Speaker grills...

[motorollin]

Ok, I know there are some clever people here who are more practical than I am, so hopefully I can get some good advice.

I've almost finished my MAME/UAE cabinet but I'm held back by the speaker grills. Here's a picture of where the speakers will be:



The holes for the speakers are 64mm (2 1/2 inches) in diameter. I want some kind of grill covering each hole, but I would prefer for it not to be visibly attached. In other words, I don't want to screw it on from underneath. I tried cutting down the speaker grill which came with the speakers then bending the edges up to make it the correct diameter to fit inside the hole, but it was too inflexible and by the time I had finished it was too distorted to fit properly (and looked awful).

I then considered chiselling a square around the holes a couple of mm deep, gluing a square grill in to the chiselled out area, then using filler on the part which overlaps the wood, leaving visible grill only where the hole is. It should all be flush with the wood. The problem is that the cabinet is made of MDF which tends to fray when you cut or chisel it, and I have a feeling the edges of the chiselled area would look untidy.

So, the first person to come up with a viable option gets a pint on me. Hodgkinson I know you like building stuff, so I'm expecting a reply from you ;-)

--
moto

[bloodline]

I just want to add that Moto does hold true to his promise of buying pints!

[motorollin]

Indeed :-) But you bought more, and lunch... so I still owe you ;-)

--
moto

[bloodline]

motorollin wrote:
Indeed :-) But you bought more, and lunch... so I still owe you ;-)

--
moto

My prefered method of ensuring you return for more beer related festivities! :-)

[Oliver]

Hi Moto,

Does the grill have to be metal?

If you use a speaker cloth, it should be easy enough to construct a cylindrical insert, over which the cloth would be drawn, like a drum skin. The cylinder would be inserted from the inside.

You would probably still need to do something about the edging of the MDF, for cosmetic purposes. You could possibly try rounding the edges, similar to a rounded waveguide of high end speaker cabinets.

This technique could possibly be adapted to shape a light, malleable metal grill.

[Speelgoedmannetje]

What are you gonna put in it? I'm currently turning my Xbox (not 360)into an emulator machine (and mediacentre), and it does it's work veeeery well (because programmers can focus on one single piece of hardware).

[motorollin]

@Oliver
That's a brilliant solution! You win :-D

:pint:
(An ePint will have to do for now...)

@Speel
I've already got an original XBOX with a mod chip. I have replaced the hard drive with a nice big one, XBOX Media Center, loads of emulators and games... it's great :-) I bought arcade machine controls from Happ Controls and soldered them on to the PCB of an XBOX pad, so I can control the emulator games with the arcade controls. It's great - feels just like the real thing! I'll post loads of pics when it's all done.

--
moto

[Speelgoedmannetje]

Okay, and now I am beginning to feel really jealous. :lol:

[Oliver]

motorollin wrote:
...An ePint will have to do for now...

Now if I can just figure out how to get e-pissed..

motorollin wrote:
I've already got an original XBOX with a mod chip. I have replaced the hard drive with a nice big one, XBOX Media Center, loads of emulators and games... it's great :-) I bought arcade machine controls from Happ Controls and soldered them on to the PCB of an XBOX pad, so I can control the emulator games with the arcade controls. It's great - feels just like the real thing! I'll post loads of pics when it's all done.

 :-o  Wow, you really love your games!

edit-I just remembered I have an arcade style driving game rig sitting in my games room. I was thinking just how extravagent your gaming hobby is. I forgot that I have vetured down that path a little myself.

My driving rig is a PVC frame, with Honda CRX seat, heavy arcade grade steering wheel, sequential shifter, three pedal set, and a bread-board interface waiting to be made into a PCB (I will deisgn a hack to make it work with PS2 GT4).

[motorollin]

@Speel
Then build one yourself :-) I had the cabinet made for me since I'm not good at DIY. But everything else I did myself. It's not that difficult, and not particularly expensive. The arcade controls are really cheap, and you only need basic tools to do it. I'll post a full report once it's done ;-)

@Oliver
If I'm ever in Aus I'll buy you a real one ;-) And yes I do love games and I've always wanted an arcade machine!

--
moto

[motorollin]

Oliver wrote:
edit-I just remembered I have an arcade style driving game rig sitting in my games room. I was thinking just how extravagent your gaming hobby is. I forgot that I have vetured down that path a little myself.

Heh, the arcade machine isn't that extravagant. The XBOX was a Christmas present years ago, and the cabinet was built for me as a birthday present. These were the most expensive components. The only other things I have bought were the arcade controls, which were only a few pounds each (there are 8 buttons and a joystick, which I think was about £10), the translucent marquee at the top (which IIRC cost me about £50) and the graphics overlay for the control panel, which Adz printed for me for the cost of postage :-D

Oliver wrote:
My driving rig is a PVC frame, with Honda CRX seat, heavy arcade grade steering wheel, sequential shifter, three pedal set, and a bread-board interface waiting to be made into a PCB (I will deisgn a hack to make it work with PS2 GT4).

What games does it work with currently? I'd love to use it with Crazy Taxi - that game is awesome in the arcades :-D

--
moto

[Oliver]

@moto
If you're in Oz, let me know.  :-) Pints are never unwelcome.

The driving game rig will work with any PC or PS2 game that accepts steering wheel/pedal controls. The electronics is basically the same as an analogue joystic. IIRC the steering wheel has 270 degree rotation, which doesn't work very well in GT4. I have a mod in mind for this, which re-maps the voltage range of the steering wheel pot, to something more useful.

I don't currently have a machine to use with the rig though, and probably won't have for a while yet. I have vague plans for a media center PC, driving my projector, to use with both home theatre and gaming. I'm not sure how it is all going to pan out though, and it is not really a high priority for me.

edit- your MAME rig sounds like a damn good setup. MAME on demand is always a good thing. I also like the results from building with genuine arcade parts. The prices are very attractive, and the results are really good (professional?).

[Speelgoedmannetje]

motorollin wrote:
@Speel
Then build one yourself :-) I had the cabinet made for me since I'm not good at DIY. But everything else I did myself. It's not that difficult, and not particularly expensive. The arcade controls are really cheap, and you only need basic tools to do it. I'll post a full report once it's done ;-)
--
moto

I can do it all by myself indeed, but the point is that I lack time. :-S

[motorollin]

My speaker cloth finally arrived today. There's loads of it, and just as well as it took me a few goes to get this right. In the end the material I used for the ring to hold the cloth in place was the thin, flexible plastic which went around my birthday cake! (Washed of course). I spent ages trying to cut pieces of speaker cloth in a perfect circle just larger than the diameter of the ring and then folding the edges up and attaching them... this resulted in me losing my temper. So I ended up cutting a large square of speaker cloth, laying it over the hole in the cabinet, and then just using the plastic ring to extrude the cloth in to the hole. It worked exceptionally well!

View from the top (inside the upper part of the cabinet) showing the plastic ring in place

How it looks from underneath (this will look better once the inside of the hole is painted black)

Thanks again Oli :-D :pint:

--
moto

[Oliver]

motorollin wrote:
...It worked exceptionally well!
Thanks again Oli :-D :pint:

Sweet. Glad it worked out.

edit- the result looks good. pretty slick.