Where Was I???

Wow! Has it been 2 years since my last post? I was so close to the finish line and then I just kind of.... stopped. Anyway, life got in the way but I think I'm ready to start this project back up again and finish it off.

I've been tinkering a little and here's a shot of the juke with the screen on and a touchscreen game running:


There's actually not much left to do - the back door has been giving me loads of trouble (it needs to be thin but when I laminate the 1/8" hard board it always warps over time). I keep wasting laminate and that stuff is expensive!

Anyway, I hope to post some more progress sooner rather than later.

The Back Panel V

The next thing I had to do was attach the metal to the inside of the back panel for the magnets to catch on to. This was fairly easy - I laid out corresponding holes to the magnets I installed on the back of the jukebox shell and then used my plunge router to remove some material in the back panel so the metal catches could sit flush. Then I used some two-part epoxy to glue the metal catches in place.

This is what it looked like all clamped up:

I haven't actually tested it yet to see if the panel stays in place like I'm hoping but I will tomorrow.

More later.

The Back Panel IV

This next part is kind of tricky and I don't even know if it worked yet. I wanted to connect the back panel to the jukebox shell without any visible screws. I'm not even exactly sure why since screws would have made everything much easier. Anyway, I ordered some rare earth magnets from Rockler. They are strong!

I measured around the outside frame of the back of the jukebox shell and laid out 10 points where I would install magnets. Here is a shot sort of showing how I laid them out:

Here's a close-up of the magnet casing:

I needed to use a 1/2" forstner bit and drill down to precisely the depth of the magnets in order to make them flush. Easier said than done - once you put the magnet in place there is virtually no way to remove it. I ended up drilling down a little too far in some spots - hopefully the magnets will be strong enough anyway.

Each magnet cup (holder?) has a hole in the bottom so it can be screwed into place.

Here is what one of them looks like:

Here is what all of them look like when put in place.

Finally, I put the magnets in there. I cannot get them out so there is no turning back now.

The magnets are a cool idea (at least I think so) but I just hope they end up working like I think they will. It should be easy to remove the back panel by tipping the jukebox forward and going up from underneath assuming the panel locks into place. We shall see...

More later.

The Feet!

Here is some exciting news - I finally installed the rubber feet! I bought them at Home Depot for a few dollars and they came with the screws.

Since I do not have a bottom panel the first thing I did was cut out some small triangles out of MDF and glued them in place in the back. I did not have to do this in the front because the panel here is actually 1.5" thick (2 MDF panels).

I just eyeballed the locations, drilled the holes and fastened the feet to the bottom. This may not seem like a big deal but it makes it so much easier to place on the table or wherever to continue working on it.

I also trimmed the t-molding to final length and fixed the slot in the back - it had broken off a little since the slot is so close to the edge (to compensate for the thickness of the back panel). It is solid now and looks great.

More later!

Installing The Volume Knob

Now I'm getting somewhere... I FINALLY cut the hole for the volume knob and got everything installed.

I used a step drill bit and cut out a 7/8" hole where the volume knob goes. As I explained in another post, I am using a Griffin Powermate for the knob and the guts. All that I had to do was drill a hole big enough so the guts of the knob would fit through but I had to be sure it was smaller than the spacer I created. I also had to worry about the knob being dead center (which is harder than it sounds) because this would be the focal point of the entire juke.

Here is a shot of the hole completely drilled out:


After drilling out the hole I had to use a file to remove a little more material to get the guts of the knob to fit properly. The next step was to put the spacer in place and trace it with a pencil so I would know how much of the protective paper I could remove. Once that was done, I used a two part epoxy for plastic to bond the spacer to the front panel.

The epoxy I used set in 6 minutes (less actually) and I was able to remove the clamp fairly quick and install everything. here are some shots without the knob in place:

This is what it looks like with the knob installed.

This last shot I tried to get head on so you could see how I managed to get the knob dead center but the flash was messing everything up. Oh well.

I can't wait to remove the brown protective paper but you should be able to tell what it will look like when I finally do.

The Computer Installation III

After getting the motherboard and power supply in place, the rest of the components just kind of worked themselves out. This is just a test run (since I have to still cut the hole for the volume knob) but I will use some velcro to secure the speakers in place behind the speaker grill and I wired the power button to the pins on the motherboard (temporarily since it will ultimately be installed in the back panel).

This is a shot of the speaker bar in place from the bottom. You can get a good look here at the support for the shelf as well as the computer fan mounted underneath.

This last shot basically shows what the thing will look like from the front (if you can imagine the protective paper on the Plexiglas peeled off and the marquee in place). The speaker grill is installed and matches the vent on the back as well as the chrome colored t-molding and volume knob.

It looks pretty good!

More later.

The Computer Installation II

After installing the monitor and shelf in place, I made sure to get the computer up and running before putting the rest of the components inside.

After that was finished (and I played around for a while), the next step was making sure the motherboard and power supply fit properly. I placed the motherboard on one side (using PCB feet) and the hard drive on the other (using velcro) and tried installing the vertical shelf.

Unfortunately, my initial attempt didn't work - there wasn't enough room for the power supply and the frontx cables I was planning on using weren't long enough to reach to the back panel with the motherboard ports facing to the right. I ended up having to face the motherboard ports down towards the bottom and move the motherboard off center to the right to make room for the power supply.

I was worried initially that since the ports were facing down and the whole thing was off-center that the fan underneath wouldn't keep things cool but boy was I wrong. After leaving it on for at least 6 hours it was cool as the other side of the pillow in there.

Here is the power supply in place:

More later!

The Computer Installation

I made some good progress over the weekend. I decided that the shell was far enough along to start cramming all of the computer parts inside. I built a "shelf" above where the speaker bar will go as a starting point for the installation. The plan was to cut a 120mm hole in the middle and mount a computer fan underneath to push air up through the shell and eventually out the vent on top of the back panel. I also wanted to build a vertical shelf to mount the motherboard and hard drive to which will straddle the fan.

This is the vertical shelf - really simple. It is made up of three MDF panels and I cut a semicircle cut out of the bottom:

The next thing I did was install the monitor in place. I used a few screws to secure it to the frame. Space was VERY tight here and I noticed the MDF pulling apart where the screws are so I added a few extra screws for added support (more than shown in the picture).

Also, before attaching the monitor, I installed the black weatherstripping around the monitor opening. This was tricky and ultimately didn't come out as precise as I wanted it to but it is barely noticeable. If I ever build something like this again I'm definitely going to use 1/4" Plexiglas for the front panel so I can route out the channel for the transducer wedge and everything will sit nice and flush. No big deal but since I'm mostly building this on the fly there are a few things I would do differently next time...

The shelf is secured to two 3/4" dowels I glued to the inside of the shell. The vertical shelf will be positioned directly above the fan so the hard drive and motherboard will remain cool while the jukebox is on. Everything else I cram in there will be based off of the placement of these major components.

More later.

More Marquee Thoughts

Check it out... someone over at BYOAC took a stab at the artwork for me and came up with this:

Now I think we are getting somewhere! I really like it but I had a few comments:

• I'd like the black lines around the dial to be a bit thicker
  
• I'm not sure how I feel about the yellow border on the dial
  
• I think I want to see the background in a color other than brown
  
• I might want to change the font on the numbers a bit (maybe make them bold?)
  
• The dial looks a little big - maybe shrink it by 1/2" all the way around?
  
• I want to add a personal touch like "Mfg. by 'my name' 2008" or soemthing like I previously mentioned

So he came up with this:

After seeing this version, I had a couple of comments:

• After seeing the "bold" I think I might like the non-bold version better (but still the smaller dial).
  
• I think you can remove the "Mfg. by" font in the middle - it doesn't look quite right.
  
• Is there a way to remove the yellow line that separates the background with the dial?
  
• Is there a way to use the colors from your first design (the yellow on brown) and the black and gray for the background like in the second design? I like the yellow/orange sunburst look like in the original photo.

So then he came up with this:

Now I'm torn. I'm really close to settling on a "final" design but I don't know if this is lacking something...

• I still might not like the bold lines and font
• I might want the yellow a tad brighter

I'm also thinking about making a vector out of the entire thing since the background gets a bit pixelated when you blow it up to the actual size I need. These are some examples of what the vectorized file looks like:

This is great work!!

Marquee Art (Thoughts)

I am getting very close to having to decide on some artwork for this project. I can't make up my mind at all. I don't even have a name picked out for this thing yet (not that it has to have one) and I only have some vague "I'll know it when I see it" direction as to what I want the finished marquee to look like. I really like the artwork mountain came up with for his jukebox but since I can't settle on a name I really can't use his idea (for a change).

I am having a hard time dealing with the odd semicircle shape. I think I'm going to have to pick a pattern for the background and have something designed over top of it.

Art ideas I have floating around:

• I like the Rock Band 2 artwork
  
• I love Pearl Jam and Radiohead so maybe a very subtle nod to one of them
• I want it to be colorful but not too bright (muted/earthy tones)

I don't think this thing even has to have a name written on the marquee if I can find a suitable design for the space. In fact, I think I might prefer his route since it would be somewhat unique.

Anyway, after a couple hours of messing around in microsoft paint(!) I came up with this general idea:

The background is from the rockband.com website and the radio dial is just something I found using a Google Image search. I kind of like it but it definitely needs a lot of work. Ideally I'd like to get a Photoshop expert to make it look more professional (crisper lines) and probably redraw the entire dial with all the numbers (since the pic I snagged isn't a perfect circle by any means). Finally, instead of the random text that you can barely read, I'd like to add a personal touch like maybe "Mfg. by 'my name' © 2008" or something.

It's a start!

Applying Laminate And A HUGE Mistake

Well this isn't good. I ran into my first potentially major problem over the weekend when I laminated the sides and top of the jukebox shell. This was a tricky process and something I've really never done before so I was a bit nervous throughout the process.

The first thing I did was cut the laminate to roughly an inch oversize on all edges. This allowed for a little bit of play when I lined up the laminate with the jukebox shell because once the glue goes on and you join the two surfaces you don't get a second chance. The bond happens instantly and it is permanent.

Next, I applied glue to both surfaces as evenly as I possibly could with a roller. It is important here to cover the entire surface so there are no places in the laminate that will bubble or separate from the jukebox shell.

After waiting about 30 minutes for the glue to dry it was time to bond the laminate to the shell. I decided to leave the laminate face down on the work bench and start on one side of the shell and kind of roll it upside down and around to the other side. I made sure to press as firmly as I could from the inside of the shell as I went around nice and slow. It is important that the entire surfaces of both the laminate and the shell are in contact with one another. After working all the way around, I used a j-roller and applied some pressure working from the top of the curve down the sides to make extra sure everything was tight.

After I finished, I noticed the laminate wanting to separate at the edges so I tipped the thing on its side, put an MDF panel on top and then 2 cinder blocks for pressure. I was really worried so I let it cure overnight (you are supposed to be able to work with the piece 30 minutes after bonding) and when I removed the cinder blocks the laminate remained bonded to the shell - whew! If only this was the huge mistake...

After letting the glue cure overnight, I used my router and a flush bit to trim away the excess laminate that was hanging over the edges. This is where I ran into trouble. There isn't a flat surface to rest the router on as I went around the curve so I had to just "be careful" which I was except for one spot. Check it out:

I shaved off the protective paper and the thin layer of shiny on the Plexiglas - the scrape is about an inch long so I am definitely going to have to try and sand and polish that area and blend it in to the rest of the front panel. It sucks. I was being careful with the router but I guess I tipped it into the piece instead of away from it and I effed it up.

I'm going to have to try and polish out the scuff similar to how I polished the bevel around the Plexiglas opening. I'm fairly confident I can get it looking OK but I'm not as confident that I can get it to look like the scuff mark was never there. There's really nothing I can do but try and fix it. The picture actually makes it look a lot worse because of the flash.

Anyway, after that happened I stayed about 1/16" away from the front panel with the router and then used a file to get the laminate flush with the Plexiglas front - I should have been doing it like that the entire time - I'm so mad at myself.

Anyway, it's looking pretty good otherwise and I really like how the laminate gives it a nice clean finish.

Tonight I'm going to route the slot for the t-molding around the front and back panels and then try to remove the scuff mark using some high grit sandpaper and the Novus polish system.

More later.

The Back Panel III

More progress! After getting the 1/8" MDF laminated and rough cut to size I didn't think there was any way that it would turn out nice considering it was chipped and there was glue everywhere. The next step was cutting the panel to its proper size with my router and flush cutting bit.

First, I put some double sided tape around the perimeter of the jukebox shell:

Then, I carefully placed the rough panel on top of the tape making sure that when the overhanging material was removed that there wouldn't be any chip marks showing. The clamps were for added support although they definitely weren't needed - the double stick tape is pretty strong:

Next, I just went around the outside with the router and ended up with the exact shape I wanted! After I had the proper shape, I used a template I had made way back in the beginning of the project for the front panel to cut out the opening for the vent on the top of the back panel (I used double stick tape again). It was easy - the router cuts through the laminate like butter!

You can still see the glob of glue on top that would have to be removed. After that was finished the last thing I did for the night was drill out the hole for the power button in the center of the small semi-circle. I used my step drill bit and widened the hole to 3/4" diameter.

The button looks great and should match the other aluminum accents on the jukebox (speaker grill, t-molding, etc.). Oh, yeah - I was able to remove the glue using my fingers quite easily. I just rubbed it until it came off from the friction. Check it out (don't mind the dust):

Next up for the back panel is cutting the hole for the I/O panel along the bottom which will mirror the speaker grill on the front panel. Then I will install magnets on the inside so the panel will stay in place but remain removable in case I need to get in there for maintenance.

More later!