The finishing pictures

Ok, I think I have just about covered all I can.
If this is your first visit here, I highly suggest you go to the very first post and read back to here.
I dont like the way this blogger posts newest entries first, but I cant figure out how to change it.
This is probably the last entry in this blog. (Im not saying for sure though, because I might think of something else that needs to be added later.)

Anyway, here is the finished jukebox:
















Here is a side view so you can see the chrome T-Molding (man I like that stuff!):















Here is the back:















The red button is the power switch. The toggle switch below the CD drive chooses wether teh computer boots up in Windows or X-Lobby (the juke box software.)
When Stevie boots in Windows, he can rip his Cds to the juke box just by inserting the Cd into the drive. Windows Media Player 11 automatically rips the CD to the hard drive.

How many Cds will it hold? Im not sure. Im using an 80 gig hard drive, so it should be quite a few.

Building my first juke box was fun, and a bit challenging. There are a few things I will do different on the next one.

Oh no, did I say the next one??

Thanks for reading this blog. I welcome all comments and will be glad to answer any questions you might have.
kenrager@hotmail.com

Let me back up a bit

I forgot to mention the base.
I cut the base out of a pine 2X4, cutting 4 pieces, one for each side of the juke. I cut a 45 degree angle on each end of the four pieces, to allow them to wrap around the bottom of the juke box to form a base. (Kinda like a picture frame).
It turned out pretty good, except I cut one piece about an inch too short. I had to "scab" a piece in it to make it the right length. It turned out pretty good and is not real noticeable, plus I put that piece in the back of the cabinet.
Before putting the four pieces of the base together, I made two cuts in each one with my table saw.
A made about a 1" by 3/4" L shape cut on the inside top edge of each piece.
This allows the juke box to sit down inside the base a little, it hides the bottom panel edge, and I think adds a little flair to the over all look. I thought about using my router and a round-over bit to put a round edge to outside top corner of the base, but decided not to do that.
I attached the base to the juke with six 2" long wood screws, two in each side and two in the back.
Here is a picture of the base right after I finished painting it:

Lets get electronical

Ok, now where was I?

Next I think I mounted the power outlet for the monitor and speakers.
I decided not to use a switched power strip like I did on my arcade builds, because of limited room in this juke box cabinet.
But I still wanted the monitor and speakers to turn on and off with the computer, so I mounted a metal duplex handy box to one side, and a 12 volt relay.
The relay has a 12 volt coil and 125 volt 10 amp contacts.
The computer will turn on the relay, which will turn on the duplex outlet mounted in the handy box.
The coil side of the relay will tie into 12 volts from the power supply.
I brought both the power cord and the power supply cord into the bottom of the handy box.
Out of the top of the handy box is a cable going to the contact side of the relay.
I wired the power cord wires and the power supply cord wires together.
The relay turns on the duplex outlet.
















If you want to know more about how I wired in the duplex outlet and relay, just drop me an email.

Next a wired in the CD drive and back fan. I used a 4 conductor cable to run between the power supply and the cd drive. I put molex plugs on each end, so that one end would plug into a power cable, and the other would plug into the cd drive.
I also tapped off the 12 volt wires on the cd drive side to supply power for the fan and the marquee lamp.

I then mounted the marquee. The plexi glass marquee installed from the back, then I used mirror clamps to hold it tightly in place.
I then mounted the monitor.
Here is a picture of the marquee, looking over the monitor:


















You can see the volume control pot attached to the marquee.
I got a PC speaker extension cable from Radio Shack. I cut the cable in the center and wired the pot into it. The cable has a male end that will plug into the computer, and a female end that the speakers will plug into. I turned the volume on the speakers to about 3/4 full volume, then the pot in the marquee adjusts the volume from 0 to 3/4 volume.
This setup will allow the speakers to be changed out with no extra modifications on the new speakers.
In the last pic you can also see the wires going to the marquee lamp.

Here is a picture of the hard drive mounted (hard to see but it is under the monitor and on the right side):
















Here is a picture with the computer motherboard installed and everything wired up:

I had to use a special long IDE cable to connect the Cd drive to the computer.

Give me some skin

Now I was ready to apply the skin.
I bought some fiber sheet at loews. Im not sure what it is called, because the label on the rack at loews was missing. But it was 1/8" thick and seemed pretty flexible. It was in the counter top area, but it is not laminate (or at least not plastic or fiber, looks more like a paper type material).
Anyway, I cut two pieces of skin from the 4X8 foot sheet.
I wanted two pieces that were the same width as the distance between the front and back panel inside edges.
The idea was to attach the two pieces, stacked on top of each other, to the ribs and have the edge of the skin to come up flush with the inside edges of the front and back panels.
If I do this again, I will make the ribs flush with the panel edges, and run the skin to the outside edges of the panels, then trim the access away to be flush with the panels.
Why? Well when I cut out the skin pieces, I used a table saw.
The sheet was very flimsy and I had a hard time keeping it straight as the saw cut. I wound up with about a 1/4" gap around the back panel and a 1/8" gap on the front. I had to fill these gaps in with wood putty, which created more work for me.
Next time I will let the skin overlap then trim them to flush with my router.
Oh well, whats the old saying about hind sight?

Ok, I didnt get a lot of pictures of the skinning method, but I coated the outside areas of the side panels and the ribs with elmers wood glue. (But only one side for now.)
I then attached the bottom of the first layer of skin to the bottom panel of the juke box with wood screws. Then using a wood rolling pin, I pressed the skin against the side panels and ribs, rolling out air bubbles in the glue.
I then placed a lead plate (weighing about 60 lbs) on top of the skin to hold it against the side panel. I let the glue set up for about an hour, then I removed the weight, flipped the juke box over, and continued around to the other side. I just repeated the process I had just done for this side, how ever I pulled the skin as tight as I could.
With the weight on this side now, I let the glue dry a couple of hours.
















I then took the other layer of skin and attached it the same way.
I smeared glue to the first layer, applied the second layer, and set the weight on it.
After glue dried a while, I flipped it over and continued with the second layer all the way around.
After the glue set for a couple of hours, I trimmed off the access on each end of the skin, so that it was flush with the bottom edges.

Next step I painted it all. I used exterior semi gloss black paint. I put two coats on the sides and three coats on the back. (The white primer kept bleeding through.)

I cut out holes in the back door for the CD Rom drive, the fan and the startup mode switch.
I then attached the back door.
I wanted to use silver colored hinges and fastener for the back door, but walmart was out, so I had to use gold colored. Silver would have matched the chrome T-molding better, but at least it's in the back, so it's not too noticeable.

I cut up and old PC case to get the bracket for the CD Rom and attached it to the door.
Here is a picture of the CD drive and fan attached to the back door.
If you look close you can see the startup mode switch below the cd drive:
















I took another piece of the PC case and made a bracket for teh hard drive to attach to. I mounted it to one side and the speaker box back:
















In the back panel, below the door, I cut out for the computer power supply. I used another piece of the PC case to get the plate that the power supply fastens to.
This should allow easy change out of the power supply when it fails.
Notice the fan on the power supply blows air out of the jukebox.
I drilled two holes beside the power supply, one to let the cable for the power supply in, and one to let the main power cable in.
I used a right angle power cord for teh power supply, this makes it look neater. I had to cut the male end off.
















I also cut out a large hole on the other side of the power supply to allow air in.
I covered the inside of this hole with vinyl screen wire, to help catch dust and bugs.















This vent hole will allow the power supply fan to draw in cool air. Also the top fan on the back door should draw air through this hole and up through the monitor, to help cool it.
The computer motherboard will lay diagonally between this hole and the speaker box back, so the air will be going around it to help cool it too.

Ok, now I can see light at the end of the tunnel.
But I need a break.. so later..

taking shape

I dont have any pictures, but I had to cut a slot around the edge of the front and back panels.
This would be the slot for the T-Molding. I used the same setup with the router that I used to trim the acrylic, except I used a router bit that is made to cut the T-molding slots.
It is called a slot cutter. I will be using 3/4" wide T molding, so I cut the slot on the front panel 1/8" off center, so the T molding on the front will cover the edge of the 1/8" thick acrylic.
I then cut the slot in back panel so that the T molding would be flush with the outside edge of the back.

Ok, I was now ready to cut out the bottom panel and two side panels.
I cut these out of 5/8" particle board.
I recessed the side panels in 1/4" inch to allow the skin to be attached to them.
I also installed the back to the speaker boxes. This back also attaches to the two side panels, to help support them.




















I also cut out a center rib for the skin to attach to.
Notice in the above picture that I primed the back panel.
I was hoping this might help to keep moisture out of the particle board.

Here is a picture of the ribs and one side. I also ran two braces front to back to help hold the ribs square with each other. (Dont forget that the front and back ribs are attached to the front and back panels, respectively).
I then installed a brace on the center rib, running side to side. This was to give the center rib more strength, but it also made a good place to attach the marquee lamp.
















The marquee lamp is a string of high output white LEDs, which run on 12 volts DC.
The lamp was sort of expensive, compared to the florescent lamps I use on my arcade builds,
but this lamp requires very little room, and it puts off hardly any heat. It also connects to the 12 volts of the computers power supply, making wiring a lot simpler.
The LEDs point to the front of the jukebox, in the marquee area.

Since Im on the subject, here is the marquee:















I created the marquee on my computer and printed it on two sheets of paper.
The marquee is sandwiched between two pieces of 1/8" thick clear plexi glass.
The volume control pot attaches to these pieces of plexi. It helps to hold them together.
I then ran scotch tape along the edges of the marquee to hold the two sheets together.

I cut the sheets of plexi the same way I cut out the arches in the front and back panels. I attached my router to a piece of MDF board, I then figured out the radius I needed for the arch.
Placing a pivot point the distance from the router bit of the radius, I made a circle cut, cutting out half a circle. Sorry this is a rather poor explanation, but I didnt take any pictures. Just think of how a compass works, this setup worked the same way, just with a router on one end instead of a pencil. Maybe I will start another blog dedicated to just that later.
I cut the radius of the plexi for the marquee slightly under what I cut for the recessed area of the marquee cutout in the front panel. The plexi piece will fit inside this recessed area.


At this point, I painted the insides of the speaker boxes.
I forgot to drill holes in the backs of the speaker boxes for the wires to go through, had to that later.















** More to follow **

More things coming together

Here is the back piece. I cut the back out of 5/8" particle board.
I made a rib to go around the edge of it for the skin.
I also cut out a door. I made these cuts with a router, using a 1/4" bit.
On the door area, this meant that there would be a 1/4" gap around the door, so I cut actual door panel out of another piece of 5/8" particle board, making the finished gap only about a 1/8".
















At this point I applied the black acrylic to the front panel.
I got the acrylic from US Plastics. It came in a 2X4 foot piece.
I positioned the front panel and propped it good. I then lightly sanded it, and made sure all dust and debris was cleaned from it.
I thin applied two coats of Wood Weld laminate glue.
Here is a picture before applying the glue.















I then cut the piece of plastic with my router. The plastic was only a couple of inches wider than the jukebox front panel, so I just had to cut off about 8 inches of the length.















I then peeled one side of the protective paper off, and roughed up the surface with some sandpaper.
I then coated the acrylic with the laminate glue.
After both glued surfaces dried to a tacky feel, I placed the acrylic on top of the front panel.
I used wood dowels to separate the pieces until the acrylic was lined up with the front panel. I then removed the dowels one at a time. Once the two glued pieces touch, they are stuck forever.
Sorry I dont have any pictures of this process.
After I let the glue set up for a couple of hours I flipped the front panel over.















In the last picture you can see that I made a table out of scrap pieces of MDF board.
On the left section of MDF I cut out for my router. I fastened the router upside down to the piece of MDF. The router has a laminate trim bit that sticks up through the makeshift router table.
I used this to trim the acrylic to the shape of the front panel.

First I drilled 1/2" starter holes in the acrylic.















The hole in the upper outside corner was a test hole, just to make sure I wasnt going to crack the plastic.
I used a paddle bit, ran drill speed fast and applied pressure slowly.
I cut a hole in the marquee area and the monitor area.
The idea here is to allow a hole to stick the router bit through.
I also drilled out the hole for the volume pot shaft to stick through.
I then drilled a hole in each speaker box panel.















I then cut out the acrylic with the router mounted to the table.
The router bit has a bearing on the end. I just let the bearing ride against the wood while the bit trimmed the acrylic flush.
Here is the outside edge being cut:
















I then moved the front panel to allow the router bit to stick through each inside hole and trimmed out the inside pieces.
Here is the final result:




















I left the protective paper on the acrylic until the very end. This helps to prevent scratches.

*** Stay tuned! ***

Coming together

Alrighty, sorry I havent updated in a while. I actually got this jukebox finished, but I will try to posts some pics and a little explaining to catch anyone who is interested up to speed.
Here is a picture of the front with speaker holes cut out.
I made this out of 5/8" particle board. I wish I had used 5/8" MDF but I went with the particle board so it would cut down on the weight.






















I later cut out the partitions between the speakers, then made speaker boxes out of some 3/4" MDF board I had left from previous projects.















The speaker box will also serve as a shelf for the monitor to set on.
The brace across the back of the speaker box is temporary. Just holding everything together until a later time.
I also made mounts for the monitor. I used MDF to make spacers to hold the monitor the proper distance from the front to allow it to be flush on the outside. I used 1/4" carriage bolts runing through the front panel and the spacers. I will attach the monitor to these bolts using L brackets.















In the last pic you can see also see ribs that I made to go along the inside edge of the front panel. These are to attach the skin to. I glued them and used wood screws. Also in this picture you can see the small 8/32" bolts around the marquee frame. I will use mirror clips on these bolts to hold the marquee in.
** To be continued**