A Little Rage *Officially Finished! 03/09/13*

[BadMouth]

That color looks sweet! 

[rockyrocket]

Looks nice and clean, ohh and green.
Hope it is t-mold time, love the green - keep seeing sweets though! .

[yotsuya]

Damn, your paint job looks so smooth!

[floriske.nl]

A bald choice on that color but I say I really like it also far 

[darthpaul]

I knew you had some Jedi in you with that green paint  . I'm curious to see how bright those LEDs are, I was thinking of some under cab lighting but I was thinking about using strip lighting.

[DaOld Man]

Thanks for the kind comments guys.
Darthpaul, may the force be with you, those leds are pretty bright, but they throw off three spots, which are distinctive from even a few feet away from the surface. I have two of them, Im thinking of mounting both. I tried temporary fixing the two with tape and i think I like the results much better. Anyway Im thinking of positioning the one led opposite from what it is in above pic. It will be fastened to the front, shining towards the back. Then the other would be fastened to the very back, facing front. They both will be shining towards the (near) center brace.
It seems like I get a more even glow around the bottom this way.
I was thinking of using the second one for the marquee light, but I dont like the way the three spots look.
Anyway, I got the lights at superbrightleds.com.
They have all kinds of leds, including strip lights. They are pretty reasonable price wise too. Check them out to see if they have what you are looking for.

Im going to need some ideas about the control panel artwork, so put your thinking caps on fellas.
I will post the CP layout (control wise) soon.

[DaOld Man]

Alrighty then! I have installed the t-molding and the speaker bar.
I like the way the green paint turned out, but Im not happy at all with the black parts.
But Im not going to sand it all down and re-do, so I guess I will have to live with it.
Oh well.
Here are some pics:

T-molding, and cab side view:


T-molding and cab back view (Door not on of course)


I-molding and cab front view:


Back top section, showing air vent grill:


Speaker bar mounted:


Speaker bar and speaker panel. (This is a section of the black paint  I do not like):


Ok I guess thats it for now. I think next up will be installing monitor and deciding how im going to mount the power supply and the power strip.

[BadMouth]

It's slick how the volume control is accessible without having to do any extra work.
Might have to look into those sound bars for future builds.

[DaOld Man]

I do like the sound bar, but it's a pita cutting out the MDF for it to fit.

I have thrown together a marquee. What do you think? Open to all suggestions, dont worry about stepping on my toes..

Edit: I forgot to trim it (not finished yet). The white part and the lighter dark part will be cut out in the finished product. real size is 19.5" by 4.125"

[jennifer]

     The font seems a little busy to Jennifer...Maybe at a distance?... I do love the color though and how you brought it across the marquee like that.
Im not a mame kinda girl, so the multiple caratures took a minute to digest, (I think Spidy is Hot!)....It does flow nice, But if it was mine, Well
Id change the font, make "A Little" a bit smaller And focus on a bigger "Rage", and prehaps add a tiny multi-cade underneath...and leave the art alone.

[DaOld Man]

     The font seems a little busy to Jennifer...Maybe at a distance?... I do love the color though and how you brought it across the marquee like that.
Im not a mame kinda girl, so the multiple caratures took a minute to digest, (I think Spidy is Hot!)....It does flow nice, But if it was mine, Well
Id change the font, make "A Little" a bit smaller And focus on a bigger "Rage", and prehaps add a tiny multi-cade underneath...and leave the art alone.

I like your ideas. Im using a neon font, trying to reproduce (to some degree) the el-wire neon marquee I did for The Rage. Not sure how that would look going from small to large, kinda like a triangle, or perhaps you mean make "A LITTLE" smaller than "RAGE"?
Which characters should I loose? Also, what do you mean by multicade?
And, I honestly think Ms Pacman is pretty dang hot !! 

[Nephasth]

I think you should lose all of the characters. If you really want characters on the marquee I would stick with just one or two.

[DaOld Man]

I think you should lose all of the characters. If you really want characters on the marquee I would stick with just one or two.

Thanks! On The Rage I only had "THE RAGE" in neon and pacman on one end and Donkey Kong throwing a barrel on the other end of the lettering.
Let me see if I can find a pic, just for comparison.

Edit: Here are a couple of pics. First is the finished "The Rage" second is the marquee during Work In Progress.

[Nephasth]

I like that much better. Maybe for A Little Rage, you can put DK Jr and Pac Jr on the marquee. Nice way to tie the two cabs together.

[Louis Tully]

.

[DaOld Man]

Just had a wild idea. How does this look?

[DaOld Man]

And here is Nesphasths idea:

[Malenko]

And here is Nesphasths idea:

Thats Diddy Kong, not DK Jr. 

[DaOld Man]

And here is Nesphasths idea:

Thats Diddy Kong, not DK Jr. 

DOH!!

[Nephasth]

I was thinking something along the lines of...




Or if you wanted to keep it girl oriented you could use Ms Pacman and that girl donkey kong from whatever donkey kong country game she was in... Dixie Kong? ...I'm drawing a blank.

[DaOld Man]

Sounds good. I will play around with that idea.
Here is the real DKJr. I really kinda like the diddy kong better.

[jennifer]

   Since you like the neon so, couldn't you use real neon, and hologram characters, or maybe translucent behind safety glass?

[DaOld Man]

That sounds real good Jennifer. I used el wire on The Rage, which turned out looking real close to real neon. How would I do what you suggest?

Here is Nesphashts suggestion:

[jennifer]

     Ive seen glass and neon signs made, I think haveing one made, pay for the experience would be my guess.... Or learn it on the Utube maybe.

[DaOld Man]

Are you talking about etching?

[darthpaul]

My one concern is all that black, my first Marquee had a lot of black in it and when the light was turned on, it looked gray, I do like the neon font.

[darthpaul]

Are you talking about etching?

Sounds a little like your original plan.

[jennifer]

     No, I mean glassbending, and filling with neon....Signmakers do this, rather than reinvent the wheell maybe just have one made... It is a
interesting subject, You should google it and see how its done anyway.

[DaOld Man]

Sounds interesting Jennifer, I will check that out.

Darthpaul:
Yes the black appearing gray may be a problem. I will print it here first to test it, once I decide which one to use.
And to answer your second post: Yeah it is. I still think it would be a great idea.

My sister and her hubby gave me a scroll saw for Christmas. I havent had a chance to play with it yet, but I wonder if I could get a round (?) blade that would cut about the same width as the neon font? The saw does not have a belt type blade, it moves up and down like a jig saw, but the blade is fastened on both ends, so Im hoping I can find a round blade which would give me the rounded ends of the neon font.
Im thinking maybe cutting out the neon lettering in a 1/4" MDF. Then let the light shine through it.
If I keep changing the battle plan I may not get this done before her birthday.

On a different note:
I masked off the top part of the cab, around the air vent and sanded it and re applied the paint with a roller. I think it looks better, will check it out tomorrow in the sunlight. If it looks better I guess I will redo the coin door panel and the lower back. The top and back door will be easy to redo, they are removable.

[DaOld Man]

Alrighty, now for something totally different.
I got a LED light bar from superbrightleds.com. The name fits cause this baby is bright!
I am thinking about using it for the marquee light, but I have also been tossing around the notion to make the marquee the same way as I did on The Rage, using El-Glow wire. (Smaller letters and nearly twice as many. oh my.)
Anyway, I was playing around with the led bar and have decided it is way too bright.
So I threw together a simple circuit using a 555 timer to pulse the light bar.
(555 circuit shamelessly stolen from here)
This is a pretty neat (and simple) way to control led brightness.

Here is a pic of it with the pot set at approx 50%.


And pot at 100%:


The camera does not do it justice.

EDIT:fixed link.

EDIT II (The sequel): I sanded down the bad paint job on the front panel and speaker panel and re-painted. I used a roller and light pressure. I am much happier with the results. I am currently letting the paint cure.
Next I have to re-do the lower back panel (fan and power entry).
The back door and top panel dont look too bad, but I may redo them just to be sure all match.

[DaOld Man]

Thanks everyone for your input on the marquees. I asked my son to let his daughter pick out the one she likes best, he's not going to tell her what it's for.
I have talked myself out of using el-wire like I did on The Rage. I dont think it will turn out very good with the router, the font is a smaller size. If I only had a CNC (sigh).
Anyway, I have a small update to post.
I have the first terminal strip mounted (TS1 for the credit buttons/lights.
Here is a pic of it mounted:



I mounted it with 2 small bolts (2-56 X 3/4" long)
The bolts didnt quite make it through the wood panel, and thats what I wanted.
On the other side I counter-sunk two holes close to the diameter of the nut. I then pulled the nut into the wood with the screw.
After mounting the TS1, I laid the cab on its back and dabbed a little grease on the bolt sticking through the nut. I then filled the two holes with wood glue. Hopefully this will hold the nuts in place if I ever have to remove the TS1.
The bolt holes will be hid behind the credit panel.



Sorry about the blurred pics, I really need to dig out the tripod and get some decent shots.
After the glue dries, I plan to repaint the lower back panel, or start on the back door hinge mounting. I'll see how I feel after a while.

[DaOld Man]

Putting off the painting until tomorrow.
Did get the bottom leds mounted. Moved them to outside edge, shining towards the center brace.
I think they will be brighter than this later, right now I have them hooked to my breadboard power supply and they are probably pulling the voltage down.
I also covered the holes I made for the first mount with reflective tape.

[DaOld Man]

Just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in. (Anyone remember that song?)

Ok, I have been racing along at the speed of a glacier.
I have the back door and the top re-painted. Am much happier with the results.
Just to catch up a bit, here is a shot of the back door, temporary mounted for test fitting.


Need to remove door and grind off the edges, I got too much paint on them and it is too tight a fit.

Here is the led strip for the marquee, lit at full brightness. I plan to dim it with the PWM circuit I posted earlier.


And here is the CP, test fitted. All I have done on it is the trackball hole.


A bad picture of the power entry, fan, and USB/LAN connections:


A pic of the marque led strip turned off:


The wiring begins!
(What a rats nest! But it will get better, I promise.)


The Credit buttons wired to TS1 and the CP plug.

Earth wire from CP Plug not connected yet, waiting for the silicone caulking to dry on the green earth wire. This should hold the wire to the cabinet, then I can remove the green tape and attach the CP plug earth wire to the same bolts as this green Earth wire.

Birds eye view of my switched power strip, connected to entry box with a plug I cut off an extension cord.
(And more of the rats nest in the bottom of the cab.)


And another shot of the power strip.
(I sure am proud of that rats nest aint I?


Ok, thats it for now.
Got to take the back door off and skim some paint off the edges, then I plan to mount monitor and then the computer MB and power supply.

[Santoro]

Looking good!

[darthpaul]

Very well executed so far, you are the Master.

[DaOld Man]

Thanks Santoro and Darthpaul!

Here is a quick update.

I got the monitor mounted last night:


And front view, with the bezel installed:

I got a scratch on the monitor glass. Anyone know a good way to remove this? I think it's really only noticeable with the monitor off but still..

And I am just about finished with my PWM module to control marquee led strip brightness, and under cab led brightness.
I used the PWM circuit I mentioned earlier (see "Circuits" thread for schematic diagram).
I made two circuits on one board. Still got to cut the shafts off those pots and get a couple of knobs.
The PWM circuit works pretty good. LEDs go from just barely on to 99% full bright.
Board footprint is 1-3/8" X 2-7/8" (approx.) So the board looks bigger in the pic than it really is.

[DaOld Man]

Ok, I have been doing quite a bit in between my paying job and sleep. Almost have the cab wiring complete. Got the marquee printed out. I was going to wait until I got the wiring done to post an update but I got to show you the marquee.
Im not real happy with the way it turned out. First of all, it didnt print out correctly size wize.
The size is too narrow and the length is just a little shy.
Here is a pic of it lighted up. No camera flash and led strip to about 40% bright.



You can see light coming through the sides and the bottom. I can probably move the paper down some and split the difference between top and bottom, but not a lot I can do about the sides, unless I put something behind the glass.
But with the led strip off, you can see a white border around it, not desirable.
Im also not real crazy about how the green lights up the characters. Im now thinking about putting white or yellow leds behind these two spots.

Note to self: Take a tape measure next time I have something printed to be sure they get it right.
Can someone take this picture and size it correctly for me? It needs to be 4" width by 19.50" length.
PM me if you wouldnt mind doing it, I can send you the file.

I know there are a lot of talented photo editing people on here, Im not one.

[Jigenjuke]

DaOld Man,  Great work.  I had the same problem with bleeding light from the marquee.  I used a long caulking gun with a mini tip and that took care of problems on my end.

Jigenjuke

[chopperthedog]

Nintendo cabs have a thin strip of plywood (for your situation 3/4" x 4" 3/16" thick would work great) that is placed the sides of the cab just behind the plexi on both edges to block out bleeding light.


good day.

[DaOld Man]

Thanks guys. I tried some black tape, but may try your suggestions because a little light still gets through.

Now for a marquee update.
Chopperthedog took my marque image and re sized it. (Thanks Chopper, I really appreciate it.)
I got it printed out yesterday at Office Depot. I took my pocket tape measure to insure it was the right size this time.
Chopperthedog made the black part 0.5" bigger in length and width. He also centered the image for me.
I wound up centering the printed marquees (I got two copies and doubled them) on one of the plexi glasses. I then trimmed the pics to fit the plexi with a razor knife.
It turned out very good this time.
Here is a pic of it mounted in the cab, led strip turned off, ambient light on, flash on cam on:


Got to remember to take a tape measure whenever I get something printed in the future.

And here it is with led strip full on, ambient light off, and flash off (You can see light bleeding around edges):


And here it is with black tape inside each side corner and led strip about 25% (this pic turned out blurred, not sure why):


And final pic is ambient light on, led at 25%, flash off. (Why is it blurred again? Im using a tripod):


Now I still do not like the characters looking green from the green led light. Im working out the details to light up these two areas with white or yellow LEDs.
More to follow.

Wiring update: Almost finished, just got to figure out how Im going to mount the PC power supply so it wont move when the cab is transported. That and a little tidying up with wire ties is all thats left, Im pretty sure.

Then it's on to the control panel.
This project is nearing the finish line, thanks everyone for your help, but dont close the help desk just yet.
Im open for ideas for side art.
Griffindod tossed out a couple ideas at the start of this project, but I think I would rather have something smaller for the sides, got to show off my fancy green paint! (I am cringing at the thought of getting side art printed out, let alone applying it.)