Antique Radio Cabinet PC Build!

[Epitome_Inc]

Hey guys!
This will be a build log for my project "Antique Radio Cabinet PC Build". I purchased the parts a couple months ago and have been using them in a LanCool II-W case while I work on things. Still undecided if I'll sell it or my other case (Sigma LaVie LBNWBP) when it's ready. Here's a link to the parts I have already. I've picked up the radio I'll be using for the build. Here's the first pic - more to come soon when I can get at it. My wife will be assisting with refinishing the cabinet once I'm closer to completion. I have several ideas I'm toying around with.

• Custom sleeved cables using old-looking tweed, so I'm investigating the best place to get exactly what I want here in Canada. If you know where please tell me. I'd rather not, but I may resort to sleeving things myself.
• Some vacuum tubes with LEDs in them simulating function. The old controls and tubes are still in the cabinet, so if I can salvage and repurpose it that might work. Pic of what I'd like is attached.
• Raspberry Pi to do a few things
  • Replace the front radio frequency panel with a small display of system temps
  • Convert the dials in the front to useful things like volume control, power, reset, etc.
• We may/may not replace the front fabric, but either way I'm thinking I'll build an intake fan 'array' in behind it. The fabric should make for a decent dust filter (maybe?).
• I'm considering whether I want to just buy one of those aluminum open-air frames online to have a platform for building on. It would probably save me a TON of planning and fabrication, but I'm not sure it would give me the look I want.

I hope to start disassembly tonight and mock up a cardboard representation of the inside and my components so I can begin looking at placement. So many decisions! C&C from you fine folks are welcome and appreciated as I go. Thanks!

 

[G0dSpeed]

Really cool idea with the small screen and the LED lit vacuum tubes!

[Epitome_Inc]

1 minute ago, G0dSpeed said:

Really cool idea with the small screen and the LED lit vacuum tubes!

Thanks man! I'm hoping I can find a sufficiently retro-looking temp display skin so it doesn't stand out too much from the rest of the cabinet.

[Epitome_Inc]

I got back into the garage last night to do some disassembly and take measurements for planning. I'll try to salvage the original radio component tray. This just came to me now, but I'm going to see how it would look to remove all the old electronics on the left side of the tray (along with all wiring underneath) and mount the power supply there. Then I'd have the vacuum tubes to the right of the power supply, all nicely lit. Then the custom-sleeved power cables coming down through the top rear of the mobo cavity. I also did some research into using an Arduino micro and a rotary encoder to make a media control knob. This video makes it look fairly easy, and the parts aren't expensive. I actually had a far more difficult time finding reasonably era-accurate knobs I like. Still working on that. I also started sourcing fans and various rear IO cable extensions since the current plan is to have the motherboard completely inside the case. I have attached my first draft of the layout I'm throwing around (feel free to laugh at my Paint skills). This would use the open bench frame commonly sold on Amazon. The two bottom fans will be about... 6 inches(?) off the ground, and all intakes will be filtered. I may add a fan on the bench frame blowing right-to-left to push away the hotter CPU air since the GPU will block some of the direct airflow from the bottom intakes. After this post it may be a while before I have something else to add. I need to start buying a few things and testing layouts now. Again, C&C is welcome - you guys often have some great ideas which I'm happy to hear.

[Epitome_Inc]

Ok, got a bunch more accomplished today. Hooray for stat holidays! I've already disassembled the electronics tray, removing all the components. Today I:

• Finished removing the old solder. Some of it was really thick and required a small propane torch to get off. I'll post pics of all the parts I removed once I clean them up.
• Drilled out the rivets and removed a couple mounts from the tray as well in preparation for sanding and priming, which I also did (pic attached).
• Removed the interior veneer panels since they were both warped, and one of them caused the top joint to split (pic attached).I'll glue/clamp that back together after I've stripped it in a few weeks.
• Drilled out the blank pins on the bottom of the vacuum tubes to 7/32 so the 5mm orange LEDs I'm ordering will fit up in there. Hopefuly they shine through into the glass well enough.
• Yesterday I made life-size cardboard replicas of the motherboard and power supply for test fitting.
• I have also ordered the open bench to put inside the radio, and it should be here in a couple days. It has a power supply mount included so I'll see if it will work to mount the power supply to the electronics tray as I planned.

[kkpatel87]

On 5/18/2020 at 4:56 PM, Epitome_Inc said:

-snip-

Cool project and good progress so far!

 

I would recommend using an AIDA64 compatible panel (here is one example). There is a document on the AIDA64 site showing the compatible panels.

[neilrocks25]

Vintage tubes can be worth some money in the audio world so don't cut them up.

[Fraya]

this is nice and interesting build, like it when people actually put some thought into a project and custom build it. 

also nice to build a pc rig from a theme or something it can be related to. 

 

the last few builds i have done are based on planets.  with my latest "Mars build" the best one so far. 

 

will you be using the front panel where the mesh is for intake, fans and new fan filter material? 

[Epitome_Inc]

On 5/25/2020 at 5:21 PM, Frayia said:

will you be using the front panel where the mesh is for intake, fans and new fan filter material? 

Yes, I'll do up a wooden panel to go in there with fabric on the outside and a couple large holes for fans on the inside. The paint drawing in my first post shows how I want the fan setup to be. Thanks for the feedback!

[Epitome_Inc]

On 5/25/2020 at 3:49 PM, neilrocks25 said:

Vintage tubes can be worth some money in the audio world so don't cut them up.

I'm using them all in the build (except one that's clearly broken). But I did look them all up. At least one is worth about $70.

[Epitome_Inc]

Quick update:
I've been super busy with work, so not alot has gotten done. But I did finish cleaning out the inside of the cabinet, glued/clamped the cabinet to fix a couple cracks, and planed and cut some wood to act as the upper and lower ends of the inner cabinet cavity. I need to strip and refinish the cabinet next, along with a half dozen electronics and programming projects as part of this.

[Epitome_Inc]

I betcha thought I had given up! In the past 3 months I haven't gotten a lot done, but there is some progress. I've been working on rebuilding a 50cc scooter I bought. I've stripped the cabinet almost completely, there's just some cracks and crevices to clean out before I refinish. But the big update I wanted to share has to do with the custom hardware display I want to put into the front panel where the frequency gauges were. A HUGE shoutout to Jays2Cents for their video showing how to do this. I had almost given up on this idea, but it would seem that Aida64 Extreme has exactly what I need. I haven't sourced a proper screen yet (roughly 6" LCD w/ HDMI), and this isn't my final product. But it's a mostly done proof-of-concept. I've attached a picture of the original gauge, along with my test version that I put together in about 4 hours. I used their custom gauge option and created a gauge in Paint.net to show my GPU temp. I added the red area to show what's considered a danger zone for that card. There are 16 steps to each gauge, so I had to create 16 PNG images. It's hard to see at this scale, but the indicator needle has a bottom piece that changes angles as it goes across the gauge to give it a 3D look. I just copied it for the other gauges, but I'll adjust them as necessary for the final build. Let me know what you think.

[DJ46]

I believe I saw your comment under that video. I thought: "Now where have I heard about a radio cabinet build before?"

 

I hope the screen works out, it looks great.

Though I would consider labeling the GPU memory usage as "VRAM" because my first thought was that if the GPU is "Ded", you can usually tell without looking at a gauge

[Epitome_Inc]

Ok... things have changed a bit. My family sold our house and moved out a month ago. While clearing out the garage, we found that the radio cabinet had warped and split beyond repair. I was very upset, to say the least. But, I have a good friend (shoutout to the Dominator) who took pity on me and found a new radio cabinet that in my opinion looks even better, is in better shape, and is functional! It's a Canadian General Electric Co, model KM76. There's only minor damage to the cabinet that my buddy and I can fix pretty easily in his shop. I'm trying to find someone willing to purchase the working innards to fund some of the parts I'll need to buy for the build. If anyone knows any antique radio guys on the Canadian west coast please let me know. There's one on FB I'll be contacting today.

Once we've both had our shots I'll work on it in Dom's shop. I need all new measurements and a rethink of the layout. But I think this will look gorgeous when it's finally done.

[banana_havoc]

I just finished rebuilding my old PC for future use as an HTPC, I love how this is going. and that it will just look like an antique if you put it in the livingroom.