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First Build - 27” Mini-Pin Cab Budget Build


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#61 rickh

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Posted 07 January 2018 - 08:41 PM

whitewater31,

 

I used acrylic because it was cheap, about $20 US. I bought a 20"x24" piece & the store cut it down to about 15-1/2" x 24" for free. If I got the next larger size the price jumped up quite a bit. It's quite thick so I don't think it will crack, but I am concerned about scratching. If it doesn't hold up then I'll have to have a custom piece of tempered glass made.

I've learned that glass is cheap, but tempered glass is too expensive and Acrylic is affordable.  Someone mentioned that if you take your cut and ground glass to a service that will temper the glass for a 'reasonable' rate.  I have not verified this.  



#62 Brer Frog

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Posted 07 January 2018 - 09:09 PM

 

whitewater31,

 

I used acrylic because it was cheap, about $20 US. I bought a 20"x24" piece & the store cut it down to about 15-1/2" x 24" for free. If I got the next larger size the price jumped up quite a bit. It's quite thick so I don't think it will crack, but I am concerned about scratching. If it doesn't hold up then I'll have to have a custom piece of tempered glass made.

I've learned that glass is cheap, but tempered glass is too expensive and Acrylic is affordable.  Someone mentioned that if you take your cut and ground glass to a service that will temper the glass for a 'reasonable' rate.  I have not verified this.  

 

 

Rick -

What did you do or use for the glass in your mini-cab?



#63 Brer Frog

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Posted 22 January 2018 - 06:24 PM

There's another thread asking about "Alternative for a custom lockdown bar" so figured I should post a couple photos of the lockdown bar I made the other day when the weather was decent. It's made from a piece of 1" x 4" pine I had. I was able to cut the rabbet or notch where it overlaps the glass with a circular saw & then filed & sanded the edges to round them off. It's just temporarily sitting on the cabinet while I decide how to fasten it down.

 

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#64 RustyCardores

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Posted 27 January 2018 - 11:10 PM

There's another thread asking about "Alternative for a custom lockdown bar" so figured I should post a couple photos of the lockdown bar I made the other day when the weather was decent. It's made from a piece of 1" x 4" pine I had. I was able to cut the rabbet or notch where it overlaps the glass with a circular saw & then filed & sanded the edges to round them off. It's just temporarily sitting on the cabinet while I decide how to fasten it down.
 
attachicon.gifIMG_3091C.jpg    attachicon.gifIMG_3092C.jpg


When it comes time to paint or varnish, make sure that you use a two pack product or your hands will wear or ripple the finish very quickly.

Perhaps even consider a laminated wrap?


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#65 rickh

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Posted 16 February 2018 - 02:01 AM

Mike,

 

That lock bar looks perfect. Great job!  



#66 Brer Frog

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Posted 05 March 2018 - 03:38 AM

A little more progress was made.

I've been working on the speaker panel, or my case it's actually a panel that hides the speakers. I wanted to make it easy to remove because it covers the monitor controls, just in case they have to be accessed. I used a pair of magnetic latches that are used on cabinets. They are screwed on & can be adjusted to make things fit properly. The matching metal plate is epoxied onto the inside of the speaker panel.

Then drilled a bunch of speaker holes. I can always drill more holes in case they’re needed to let more sound through, however the back is open so that should help.

I sprayed on some flat black paint & thought it turned out OK. My goal was to camouflage the speakers so when the backglass displayed a DMD with the speaker images it didn't look like there were 4 speakers.

 

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#67 Brer Frog

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Posted 09 June 2018 - 11:30 AM

Finally getting back to the mini-cab.

The Pinscape controller is wired in & works. Just have to figure out where to permanently mount it so it’s not in the way of other components & that the nudge function is not affected too much by speaker vibration.

Also have to get the PC inside the cabinet. It‘s currently my desktop PC so I need to get a replacement for it first. Would also like to add a couple exciters for feedback.

I want to finish the cabinet patching & painting so it looks somewhat finished. I have no ventilation holes or fans in the cabinet. I’ll probably cut one or two holes in the back near the top & see how warm things get without adding fans.

Just when I think the project is almost done it seems there’s a bunch more to do. My simple project of building a wood box & putting a TV in it is taking too long.

Here are a few photos. The first two show AFM which displays the DMD & speaker images. The other two photos are The Amazing Spider Man which displays the whole backglass image. While not a perfect solution, the black filler grille panel below the monitor works out OK to hide the speakers.

Attached Files



#68 rickh

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Posted 10 June 2018 - 11:54 AM

Bravo!  Looks great.  What audio amp did you settle with?  BTW- I never had problems with the speaker causing unwanted noise on the accelerometers.  Perhaps the gain is set too high?   

Finally getting back to the mini-cab.

The Pinscape controller is wired in & works. Just have to figure out where to permanently mount it so it’s not in the way of other components & that the nudge function is not affected too much by speaker vibration.

Also have to get the PC inside the cabinet. It‘s currently my desktop PC so I need to get a replacement for it first. Would also like to add a couple exciters for feedback.

I want to finish the cabinet patching & painting so it looks somewhat finished. I have no ventilation holes or fans in the cabinet. I’ll probably cut one or two holes in the back near the top & see how warm things get without adding fans.

Just when I think the project is almost done it seems there’s a bunch more to do. My simple project of building a wood box & putting a TV in it is taking too long.

Here are a few photos. The first two show AFM which displays the DMD & speaker images. The other two photos are The Amazing Spider Man which displays the whole backglass image. While not a perfect solution, the black filler grille panel below the monitor works out OK to hide the speakers.



#69 Brer Frog

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Posted 11 June 2018 - 10:13 PM

 

Bravo!  Looks great.  What audio amp did you settle with?  BTW- I never had problems with the speaker causing unwanted noise on the accelerometers.  Perhaps the gain is set too high?   

Finally getting back to the mini-cab.

The Pinscape controller is wired in & works. Just have to figure out where to permanently mount it so it’s not in the way of other components & that the nudge function is not affected too much by speaker vibration.

Also have to get the PC inside the cabinet. It‘s currently my desktop PC so I need to get a replacement for it first. Would also like to add a couple exciters for feedback.

I want to finish the cabinet patching & painting so it looks somewhat finished. I have no ventilation holes or fans in the cabinet. I’ll probably cut one or two holes in the back near the top & see how warm things get without adding fans.

Just when I think the project is almost done it seems there’s a bunch more to do. My simple project of building a wood box & putting a TV in it is taking too long.

Here are a few photos. The first two show AFM which displays the DMD & speaker images. The other two photos are The Amazing Spider Man which displays the whole backglass image. While not a perfect solution, the black filler grille panel below the monitor works out OK to hide the speakers.

 

 

I'm using the 2.1 channel TPA3116D2 amp. It's driving a pair of 2" spkrs in the backbox and a small 3-way bookshelf spkr that I just laid inside the main cabinet. I had a pair of them that were not being used & figured why not connect one to the amp. I am surprised how much low freq thumps & bumps I'm feeling. It's a cheap indoor/outdoor spkr with a 4" woofer & supposedly handles 40W. I could strap it down to the cabinet and/or point it down over a hole cut into the cab bottom. IOW keep it instead of buying a real subwoofer.

 

The perforated spkr grille below the monitor seems to be reducing the high freqs a bit. I need a table with some clear vocals to really hear how much is being blocked. I can always drill more and/or larger grille holes.

 

I have to play with the accelerometer setting. Mine is at the default gain of 100.and IIRC the Pinscape instructions say to it at 1,000. That's something I'll have to experiment with it. I've read some people had issues with spkr vibration affecting the accelerometer & were finding ways to isolate the board from vibration. Right now I don't have a problem, but the nudging effect seems very minimal. I couldn't find any soft foam to place the board on so it's sitting on some bubble wrap to isolate it. Just another little thing to play around with.