Category Archives: jukebox

Repairing A Desktop Jukebox

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Although vinyl records have had a bit of resurgence, they are far away from their heyday. There was a time when 45 RPM singles were not just how you listened to music at home, but they also populated the jukeboxes you’d find in your local malt shop or anywhere else in public. [Fran] has an old 45 RPM “desktop jukebox” from RCA. It really isn’t a jukebox, but an automatic record changer dating from the 1950s. The problem is, the cartridge was toast. Replacing it wasn’t a big problem, even though replacing it with an exact duplicate wasn’t possible. But, …read more

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This is How the Fonz Would Play MP3s

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Here at Hackaday, we love to see old hardware treated with respect. A lovingly restored radio or TV that’s part of our electronic heritage is a joy to behold, and while we understand the desire to stream media from a funky retro case, it really grates when someone throws away the original guts to make room for new electronics.

Luckily, this Seeburg jukebox wall remote repurposing is not one of those projects. [Scott M. Baker] seems to have an appreciation for the finer things, and when he scored this classic piece of Mid-Century Americana, he knew just what to do. …read more

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Arduino and Pi Breathe New Life into Jukebox

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What do you do when someone gives you a Wurlitzer 3100 jukebox from 1969, but keeps all the records? If you are like [Tijuana Rick], you grab an Arduino and a Rasberry Pi and turn it into a really awesome digital music player.

We’ll grant you, making a music player out of a Raspberry Pi isn’t all that cutting edge, but restoration and integration work is really impressive. The machine had many broken switches that had been hastily repaired, so [Rick] had to learn to create silicone molds and cast resin to create replacements. You can see and hear the …read more

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Hackerspace Jukebox!

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Depending on whom you talk to, music can be an integral part of getting work done. At the Hackheim hackerspace in Trondheim, Norway, [Nikolai Ovesen] thought that the previous system of playing music over Bluetooth took away from the collaborative, interactive spirit of the space. Solution: a weekend build of a Raspberry Pi-powered jukebox.

The jukebox is simply laser-cut from plywood and bolted together. Inside, the touchscreen is mounted using double-sided tape, with the Raspberry Pi 3 and buck converter mounted on its rear with motherboard spacers. An IBM ThinkPad power cable was re-purposed and modified so it supplies the …read more

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Bantam-sized Jukebox Reproduction Tops the Fabrication Charts

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Restoring a genuine vintage jukebox is a fun project, but finding suitable candidates can be a difficult proposition. Not only can a full-size machine take a huge bite out of your wallet, it can take up a lot of room, too. So a replica miniature jukebox might be just the thing.

We have to admit, at first glance [Allan_D_Murray]’s project seemed like just another juke upgrade. It was only after diving into his very detailed build log that we realized this classic-looking juke is only about 30″ (80 cm) tall. It’s not exactly diminutive, but certainly more compact than the …read more

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Bantam-sized Jukebox Reproduction Tops the Fabrication Charts

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Restoring a genuine vintage jukebox is a fun project, but finding suitable candidates can be a difficult proposition. Not only can a full-size machine take a huge bite out of your wallet, it can take up a lot of room, too. So a replica miniature jukebox might be just the thing.

We have to admit, at first glance [Allan_D_Murray]’s project seemed like just another juke upgrade. It was only after diving into his very detailed build log that we realized this classic-looking juke is only about 30″ (80 cm) tall. It’s not exactly diminutive, but certainly more compact than the …read more

Continue reading Bantam-sized Jukebox Reproduction Tops the Fabrication Charts→

Jukebox Gets Raspberry Pi Update, but It’s Not for Streaming

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Here’s a retro-electronic rehab with a twist. Normally we’d expect a jukebox Raspberry Pi project to replace the obsolete electromechanical guts with streamed music, but an intact jukebox with a Raspberry Pi remote control is a nice change.

Old-time jukes like [revnhoj]’s 1954 AMI F120 are electromechanical marvels. Stocked with 60 45-rpm discs in a horizontal rack, an arm mounted on a track would retrieve the correct disc and place it on the turntable to play the selected song. The unit in the video below was the main jukebox, which supported “wall boxes” mounted at booths so patrons could select …read more

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Jukebox Gets Raspberry Pi Update, but It’s Not for Streaming

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Here’s a retro-electronic rehab with a twist. Normally we’d expect a jukebox Raspberry Pi project to replace the obsolete electromechanical guts with streamed music, but an intact jukebox with a Raspberry Pi remote control is a nice change.

Old-time jukes like [revnhoj]’s 1954 AMI F120 are electromechanical marvels. Stocked with 60 45-rpm discs in a horizontal rack, an arm mounted on a track would retrieve the correct disc and place it on the turntable to play the selected song. The unit in the video below was the main jukebox, which supported “wall boxes” mounted at booths so patrons could select …read more

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Payphone Boombox Straight Out of the 1990’s.

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Due largely to the overwhelming dominance of mobile phones, payphones are a sometimes overlooked relic from the 90’s and earlier eras. While seldom seen out in the wild these days, they can however still be acquired for a moderate fee — how many of you knew that? Setting out to prove the lasting usefulness of the payphone, Instructables user [Fuzzy-Wobble] has dialed the retro spirit way past eleven to his ’90 from the ’90s’ payphone boombox.

Conspicuously mounted in the corner of his office, a rangefinder sets the phone to ringing when somebody walks by — a fantastic trap for …read more

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Levitating Table Makes the Sound of This Holochess Jukebox

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A bubbling Wurlitzer juke would be a prized addition to the classic picture of a man cave — brass-railed bar, kegerator, pool table, tin signs and neon on the walls. But it would take a particularly geeky abode to give a proper home to this Millenium Falcon holochess table jukebox. And a particularly awesome one at that.

It all started with a very detailed and realistic replica of a holochess table made by [Jim Shima]’s friend. A lot of time and care went into the prop, and [Jim] was determined not to alter the look while installing the media player …read more

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