AimTrak with Angled Screen?

[deweyhewson]

I'd love to add some light guns to my cabinet, and based on what I've been following for the past few months the AimTrak's are certainly the way to go. My concern, however, is that my monitor is angled on my cabinet.

Will the AimTrak's still work on this? I mean, I know they will "work", but will I have to be holding the guns 2 feet from the screen pointed down at it for them to work correctly, or can I stand back a few feet shooting at the angled screen and still have it register correctly?

Thanks for any helpful information from the crowd here!

My cabinet:

[AndyWarne]

The guns should work fine once calibrated.

Andy

[bkenobi]

If you stand very far back, you will have a seriously wide screen type aspect ratio.  Will that be fun for you and guests?  I don't want to discourage you from getting guns, but you should think about the playability before you plunk down that kind of money.  A pair of guncons costs ~$30USD.  A pair of Aimtrak's cost significantly more.  I personally would be in ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- creek with my wife if I spent the money on Aimtrak's and they didn't work/weren't fun.   

[angryred]

The gun is calibrated to the LEDs, not the monitor. As long as you point the LEDs correctly-- straight at the gun, not angled like the monitor-- you shouldn't have any problems at all. In fact, because of the angle of the monitor, the Aimtrak is going to be spanning a shorter vertical distance and have even less chance of losing sight of the LEDs.

Not that that's a problem in general, but some folks, myself included, had problems with calibration at the bottom of the screen because of having not mounted the gun board properly level (gun wasn't seeing the LEDs). I'll bet that won't be an issue at all with the full guns Andy's putting together, as opposed to the various ways us DIY'ers came up with mounting the gun board.

[kronic24601]

My cab isn't angled quite as much as you but I did something similar. I just drilled holes into my Bezel at an angle more or less parallel to the floor, then hot-glued the sensor board on at that angle and shoved the leds through the holes.

It works well actually, and it's harder to tell it's even there when it's in the cab.

[kronic24601]

A Little Post Necro here. I had a request to post a little more information on my install, so I thought I'd do it here.

Step 1: Make a template:

I cut a strip of small paper.


Then I sort of just "pressed" the paper (gently) over the leds


Step 2: Align the Template:

(IMPORTANT: Make sure you place the template the RIGHT SIDE UP... I believe my photos have it upside down ... which I had to fix later. There is only 1 correct way that it can be placed.)

You need to make sure the items are positioned at the height you desire. The most optimal is just above the screen, but take into consideration the depth of the sensor and whatever room you have with the monitor. I measured down on each side making sure the leds were a fixed height from the top of the bezel (at least very close), and used a Level as a guide. Then I taped the paper to the back of my bezel.


After taping it down. Place your sensor over the template, just to make sure things are in place. Your LEDS on the sensor aren't always perfectly aligned, and can be tweaks a littler as needed.


Step 3: Drill the Holes:

1) Mark the holes for drilling
    In this step I used a standard push-pin/tack lined things up in the center of my template holes and taped it with a hammer. It didn't go all the way through, just enough to clearly make a mark.

2) Check and recheck:
    After tacking my starters, I peeled off the template to make sure "as a whole" all the lines were evenly spaced. Any corrections needed where done at that time.

3) Drill
    For this really important step, be very careful, and go very slowly. I personally used a LIP DRILL BIT as it already has a built in "tip" that prevents it from walking as you drill. I do not remember what size I used, only that I started smaller and worked my way up. This actually caused a small problem which I had to shave off carefully with a razor, so if possible get the right size bit to begin with. Just hold the bit up to the LED and you'll know which one to use. IT should be pretty close to the exact size if possible. Too big is a problem, too small can easily be fixed.

If all went as planned, you should have something like this. If you look closely, you can see they are not 100% even, and there are some "stress marks" in the plastic. However, after install they are pretty much invisible.


Step 4: Install Sensor:

My holes were tight, and I had to push, and bend (a little) the LEDs a tad to fit in the whole pattern. They start out going in ok, but make sure to push them in ALL the way.. till the "lip" on the back touches the backside of the Bezel.

Here is another shot to show that it is pushed in all the way.


SIDE PROBLEM! - As I did the above steps, I noticed that my LEDs are pushed perpendicular to the Bezel. This is a problem because my bezel does not size at a 90degree angle. So, I had to go back, remove the bezel (in my case, unglue it as well). Then to solve the slant, I inserted my drill in the hole, started running it, then manually tilted the drill (as it was running in the hole) until it shaved off enough of the hole so that it was now slanted. It won't be "quite" as clean this way... but it's the only way it will work in a tilted bezel setup. The LED really should be pointing "down" a bit ... not up, so do yourself a favor and keep that in mind. There is extra material gone, but once again ... you cannot really tell after installation.

Then hold it in place and run a few lines of hot glue ... not too much as it WILL warp the plastic bezel... also it will be a pain in the @$$ to remove if you need to.



If anyone has any questions shoot me a PM.

Thanks

[AMDman13]

kronic24601,
This write up is way more than I could have asked for, Hopefully it will keep someone from mutilating their Bezel.. Like I did..  

Thanks! This is awesome!