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My standalone CP project
llars:
So the other night I was bored and of course I have all these new toys sitting around waiting for a CP to go into. I decided why not put some of them to use! I grabbed a plastic layout and drilled out holes for a neo geo type layout plus the spinner. I only have 1" and 1.25" hole saws so the holes were slightly larger than the buttons. I had to clamp them down pretty tight against one side to keep them in place. It's not pretty but it does work. Few things I discovered from this experiment of insanity:
I was originally going to mount the Ultralux pushbuttons but the nuts do not screw all the way up against the flange around the pushbutton so they floated loose on the plastic. I think the gap is around 1/4" if memory serves so that could pose issues with metal CP's unless you put a spacer above the nut.
I also discovered that the nut on the Spintrak goes on very tight onto the base and rubs against the wires. It looks like it did a bit of damage to the wires before I realized what was happening but it works fine presently.
llars:
Been a while since my last update but I finally have some new stuff to post. The control panel arrived today and it looks great. Each piece is pre-drilled with holes for dowels aside from the other holes for the buttons and such. The top panel looks dirty in the pics because there is sawdust between the wood and plexi.
llars:
First thing I need to tackle is installing the t-molding. All of the pieces that will be getting t-molding are 5/8", the rest is 1/2". On the top panel there is a 1/8" sheet of plexi so 3/4" t-molding fits snugly on that. The problem with the sides is that I can't find 5/8" in the black leather so it is about 1/16" wider on each side. On my first attempt, I tried trimming down the sides of the t-molding but it looked uneven so I decided to leave it uncut.
llars:
Next up is the back panel. I purchased two USB passthrough adapters to mount into the CP. The ends are reversible so I oriented them to have the A end facing out of the CP.
These adapters have a very weird diameter, 23.6mm, or 0.929". I used 1" holes and wrapped electrical tape around the adapters so they would fit more snugly into the holes and then fastened them with screws.
llars:
Now I am ready to start assembling the box. Started with the back and bottom, then added the front, then the sides. It feels relatively solid but I might add some L-Brackets to it.