Victorian Boombox Mark IV

[J. Wilhelm]

Thank you! That's what happens when you work at the same place where you source your parts. I haven't the excuse to postpone prototyping. The job is no bed of roses, but it's got some serious advantages.

Adding some images just to refresh the thread for new viewers

[J. Wilhelm]

So today,I have a few pictures of my progress. I forgot to show a few pictures earlier when I got and installed the second battery pack. The original battery pack was mounted in the frame that holds the amplifier.  It never occurred to me that it was very poorly placed inside the electronics bay, because there's little room around it.

When I ordered the second battery pack, I decided to move the battery packs to the bottom of the electronics bay. This opened more space, which could be occupied by something like that TV tuner or perhaps the sound card:

Each battery pack is limited to 5 amperes of current. Both are connected in parallel and have smart charging electronics between each of three batteries per pack.  I bought the fancy digital voltage regulators (shown in the previous pages), each one to handle 5 amperes. I haven't installed or even thought about where to install them yet, but that extra space shown is s good candidate. Right after that modification I started working on the front screen and control panel module, which I've shown already.

What I did yesterday was to start on the screen and computer bay for the front panel.  As I explained previously the computer was intended to blend into the lid itself. So I carved out the outline of the computer stick, plus enough space for USB plugs and the HDMI plug into a plank of wood. Together with the Art Deco radiator/grille basically what I have is a wooden Windows PC tablet without a battery. The tablet case is now a series of planks with various carved holes, which when stacked together make a unit meant to be screwed to the hinges. It's fairly complicated, and I should mention I absolutely hate doing scrollwork, but I have no choice. The Azulle PC stick fits snugly into the plank now and it's flush within the ½ inch thick planks of pine, except for bump in the case where an Ethernet jack lies. The touchscreen/ screen module will fit on top of that plank, maybe touching that bump, or not, depending. But I used the original lid of the Chinese craft box and sliced it to half thickness, and that's where the touchscreen will be mounted.  The whole assembly is still very thick, but the non flat profile hides that thickness.

Once this is built, the rest of the system will be assembled inside the now expanded electronics bay. One thing, though, is that first, I'll go ahead and install those grills over the speaker. I've gone through 3 different methods in my head, and it's more an exercise of fitting and improvisation, to be honest.

And to be honest again, I'm now rethinking the whole heat sink/ radiator thing.  I'm not convinced it'll be that useful, but I do know that I want the PC stick embedded in the screen assembly, so that will stay as shown above.

In the meantime, I continue listening to early 20s Jazz and 30s Big Band while I do this, just to keep my mind inspired.

Cheers,
Adm. Wilhelm

[Sir Henry]

I'm very curious - does that really say "recial"and if so, what does it mean?

[Ah, I just spotted his hand; more uncomprehending 'AI' (machine learning). I don't think you can copyright something created by someone/something else, can you?]

[J. Wilhelm]

The second letter is "0." And yes, it's AI. However, on the copyright issue, I'm claiming it, even though it may not hold now, because I have a feeling that the ruling is local (in the United States, don't think all countries have adopted that yet - if I understand copyright laws are not global) and also, I don't believe that ruling will hold over time.  It can't.

Why? Because this is a glorified collage.  Even if you reduce AI to a collage making machine (which isn't true, Stable Diffusion is now starting to render images not recognisable as copies, just from the vast amount of training data), you have to agree that there's human input:

In this case I changed the composition (created in 1927, so 96 years old) to specifically include 1920s actors Louise Brooks and Douglas Fairbanks. If I had just made a collage copying and posting headshots of the actors and painting a similar but different background...  wouldn't that be copyrightable?

Even if it wasn't copyrightable for now, it's not infringing the original copyright. Why? Because works from 1927 are now in the free domain in the US. All images are at least that old.

https://blogs.loc.gov/copyright/2021/01/the-lifecycle-of-copyright-1925-works-enter-the-public-domain/

Cheers,

You gave me the perfect excuse to post this picture.
The AI derived this one from the earlier post.

*And this is copyrighted, because it's a new logo for a brand (not XOXO 💋 - that's all over the Internet), and yet another persona of mine which I won't name for now).

[Felscor]

This looks like an amazing project!

I don't have time right now to catch up on the progress of this project, but I'm intrigued and going to get up to speed tonight... or tomorrow, idk.

*subscribed*

[J. Wilhelm]

This looks like an amazing project!

I don't have time right now to catch up on the progress of this project, but I'm intrigued and going to get up to speed tonight... or tomorrow, idk.

*subscribed*

Thank you for your comments!

If you're interested in technical matters, you should probably take a look at my previous project Victorian Boombox Mk. III, though it's considerably more technical, not really Victorian, more related to acoustics and less to computers, and definitely less aesthetic than Mk. IV (It was mostly a high performance experiment).

This project on the other hand, is considerably simpler acoustically due to practical technical constraints, is based around a computer, and is properly Diesel, or even Mid Century.

The original project (Mk.I, though it wasn't named Mk. I) is probably the most artistic and it was the most legitimately Steampunk of all 4 projects, and it's also to be found in the Tactile section (that was made way back in 2010).

Mk. II was also Steampunk, but it was a failed project, mostly because the donor system I used was of very low quality. I was never satisfied with it, but like Mk. I, it was properly Victorian looking.  Perhaps I'll revive it later with different tech, but aiming to recall the original design.

[J. Wilhelm]

Update for last week:

I have been working on the screen and computer assembly, and as it's customary for me, I've once again changed my mind over the copper heatsink.  It's not so much that I don't think that it'll work as much as the heat inside the assembly will concentrate much more, with hot air sandwiched between the screen board and the PC stick. The heatsink wouldn't prevent the inside from overheating.

So I've decided to exchange the heatsink copper pipes for thinner, ¼ inch diameter poplar wood dowels. The increased space between the dowels will provide adequate ventilation to the outside and I can still make that "flying wing logo" by using a lighter color of wood stain.

On the inside, I had the idea to use a small 12 V CPU fan for the mini ITX computer board I had used in the dashboard of my former car (re: the pictures I posted previously). The fan is so small it fits between a very shaved wooden lid and the flat pine wooden plank.  I'm not using, however, the fan the way it's supposed to run. There's no space for axial flow. Instead, I chopped off ⅛th of the fan case to allow for the flow to blow sideways into the space between the electronic boards. It's extremely inefficient, but all I want is for air to move a little bit and escape through perforations I'll drill in the wood case above the screen. The fan works ( barely) at 5V, but I figured it's be more useful than the copper heat sink. I could also add a switch to manually allow to the fan to run directly from the battery <default low speed and manual high speed settings). Doing this is necessary, because it's a noisy little fan and there's no place to put it, other than beside the screen.

I feared this is a bit more complicated than I'd like for a production model, and a look at the pictures around the fan will explain what kind of trouble I had to go through to fit the fan.  The whole assembly amounts to a Windows tablet with a fan and no battery, and I have to question myself whether it wouldn't just be easier to buy a Windows tablet and make a wooden case for it. The obvious issues are external peripherals (optical disk, external sound card, both with USB connectors) which I may not be able to use with a Windows tablet. The second obvious issue is cost.  That varies a lot. A used Azulle 3 is only about $50. Plus a discounted touchscreen the cost of this "wooden tablet " is still hovering at around $100. Invariably, new Windows tablets are much more expensive. So it's a question of shopping.  If I could guarantee a tablet would run the optical disk drive and connect to the sound card, then I'd might dive into it. I think it'll depend whether the tablet runs on an Android style "System on a Chip" or a more traditional PC architecture with an Intel or AMD chip like the one I used.

[von Corax]

The Raspberry Pi Foundation have just announced the Raspberry Pi 5; one of the accessories to be available is the Raspberry Pi Active Cooler, which comprises a heat sink and a 5V radial-flow brushless fan for US$5.00. I suspect that if you were to approach the Foundation they might share with you their source of fans even though you aren't using a Pi in the Boombox.

[J. Wilhelm]

Thanks you (nice price). Yes, actually, I think they're standard size 4 x 4 x 1 cm brushless radial blowers.

Here's a couple found on Amazon (I'd buy on eBay to be honest)

https://www.amazon.com/2Packs-Wathai-Blower-Radial-Cooling/dp/B07RMY75GH/ref=asc_df_B07RMY75GH/

https://www.ebay.com/itm/263235018823

[J. Wilhelm]

Interim Report: Some thoughts.

The main project is approaching completion. And my employment interruption made me miss my goal of finishing this project before the end of October. Thankfully my employment situation is back on track, but I'm wondering if the Mk.IV will be able to sell at sufficient frequency, or even at all this year, because the nature of the initial goals pretty much required the hardware to be as expensive as possible. The only thing that hasn't been tackled is analog video (RCA/S-Video/NTSC) to digital video conversion, because there's no way to do it within a reasonable budget.

It's not necessarily a bad thing if it doesn't sell right away, as I always need a flagship product to attract attention to any online shop I may start, as it happened with the Mk. I over a decade ago. But I need to use what I learned during the prototyping of Mk IV to make a more realistically affordable product.

The obvious solution is to fall back to Android tablets to be used as the heart of the boombox, either connected to an amplifier setup directly, or connected to a pair of Bluetooth speakers with built-in amplifiers. I could even use a Windows tablet, but that's an expensive proposition already, though there'd be hope for optical disk and sound card support. A cost vs profit analysis will reveal whatever I consider, but Windows hardware will be the top of the line.

As much as I love the Android TV Stick and the Roku products, Google Inc., has made it nearly impossible to use the Android (Linux) kernel together with touchscreen and optical disks.  Yet , touchscreen is always available on any tablet. So a tablet it must be.

Pairs of separate stereo Bluetooth speakers do exist, but not in large numbers. Most amplified inexpensive speakers now are Bluetooth speakers, stereo or not, and are built into small boxes or cylinders which  absolutely kill the sound quality. I could fall back to the bookshelf speakers sold by the same company that sold me the MkBoom kit, and I'd even save $40 but the cost is still over $110 plus the cost of the tablet (about $70 for a cheap one).

https://www.parts-express.com/Dayton-Audio-MK402BTX-Powered-Bluetooth-2-Way-Bookshelf-Speaker-Pair-with-3.5mm-Aux-In-300-467

Is it worth it?  Maybe, if the sound is excellent and I can make a nice box for it, using the type wood millwork I showed you above. If I stretch the Dollar, maybe I can make about $100 per each unit sold for $300+. I'd do it if it's an easy build, the amplifiers are built into the speakers, and I rely on the built in batteries only. The Mk402 speakers above already are at or near the level of the Mk IV (same components as the "donor" MkBoom), but to cut weight and cost I'd might to look elsewhere for Bluetooth speaker pairs

I might be able to tack on the little digital radio module I showed you in previous pages (a true pain to get quickly online). I wouldn't even try to get an external sound card, unless it's an inexpensive USB module used as a preamp with microphone input for the radio module. Otherwise a simple switch would be used to switch between tablet and radio with a third battery.

It's worth looking at some 1930s radio designs for style inspiration. Note the geometric variations between circles and squares, corrugated or striated motifs and focus on materials.

Climax 60, 1938


Zenith Model 811, 1935

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jM3DNpnNv5k

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jMfOGxGPSiQ


Cheers,
JW

[J. Wilhelm]

Progress Report, 6 November.

The Mk. IV project has been progressing smoothly but slowly, due to a lack of free time. Also, I'm facing a serious time crunch, which I'll explain later.

In the latest iteration, I've decided to replace the two fancy variable voltage regulators/converters with a single 12 V  automotive 5V USB supply output, made by the hardware company, DeWalt.

The reasons are the following:

1. The DeWalt unit offers a higher output power (65 W) in a single unit instead of two units (though it may not be a common rail voltage).

2. The output voltage can't accidentally be reset when power loss occurs suddenly (which would severely damage the equipment).  It'd be especially damaging, if your power supply is providing two different voltages to the equipment.

3. The unit already has multiple USB ports.  I don't have to purchase USB port hardware.

4. In my experience, automotive transformers can operate with voltages as low as 9, or even 6 volts, or alternatively much higher than their nominal input voltage, while converting to 5V. The DeWalt unit can operate with a supply of up to 24 V.

5. Multiple transformers are a liability if they don't all perform equally, but conversely there's always a backup power since all the transformers are connected to a common rail (the USB hub I use). It provides a "soft landing " if one of the transformers fails.

The DeWalt transformer was relatively expensive at $40, compared to about $7 for both variable power transformers, but I'm saving money on USB jacks and the time to solder cables. It provides a quick-disconnect solution for all of the electronics during maintenance, and a way to use a single switch to power off and on all peripherals at the same time.

Once I test the system, the center console will be ready to take in the radio and TV tuner, and be installed. I'll need an audio and video switch to switch between computer and HDTV / radio combo (due to power limitations).

Sadly, the ATSC 3.0 HDTV standard (aka "NextGen TV") is now in peril of being abandoned by the public. TV networks are now issuing warnings to the FCC: The public is uninterested. The US government is pushing the standard, and the promise was 4K resolution for digital TV, but overseas manufactures understandably refuse to build ATSC 3.0 capable TV units if people aren't buying. In hypercapitalist America, people vote with their wallets.

Worse, the ATSC 3.0 system isn't backward compatible with ATSC 1.0 (it's broadcast separately today along with ATSC 3.0), and looks like it doesn't offer a pause and record capability due to a copyright protection system used by the standard itself (!)  So you can't record your favorite shows. And even worse still, most of the broadcast material available in ATSC 3.0 is either just the same 1K resolution programming broadcast simultaneously, or the old analog NTSC TV shows and movies. There's zero incentive for the public to buy into the technology and spend yet more money on a new TV.

In other words, ATSC 3.0 might be an obsolete and "dead on arrival" technology by next year when the government phases out ATSC 1.0 (mostly due to mismanagement by the FCC and an overzealous consumer electronics industry which only think of profits). So it's unclear what the value of including a TV tuner is in America today. People just aren't interested in broadcast signals, much less messing with yet another copyright protection system and less convenient features. Here's an article on the subject:

https://www.cnet.com/tech/home-entertainment/why-is-atsc-3-0-taking-so-long/

I will install the ATSC 1.0 tuner in this prototype because I'd really like to have an over-the-air tuner if an emergency arises, but an ATSC tuner may or may not necessarily materialize in a production unit.

What I may do is continue looking for USB ATSC 3.0 tuners for Windows if they exist already.



Emergency Project

I'm also looking into starting an "emergency" parallel project, which I've talked about before.  I'm facing an "impossible challenge situation," with having to move into a new house and trying to finish the MK Prototype and the first production unit at the same time, quite likely before this month ends. Moving to a new place will cost me about a thousand dollars with the deposit and transportation, cutting my savings in half.

Otherwise, I fear I'll end up with no discretionary money and no product at hand by January. It's already looking like I won't be able to sell anything this year. I've had nothing but obstacles thrown at me. My job and living situation issues came to distract me from the project, as far as I see it. It's almost as if fate is trying to stop this project. What's coming next? A falling piano over my head? Otherwise, this project is growing smoothly, as it works perfectly. I'm like Wyle E. Coyote, building great things but never accomplishing my objective due to highly improbable events.

The idea I'm having now is to make an Android tablet based boombox, identical in overall form if not decoration.  However, the speakers will be the fully assembled Dayton Audio MK 402 or MK 402B (amplified Bluetooth) speakers, which are nearly identical to my setup. You'll remember they share the same drivers and crossovers as the MK Boom which is the donor for my Mk. IV prototype.

I've calculated the dimensions of the assembled MK 402 units and came to the conclusion that they're nearly identical in size and acoustically to mine, except for the port being located in the back. I can easily move the port to the front to match my Mk. IV.

The speaker enclosures would be sandwiched between thick planks of wood, then screwed together. If I get the MK 402B, I wouldn't need to buy an amplifier, instead only worry about the power supply (battery) and how to hook it to the amplifier. Otherwise just buy the amplifier and batteries as I did on the prototype, and build a central console, but with a fixed screen (tablet). I'm assuming that the electronics board of the MK 402B will have the same amp chip as the KAB motherboard sold with MK Boom.

The whole point is to simplify and streamline the production process so I can make a unit in a couple of days without worrying about too many details. I could use hardwood and oil instead of wood stain over pine. Rely as much as possible on screws, and just abandon the HDTV and radio, at least for a base level unit. Obviously it'd be sold at a lower price. The Art Deco facade would have to change radically, to match the black cloth speaker covers. It wouldn't necessarily need to abandon the Art Deco theme, just be different. So i have to get creative with the finish, though it'll be entirely dominated by the wooden case holding the tablet in front.

Using the built in Android tablet's amplifier as a preamplifier is a low quality solution, so the sound quality will be lower that the sound produced by the dedicated Creative sound card in my prototype. But it's a good compromise - if I'm using the same speakers and amplifier. The connection between the tablet and amplifier could be direct (headphones to auxiliary) or via Bluetooth 5.0.

I'll keep writing on this post as I can.

Cheers,

JW

[J. Wilhelm]

PS.

I forgot to mention that I got the centrifugal fans earlier in October. It only took 3 days to get them from a local vendor. The fans work well and are fairly silent. I only need one for this assembly. My plan is to hook it to one of the power jacks on the LCD screen

Sadly, there's no Window tablet available in 7 inches. Which means that for the moment any production version of the Mk. IV using Windows will need to be this complex, with the Azulle PC, with a fan and complicated wood frame.  Either that or I figure how to incorporate a 10 inch tablet to the boombox.

For the simplified Android version of the boombox, I'd prefer to find one tablet with a built-in FM radio if it's available. That would be remarkably useful.  However, 7 inch tablets nowadays are basically bargain basement units really not meant for quality, and the OS tends to be Android Go, which is an abridged version of Android for devices with less than 2GB of RAM.  Doesn't inspire confidence, does it? That's more like tablets for kids.

I might be looking at RCA tablets if they still exist, which might be a tad higher in performance. The problem is that tablets are considered to be highly expendable, and I heard on the grapevine that Android will accelerate its version release dates, which means more Android devices will become obsolete sooner, more than they are today.  That's not really encouraging.  I need the boombox to last more than a couple of years. Since tablet design changes from year to year and model to model, using Android isn't an ideal choice for a long lived collector item like the Mk IV should be.

Let's see what solution I can figure. I know I want at least a regular Android release, not an abbreviated version of it .

JW

[J. Wilhelm]

A Milestone is Reached.

While it may not sound impressive, it's actually a big deal: The Mk.IV operated it's amplifier and PC simultaneously from the twin battery packs. That's peak load for this system as the radio and TV only will operate when the computer is off.

It's a big deal, because of the relatively large currents handled by the batteries. The PC consumes at least 3 amperes, and at a maximum with DVD drive, USB hub and external sound card, will get close to consuming 5 amperes, which is the maximum capacity for one single battery pack.  The twin battery packs are connected in parallel, for a maximum of 10 amperes at 5 volts, or 50 watts, shared between amplifier and the PC plus peripherals. The amplifier as configured in original the MK Boom kit consumed a theoretical maximum of less than 25 watts, I presume, and most of the time it's less, in the order of 15 to 25 W, or much less if Bluetooth headphones are used.

There is no visible overheating, no power failure signs, like performance drops. And I'll be testing the capacity and recharging characteristics in the next couple of days while I assemble the screen and PC module.

[J. Wilhelm]

Progress is remarkably slow at the moment, because I'm trying to get a roof over my head.  The realization set in that I may not even be able to continue working on this project, depending on where I end up.  Technically I have until the end of February to leave this house, but realistically it's impossible to wait, primarily because of the weather.  I have this recurring nightmare that I die in extreme cold or heat, and it terrifies me to think I wouldn't have a place by February.  Needless to say, I'm extremely stressed right now. So don't expect great progress. On the other hand, I do want to finish this box before I leave the house.  It's a "catch 22" situation for me, especially when I know all my savings will be depleted after I move, which means no money to build anything new, hence, no way to start a business

EDIT *Censored paragraph detailing my violent thoughts*

But anyhow, this is what the Mk IV looks like right now.  I need to find three identical short micro USB to USB cables, which will connect the screen to the electronics compartment. I need to fit the shortwave radio, and if possible the ATSC 1.0 HDTV tuner board and buy a second transformer to feed the radio and HDTV, probably another DeWalt 12v-USB adapter. The idea is that I can use a single switch (dual pole double throw) to choose between the radio/TV and the computer/sound card and a rotary switch to direct the sound to the amplifier. 

Honestly, it's starting to sound better to try to continue using the computer to tune TV and radio, but it's not possible, due to the large amount of power all devices would consume simultaneously. As a baseline I can calculate the consumption for the radio and TV as stand alone devices; I'm already looking at an average current draw of 7.5 amperes for amplifier and computer plus peripherals, but with the Sihuadon radio and the GTX TV tuner needing about 3 amperes, I could potentially push consumption beyond a theoretical maximum of 10 A for the two power modules. Unfortunately, it's not much better if I use the computer as a TV/radio tuner, because the work is actually done not by the Intel CPU, but by the chips inside the USB radio TV dongles that are tiny computers all by themselves, so there's no assurance I'd be saving any current that way. In fact, it could be more current.

[J. Wilhelm]

A bit of progress over Christmas, which is surprising, because these days I can't stop thinking about how Im going to find a new place to live in a short two months of time I have left in this house. I can't even concentrate at my job, much less build things.  However, I did manage to finish the " tablet module, far enough to be functional.

I added perforations as vents and connected the fan to a power source within the LED screen's board.  The fan is designed to run on 5 volts.

At least,the top hinged part is ready for staining, but I'll wait and install the "wing logo" grill in front of the Azulle.  Since I see that the Azulle is getting very adequate cooling, there's no need to use an external heatsink.  I can choose whichever material I want for the logo. I might use wood.

The space is so tight within the board that I had to cut a USB cables to 6 inches total length to connect the touchscreen directly to one of the USB ports on the Azulle PC. This reduced the number of cables coming out front the wooden "tablet." The 4 cables are arranged in a very simple way; the second cable is s power connection to the transformer, the third is a high speed USB connection to a USB hub which itself gets power from the transformer, and the fourth cable is a power connection to the touchscreen.  Because they're all interconnected at the hub and the computer, they collectively form a "common rail" power supply.

I also added a power/sleep button using a piece of bamboo skewer. The button allows the user to wake the computer manually.

The fan is very quiet indeed, and it's very well suited for the task. As shown, there's a faint but constant flow of air between the screen and the Azulle PC module. The cooling effect is so strong that the front side (exposed backside of the Azulle module) hardly heats up with prolonged use. The fan is extremely effective in that regard.i also noticed the computer runs faster and is more responsive when it's cooled this way, and it doesn't show any latency in video playback or interfaces. That's not surprising given that performance suffers greatly at high temperature, and the Azulle without active cooling does get very hot.  Makes you wonder why they haven't built a fan into the unit.

[J. Wilhelm]

I'm not posting the right picture, but I've already attached the poplar rods in the way shown in the picture below; the rods are trimmed symmetrically from the centerline. But I have a question for perhaps Sir Henry or anyone else who's got experience working with oil based wood stain:

I'm trying to stain this whole assembly in two separate colours. I know that wood stain is far too watery to hold sharp lines.  In the past, Sir Henry has told me about a technique to divide wood stained areas by way of scoring a single surface. The idea being that the score in the wood prevents the oil based stain from spreading past the scored line.  I'm thinking of using the same technique following the joints of the wood mouldings that make the front of this cover as shown.

The specific question is, how deep do the grooves or score lines need to be to effectively separate the stain?  Because I know stain will spread under the wooden surface.  I'm thinking that the fluted moulding and rods could be stained a light Golden Oak colour (see the side"end caps of the boombox), and the flanking 3/4 inch, plus the rest of the surface could be a dark red mahogany to match the rest of the boombox. Perhaps trying to stain the rods themselves (already glued in place with cyanoacrylate would probably be asking too much?

There will be different tonalities to the wood even if I use the same stain all over as the fluted moulding and rods are madefrom poplar (will stain darker due to porosity and lack of sap or oils) and the rest of the assembly will stain lighter, because it's made from cheap sappy pine.

[Sir Henry]

Almost all of the wood I've been working with lately has been plywood, so the cuts only need to go as deep as the first layer of glue. But I have worked with real wood in the past with reasonable success.

With real wood there are a couple of things to consider:
1) The absorbency of the wood, in that the softer the wood, the further the stain will travel. But you obviously know this from your post.
2) Similarly the direction of the grain makes a huge difference to how far the stain will bleed. With the grain, stain can go a long way and pass under quite deep grooves to reappear at the surface on the other side. Against the grain is much less of a problem. Again, from your post it looks like you will be scoring along the grain, which bodes well.

However, I'm curious why it needs to be oil-based stain. If you used water-based stain you could stain the lighter (the Golden Oak) parts and then wax (or varnish) them. A couple of coats would act as a resist for the darker (Red Mahogany) stain, which should cover up any over-enthusiastic bleeds of the lighter stain.

The trick with the scoring is to use the thinnest, sharpest blade you can find - I found that a razor blade worked very well for straight and almost-straight cuts ( curves really don't work but are a very good way of slicing your fingers up). Repeated cuts using not a lot of pressure each time seemed to work best. When the stains have dried you can press down on the score lines with the back of a spoon or similar to help close them and the varnish coat should help by making the wood expand slightly and making the scores even less visible.
A 3-4mm deep cut should do the trick, but if you can then test this on a piece of scrap, ideally an offcut of the same wood. It may sound quite deep, but stain has a tendency to sink and rise in annoyingly unpredictable ways, depending on the grain under the surface.

Another essential thing to remember is not to paint the stain right up to the edge. Start in the middle of an area and slowly move outwards, wet on wet, stopping short of the edge and waiting. If the stain hasn't bled up to the edge after 30 seconds or so you can add a little more but the slower you take it the better the end result. And use as little stain as you can, don't go filling the brush as you can always do more layers, you can't do fewer. I tended to use a small sponge for applying stains like this as you can control how much stain goes in by the pressure you apply to the sponge.

Hope that helps. If you have any more questions, I'll try to answer them. Best of luck.

[J. Wilhelm]

Almost all of the wood I've been working with lately has been plywood, so the cuts only need to go as deep as the first ...SNIP

Thank you for your help, Sir Henry. I did think about using water based stain, but only as a stand alone. I wonder if it's better to apply the oil based stain first, and then the water based stain.  Because the wax in the oil based stain (it's a mix of wax and pigment in a mineral spirit solvent) will seal the wood better and definitely repel the water based stain.

I guess it's time to experiment!

[J. Wilhelm]

This could be the last progress report I give in some time.  I have to move to a new place, and because of draconian rules regarding attendance at the place where I work, I'll probably have to move out slowly for several weeks, unless I'm lucky enough to find someone with a truck who'd help me move out. I don't have a lot of money available to hire movers as my rent will double on February.

Other than that, I've decided to stain the touchscreen assembly, not knowing if I'll be able to do that after I move.  Once things settle down, I may restart the project, but sadly I may not be able to restart the business until much later this year either, on account that all I could find was a 6 month lease contract.  I may or may not be able to stay at that location beyond July.  Not becoming homeless with a full time job (oddly enough) is my priority now.

I chose a simple two tone stain pattern, mostly out of convenience. Dark Red Mahogany and Golden Oak, as I did for the rest of the boombox.

I don't know if I'll work further on the grill covering the computer stick, but if I can I'd like to at least resolve the issue of the front speaker covers. There are laser wood carving panels for air conditioning air returns that would give this project a real Art Deco look. I may not have the time, though.

Oddly there's a somewhat subtle variation between the two stain tones I chose. Somuch that they almost blended together.The wood grain for the poplar fluted moulding varies a lot in terms of stain absorption, so I had to use more layers of Red Mahogany for contrast on the pine moulding, and less Golden Oak stain on the poplar, depending on location, just to enhance the contrast.

Whatever wood was used to make the Chinese craft box attained a very dark and very red colour, which should blend well with the strained pine on the main body of the boombox.  I just doubt it'll ever get glossy like the pine wood did with the spar varnish. My gut feeling it is that it will "drink" all the varnish I can throw at it.

I'm thinking that I may not care about having a glossy finish on the instrument panel and the frame of the LCD touchscreen, for obvious reasons, so I may use a satin finish polyurethane spray instead. But the exterior where the poplar and pine fluted moulding is, should match the glossy finish on the rest of the cabinet.

[Felscor]

Well sir, you have made a very fine product, and I am sorry to hear of your misfortune regarding place of residence.

I do find it a shock you're not some sort of engineer in a prosperous role, but what is certain is that you have a brain on your head and profound problem solving skills.

Best of luck in your new endeavours, and hopefully you can complete the very last steps in this project, and that it's not your last project.

[J. Wilhelm]

Well sir, you have made a very fine product, and I am sorry to hear of your misfortune regarding place of residence.

I do find it a shock you're not some sort of engineer in a prosperous role, but what is certain is that you have a brain on your head and profound problem solving skills.

Best of luck in your new endeavours, and hopefully you can complete the very last steps in this project, and that it's not your last project.

Thank you kindly, sir. Actually I am a bona fide engineer (MS) in education, if not by practice. My story and the reason as to why I'm not employed as an engineer, has to do with a choice I made back in 2002, about 7 years before I joined this forum. Basically I accepted the role of head of a family business, in part due to family loyalty, and in part because it paid more than twice the salary of an entry level Masters in Engineering job, noting that at the time, SpaceX wasn't that relevant, and options were very limited in Texas for the aerospace industry.

To escape my fate, I needed to be a monster and abandon my elderly grandfather at the time, in 2002, renouncing all attachments to his family business after graduation and fleeing far away from the effects of his old age.  That would have set me on a very different foot path. Alas, the man raised me as a father, and I'm not a monster, for which I was soundly punished, in a way I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.

PS if you're interested, I invite you to peruse my Meta Clubs thread  "The Guild of Icarus" at the Metaphysical section of this forum.

[J. Wilhelm]

With all the things that have been happening to me, it's not a surprise this project has been pushed to the back burner.  Not only is the timetable delayed,but I wonder if I'll be able to finish it at all. 

However, with my mother getting better and close to leaving for a rehabilitation center, I can at least pretend to go back to some level of normalcy, even if it's a few weeks or months. While she stabilizes I'll try to go back to my routine.  If I'm able to make the trip to see her I will, but for the moment, I neither have the $900 not the days off at work to make the trip to San Diego.

So back to my project.  I just applied a fresh coat of marine polyurethane varnish to the front front module case on the boombox.

The surface now matches the case (Red Mahogany) and side panels (Golden Oak) tones, with appropriate candy color effect.  Not a mirror finish, but I haven't tried to do that.  It would take repeated sanding and many layers of a different resin to do that.

Now I'm breaking my head trying to figure out how to make the grill covers.  I've abandoned the idea of using parallel bars, as the dimensions of the fluted moulding are not compatible with the speaker geometry.  Instead I'm trying now to use an Art Deco pattern.  I've been looking at a number of patterns only to see if something seems feasible.  I'm looking at using something like a frame made from square dowel, about ½ inch wide, and a "filigree" made from ¼ inch square dowel using these types of patterns below:

The idea is to use a mosquito mesh (black plastic) instead of cloth glued to the back of this wooden frame, and then use standoff grommets with screws to attach in front of the speakers.  I've looked at steel gutter mesh, which is cheap and very attractive, but because it's steel it's being pulled by the powerful magnets of the woofers.  I'd rather not do that.


Tonight I started playing around with patterns, and sought to adapt a design I invented in highschool for a drafting class.  This is a typical School of Architecture design exercise whereby you are given the task to design square tiles with a design on them.  However, the design is interlocking in that no matter how to turn the tile, graphics on the tile will continue on the next tile.  As you rotate individual tiles in different orientations, you get different patterns on the floor tile.  You can get some pretty interesting variations depending on the orientation of the tiles. 


So I took that design and adapted it to the proportions of the speaker panels.  Roughly a 2:3 ratio rectangle which can accommodate 6 tiles:

Can you see the individual tile pattern?

I'm not really convinced this looks "sufficiently Art Deco," and it looks like a nightmare to make by hand, even if I'm just cutting square dowel pieces.  I would place the mesh over wax paper, and glue a thick frame onto it, and then glue the pieces one by one using this pattern as a stencil.

It'd be a lot easier to use CAD CAM to laser-cut a pattern, but I don't have the money to spare at the moment.

Any ideas or suggestions are well appreciated. 

By the way, this boombox is an absolute dream to use. I've been listening to it every single day since I've moved, and it's just absolutely reliable. Lightning fast boot up and shut down. No Windows meltdowns at all. Trouble free updates. No overheating or power drops whatsoever.

The only thing is that I will have to buy a new computer module by October next year when all support for Microsoft Windows 10 ends, because the Azulle 3 is not upgradable to use Windows 11. 

No events to report, other than the batteries take forever to recharge.  I'll need a more powerful charger.  I haven't tested the ultimate duration of the batteries though.

[J. Wilhelm]

RANT WARNING: I'm just thinking aloud and bumping the thread. Maybe someone has a useful suggestion.


I'm experiencing an extreme amount of "Designers' Block." I can see the Art Deco patterns, I understand them, but somehow feels like it's way too much work, to reproduce those geometric figures in wood. I'm completely stuck on those speaker grills, and I can't get myself out of this rut.

The truth is that real life problems have absolutely killed my creative spirit. It's not like I'm busy taking care of real life problems. Quite the opposite, I have enough time at night and two days off per week. It's just that I'm so poor, that I can't do anything about real life problems!  I will most likely have to abandon my mother's remains in San Diego and let the County Coroner take over the remains. It's already been too long since she's passed away (1 month).  So all I do, day in and day out is hope that some of the assistance I've signed up to comes in (worker assistance program at my job, an application for help with a co-worker at a local church), and in the meantime I get lost in my job and my daily chores. When I do have some free time like right now, I struggle to get inspired to do anything.

Anyhow.  As I wrote above I'm not making any headway with the boombox. Next in line is doing the grills and installing the shortwave radio, plus installing the sound card between the computer and the amplifier.

The sound card will take some time, because a good, updated Hi-Res capable sound card. like the Creative X4 will cost hundreds of dollars

Right now the computer is communicating with the amplifier via Bluetooth 5.0. For daily use it's all I need. I've already tested the setup with a 2000s Era Sound Blaster card, so I know it'll work, but the idea is to go all the way up in sound quality. For now the boombox works great and keeps me entertained when I want to relax and forget about the world.  I shower at night in my fairly mid-century looking rental room, and there's absolutely nothing I enjoy more that lowering the lights, and lying in bed while I listen to some streamed music like the Diana Krall channel or if I'm in the Art Deco mood, Duke Ellington channel (to keep in character, you see?). I will do that for a couple of hours, before I'm hungry enough to raid the refrigerator around midnight and going to sleep in the wee hours of the morning.

Rinse and repeat 5 days per week.

But the Mk. IV deserves better, because the darn thing performs so immaculately, and I feel guilty about not making any progress. You'd figure that looking like a flapper (or at least my haircut, ha, ha), and listening to 20s/30s jazz would be enough to inspire me somehow, but it still doesn't    Maybe look more toward retro Sci-Fi like that in Last Exile / Range Murata illustrations?

1930s Philco "Radio Bar."

Maybe put some alcohol in it?  Anything is better with alcohol in it!

[SeVeNeVeS]

I can't help with design matters or Designers' Block.

I have suffered from a lack of enthusiasm and a block in making for a while.

This is a great project, don't give up mate, take your time and the creative juices will flow once again.

[J. Wilhelm]

I can't help with design matters or Designers' Block.

I have suffered from a lack of enthusiasm and a block in making for a while.

This is a great project, don't give up mate, take your time and the creative juices will flow once again.

Thank you, mate.I have lots of materials but little patience and imagination to put it together.  There's this fantastic black rain gutter mesh that I showed before in the thread, but it's more akin to the 1989s styling rather than the 1920s radios, plus there's something that bothers me a bit about the mesh: it's steel and it's pulled in by the magnets in the drivers. 

The easiest solution would be to make a 1/2 inch wood frame with metal standoffs and insert the steel mesh. The other easy thing would be to pull black cloth over the frame. But aesthetically either method pulls away from the Art Deco style.  And grills made from rods and dowels, while more akin to 1920s tech, do affect the diffraction of the sound.  So it's a balance of form and function.

My latest idea is to make wooden fascia that literally has holes open wide enough to show the speaker drives.  Sort of like horns built into the front of the box, and the drivers are recessed.  It would not be too detrimental to the sound and a bezel surrounding the cone could even be engineered as a dispersion waveguide for the sound.  Only one or two decorative wooden bars would protect the cardboard cones of the drivers.

A little bit like this Volkswagen sedan instrument fascia with the recessed driver's cone instead of the speedometer: