Hey guys, I've been browsing for awhile now, keeping a low profile but soaking up all I can. Extreme amount of knowledge and talent here and I thought I'd give my hand a try at a build. First off I'm a artist/woodworking by trade and love the 'how to' aspect of all this stuff. I've always been a gamer and who doesn't want their own arcade machine so without further adieu lets get this adventure started...
Ok so I wanted a portable unit so I can could tote the thing around to friends and family outings so a full size was out of the question. It will be a 2-player bartop with a modern twist to it. I prefer to break the mold some and not construct your typical bartop, or at least that's the plan. I've got a rough sketch and idea of what I am wanting but more on that later. As opposed to beginning the build topic with cabinet pictures etc, I've got detail pics to begin with. I have ordered almost all of my parts which include:
2 competition joysticks
competition pushbuttons
standard concave pushbuttons (misc coin etc)
i-pac 2
ledwiz
a whole bunch of misc stuff I won't bore you with...
My first problem I encountered was (I know problem already : ) ) was that I couldn't make the control panel without the artwork being close to finished. This is because I'm going to have button surrounds and curves etc and I am going to use a black and white print out as a template to cut parts out with. So while I scratch my head on the big picture, I thought about beginning with something small, the illuminated pushbuttons. I wanted them lit but not the entire button like the translucent ones offered many places. I wanted just a 'ring' of light and with many thanks to Ond's retro build thread (thanks for the idea!) and a little thought I came up with this...(p.s. I used some scrap light sensitive plexi to achieve the glow more efficiently and one white led to light it)
So I did replicate the process Ond used to make my first button and let me tell you it was a pain in the buttox! Hats off to ya man!! Heres what it came out looking like after 3ish hours!!
So then I thought about a different way to cut the disks out besides by hand...and found an local engraving shop that has a laser cutter! Now here's what I had after they did their magic...
After the disks were cut out, I had to come up with a good way to cut my competition buttons at just the right place to maximize the glow effect and so you could see the plexi (so it wouldn't be totally hidden below the holder part) I have a table saw and came up with this simple little jig to hold the button in place while I cut it-
After the buttons were cut I then used sandpaper and a fat surface to smooth out the saw marks and scuff up the plexi disks so the glue would stick to them. Then I used super glue and my fingers to line up the 3 pieces and glue them. After glue up I'm left with-
No matter how 'perfect' the laser cutter may be (which the disks are close to perfect but had a slight slant on the cut edge) after glue up I thought they needed to be filed and sanded to flush up the 3 sections-
After filing I was left with this-
Then by hand I sanded them using 220 grit sandpaper, then 400 grit, 600 grit, and after that I buffed with some compound and came up with-
That took awhile now all I have left to do is-
Oh well
Well here is one button filed, sanded, polished and lit up in daylight-
Oh and in case any wanted to know, that dowel REALLY helps when trying to sand these things by hand. It's just a 5/8" dowel that I wet on the end to make it swell so it would fit snug in the button bottom.
Does anyone know of a good cheap plastic polish, I just can't get the original glossy shine the buttons used to have on the top. It's close but I know I can get it better
This is my first real post so I hope I did all the image attachments correct. let me know if I need to fix anything to make it easier to read or see.
So that's my first post hope it gives you guys some ideas and stay tuned for more!