The AACC Alien Audio Control Center

All of the component cables are finished :) this includes 4 x RCA audio and two video. One video to go into the back panel and one to go into the AV-HDMI box.



And the ground distro block came. I will paint the red caps black :)



Maybe later tonight I will make up the speaker cables that go to the back panel, then all of the wiring for that will be completed :)
 
Had a bit of luck on the HDMI plate.



I had a few different ones kicking around. Turns out all I needed to do was snip out two bars, perfect fit :)

I've ordered these as I don't have the correct drill bits atm.



I've now fixed the power supply down and once the football is finished later I will try and mock fit it as I am starting to worry everything is not going to fit in. I may need to mount a couple of bits on the back panel outside :)
 
Aerial cable shortened and braided.



Edit. I have cut a recess in the ground distro block.



So they can fit together.



I got a bit of a shock earlier. I fitted the back (upside down how I want it) and realised that space inside the case was at a severe premium. Whilst this is not a PC it's still an ITX case and a bloody small one at that.

With the distro block so that it fits the fuse the fuse will live under the 120mm fan right at the bottom/back of the case. The distro block did not fit until I cut it.

Thankfully I have some space up in the roof above the unit so I will likely fit the HDMI converter and the USB power block there, providing the block is not too big (worriedly goes off to Ebay to see if they state the size..)
 
Last edited:
Excalabur50 said:
I really hope it all fits after all the effort you've put in so far................
Click to expand...

That was exactly my thinking yesterday morning :D So I bolted on the back of the case to see what I had to work with. The fuse and ground block were hitting eachother (this is sat on the floor behind the PSU) but it was only because they have large flanged feet. With them slotted together it fits really well, and the fuse goes right in underneath the 120mm fan so right out of the way.

The head unit isn't very deep at 150mm, and only half of it is that deep (the top part where the DVD loads). I also have about 25mm on the top of it (where I will be mounting the HDMI converter and USB power, I've measured that now and it fits easily) and then it's just doing the best job of the wiring that I can. I have a method for that, too. Basically I measure the wire length from the PSU wires I made to the back of the loom for the head unit. I then cut them (through the braid and the wire) and then melt the braid to stop it fraying. Then I pull it down the wire coming out of the PSU until it reaches the length of the wire I am going to be connecting it to on the loom. Then cut off the excess wire (but leaving the excess braid) solder it to the loom and then slide it up, covering right up to the back of the plug.

It's mostly wiring I will have to manage, but most of it will be down on the floor, below the fan level.
 
Thanks man. Me too :D I am at the point now where I can do a paper list of jobs to be done (at the start I'd have written a ten page essay FFS lol) and am doing them one at a time and crossing them off. Problem is there are a few parts that are not here yet so I think I will just take a week or two off and wait until they're all here until I carry on (my famous last words, expect a fifty pic log tomorrow lol). The main thing I have left to do now is make the rails the unit sits on, which sandwiches into the PSU giving everything strength.

The biggest job left is making the custom feet for the rig to stand on. So I think as of tomorrow I will start on those, providing it's not too humid as it has been. Whilst I am there I can cut the support rails.. Still not decided on what colour combo I want for the feet though. Undecided on Red/Clear/Red etc or Red/smoked (more like black without light) Red etc.

I think this time though to make my life easier I am going to weld the acrylic first, then cut the feet out. This way they're all one part ready to be ghetto lathed rather than having to weld all little bits.
 
Been a bit quiet for the last couple of days, but not because I stopped doing anything. I've mostly been working on the stereo's main plug and the wiring on it. Any way, today I wanted to fit the fuse and ground distro block.

I drilled a few holes.



Then bolted them in.



After doing some reading I realised that the permanent live switch (12v up to about 12 amps) needed to be beefier than the 12mm button I ordered. It has a claimed maximum amperage of about 4, nowhere near enough. So I decided to use one of those red switches as this thing can handle about 18 amps @ 12v. The initial problem was that these things lock a switch in the off position, not in the on position. I wanted it on and tamper proof so I ground off the tab on the plate.



The switch and back panel..



OK so I grabbed some green vinyl.



Then mapped the switch onto it.



And cut it out and stuck it down.



And fitted it. I had to fit it upside down due to clearance issues with the mains power socket, but I'm OK with that.



And this is how tight it was..



Some more wiring to to this afternoon. I can finally fit the main ground and 12v removing the ridiculous amount of excess from the PSU :D
 
OK so it isn't much but I just fitted the main 12v and ground. Very happy with how it looks !





I was going to paint the little red caps but instead I just bought this for £1.75



Which should (hopefully) punch out little black vinyl circles :D
 
Last update for the day :D I cut out a rough template for the drill holes.



I'm hoping that those Dewalt bits arrive tomorrow so I can get cracking on finishing this part. I also found out my plotter can not cut 3M Dinoc. Not the end of the world but a PITA.
 
Heh, one of those days. So I needed some cable ties (black) as I seem to have ran out. I was certain that somewhere I should have a load of red cable ties (from my wife's PC project) but instead found this.



I bought it for another project and it had never been used. I'd had the sense to take it apart and paint it all black, but I had put some silver Dinoc on it. Any way I was absolutely hell bent determined to use this thing as I know it could really help.



Of course, to find out if it would fit I had to pretty much rough assemble most of the unit before tearing it down again. It was supposed to be one thing, just soldering on a live wire and fitting it to the fuse at one end and the switch at the other :D

Any way, the upshot is that it fits lovely.





I had to make some temporary tags to hold the 12v wire in. Must go and buy some now.



I tested the blower at both 5v and 12v and tbh it's not really that noisy at 12v. I mean yeah, you can hear it but it's no issue as I have fitted a regular 3 pin fan connector to it and will just run it from the power aerial wire also.
 
So a morning of ups and downs. Up until this point I had not made any mistakes that needed to be rectified. However, last night I realised I had lost one of my meds that helps me sleep and so I have had three hours sleep.

The power button and power supply thing for the HDMI converter came today. I set it all up and plugged it into the TV and it works really well. Not 100% crystal clear, but maybe that's just the fact that I was playing a DVD on a 65" TV. It's more than good enough though.

So, I fitted it and wired it permanently to the loom.



I then tried to fit the power button but soon realised the hole was not 16mm. I went off to the kitchen to grind it out (5mm alu and 1mm steel behind and in front) and underestimated how long it would take. I toggled my brain to "don't bother protecting it just be really careful" over and over. In the end the dumb side of my brain won and after about an hour and fifteen minutes (yes, it really took that long) disaster struck :(



So thinking quickly I designed and cut this.



And.



I'm actually really happy with that. Put it this way, I've had disasters end a lot worse. I quite like how that looks :)
 
Dicehunter said:
That's quite a happy accident, The vinyls make it stand out :)
Click to expand...

Yeah I actually really like it. That 3M vinyl is a joy to work with as well. All I have left to do now apart from wiring is cut the two supports for the stereo (about a minute, when I can be bothered to measure it up) and then grind out a bit of the surround that fits onto the stereo, so you can see all of the power button.

All that I really need to finish it completely is the aerial, but you watch that will take weeks lol.
 
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