PROJECT: Denon CD to PC HTPC - ***FINISHED***

Denon 1520 to PC - The struggle within - my HTPC

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I've started this thread here after posting the prelims in the modding forum, got some advice and some things to think about, If appropriate ill continue the question asking in that thread (search Uber Noob) and post the workings here.

my CD player (fleabay for 30 quids - original £800+ in 1988 or sommit)



This thing has been like a reverse tardis, plenty big enough on the outside but much smaller on the inside.

my original plan was to put my current beige box PCs (currently rattling itself to death) insides into a cd player so it matches my HIFI stack, but due to the ebay member i bought it off telling me the height of the denon was 5.3 inches not including the feet, it actually was including the feet so cant fit full height PCI cards into it.

so I bought a new mobo (in the post apparently) its a KOB KT400 FDSX 17quid on fleabay


This one has the onboard lan and sound i need, but also has ddr 333 / 400 slots so i had to get more memory

this is the player with the top off - the second top is a 2mm sheet of aluminium or steel, pretty thick anyway, wont be putting that back.

 

next is a shot of the facia off - another space limiting factor is the facia is acutally about 2.5" deep - so less room inside



this one is of the components removed from the front, digital out on off switch (far right) line out level pot middle and the mic in all from the front - might do sommit with these at some point



So after gutting out the optical tray, the PCBs and all the bits n bobs i was left with this carcass...


As you can see that plastic tray takes up a whole loada room - especially the corner posts...

 

So out it came, i thought i could have just the frame left but unfortunely theres nothing to connect the fascia too, and theres a 1/4 inch gap round the panel at the back....


so out came my b'day present from the weekend B&D rotary tool, and i set to work splattering myself with bits of hot plastic



After about 1 hour of pain i had:



Still very rough and not quite finished it allowed me to at least attempt a dry fit of components



All the bits in here are old bits that i have lying around in boxes and are approximate in size.

At this stage the plan is to reuse the phono connectors - 4 holes on the right, for the audio line in / out from the mobo, what was the digital coax out hole (the round one on the left) for the svideo connector, and the square one (previously the optical) to mount the lan. all depends on space and fitting for fans

 

Update:

Due to some of the issues i have come accross over the last week I have made some purchases and borrowed some bits:

Maplin Electronics
Mini din panel mount socket (for the svideo connector at the back)
Some plastic 6mm spacers for mounting the motherboard - ill cut these to size
an RJ45 coupler ill make my ethernet socket out of

And from LinITX i bought a silverstone 60mm fan + controller and an agp riser card

I got a 220watt shuttle PSU from my housemate, but need to buy an atx extender cable as the power cable is about 3 inches long ..

Next steps
Clean up the chassis the plastic tray and remove the fascia off the dennon cd tray, start cutting the whole for the PSU and wondering where the hell im going to put everything / mounts etc.

sketchup thinks it all fits...

 

The strugle within is a metallica song so maybe you should theme it that way and put bootleg mp3's from all their albums in it. LOL

 

im well aware it is a metallica song, and it will indeed have all their albums in it .. but copied from my original perfectly legal cds

Im just a tad worried about air flow with this.. never had to worry before as Ive always just gone with bog standard beige PCs

as far as themeing - i may replace the denon badge but thats about it - its meant to be a hi-fi unit to go in my stack, unnoticed

Hmmm..
For the front controls I think ill keep the Mic in as mic in and wire that to the mobo, replace the line out volume pot with my fan speed controller that arrived today, and have the digital switch stealthed to my reset button

 

UPDATE

ok, been doing some more dremelling, and general test fitting of "stuff"

really need a better work area than the floor in the living room



anyhow, i got my bits n bobs from maplins and started by fixing the motherboard mounts, i did this by laying my pII motherboard on the base of the cd player (its exactly the same size as my new mobo, and penned into the holes, and then sanded and epoxed the plastic mounting standoffs in place.

next i cut out the hole needed for the backplate and did my first circle cut.. got through loads of cutting discs... I then drilled the holes for the screws in the shed:


(first time ive been in there since last summer!

and mounted the fan, not too shabby for my first cuts i dont think.

 

as the only screws for fitting the shuttle psu are on the back plate ive added some feet to it to stop it moving and vibrating against the floor..



fits nice and snug.

As a step away from the case i cut the end off the CD players line out pot and epoxyed it to the end of the case fan controller which will be replacing it on the front of player.


lastly after a nights worth of glue drying i fitted the new mobo and psu...




lastly removed the facia for the old CD ready for working out how to fit to the dvd writer that arrived, just resting on the front but looks cool,

 

Nice start...

 

Nice work

To fix the fascia I'd suggest using double-sided carpet tape.

 

Very nice CD player.... I'm waiting to see the final result!

Which OS are you going to use for that HTPC?

 

hmm.. carpet tape eh.. that gonna be a little wobbly perhaps?

> OS .. dunno, probably win2k or win2000, sommit that i can run games on as well as divx movies etc. is there a recommeded OS?

 

I used XP before upgrading to XBMC.

I'd recommend not using XP though. Too many bubbles and crap!

 

Fantastic to see that you've kept the original drive fascia, that's been the stumbling block for many similar retro mods. Looks good, I will be reading this at every update

 

How about using epoxy to fix the bezel to the dvd player, I see there is some form of 2 part adhesive behind the facia in this pic.

 

the facia was really simple to remove from the cd player, and although I could apply it with epoxy I want the ability to remove it if necessary in the future. hmm.. and although i dont like the idea of carpet tape i might fabricate something that can be attached by epoxy to the drive but attaches the facia in a less permanent way

 

You'd be suprised at how well carpet tape works.

Looking good M8 keep it up

 

If you dont want to epoxy it directly, how about using this idea just use 2 screws instead of 4. take the face plate off the cd drive and drill 2 holes into the bottom section (under the tray). then bolt it on. premenent yet you still have the abiltity to take it off. It also means that the drive doesnt have to sit flush to the old cd facia.

 

now that is a cool idea.

and again proves to me why having the collective mod brains out there will help alieviate some of the headaches im bound to have with doing this.

 

This is a cool idea, i was origanlly going to put my htpc into a dvd player casing but decided i didnt have the time and just got a antec minuet lol (lazy)

Love what you have done so far.

Are you having a custom port panel? as your motherboard is a few cm away from the back

That drill case looks familiar