Fixing the shadow issue on marquees. - Your suggestions and successes

[SephYuyX]

So one thing I forgot about, and didnt plan out, was that when putting my marquee and lights in, the support furring cast shadows. Doh.
Ive seen other people have the same issue around the forum, and did a general search, but I was looking for more suggestions.







So yeah.. it's fairly annoying. Chipping away the furring (which is 1/2" from the marquee) isnt really an option for a few reasons, one being the theres a screw holding it on pretty close to the end of it.. but I can always move lighting around. With GroovyGamerGear's new LINX LED light, it should be pretty easy. I was originally thinking of arranging them in a U or V shape, hoping that may work, but I could Just take one of the sections on each side and face it in.. I dunno.

[javeryh]

I always leave the cleat at least 2" from the front to avoid this issue.  I'm not sure why a chisel isn't an option here though.  Just place a screw about 3-4" back and then remove the screw you have in there that is close to the front.  I'm not sure creative lighting will solve the problem - if you stick an LED in all 4 corners it might throw off the lighting along the marquee.   Love the marquee btw. 

[bkenobi]

One thing to consider is that arcades didn't always have perfect lighting.  A couple of the cabs I've had came with a single incandescent light bulb installed behind the marquee.  My pinball is the same way.  As a result, the center of the marquee is much brighter than the edges.  If you consider that the edges were darker anyway, the shadows wouldn't show up as significantly.

Obviously, it would be better to find a solution to the problem so you can evenly light the marquee you spent all that time designing.  The only thing you can do is either get the light closer to the marquee (1/2" seems pretty tight) or remove anything that will cast a shadow.

FWIW, my Bally D&D pinball has a wire behind the marquee next to the light that casts a small shadow on the topper's marquee.  I've thought about rerouting the wire, but haven't gotten motivated enough to do anything yet (guess it doesn't bother me that much  ).

[DashRendar]

Yeah, can you cut angles into those support brackets rather than have them have block ends?  That would probably resolve it.

Or, you could use L brackets instead of wood brackets.

[Ginsu Victim]

Or, you could use L brackets instead of wood brackets.

This.

I pulled the wood of mine and used L brackets and have zero lighting issues.

[Endaar]

As I mentioned in your project thread, I went with a few extra LEDs where I needed them. Admittedly the resulting light dispersion is not 100% even, although the camera makes it look much worse than it is. In any event, when I started looking at adding some white LEDs, I decided having a few bright points of light (I ended up using red and blue LEDs instead of white) worked nicely with my artwork.

EDIT: Looking at your pictures again, I don't see any way you're going to avoid bright spots without changing out the wood for a metal bracket. There is so little clearance between the support and the marquee that your options are pretty limited, much more so than mine were.

Endaar

[gryhnd]

Some thin (1/2 or less) aluminum L to frame the marquee.

Seal the back of the marquee space as well with a board, then paint the entire interior of that area bright white (perhaps for your setup, also mount the lights to that rather than hang them off the bar). It will help to reflect the light around within the space and even out the glow.

[MikeyMerse]

Lining the inside with tinfoil will also help disperse the light evenly.

[SephYuyX]

The reason I didnt want to replace the furring the L brackets, or chip away at them is because everything is sort of in its final spot now, and having to redo things would be bleh.. but it looks like that may be the only option :/

Im going to try and toy around with the lights a bit tonight, maybe ill get lucky some how.

[opt2not]

Or, you could use L brackets instead of wood brackets.

This.

I pulled the wood of mine and used L brackets and have zero lighting issues.

+1
L-brackets are an arcade hobbyist's friend.

Don't be too worried about re-doing stuff... sometimes taking one step back results in two steps forward.

[Havok]

Don't be too worried about re-doing stuff... sometimes taking one step back results in two steps forward.

Definitely. And, how you will soon discover - the cabinet will never be done. You will always want to upgrade this or that, change this around, etc...

[BobA]

To cast a shadow the item has to be between the light source and your marquee.   If you can get a bit off the end of your supports and put an led source there you will get rid of the shadow or if you can bevel the end a bit you might get rid of the hard shadow.  Tin foil may also help get rid of the hard shadow by making more light paths and softening the shadow.  Then best way thou would be to remove some of the support and relocate your end screw.

Your side leds look to be directly behind the support so bring them inwards so they cast less shadow.

[JohnEDollar]

Lining the inside with tinfoil will also help disperse the light evenly.

+1  This works quite well.  (Just be careful you don't short something out!)

Also, don't overlook the option of using plain old white poster board as a light diffuser. (It's cheap, and easy to shape / mold in your marquee area.)

(I found white poster board was originally used in my X-Men 4p cab marquee area - works great!   )

- John

[ark_ader]

I used a mirror to reduce the shadow effect.

[SephYuyX]

Well, A hammer and a chisel did the job. I didnt really want to take out the support and replace them with L brackets, it would have caused more damage trying to get the things out, so I opted for this route. It looks ugly, but gets the job done. Some screw exposure there, but the thing is also glued down tight as well, it's not going anywhere (or so I say now). Pretty good I think, could make it look a bit better.. but not worth the trouble when it's barely this noticable now.

[Ginsu Victim]

Good job. That looks great.

[bkenobi]

"D" for done?  JK, it looks good enough for being hidden anyway!