UK by the discovery store, but the nearest branch is about 8 miles away and as I have eleven (yes 11) children it sometimes takes a while to get around to these things.
I think they would be excellent behind opaque plastic for a sort of advanced Wurlitzer bubbler effect. Inside the lights are basically one big pcb with all the leds mounted direct to the board.
I'll try and get on these ASAP, maybe today as the kids are at school and the wife is at college, although there are 17 pinball machines and a partially finished jukebox calling my name in the shed.
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What is on the packaging of the lights? I tried looking for them online and cant find anything similar. All the lights for PC mod's are a single tube.
The software I am using is Virtual Music Jukebox. The light organs came from the discovery store
www.thediscoverystore.co.uk (http://www.thediscoverystore.co.uk) but as you can see they are having a revamp and don't have the lamps listed on their site. Our local branch (Cwmbran - South Wales) has loads of them at
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The Manufacturers name is Goldmen Electronic Ltd. I can find a few references to them at trade fairs and the like but no stockists list. Good Luck.
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Dang 11 Kids.... :o
I got a headache thinking about that.
Its amazing you have anytime to breathe.
Control panel looks great, Love the font
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If anyone is still looking for some of those light organs I used, here is a link to a UK site selling them
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?C=Newsletter&U=P12-2-2&ModuleNo=43262&TabID=1&source=15&WorldID (http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?C=Newsletter&U=P12-2-2&ModuleNo=43262&TabID=1&source=15&WorldID)
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CloneStar, you have been doing great work! I REALLY like the control panel, that is almost 100% what I want out of a cp for a jb!!! (I don't want to have to put a trackball on mine ethier)
Thanks for updating us! I can't wait to see more pics when it's got progress. Also I need to check out the software you mentioned, but what cpu hardware specs are you using?
Anthony
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The processor is a slot A Athlon 700 Mhz I think with about 256Mb RAM. The sound card is a real cheapy (genius I think) but seems to do the job fine. Originally I had a 500 Mhz K6 but that didn't seem to run the videos smoothly enough. upgrading to the Athlon also allowed me to use an old AGP Rage pro card I had which has probably helped with the vids as much as the extra 200 mhz processing power.
The real trouble I have with the Juke is that now it works I am loath to take it apart to do any more work.
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Ok so how come I haven't posted since September? Well as I predicted as soon as I got the control panel on all work stopped as I spent all my time listening to the jukebox.
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Sorry the pictures aren't showing at the moment but my server is down, hopefully they should be back soon please check back later.
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where did you get the buttons? What did you print the numbers on?
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The buttons came from Suzo UK and the triangles from Happ Controls.
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sent you another pm
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Got a bit more done in the last few days.
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It looks nice, I like the flashing control panal lights.
Gary
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This is awesome. Really makes me want to put a jukebox together.
Looks great, clonestar!
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I hope you don't have any epileptic friends... :P
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After much consideration and some discussion here:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,37025.0.html I have decided to make a fairly big change on my juke before it is even finished.
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Just bumping my last post as I still need an answer to the t-molding question, can tmolding (3/4 silver) be safely removed and re-installed or will I ruin it?
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I have never done anything with the silver or chrome stuff but my experience with the regular black is that removing it does do some damage to the "teeth" on the T-tab (and sometimes to the slot, too). I guess it also depends how wide a slot you cut. I opted for a 1/16 inch slot (which is very tight) where some guys say 3/32 is better. Anyway, it shouldn't be unusable after removal but it would be best to avoid needing to remove it in the future. I always leave T molding as the very last thing. I realize you are changing your design so you have no choice here.
Good luck
Bumble
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Well the juke is finished from the front at least. SInce the last post I have finished and fitted the drawer:
(http://www.rawdistribution.co.uk/silverballs/duke/DSC04323.jpg)
Since then I have replaced the keyboard with a mini illuminated USB keyboard but I haven't taken any more pictures as the wood into which the runners screwed has split and needs to be replaced, which in turn means replacing the felt covering, which means drilling out the rivets and removing the edging strip.
The item on the right is the active crossover which feeds the two main amps and is in the drawer so I can tweak a bit. When I remake the drawer I will probably also and an illuminated switch to turn off all the hi-fi and lights for when i am using the pc.
This pic shows the front drawer closed with the key in. I have bought a set of twenty identical locks from Suzo UK, which mean I can put all my pins and the juke on the same key (I also have 39 spare keys as a result)
(http://www.rawdistribution.co.uk/silverballs/duke/DSC04329.jpg)
The final touch for me was adding the screensaver version of GEISS (the old one available here: http://www.geisswerks.com/geiss/ ) I also tried bomb http://www.draves.org which was much more interesting , you can feed it your own images to work with, but I couldn't get it to line up right on the screen and in the end Geiss had more impact, heres some more pictures:
(http://www.rawdistribution.co.uk/silverballs/duke/07_06_05 003.jpg) (http://www.rawdistribution.co.uk/silverballs/duke/07_06_05 005.jpg)
(http://www.rawdistribution.co.uk/silverballs/duke/07_06_05 006.jpg) (http://www.rawdistribution.co.uk/silverballs/duke/07_06_05 007.jpg)
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VERY IMPRESSIVE clonestar, you did a great job and it's really unique too.
I like the metal look and concealed speakers & lights.
Nice job on the CP as well, looks simple and well layed out.
Did you ever locate the name or a link to the light organs? I tried your link above, but it said they have been discontinued. I've been trying to find something similar, but only found to cathode tubes and EL lights.
Again, GREAT job! :cheers:
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Hi MPTech - glad you liked it. As for the light organs I don't know where you are but in the UK they often have something similar (slightly bigger) on sale at Cash Convertors or whatever the're called now.
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Clonestar, I'm still looking for the Light Organs. I did find something like what you had, but they were "out of stock" / "discontinued". (I'm afraid it's probably discontinued).
Do you have a link for "Cash Convertors" or do they ship? I'm in the US.
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Thats very nice!! Good Job
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If anyone in the UK is interested I am now looking to sell this, I was going to dismantle it to use the parts in my new project but couldn't gring myself to do it!
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dude that is a sweet juke.
I'd slap some Daft Punk on it for sure.