The Redline (scaled up Vigolix) Done.

[slappyhooper]

Hey guys, long time lurker, finally in a place where I can build an Mame Machine.

I apoligize about starting a post with no pics, but it's too dark out right now to take decent pictures, so I'll post them tomorrow.

This project will be for my nieces and nephews, but will be a slight deviation from Vigo's design. It will be 50% larger, and support 2 players and 19" monitor.

I will also be using 3/4" MDF and laminating instead of using paint.
Since I'm concerned the machine will be top heavy, I'll build a solid base, and have a back panel in back. This is a necessity really, since I fully expect my five nieces and nephews to use thing in ways I never dreamed. Basically I'm trying to "kid proof" it as much as possible.



Since Menards apparently refuses to trim sheets of MDF, I was forced to set up two saw horses in the parking lot and cut a 4x8 board there in order to fit into my Honda Civic..... I didn't charge the battery on my saw, and it only lasted long enough (barely) to cut the MDF to size for my trunk (with seat down)

After getting everything back home, I set up and began making the initial cuts. Because of my hasty parking lot cuts, I had a kind of mismatch...Out came the router...I quickly realized I only had a 1/2" flush bit. Back I went to Menards. 23 dollars later...(HIGHWAY ROBBERY) I came back with a longer bit that did the trick.....

After routing the two pieces flush, I made the cuts for the arms.

Thus far, after trimming the spikes off the top of the design, I'm sitting with side pieces that are 5'6 from top to bottom and about 17" wide at the base.  This is slightly off my original goal, but luckily the design is pretty flexible.

originally, I was shooting for:

18" Wide at the base
72" Tall
24" wide.


I'll keep you guys in the loop and upload some pics in the next day or so....Hopefully this thing comes out decently.....

[dextercf]

This i need to follow..

[Generic Eric]

Neat

[Vigo]

  Looking forward to see your progress!!! I really do feel that the design would translate well to a larger size.
 
Hopefully the rest will go smoother for you than your initial Menards experience. 

[slappyhooper]

Brief update.....



Basic cuts are done. I haven't smoothed out or fitted the arms yet...That's yet to come.

If you look closely, you'll notice that although the sides are uniform, there's just a tiny bit of irregularity. (cut's aren't perfect)
I've sanded down the difference as best I could, but it still persists. I think once I get this thing laminated and T-molding put on it will look a lot better.



Using a pencil tracing to measure the VESA holes for my 19" monitor.



Testing the monitor mount with a Scrap piece of MDF.  It looks crooked here, but it mounts evenly.


T molding slots cut. One small hiccup...



one of my clamps slipped when I was edging, and the end flexed, causing this....

I'm not too concerned though, since I figure the T-molding will cover that up nicely.



Test fitting....Disregard the front panel, that will be about three or four inches lower. Once the arms are in.

I'm a little peeved that the braces behind the front piece are slightly mismatched.  I was very careful measuring, cutting, etc.  I think most likely I have to flip the bracing 180 degrees.

Side note, I have been using screws for now, but I think once everything's fitted and I know it's good to go I'll probably  loosen it up, glue the supports and bolster with screws.



Tomorrow I'll be pretty busy, but Wednesday I'm going to fit the arms, and start on the CP.

I'll probably wind up putting a brace/marquee up top soon as well....


I think....if all goes well, I could have this thing mostly finished this weekend....We'll see...

[slappyhooper]

Brief update.

I decided to use firring on the inside arm of the CP.  since the internal width of the CP is 24", I cut it 25 1/2 to account for the width of the MDF on the outside panels.

Everything came together great. Now that I know the CP arms and frame dimensions are ok, I'll add the side firring and glue that up.

Because I have an extra inch on the CP depth, I'll be able to to use 1/4 inch hardboard on the underside of the CP, thus completely enclosing thie CP, which is nice. 

I also built a base, but I'm going to wait a bit to see if I'll even ad this thing on. I'm impressed by how stable this thing already is, and I haven't even added on the MDF on the back, which will add another 30 pounds or so to the bottom.


One quick pics. Tomorrow I'm going to test fit everything, and then putty the sides and sand/prime then laminate.


Looking at this picture, it looks a little picassoesque-probably because I didn't bother lining up the CP arms on each side. They'll be adjusted a little when I actually put the bolts in. ...Everything fits perfectly thus far though....

[slappyhooper]

One more update....

I completed the base, and fitted it.



It extends slightly past the back panel piece.
I snapped a pic when I was testing the fit of the back panel. Disregard the top panel and board where the CP should be.



CP/shelf is coming along nicely. Everything's fitted and looks nice.



Still to do:

make admin panel
Make new monitor mount/Bezel.
Make Marquee

Tons of small things. Right now I'm fairly pleased with where I'm at.  I grossly underestimated how much time this thing would take to complete though. If I hurry I think I can be putting the finishing touches on next weekend.

[SpaceHedgehog]

Coming along nicely and the car park experience made me laugh. At least you were prepared.

Are you going to leave the laminate plain or add any art to it at all?

[Typefighter01]

I would take a few minutes before you go to bed tonight and do a little repair on your t-molding mistake. Take a paint scraper and cover it with saran wrap (clear cling film) and stick it into the slot beside your mistake. Then fill the void with glue and sawdust (mix it so it is thicker than toothpate) or fill it with some PL Premium (polyureathane construction adhesive), something for the barbs of the t-molding to grab onto. Let it dry overnight and then remove scraper and cling film in morning (now that I think of it, wax paper might be better to use). You might find your t-mold will cover the boo-boo, but it will slightly bubble up in this area without something to hold it in place. Considering where it is located, it might be something that will bug you every time you look at it.

[slappyhooper]

Coming along nicely and the car park experience made me laugh. At least you were prepared.

Are you going to leave the laminate plain or add any art to it at all?

As of right now I'm just going to leave the sides laminate black, with no additional artwork.

A little plain perhaps, but I'm trying to make this thing a bit understated. My sister will appreciate that, as it will be in her home.

[SpaceHedgehog]

Sounds good - I like understated too, with perhaps just an accent of colour.

[slappyhooper]

I would take a few minutes before you go to bed tonight and do a little repair on your t-molding mistake. Take a paint scraper and cover it with saran wrap (clear cling film) and stick it into the slot beside your mistake. Then fill the void with glue and sawdust (mix it so it is thicker than toothpate) or fill it with some PL Premium (polyureathane construction adhesive), something for the barbs of the t-molding to grab onto. Let it dry overnight and then remove scraper and cling film in morning (now that I think of it, wax paper might be better to use). You might find your t-mold will cover the boo-boo, but it will slightly bubble up in this area without something to hold it in place. Considering where it is located, it might be something that will bug you every time you look at it.

Thanks! That's a great idea actually.....

[slappyhooper]

I'm going to have red T-molding and red buttons+ a few accessories like volume control knob will be red....That's at least a week out though.

[slappyhooper]

And now, a brief update with zero pictures.

Today was not as productive as I'd hoped. I'm working out of a drafty garage and it was cold with a lot of moisture in the air today. The floor of my garage started sweating water, prompting me to put all pieces of MDF on top of scrap pieces of wood to avoid water retention.

So annoying! I just want one solid weekend with balmy, dry weather! (not a chance in Iowa)....


On to other things:

I had noticed that there was slightly more "wobble" in my cabinet than I'd like. This prompted a witch hunt.

I found that the firring on one side panel was off by about 1/4 inch on one panel, and 5/16ths on another.  Lucky for me I hadn't applied any glue yet.

I threw away the firring and started from scratch, and after about an hour, had screwed in, glued in firring strips on the bottom part of my cabinet with tolerences of 1/16th or less. There is now zero wobble in the cabinet, and it just feels...Good.


Next, I fitted the final pieces of firring in the CP. They fit perfectly. The CP arms and supports are now rock solid, no flex, and all firring pieces are not just screwed, they're glued too. After that I put some wood filler in the screw holes and brought the piece inside to dry. My wife hates me right now-our guest bedroom looks like an arcade machine came to die!

After that was through, I took the cabinet base and puttied all the screw holes in that, and set that aside to dry as well. I'm going to sand it down, then prime/paint and laminate that. It will be complete overkill, but I want this thing to look nice.

Per typefighter1's suggestion, I fixed my boo-boo with the t-molding slot. it doesn't look perfect, but once the T-molding is in place it will hide it, and there's now something for the molding to grab onto.

I decided how I'm going to mount my monitor, which was bugging me before today.
I want to have a nice bezel, without cutting paper or something that won't age well.
What I decided, is to use a 1/2 inch MDF piece and route the monitor space out to a touch under 1/4 inch, then slip the monitor inside that and laminate the front.

I tested this idea earlier by routing out an extra MDF piece I had laying out. It worked a treat until about 85% done when a piece of MDF gave way, and the router slipped, digging much deeper than I'd wished.

That being said, I know exactly what I need to do now to make this work.
The trick will be simply taking my time routing the holes, moving in lateral strokes rather than trying to spot route out certain places.
In the end, the test piece will be used anyway, as intend to glue that portion onto the back of my monitor mount/bezel as an additional support.  This all sounds labor intensive, but I think I can do this entire piece and have it look GOOOOD with about an hour's work.

To anybody following this build, I apoligize for several things:
1. Vigo, I'm using your basic design, but it's going to wind up being a bit more wood, and labor intensive and probably isn't a true representation of a fully scaled inexpensive build like you originally dreamed up.  I think it will be great when completed though!

2. I don't take as many pictures of everything I do like some other builders do. Not every update post will have pictures. That being said I'll make an effort to provide some cabinet pron next update.


I really want to rush and finish this thing before the weather gets much worse, but I have too much going on right now, (pregnant wife, finals, etc).

I'm setting a timeline for 2 weeks hence that this thing better be finished by.....

[slappyhooper]

Not too much to report today. My wife and I went to her monthly pregnancy exam-We find out the sex of our baby next trip.....

I came home and checked out the base I'd puttied. The putty was very dry, and I sanded it down and reputtied a few other small indentations I missed before. Tomorrow I'll sand, then prime that sucker...

The CP arms were also dry, but not perfectly filled. I sanded the arms down and applied putty to a few small spots I missed.

Tomorrow should be a big day! I have about six hours free in the morning-afternoon and I'm going to make them count!

[BadMouth]

I'd call the design The Bigo Vigo*.
Been wanting to see a full size version since Vigo posted his original.

* would not put that on the marquee

[slappyhooper]

This isn't properly a "Full size" version. I would classify this as about a 85% full size version.

Mostly because the CP will be 31" from the ground. If it was were 36-38 inches from the ground I'd say it's "full size".

On to other things. Picked up an orbital sander tonight at Menards. Best 13 bucks I ever spent! Sanded the base smooth in about five minutes....

Which leads me to my next point. I just sanded and primered the Base and CP arms.....

[slappyhooper]

Well, a short update with pictures. I forgot to take pictures of the machine, but it's nearing completion now.....

For some reason, the only pictures which turned out are the pictures of me routing out the bezel.

Briefly, I've done the following:

Primed/painted the base.
Retrimmed the top of the Machine to "round over" the points a bit much. This amounted to trimming about four more inches from the top. The machine looks MUCH, much better now, more natural.
Cut the monitor mount/bezel. (pics below).


So as I eluded to in a prior post, I wanted to mount the monitor on a 1/2 inch piece of MDF laminated black which would double as the bezel. This is the process.....



Basically, I just clamped some pieces of firring down to act as a jig and used my smallest straight cut router bit to trace the outline.  The depth was set to a hair over 1/4 inch deep.


After that, I went around those outlines with a larger router bit, before moving laterally. I did this to ensure that if I slipped just a hair, I wouldn't nick the outside.



This is what I wound up with.


As you can see, the scrap piece I tested the theory with yesterday is being used to flush out the monitor. I'll trim this piece to about 1" on each side, and attach some vertical strips to hold the monitor firmly in place behind the main piece.



This piece will be primed, painted black several times, then laminated. It should look pretty decent when mounted. Also, this piece will have the admin buttons and speakers mounted below the monitor, along with volume control.  I still have to sand the bezel down a tiny bit on the edges to make it perfect, but I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

The bulk of the cabinet work is effectively done as well. I don't have any pictures of that, as I was running late for class this afternoon, but I'll post some tomorrow sometime. Right now I have to figure out how I'm mounting the motherboard and everything else...Also trying to talk myself out of a few elaborate touches I could put on the cabinet before finalizing everything with glue....I'll document that very well in the upcoming posts....

[slappyhooper]

Quick update.

Getting close! Puttied up all the screw holes today, Still have to affix the base and front panel internally.


Need to pick up more primer.



I still need to trim about 2" from the bottom of the bezel, and add the speakers, admin buttons etc, but it's slowly getting there...


As you can see, the thing is squared and looks nice....I'm coming up on the final steps for the build, and I'm pretty freaking stoked.

Next up, CP starts getting set up....

[CoryBee]

I love this build, keep up the good work brother man

[slappyhooper]

Well, it seems that I don't have a lot of visible effort to show for today, but I painted what needed painting, and am about 50% done laminating...
Pics tomorrow when everything looks nicer.

[slappyhooper]

Baby, it's COLD outside!

I cut my work short today due to freezing temps. I'm almost done with anything that needs doing in the garage anyway, thank God!


Briefly,

Yesterday finalized how the CP mounts, and switched the CP mounting surface from 3/4 MDF to 1/2 Ply.

After that I drilled and screwed the CP back into the back 3/4 MDF backing. (See pic)



Now before anybody lambasts me for making it harder to access the guts, I agree. It is harder. I know my nephews, and if there's a hinge or a door, they'll find it and open it.

My goal is to do this (mostly) right the first time, test everything and make sure it's working perfectly, then give it to my sister as a closed system. If it needs fixing down the road, I'll cover that, but I just don't want the munchkins discovering hinges, doors or openings.


As you can see in the below picture, This is the button layout I'm thinking about using. I haven't drilled anything yet, but just testing the spacing.



Getting ready to drill the admin panel


Speaking holes.

The trick is to go slow and steady, and use a scrap piece of MDF underneath so there's minimal splintering.


Perfect fit!


Testing the fit of the rest of the buttons. I'm going to change the position of the P1 coin, so disregard the strange placement there.


Briefly, the admin panel will have
(L Speaker) [P1 Start] [P1 Coin] [Pause] (Volume Knob) [Exit Game] [P2 Coin] [P2 Start] (R Speaker)

The admin panel is 3/4" pine
the bezel resting atop it is 1/2" MDF. I will get a bracket for plexi which meets flush with the 3/4 inch Admin panel and use 1/4" plexi in front of the bezel, ensuring a flush face for the bezel/plexi and admin panel

To be quite honest, I expected to be finished by now. I have finals this week through Wednesday,  so I expect to finish everything up thursday or Friday for the most part. The whole prime/sand/paint/sand thing is infuriating. I'm finding out quickly that much of building a cab is just waiting for things to dry or cure.

Thursday I expect to finish the Control panel, and mount the internal hardware. At that point it's simply testing, figuring out what I want for the Marquee, and configuring everything. I think I need a tutorial on how to update MAME. my current rom list/mame.exe is about a year old.


In case anybody is wondering, yes, there will be fan vents in the case.

[Acids]

Awesome work, its coming along nicely..
I agree on the paint thing.    I simple don't have the patience for the painting.

One day when i have space to make a SWEET cab ill go to the trouble and paint sand paint sand till its smooth as a babies bottom..

One day!!!!

[SNAAKE]

biggerlix? ....thats what she said

[steinar-t]

Baby, it's COLD outside!

Freezing..... minus 17 degrees celsius this morning! 
Nice work on your cab

[slappyhooper]

Thanks for the kind words. 
Today has been a kind of letdown, but I'm oddly buoyed by a side project.

This.

This is an audio amp I picked up for 8 bucks on dealextreme.
Today I spent about 2 hours futzing with the damn thing, but I got everything working perfectly!

Although it may not look pretty, I took the following steps to get my volume control working.

1. Snip stereo cable with 3.5mm cable on one end.
2. Painstakingly solder each connection to the input on this board. (This might not sound impressive to some of you guys, but for me, it's a major accomplishment, particularly because I actually did a pretty decent job with the soldering!
3. Apply hot glue to the top of where the wire enters the solder point, ensuring it's doubly secured.
4. Heat Shrink tube the  out of all the wires.
5. Solder on the leads to the speakers, and crimp on connectors on the other ends.
6. More hot glue on top of solder points
7. More heat shrink tube.
8. Wire up entire thing to hacked 12v adapter (will use PC power supply when I actually hook up later)
9. Blare some George Straight loud enough to elicit a response from my pregnant wife two rooms over..
10. Pat myself on the back for a job well done and wish I had a beer in the fridge.
11. Glance up at the clock and realize I have 1 hour before I have to be at school for a math final I haven't studied for.....


The back.

Disregard all th at ugly wood filler around the hole. The other day when I was working on the admin panel, I routed out that area for the amp/module and was going to simply use the little nut that comes with the amp to secure it to the panel. Unfortunately, after routing out as deeply as I'm comfortable routing, I found the nut still wouldn't reach the threading on the other end.  This meant I had to come up with a new way to mount the amp.
Again, brilliant me decided that I could slap the amp in there with the volume knob pressed through to the front, and secure it from the back with gobs of wood filler.
about thirty minutes after I came up with this idea, I realized I hadn't soldered on the audio inputs yet, and that using tons of wood filler there wasn't a great Idea........
I have a pretty decent idea now to get it all secured though, so I'm not too worried. All in all, I'm really happy with this project. Not exciting, but it's just nice to invest a little bit of time into something that comes out great!

[slappyhooper]

Today has frustrated me. It's beautiful outside, easily in the high 40's, low 50's and I'm at a point in the build that requires more clamps than I'm willing to purchase. Thus, not much accomplished today.

I applied vinyl to the admin panel and mounted all the buttons and speakers. The circuit board in front of the panel you see is the completed amp w/wiring harness. I'm waiting for the red knob to come in the mail before I mount that up.
Overall it turned out pretty well. I ordered a speaker ring that should fit the speakers, but even if it doesn't, I think the bare look is still ok in this style of arcade system.



Other than that I'm just waiting for the glue to dry on the supporting piece behind the bezel. My plan is to mount two vertical strips of 2" wood through the support I'm gluing now. I will secure that piece of wood with 1 1/4 inch screws, ensuring that only 1/4 inch goes into the bezel, and doesn't protrude from the front, and the monitor is very securely mounted.
 
Right now I really really want to get the CP started up but I can't until tomorrow when I can reclaim the damn clamps I need.
 
On to other news, I decided I do in fact require a door in the back of the arcade cabinet, I just need to find a way to make sure it's really, really kid proof. I hate it when I decide one thing then change it, but at this point, it's all cool. I just want to get this damn thing out the door.
I've been nickle and diming my way into spending a lot more than I originally intended on this build.
I don't regret starting this thing, I just wish I could rewind and start over from scratch. I'd save so much time and effort!

[slappyhooper]

I'm getting close!

The glue dried and the clamps came off the back of the bezel and I added these corner mounts. they apply juuuust enough pressure to hold the lcd perfectly!




Test fitted the monitor...Perfect except for those clamp marks on the corners.
Out came the sander, and paint.



While that was drying, I mounted a 3/4" "L" bracket to the top of the admin panel. This is awesome because it will allow the bezel and tinted plexi (when I buy it) to rest perfectly on top!



I got the joystick and pushbuttons drilled on the CP, but I got overzealous and drilled the joystick mounting holes through all three layers. I'm really pissed off because the entire point of the top 2 layers was simply to hide the joystick bolts.  Suggestions anybody?

At this point I'm really considering picking up one more sheet of wood and one more plastic sheet and redoing the CP....
Not sure. I'll sleep on it and figure out what I want to do tomorrow.  I was dead set that I wanted to avoid joystick bolts showing, but I'm getting really tired of building this thing....and the Christmas deadline is looming....

Front test shot. The clamp to the right is simply holding the admin panel in place. (it's not bolted in yet)


That's about it. The final parts I need should be here by Monday. Past that I just need to add vinyl to the bare wood and get some plexi...

Edit:
A few hours later...
Stopped by Menards and picked up a new 2'x4' piece of wood and plastic for the CP. I'm redoing that sucker.  Although this thing won't be perfect by a long stretch, I really hate exposed bolts, and I'm going to get rid of that look in this build.

side note, picked up PVC wiring box, and cut it in half to mount the audio amp behind the admin panel. It's not terribly pretty, but it is very secure.
I debated painting the box black, but in the end I decided it doesn't matter since it won't be exposed anyway, and I went the easy route.




At this point I'm simply waiting for the volume knob to come in before I wire up the admin panel.
Tomorrow will be a big day as I anticipate the cab becoming functionally complete at that point.
Will flush trim new CP and plastic top, and get everything wired up hopefully....

[elkameleon]

I would of just took that potentiometer off of your sound amp and relocated the board elsewhere, even a cheap one from radioshack would have a shaft long enough to make it through that wood. It's a "next time" idea. 

[CoryBee]

I would of just took that potentiometer off of your sound amp and relocated the board elsewhere, even a cheap one from radioshack would have a shaft long enough to make it through that wood. It's a "next time" idea. 

The rheostats at radio shack actually have pretty short shafts. Rheostat = low ohm potentiometer

[slappyhooper]

Thanks for the suggestions guys, I'll be honest, I did what I did because that  volume potentiometer was soldered somewhere in between regular and micro, and it was outside of my abilities to remove it and install another.

What I would up with is definitely ineligant, but effective and hidden, so while I'm not really happy with it, I'm reasonably happy.... Get 'R Done!

On to other things.

I stopped by Menards and picked up 2'x4' 3/4" MDF for the CP and another sheet of black plastic.
Set me back about 18 bucks total, so pretty cheap as far as stupid mistakes go.

I then routered the CP using a flush bit to the original size and trimmed the plastic a moment later.

With that done, I fitted the joysticks.
I'm using Ultimarc J-Sticks. I routered enough from the top of the CP to make the mounting plates fit flush with the CP.
Next I routered holes in the middle to drop the actual joystick mech.

The Joysticks look and feel great!

Before I mounted the black plastic CP cover, I sanded the edge of the 3/4" MDF that faces the front and laminated that, wrapping the vinyl about 1.5 inches on either side. This will ensure a great looking CP and front.

I haven't mounted the CP yet, as most of today was spent crimping and soldering. The net result is that the CP is 100% complete and tested.

Those wires you see running out the bottom are the leads which go to the admin panel.


And here's the money shot of the underside of the CP.

I'll clean up the look a bit more once I get everything mounted in the cab.

Tomorrow will be pretty easy. I'm going apply the black vinyl laminate to the sides and arms, add T-molding then I'm going to mount in the monitor, admin panel and CP.

I priced out a piece grey tinted glass locally and found a company which will cut it for about 35 bucks. Unfortunately there's a two day turnaround so I won't be until Wed or so that this beast is really spruced up.

I'm getting close...so so close to being done, and I'm happy!
On a side note, my wife is a saint. She's been nothing but patient while I figure this thing out. She needs a nice Christmas present, methinks. 
 
 

[slappyhooper]

Hey guys, quick update. Today was spent indoor laminating!

Laminate is on, T Molding is on, and this thing is starting to look like an arcade machine!

Most of today I had a beer in one hand and a hot gun in the other.




Once I got that T molding on I was cruising!



So this is where I'm at. Everything's fitted, I haven't tightened the arms down yet. (gotta go run and find the nuts and washers)

To do:

Install safety grey safety glass (should be ready by Wed.)
Install computer.
Install marquee (LED lights should be in on Monday)
Install volume knob (knob should be in on Monday)


Aside from that, I'm feeling pretty good about where I'm at. The total height of this thing is 5'2 making it the height perfect for my nieces and nephews. Hell, I'm 6'6 and this thing isn't terribly uncomfortable for me!

This thing might just be ready for Christmas!

[slappyhooper]

Well, a few more things happened today.

I thought about it for some time, and although I originally wasn't going to have a door on the build, I added one anyway. The upper panel in the rear is permently affixed, (Glue+screws).
I didn't bother making the back pretty, merely presentable.


The fan you see is an intake fan. I have a gap of about 1" in the under the CP that will serve as an exit vent.



The wiring and mounting is nearly done.


The only thing that really ticks me off is that I was originally planning on running the audio amp off the computer power supply, but it's an inexpensive P/S and it has a lot of line noise (fan, hard drive, etc) I switched to a hacked 12v adapter from an old hub and it sounds perfect.

Tomorrow my glass comes in. I'm really happy about that because aside from adding the power cable and power button in the back, I'm done. Everything else is just software...Ah, I have the plexi for the marquee and marquee lights.....those go in Tomorrow I think....

Past that, slap up the backing and I'm effectively done....


Just seeing what lighted coin buttons look like makes me wish I'd splurged on LED pushbuttons!

[GnobarEl]

Hi,

nice build you have.

Where did you get those coin buttons?

Thanks

[PL1]

Where did you get those coin buttons?

They're NovagemCDR buttons from GGG.




Scott

[slappyhooper]

Before I start this update, I gotta tell the world!
So my wife is pregnant,  and today we just came back from the doctor's office where we had our ultrasound to determine the sex of the baby. It's a boy!
I did a fist pump, I can't lie!


On to the lesser important stuff....


So today was nice, I picked up the laminated, tinted glass and got that mounted and damn does it look good! I tried to take a few decent pictures of it, but they don't do the build justice. I swear the build looks easily 3x better than the pics suggest.

I also completed all wiring and organized it. Literally everything is wired that needs to be wired except for the marquee lights, but the space has been set aside for them....



That red button above the power cable is the power button, and the leads are actually soldered to my mobo, so they're very secure. (Didn't have any of those one pin motherboard dohickeys, and didn't feel like raping an old computer case to get them)






For this picture I didn't have the bios set up properly...(Originally overclocked this Athlon II X2 to 3.2 GHZ, but put back to factory settings for this machine)  2.7 GHZ is enough to run most games properly anyway. I'm a bit bummed because my Phenom II @ 3.4 ran Blitz 2k with nary a glitch, but this little processor can't cope. I'll have to remove Tekken, MK4, GL, and Blitz from the games list when I get this thing set up....




Side note, I tried to cut the acrylic today for the marquee and I'm pretty pissed. I have the thicker stuff (.20") and you can't just score that stuff a few times and snap it off like the guy at Home Depot told me. I have a feeling I'll need a special wheel for my saw instead.

What ticks me off the most about it is that I spent 25 bucks for the sheet of acrylic and cutting tool and will have to repurchase everything....Live and learn I guess.

Anyway, that's about it for today.
Tomorrow morning will find me in Menards. picking up a new acrylic sheet and some kind of saw blade.  I'm working on a picture for the Marquee. I was going to taylor it towards my nieces and nephews but couldn't come up with anything that seemed original.

I'm thinking of calling this thing the "Redline" and working a picture of a stylized car hauling ass and a pegged tachometer on one side of the picture.  It feels a little like a rip-off of "Rad-Racer" that I saw on this forum, but it feels right for this build... Especially considering the red tmolding.


Anyway, I'm signing out for the night. 

[GnobarEl]

Congratulations for the litle BOY =)

Soon he will be playing MAME games :p

[slappyhooper]

Thanks GnobarEl!


So todar rather than cutting the plexi, I got lazy and called the glass company that cut the monitor glass for me. Turns out it's 26 bucks out the door to get 1/4 inch plexi cut for the Marquee.  Since the sheet I'd need to buy in the store costs 20 +cutting wheel+ tax, it's a no-brainer here........Now to design the marquee!

[dextercf]

Whats with the red "spray-splatter" over the hinges?

[Nephasth]

Whats with the red "spray-splatter" over the hinges?

To line them up if they get taken apart at some time?