Project: Tube Radio PC

Just thought it might be a nice addition to add some orange LEDs inside like the glow of tubes. Then you could see the light just below the optical drive.
 
Looks awesome.


For the keyboard wire, will you sleeve it in old braid? You can probably get braid from old home wires that had the material covering?
 
I'm going to agree with Everfalling... I love that background, it looks badass.

This is one of my favorite mods so far, I love this.
 
What is your resolution on the LCD? Is it stretched, or did you match the output to the screen? Looks awesome.
 
No progress today, I built a computer for a co-worker =) Probably wont be much tomorrow either, he and his wife are treating me to dinner YAY! Figured I would at least answer some questions though =)

@Everfalling
I dont know of any guides, though they should all be fairly similar. If they are for a car application, they will take a 12V input which you get right from the power supply, and for the video connection it is going to be s-video or use the yellow RCA plug. Getting it out of the case is just a matter of removing all the screws and pulling it out =)

@Willsonman
You cant tell in the pictures, b ut the blue glow from the fan actually shows thru the front grille at the moment. While it is definatly not the look I want on a retro case (blue) but I am going to try it with a red/orange one and see how it looks for sure =) As soon as I get a little more money to buy a different fan anyways cause this mod had already drained my bank account hehe.

@Ockie
Yes, I am definatly sleeving the cord. I havent taken any pcs of it yet, but I have cut the original curley q cable that it originally had off, and shortened it doen to about 2 inches long. I am going to just sleeve that one in black, and then use a ps2 extension cable i have laying around to connect it to the computer, all sleeved up looking old school =)

@themark
The resolution is 720x480, not stretched at all. That is the native resolution of the screen, and for $40 i am amazed at how good the picture is.

@uzor
Thanks for the pic of the VU meter, it looks awesome!

@Everyone
Thanks for all the comments and suggestions, I really appreciate them =)
 
so you basically plug the video line into a video card with s-vid or component, and loop the wire back into the case? hmm. thought there was a way to hook it up within the case or something. ok, sounds simple enough, heh.
 
Pretty much thats it, I just lucked out because the daughterboard on this motherboard allowed me to do it completely internally.
 
Squee, those knobs look OK, but if the parts for your monitor stand are an indication of the direction the rest of this mod is going, I think the radio knobs need to be Brass. Besides, they would look great with the brass LCD surround as well. Perhaps you could modify some antique drawer pull knobs. Probably easier to find.
 
Time for another update =D Multiple hours of tedious work later, and here it is hehe. I didnt take many pics, there is really not much to see here. I tore apart all of the extra keys, and sanded the backs. Today I drew up all of the new keytops in AutoCAD, printed them to PDF and then walked up to Kinkos. Printed them out, and laminated them for durability. Then, more hours of work cutting them out and re-assembling the 56 keys, and gluing them down.

Now, for a couple of pics =) The first one is the keyboard before I started this whole process, so I would know where all the key went.

keyboard13.jpg


Here is the keyboard as it sits now, probably 70% thru the conversion.

keyboard14.jpg


Thats it for now. I am mostly just happy that almost all of the tedious work is finished with =) I hope everyone is having a great weekend!
 
s_q_u_e_e said:
Time for another update =D Multiple hours of tedious work later, and here it is hehe. I didnt take many pics, there is really not much to see here. I tore apart all of the extra keys, and sanded the backs. Today I drew up all of the new keytops in AutoCAD, printed them to PDF and then walked up to Kinkos. Printed them out, and laminated them for durability. Then, more hours of work cutting them out and re-assembling the 56 keys, and gluing them down.

Now, for a couple of pics =) The first one is the keyboard before I started this whole process, so I would know where all the key went.

keyboard13.jpg


Here is the keyboard as it sits now, probably 70% thru the conversion.

keyboard14.jpg


Thats it for now. I am mostly just happy that almost all of the tedious work is finished with =) I hope everyone is having a great weekend!
Click to expand...

Man if I had those keytops I could build one fantastic keyboard. Wood base with the holes lined up. Youre looking good here cant wait till I see what comes from this. (by the way your big toe nail needs trimmed)
 
So, I can't believe that it has been 15 months since I updated this thing. Life got really really strange last summer/fall/winter and I kind of had to fall off the face of the earth and deal with it, then this summer I took a 4 month trip across the US on the Greyhound and hit all the lower 48 states. It was an amazing experience, but I am settlling back down now (in Phoenix AZ this time) and am finally getting back on track with this project.

My intentions with this machine have pretty much completely changed since the last time I worked on it. Last time it was going to be a good looking media machine, but not much more. This time around it is going to be my main computer, which means quite a bit better hardware, and a lot more heat to worry about. At the moment I am looking to go with a watercooled quad core intel on the crossfire DFI micro atx board, dual 4850's or 4870's depending on how I am feeling about it at that stage, a small OS drive and three 1.5Tb drives for media. All that plus the original little LCD screen and slot load DVD player, and again all kept internally inside the case.

One of the things that I originally didn't like about the case was the rear, I just wasn't fond of all the things that scream "this is a computer" (fans, I/O panel, PCI slots) and decided to switch it up a bit. Here is what the current rough idea is for the case.

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The idea this time is to cover then entire rear of the computer in a wood shroud, with metal slots angled so that you can't actually see into it (unless you are looking at it from below of course). The cables will route along the lower portion, and then can be brought out thru either side by removing the cap on the end. The slats will allow the air to be exhausted like it needs to be, and at the same time hide everything that a computer needs to have.

I am still getting settled in so it will take me a few days to really start on the project, but I figured I would toss the sketchup files on here and get some feedback =)
 
i am surprised to see this mod come back to life.

i like the new plans you have for it, good luck.
 
Great build. I guess i'm too late but from the looks of it, you PSU is blasting warm air onto the motherboard. I would have cut a hole on the other side and have the air blowing out that way.
 
edinator said:
Great build. I guess i'm too late but from the looks of it, you PSU is blasting warm air onto the motherboard. I would have cut a hole on the other side and have the air blowing out that way.
Click to expand...


Most PSUs intake from the large fan, and the air is exhausted out the back.


Awesome case, I hope you use real wood on the new rear section to match the antique case.
 
@Willsonman, 86drifter, shadowlord - Its good to be back working on a mod =)

@jcmuse - thanks!

@edinator - not to late at all, the insides are going to be completely redone. As Power5 says though the PSU intakes thru the fan and then spits the air out the back.

@ best [486] - The idea was indeed from there, I am a big fan of his stuff, and steampunk in general =)

I worked on a mockup of the interior on the plane today, and while it looks like it is going to be tight it will probably work out. On the left is where the 4 storage drives will go, they have to go in that configuration to be able to squeeze in under the cdrom tray. on the right is the PSU with a laptop hard drive above it for the OS. Above the motherboard is the radiator and fan, with just enough room for a crossfire setup. I will know better when the case arrives in Phoenix, I had to mail it to myself and it won't arrive until tomorrow =)

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I can't believe you did that to a perfectly-functional clicky keyboard!

I love the look of the mod so far, though--that wood is gorgeous!
 
Read through this one a while back but this is one very nice mod. Love the LCD screen and old dials displayed.
 
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