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Author Topic: Turtle Power, LCD in an Aspen Shell!  (Read 9351 times)

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MiteWiseacre

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Turtle Power, LCD in an Aspen Shell!
« on: July 04, 2021, 11:29:54 pm »
Kicking off a simpler project, intended to be a gift so not going to get into bulky crts and hardware hacks etc. Found a 19” 4:3 lcd and this Aspen Plywood I scored for my long in progress vertical contra-like build. The receiver of the gift wants a turtles machine and 4-player, I mean why not? Everyone knows they definitely will use 4 player all the time  ::) :o So I finally got at it, drafted up a plan in sketch up yesterday and slapped on a new blade and began making cuts today. Didn’t take long to accidentally cut into my new metal saw horse with said new blade :banghead: it was super sharp.
My preferred method is to clamp the sides together and cut out with my skill saw.
5” hole saw for that curve beside the screen and laid out lines 1 1/2” from edges for the bracing.
So far liking working with Aspen waaaaay better than MDF, little bit of splintering at the edges here and there that I think I can fix up fine so the t-mould sits alright.
« Last Edit: July 05, 2021, 12:21:03 am by MiteWiseacre »

MiteWiseacre

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Re: Turtle Power, LCD in an Aspen Shell!
« Reply #1 on: July 05, 2021, 11:41:35 am »
With a more clear head this morning I realized that LCD in an Aspen Shell is not going to remind anyone of Hero’s in a half-shell, I also realized that I forgot one cut! If you note the drawings, the top should be sloped not flat :-[
Took care of that cut, did a little sanding then glued and braid nailed the strapping on.
What sort of radius do you folks use where you have to bend T-Moulding? (I remember regretting the sharp corners on my last build)
Price of lumber is terrible right now, should I just buy the cheapest thing I can for the backboard, or cut up some more of my nice Aspen?

firedance

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Re: Turtle Power, LCD in an Aspen Shell!
« Reply #2 on: July 05, 2021, 03:06:40 pm »
Looking good so far  :D

Yeah lumber(timber) prices have gone silly over the last few weeks   :o

MiteWiseacre

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Re: Turtle Power, LCD in an Aspen Shell!
« Reply #3 on: July 05, 2021, 08:50:14 pm »
Thanks Firedance!
Finished most my cuts and did a test fit. Not bad! I think I’m on my way  ;)
Gotta cut out the marquee, make a light mount system, bracket for the screen, slot cutting and vents and speaker holes

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Re: Turtle Power, LCD in an Aspen Shell!
« Reply #4 on: July 05, 2021, 10:01:17 pm »
Screen is too small


MiteWiseacre

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Re: Turtle Power, LCD in an Aspen Shell!
« Reply #5 on: July 05, 2021, 11:41:42 pm »
Screen is too small
The 19”? Or are you making a joke  :dizzy:

Mike A

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Re: Turtle Power, LCD in an Aspen Shell!
« Reply #6 on: July 06, 2021, 06:53:44 am »
The original Turtles cab had a 25 inch screen.

A 19 inch screen is too small for a 4 player machine.


MiteWiseacre

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Re: Turtle Power, LCD in an Aspen Shell!
« Reply #7 on: July 06, 2021, 10:38:16 am »
I’d have to go to like a 32” wide screen.. and that stinks
Arcade one-up meadow muffin, is 2” smaller so I assumed I had a winner on my hands. Wanted a 4:3 ratio and bit smaller footprint than a real cab with quality hardware and build. Maybe the person getting it can pull the screen out and upgrade to something bigger if it’s not liked. Will see how bad the kids squint to play lol.
Ordered t-moulding and a set of Happ controls last night, the guy seems to like SFII style controls best. Hopefully not a mistake but got all the sticks in green and buttons in the turtle colours (can’t get an orange or purple happ). Typically the turtle machines had all black trim and coloured sticks, right?
« Last Edit: July 06, 2021, 10:50:15 am by MiteWiseacre »

Mike A

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Re: Turtle Power, LCD in an Aspen Shell!
« Reply #8 on: July 06, 2021, 10:44:22 am »
Somebody here built a TMNT and went vertical with the LCD.

I will try to find it later. I need to actually do some work at my job right now.
« Last Edit: July 06, 2021, 01:33:42 pm by Mike A »

Mike A

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MiteWiseacre

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Re: Turtle Power, LCD in an Aspen Shell!
« Reply #10 on: July 06, 2021, 01:25:31 pm »
Somebody here built a TMNT and went vertical with the CRT.

I will try to find it later. I need to actually do some work at my job right now.
You must mean LCD?
This is what I did this morning, might be time to start cleanup and take a break.
Counter sunk my screw holes, I was a bad boy and did not do this first (a few chips to fill now)
Put in a mount for a marquee light
Build a screen mount
Cut out the bezel, will rout it to make a nice edge.

Next, probably the router work. Cut the slots and edges on bezel.
Looking for a fake coin door with push buttons.
Hopefully this screen isn’t too bad, seems like a nice one.

Mike A

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Re: Turtle Power, LCD in an Aspen Shell!
« Reply #11 on: July 06, 2021, 01:35:34 pm »
Yeah. Sorry. Meant LCD.

The one you have doesn't look too bad in there.

Have you checked the viewing angles?

That will be important for Players 3 and 4.

MiteWiseacre

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Re: Turtle Power, LCD in an Aspen Shell!
« Reply #12 on: July 06, 2021, 02:12:14 pm »
Gonna look at that build thread now, too bad I didn’t read it first lol
I kinda scaled it around the screen. Going to try and build the control panel at 40” wide, no trackball. See how odd it feels sticking out 8” either way, but the view doesn’t seem bad from over there. 

Mike A

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Re: Turtle Power, LCD in an Aspen Shell!
« Reply #13 on: July 06, 2021, 02:17:32 pm »
I am concerned with the viewing angles of that monitor.

Some of those monitors only look decent when you are straight in front of them.

MiteWiseacre

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Re: Turtle Power, LCD in an Aspen Shell!
« Reply #14 on: July 06, 2021, 03:01:52 pm »
I am concerned with the viewing angles of that monitor.

Some of those monitors only look decent when you are straight in front of them.
That’s a good heads up, honestly I’m not sure if I’ve test drove this monitor even. Better try it out soon and see how it does. Might totally disappear under tinted glass!

Ond

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Re: Turtle Power, LCD in an Aspen Shell!
« Reply #15 on: July 06, 2021, 06:08:38 pm »
Nice simple but really clean woodworking!  It's hard getting an LCD 4:3 monitor that looks any good.  I have just one 21" 4:3 LCD with really good viewing angles that I bought new many years ago, that thing cost big $$. Can't get them any more. I think using a modern widescreen LCD in a vertical position with part of the screen cropped is really clever if it can be made to work.

MiteWiseacre

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Re: Turtle Power, LCD in an Aspen Shell!
« Reply #16 on: July 07, 2021, 01:46:41 am »
Tried it out finally, doesn’t look bad at all even from steep angles not bad.
It’s a Dell 1907FPt if that means anything to anyone.
Got a couple more things done this afternoon. Cut the slot for moulding, solved my glass mounting problem with a 1/4” slot very shallow at the bottom with a strip in behind and 1/4” deep at top. My 1/8” glass pane simulator seems to sit in there nicely due to the angle of those wider cuts, the only fear is that I break something putting in the T-moulding. Buzzed out the bezel as well, think I need some more interesting router bits. I’m not really loving the bezel shape.

MiteWiseacre

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Re: Turtle Power, LCD in an Aspen Shell!
« Reply #17 on: July 09, 2021, 09:46:40 pm »
So here’s where I’m at, worked on the cab a bit yesterday and today. Getting more and more brave with my router. Cut the vents on top (5” long x 3/4”) and a couple at top and bottom of the back, top one doubles as a handle for that panel. Getting carried away I started cutting the speaker vents with a 3/4” bit! Whoops, meant to use 1/2”. So I tried stepping the vents down, 3/4 to 1/2 to 1/4”. Looks like it’s intentional when you look at it straight on.
Then the joysticks, buttons and IPac came.. excited again. Happ joys and buttons, they feel pretty nice but a little large for the Sega layout I want to use. Tweaked it a bit for more spacing.
Went to work on the control panel, got router happy again and rounded all the corners then carved out the control surface. Turned out not bad, couple not good chips but I can fill them also a little too narrow where it meets the cab but I think the T moulding will lined right up with the edge of the cab, making it look intentional  :cheers:
Time to clean up, next to put a slot on the edge of the control panel and start drilling holes then it’s sanding time. This aspen seems to be very fibrey, pops out a little even on the finished surface. See if I can get a nice surface to paint.
« Last Edit: July 09, 2021, 10:41:40 pm by MiteWiseacre »

MiteWiseacre

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Re: Turtle Power, LCD in an Aspen Shell!
« Reply #18 on: July 09, 2021, 10:03:53 pm »
And big thanks and credit to Edekoning! I’ve been using his X-Men build thread to help solve some problems and have even ripped off some of his venting stuff. Its a great build.

Mike A

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Re: Turtle Power, LCD in an Aspen Shell!
« Reply #19 on: July 09, 2021, 10:24:53 pm »
Making progress. :cheers:

MiteWiseacre

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Re: Turtle Power, LCD in an Aspen Shell!
« Reply #20 on: July 10, 2021, 10:49:42 pm »
Did some more work today. Drilled out all the button holes and routed out the back side. Found that this template places the buttons very tightly, did some tweaking to make a but more room but found the nuts would overlap on the backside. I’m trying something where I route the centre row down 3/8” so that those nuts can sit down below the others. Should work in theory, there should be plenty of meat there for the buttons to hold on tight.
This plywood kinda wants to bow a little, might glue some backing strips in there to give it a little more strength, might feel more solid when you go to punch it as well.

firedance

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Re: Turtle Power, LCD in an Aspen Shell!
« Reply #21 on: July 11, 2021, 04:13:48 am »
Nice router work  :D

Any reason why player 1 and 2 are at different levels on the panel ?

MiteWiseacre

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Re: Turtle Power, LCD in an Aspen Shell!
« Reply #22 on: July 11, 2021, 09:18:15 am »
Nice router work  :D

Any reason why player 1 and 2 are at different levels on the panel ?
I believe that’s to get the players to stand at different angles, create more shoulder room. Unless I misunderstand the templates!  :-[
This is a pic of an Astro City, that’s what the template is from, definitely doesn’t look like twisted sticks…. Oh dear
But the turtles template does the tilted thing (inverted to see easier)
« Last Edit: July 11, 2021, 09:43:13 am by MiteWiseacre »

firedance

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Re: Turtle Power, LCD in an Aspen Shell!
« Reply #23 on: July 11, 2021, 01:33:42 pm »
guess it makes sense, thank you for explaining  :)

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Re: Turtle Power, LCD in an Aspen Shell!
« Reply #24 on: July 25, 2021, 09:45:26 pm »
Spending some time sanding and filling, drilled some holes for this 3D printed faux coin door. The buttons it comes with are pretty nice illuminated deals. See if it does the trick when it’s all together. Also found someone who is willing to take a stab a doing some vector art for me, see my highly detailed concept for side art below (one turtle a side, stabbing up through the narrow part)

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Re: Turtle Power, LCD in an Aspen Shell!
« Reply #25 on: August 03, 2021, 11:13:42 pm »
Took a full day and went hard on the painting, 2 coats primer and 4 paint. Used 220 grit to sand after the water based primer, lots of little fibres popping up from the Aspen but they sanded out easily to a nice finish. Went down to 320 and steel wool between coats of paint. Could’ve taken one more day to make a really nice finish, but I’m running out of time, it’s a mostly nice finish nonetheless. Today, after letting the paint cure for a good week, I installed the t-moulding. Couple spots I found I was a little out on my slot cutting but think I can obscure that.

MiteWiseacre

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Re: Turtle Power, LCD in an Aspen Shell!
« Reply #26 on: August 14, 2021, 11:29:09 am »
Packed the cab up and went to the recipients house. We wired it all up, got the decals printed (The artist I hired did great, probably use her again) and applied. Building a PC and running took a bit but it’s all together now. Just going through and tweaking the front end and controls.
I’ve encountered this before but anyone remember why AttractMode in full screen will put a black overlay over the game when it launches?

Mike A

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Re: Turtle Power, LCD in an Aspen Shell!
« Reply #27 on: August 14, 2021, 11:32:21 am »
That cab looks ---smurfing--- nice.

I like the artwork.

MiteWiseacre

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Re: Turtle Power, LCD in an Aspen Shell!
« Reply #28 on: August 14, 2021, 03:15:34 pm »
That cab looks ---smurfing--- nice.

I like the artwork.
Thanks Mike!