Another Mountain inspired juke - 17 years after the original.

[jthompson]

Wow. Been a while since I've posted here. I always was impressed by the Mountain Jukebox but never really had the time to build my own. Over the last few years, I've been using and creating skins for Fruitbox, a Raspberry Pi jukebox program and have created a few jukeboxes using old wallbox shells and a couple antique radio shells. I decided I wanted to build something from scratch this time so I decided to go with the tried and true Mountain design. I'm using the original Mountain post as well as posts from Martijn and javeryh as guides. Planning on this being more of a wallmount unit than a bartop so it won't be as deep as those but roughly the same height and width. Not sure yet if I'm even going to have a back on mine or if I'll leave it open. After all, if it's mounted on the wall, who cares what the back looks like?

Below are some pics of my initial progress. First image is cutting the radius. Second image is cutting a second front to use in the event I screw up the first. Also can use it as a template if I ever want to build another. Third is applying the plexi to the front. It has been sanded with a pretty aggressive grit to promote better adhesion. Fourth image is the plexi cut and bevelled.

I'll continue to post images as work on this continues.

[jthompson]

More progress. I bought a small sheet of 1/8th inch MDF to create the sides. I figured it would be long enough to cover the whole thing, but it wasn't so I bought some 1/4" to try to make something work. A problem I had after gluing it up, was the 1/8th" strip bowed in the center due to where I decided to glue it up near the edge of the radius. Kind of hard to explain and I didn't get an image. Not a smart way to do this on my part but, no-one's perfect. I was able to overcome the bowing by routing 1/8th" from the 1/4" sidewall and just making the next 1/8th inch strip longer to cover over the bowed mistake. I also sanded the bowed area down so it was more flush before adding the second 1/8th inch strip for the side wall. This created a staggered section of 1/8th inch strips. I wouldn't do it like this if I did it again, but I'm pretty happy how it turned out regardless of the error.

First image is gluing the first 1/4" piece. Second image is gluing the first 1/8th" strip. Third image is the second 1/8th" strip being glued up. Fourth image shows the overhang that needs to be trimmed. Fifth image shows the sidewalls trimmed flush. Sixth image is me looking at the cut out of the front of the unit to make sure the screen area is correct. Seven is after cutting out a section to ensure the usb and hdmi ports are accessible. Image eight is checking everything lines up.

Coming up will be polishing the beveled edge of the front plexi, adding the black laminate, cutting a t-molding slot and attaching the front. hopefully I can knock that out this weekend.

[javeryh]

Wow this looks awesome! Giving me flashbacks to a project that I never quite finished due to Spotify and bluetooth speakers becoming so prevalent. Plus, I nicked the black plexiglas while being careless with the router and could never get past the blemish.

This looks incredible and I like how it's a lot slimmer than back in the day because you don't need to cram an entire computer in there anymore. 

[jthompson]

Giving me flashbacks to a project that I never quite finished

Go back and read the opening. I mentioned you. I was wondering if you ever finished yours. I created a second front piece just in case.

[javeryh]

Giving me flashbacks to a project that I never quite finished

Go back and read the opening. I mentioned you. I was wondering if you ever finished yours. I created a second front piece just in case.

I saw! I had mine up and running and all that was left was software configuration (I was planning to add touch screen games) and cutting the marquee to fit the opening. Everything else was finished. I had some work done on my house and then spent a few years finishing my basement with a full blown movie theater and just never completed the jukebox. By the time the basement was done I realized I didn't have the need for it anymore so it sat until spring cleaning one year and I cannibalized it for parts and tossed it. 

[jthompson]

Some more progress from yesterday.

1 - Back of front panel routed out
2 - Test fitting the monitor. This is a 13 inch touchscreen monitor intended to be used as a secondary laptop display. Hate that they put the connections on the side. Hade to seperately purchase 90 degree elbow connectors to make this work.
3 - Test fitting the speaker grill. The steel grill material I got on Amazon was exactly 12inch x 12 inch so the hole had to be pretty much exactly 12 inches wide. I based the other holes to be right at 12 inches too but I think the monitor hole is just a tad over 12.
4 - Plexi edges all polished up. Took about three hours of sanding and polishing to get it to this point, although now that I know what I'm doing, I think I could do it much faster now. It could probably use just a little more attention but I think it looks pretty close as is.
5 - Front panel glued up to the frame.

Next, I need to glue the laminate to the sides, cut a slot for the t-molding and figure out how I'm going to mount the volume knob. Once that is done, I will be ready to start on the electronics.

[jthompson]

Some progress....

Can't find a griffin Powermate at a reasonable price and it is ridiculously hard to source a large volume knob online. I found one at Love My Switches, but the holes you use to tighten the knob to the potentiometer leave much to be desired and the knob is still not quite as large as I was hoping for at 41mm. If anyone has a source for a larger knob without the mounting holes, I would love to know where to get one.



https://lovemyswitches.com/silver-anodized-aluminum-knob-full-moon-1-4-smooth-shaft-41mm-od/

[jthompson]

I was able to find this on Amazon. It is slightly larger which is what I need. Aluminum with PU interior which means polyurethne apparently. I think this means no holes in the side. There are no images other than the main one they show here. No idea if it mounts to a half moon or star shape shaft. I ordered two. One silver and one black.

[jeremymtc]

Looking good! Very impressed by that polish job on the plexi, it looks like it was milled and cauterized 

[leapinlew]

That Griffin Powermate was super glitchy for me. I don't think it's a big loss to not have it.

[jthompson]

Looking good! Very impressed by that polish job on the plexi, it looks like it was milled and cauterized 

Thanks!

That Griffin Powermate was super glitchy for me. I don't think it's a big loss to not have it.

Agreed. I just wanted it for aesthetic/size purposes.

I got the t-molding done and the larger knobs came in. They are not the prettiest but I think one or the other will do. They have a star shaped mount which is what I was hoping for. 48mm vs 41mm. Actually, I think the small black one might be even smaller.

[jthompson]

With the exception of the marquee area (still very undecided on this), this one is pretty much done. For now I have a one way mirror type tint on there. Thinking of an infinity mirror something or other.



A couple oops I made - I drilled a hole in the back and I cracked the laminate there. Not super concerned because who is ever going to look at the back? Still irritating though. I drilled the hole for the power cord at an angle so it would be happy sitting on either a surface or mounted to the wall. I used some CA glue to "fix" the cracked laminate and to add reinforcement to the underlying MDF in that area.





I also had a big mess on my workbench and my hot glue gun melted a big hole in the front t-molding. I'm lucky it was just the t-molding. I had some more on hand and was able to burn that with my soldering iron!  More t-molding on the way.
When I routed the back for the t-molding last weekend, I decided it would be a good idea to route the inside of the back for t-molding as well. When I pounded the t-molding in, it seemed really loose. Duh, the pressure of the t-molding coming into the same area on both the inside and the outside caused the MDF to spit apart. Fixed it with some gorilla glue and decided for the inside t-molding to cut the t part off and just glue it directly to the MDF instead of pounding it into the slot hoping the MDF wouldn't come apart again. Seemed to work fine and the back seems solid now so lesson learned with that.

[pbj]

I’d get some kind of black vinyl decal to slap over that damage on the back.  Otherwise, another man might see it and it would reflect poorly on your craftsmanship.

Otherwise, beautiful.

[jthompson]

Otherwise, another man might see it and it would reflect poorly on your craftsmanship.

I'm OK with the imperfection and show it here only as a lesson of what not to do. Only you guys will see it anyways. I almost didn't do anything at all to the back. Putting the laminate on there at all was really an afterthought and it is far from perfect. If it was on the front however, I would toss the whole thing in the garbage and start over. 

[pbj]

https://www.amazon.com/Decals-Haley-Stickers-ultra-realistic-bullets/dp/B07JBM3MLY

"One of my guests really doesn't like the Eagles, man."