Mission Control Project: 5 years on, what to do with the leftovers?

[Pixelhugger]

As I'm preparing the website for launch I got thinking it would be helpful to know what other people would like to see.

So far I'm planning

A "blog-like" construction journal with pics

A finished gallery showing all the cabs details

An artwork section

An FE section to show the interface/skin

A section to thank people involved in the project

An R+D section to show the design process and evolution from embarassingly contorted bad napkin sketches to final 3D files

A links section for all the helpful stuff I've stumbled upon over the years

A store section for plans, art etc. Though I think it'd all be free. Unless I offer prebent 3 sided marquees for sale.

Any other ideas?

[GreenKnight37]

Any other ideas?

Hot girls in bikinis standing next to the cab, just like they do for car magazines?


(...silently awaits the joystick jokes to follow...)

[DrewKaree]

Any other ideas?

Yeah.  Make the blog a perpetual "Under construction" site.  Put a "Countdown to completion" clock that constantly resets every day.  Lastly, drop the finished gallery.  Don't EVER put up a fully completed pic of the cab....it'd only take away from the experience

[Pixelhugger]

No mockup this time on the button. This shows the artwork from Mamemarquees installed and backlit on one of the large navigation buttons.

I'm not at all happy with the almost amber color of the tungsten "white" stock lamp that Happ ships with these buttons. So I guess I'm gonna have to moonlight some more and but the white wedge LEDs they offer.

You can't really see the yellowness of the lamp in these images but it is very present in person. I'm also hoping the LEDs will be brighter, although I am happy with how much illumination I'm actually getting as is.

[Pixelhugger]

On an unrelated note, I decided to redrill the CP in MDF. I was bothered by the blow out I had on the bottom of the particle board and think that the thing will look a whole lot nicer in MDF. In realizing that I may be raising the hood on the CP frequently to show people how it works, I really couldn't bear showing the blown out surface of the particle board that looks more like a lunar landscape than a control panel.

So thats getting redone. No big deal time wise. But when I was test fitting the plastic over it with the artwork in place I noticed that for all the polishing I had done on the lexan it was STILL hazy. In fact the haze extends far beyond the trackball bullnose since I had feathered out the sanding/buffing. Turns out you don't see it NEARLY as much with the milky white backing film on, but once removed it is blatantly visible at any angle other than head on. ARGH! I guess Lexan doesn't take a polish like acrylic. Must be too soft. Any advice to fix this would be MUUUUUCH appreciated. If, as I suspect, it's not gonna get any better I'm gonna have to redrill that as well.

All this at a time when I tough I was a couple of hours away from a finished CP.  Seems the biggest problem with this project is that as it grows (and becomes more expensive) I can tolerate fewer and fewer imprefections. I keep thinking "I've come this far..." or "I've already spent so much..." that I can't settle for anything that's really gonna bug me long term.

Soooooo......  looks like I'll be salvaging a piece of acrylic from my marquee bending graveyard. Bummer is that the only stuff wide enough is 3/16" thick so the bullnose won't be quite as deep. Sigh.

[DrewKaree]

I'm not at all happy with the almost amber color of the tungsten "white" stock lamp that Happ ships with these buttons. So I guess I'm gonna have to moonlight some more and but the white wedge LEDs they offer.

What about checking that "All you could possibly need for LED's" site that's constantly recommended around here?  I KNOW when I checked that site out, they had replacement LED's for all kinds of stuff.  I bet they also have some nicer "Ice white" led's than Happs.  Sometimes the white isn't "white", and I bet they're cheaper than Happs too.

[DrewKaree]

What've you used to polish it?  Was it hazy from the start, or how'd it get that way in the first place?  I've used Meguiar's Scratch-X on some CD's and my cell phone's outer display with excellent success for "removing" scratches, but I dunno why your lexan would be hazy in the first place.

[markrvp]

The button lights are 12v and it appears you are only using 9v?  That would make the light output warmer (just like dimming tungsten lights).  Try 12v.  That will make the output brighter and the light's color temperature should cool a bit.

I'm sure you know this, but tungsten lights (like in those buttons) have a color temperature of approximately 3200 degrees Kelvin.   Light used for color matching is typically 5000 degrees Kelvin (a D50 fluorescent tube).  If you end up getting LEDs, try getting something that is between 5000 - 6500 degrees Kelvin.  Also, when lighting your marquee, use a Daylight balanced fluorescent tube.  If you use the regular tubes that come in the shoplights or under-the-counter fixtures (at 4500 degrees Kelvin) your blue Marquee will appear purple.

[Brax]

Redrilling the CP?

Are you going to get rid of the mouse button too or planning to leave it?

Once I discovered you could use mouse buttons for fire buutons I had to change my layout. In my opinion a cabinet looks a whole lot sleeker and "arcade like" when the mouse button is invisible.

[Pixelhugger]

DK- I used a plastic polishing compound I got at the plastic store and buffed it using both an electric drill and   dremel with polishing wheels. I think it's hazing up since the super super fine scratches from the polishing are too soft too buff out. I think they're just getting "buffed around" if that makes sense.  I tried a polish similar to Scratch - X but no luck. ARGH!

Mark- Just connected it to the proper voltage and sure enough the color temp cools waaay down. I wasn't sure what voltage these were and had a 9v handy so I figured I'd try. Man I was sure off. 

Brax- Well, it's part of the artwork now. I actually don't mind it so much so I'll probably leave it.

[HoopstarsGarage]

Any other ideas?

A time line showing how long it has taken for this project to be completed - may only be handy for those with widescreen monitors though


Hoops

[teef two]

I think some pithy introduction might be called for. The following post can only be apologised for!

The Seven Ages of Mission Control (with thanks to W Shakespeare!)
All the world's an arcade,
And all the men and women merely player1 and player 2;
They have their tokens and their quarters;
And one man in his time makes Mission Control,
His acts being seven ages. At first the design,
Sketched out on a piece of scrap A4;
Then the glorious mock-up, with its rendering
And shining reflective surface, creeping in development
Unwillingly to build. And then the research,
Sighing each time, with a woeful forum post
and yet more delay. Then a re-design,
Full of strange curves, and lit like the Aurora Borealis,
Jealous of cabs already built, unsure of his next step,
Seeking the ultimate curved marquee
Even with the derision of others. And then the builder,
Slow to get going, getting mdf primed,
With colours severe and angles carefully cut,
Full of circular saws and modern T-moulding;
And so he cuts the parts. The sixth age shifts
Into the glued and screwed cabinet carcass,
With edges finely sanded and coin door fixed on front;
His highest scores, well sav'd, a cabinet too wide
For his Happs Bezel; and his big manly subwoofer,
Turning again toward childish treble, bleeps
And explosions in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second cabinet and mere oblivion;
Sans Jamma, sans tron joystick, sans steering wheel, sans everything

[jfunk]

Wow.  I'm betting not many people have poetry written about their (as-yet uncompleted) cabinet   

Nice poem, great looking cab!! 

[Brax]

I just realized I'm the very first (non-pixelhugger) reply to this thread. Kinda feels special considering this King Kong-like thread that's developed. 

*points to the "I'm #1" button pinned to his chest!*

[nostrebor]

...But when I was test fitting the plastic over it with the artwork in place I noticed that for all the polishing I had done on the lexan it was STILL hazy...

 ...I guess Lexan doesn't take a polish like acrylic. Must be too soft. Any advice to fix this would be MUUUUUCH appreciated. If, as I suspect, it's not gonna get any better I'm gonna have to redrill that as well...

...Soooooo......  looks like I'll be salvaging a piece of acrylic from my marquee bending graveyard. Bummer is that the only stuff wide enough is 3/16" thick so the bullnose won't be quite as deep. Sigh...

Lexan will not hand polish like acrylic, and will be much easier to scratch later anyway. I doubt that you will ever get the scratches out by hand polishing, to your satisfaction. So if your willing, lets do something risky with your CPO.

Before you trash the Lexan piece, but after you have exausted all other ideas and are ready to trash it, try this:

                                FLAME POLISHING

Set you torch that you were using for the bending experiment to a LOW heat flame. Start passing over the scratched area with the heat. Far away and fast at first, sneaking closer while looking for the scratches to "soften". This will be hard as hell to do without distorting the face of the Lexan (face polishing is the hardest). You are looking for the scratches to "melt" and then re-solidify into a smooth surface.

Practice on a Lexan scrap first. This takes the lightest of touch, and it is extremely easy to put too much heat in, resulting in bubbles and distortions. The bigger the torch, the harder it is, so use your wimpiest torch. I use a little cheap butane torch with a pencil tip for this, and it is still easy to screw up.

Flame polishing Lexan is a bit of a no-no, and difficult, but if you are goint to toss it anyway...

If you decide to make a new one from acrylic, PM me. Maybe you can make the next one without any buffing or polishing by hand, and avoid the "scratchies".

[papercut]

Jealous of cabs already built, unsure of his next step,

Grammar Police! Grammar Police!

Should be Envious of cabs already built, as you can only be jealous of something you HAVE but you ENVY that which you do not have.

However, let me say, Brilliant Homage!  And for that you may write this poem As You Like It.

[dfmaverick]

I was over at Target the other day looking at Christmas lights, and I noticed that they had a set of mini LED Christmas lights for $4.99.

They run off batteries and may have a possible usage by you or someone else.

They aren't located by all the Christmas lights but over by the extension cords, shingle clips, replacement bulbs area. Small silver box about 3" x 3". Comes all white or multicolored. Looks like you could hack them out easily enough if you'd like to go that route.

Attached is a pic I found of them.

[Pixelhugger]

I tried the flame polishing, which worked for most of the scratched surface. Unfortunately I overheated a few areas and got some crackling on the surface.

So I've rebuilt the CP, acrylic for the top this time, with MDF for the panel. Tomorrow I'm hoping to finish it up with the trackball hole, bullnosing and polishing. If all goes well I'll get the trim on the bow front and be ready to install the art and wire it up.;

[DrewKaree]

So I've rebuilt the CP, acrylic for the top this time, with MDF for the panel. Tomorrow I'm hoping to finish it up with the trackball hole, bullnosing and polishing. If all goes well I'll get the trim on the bow front and be ready to install the art and wire it up.;

All I heard was "blah blah blah I have no pictures blah blah blah"

[Mark70]

So I've rebuilt the CP, acrylic for the top this time, with MDF for the panel. Tomorrow I'm hoping to finish it up with the trackball hole, bullnosing and polishing. If all goes well I'll get the trim on the bow front and be ready to install the art and wire it up.;

All I heard was "blah blah blah I have no pictures blah blah blah"

when I say lol.  I mean this time I actually lol'd

[Brax]

Bahaha

I actually just said the same thing to myself:
*scroll scroll scroll*
"Damnit, no new pics!"

[markrvp]

Did you say something about pictures?  Of a control panel?  That was supposed to be finished yesterday?

I guess I imagined that.

[Pixelhugger]

Oh yeeees. I should have pics up by this afternoon. I was jinxed by DK's post and when I setup my camera at the wood lab last night I realized that in my rush to get out the door I left my flash card at home. ARGH! So I made sure it was loaded when I headed BACK out the the high school at 6:30 this morning to remove the clamps from the trim. The lab could not have gone better. I had the day off yesterday so I was able to get nearly 4 hours in at the shop.

This was enough time to drill the trackball hole, bullnose it, route out the recession for the mounting plate, flush trim the panel and the plexi along 3 sides with a router and along the bow front with the disc sander. Then (with literally minutes to spare before the bell rang:police:) align, glue and clamp the trim along the bow front edge (This marks use #3 of a hand made jig for the project). I polished the bullnose this morning with a fantastic result, a big relief after yet another hard learned lesson in lexan.

I still have to recess the joysticks and stain the trim before I can install the art and call the non-electronic portion completely done.

[Pixelhugger]

As I said, no pics from the lab last night. For the most part it was just redo-ing the same stuff I did before to the lexan/particle board CP only this time in plexi/MDF.

Glue up is always nerve wracking for me. In this case it was particularly stressful since I was working against the class clock. I had to make sure that the trim contacted the radius of the front edge all the way across. So I clamped a little jig across the outside of the trim to allow me a flat surface to clamp against and to provide even pressure across the radius. I was expecting a difficult go at keeping the top of the trim perfectly flush with the top of the plexi and was thinking I'd have to place a bunch of cauls (or braces) along the top to keep the trim in place vertically. Luckily that wasn't necessary. There was zero glue float

[RetroACTIVE]

Clever.

What kind of glue?

[Pixelhugger]

Here is the bullnose after sanding to 400grit. There are some router tracks here and there in the MDF as I made several passes to knock down some high spots. I'll sand those out.

[Pixelhugger]

And the result. These reflective things are really hard to capture in a picture (see token thread  ) You can see how clear the edge polishes at the bottom of the hole in the second pic. There you are actually looking through the polished face. Clear as glass.

[Pixelhugger]

What kind of glue?

Yellow. But in retrospect (and for the rest of the cabinet glue up) I'd use something slower setting. I just can't take the stress!

[RetroACTIVE]

But in retrospect (and for the rest of the cabinet glue up) I'd use something slower setting

Thats why I asked... when you said "run like mad" you made me curious.

[Pixelhugger]

Well, it was run like mad for two reasons-

1. The class was ending and I was about to get locked out.
2. I wasn't sure how much setting could happen before it'd leave a film (or worse) on the plexi. After the polishing on the lexan I was really concerned about having to polish any large areas on the plexi. I just didn't know if semi-set glue could be removed.

[DrewKaree]

Oh yeeees. I should have pics up by this afternoon. I was jinxed by DK's post and when I setup my camera at the wood lab last night I realized that in my rush to get out the door I left my flash card at home. ARGH! So I made sure it was loaded when I headed BACK out the the high school at 6:30 this morning to remove the clamps from the trim. The lab could not have gone better. I had the day off yesterday so I was able to get nearly 4 hours in at the shop.

This was enough time to drill the trackball hole, bullnose it, route out the recession for the mounting plate, flush trim the panel and the plexi along 3 sides with a router and along the bow front with the disc sander. Then (with literally minutes to spare before the bell rang:police:) align, glue and clamp the trim along the bow front edge (This marks use #3 of a hand made jig for the project). I polished the bullnose this morning with a fantastic result, a big relief after yet another hard learned lesson in lexan.

I still have to recess the joysticks and stain the trim before I can install the art and call the non-electronic portion completely done.


As I said, no pics from the lab last night. For the most part it was just redo-ing the same stuff I did before to the lexan/particle board CP only this time in plexi/MDF.

Glue up is always nerve wracking for me. In this case it was particularly stressful since I was working against the class clock. I had to make sure that the trim contacted the radius of the front edge all the way across. So I clamped a little jig across the outside of the trim to allow me a flat surface to clamp against and to provide even pressure across the radius. I was expecting a difficult go at keeping the top of the trim perfectly flush with the top of the plexi and was thinking I'd have to place a bunch of cauls (or braces) along the top to keep the trim in place vertically. Luckily that wasn't necessary. There was zero glue float  or movement during clamping on the trim. I knew the glue would squeeze out around the plexi, but it was still horifying to watch it spread further than I had thought and begin to congeal. I was able to remove the plexi once the trim was firmly clamped and run like mad to wash it off before it set to the point of no return.

So in the pics below you can see the MDF panel and the walnut sandwiched between it and the jig. The front edge of the CP is about 1 3/4" thick with the plexi in place. (I built up the front edge with a piece of poplar to double the surface for the 2" wide trim to get glued to.

blah blah blah somehow DK is to blame blah blah blah but I suckered you into looking at no pictures again blah blah blah

You should have to run the gauntlet of all the viewers of this thread while we whip yer ass with wet noodles 

[DrewKaree]

What kind of glue?

Yellow. But in retrospect (and for the rest of the cabinet glue up) I'd use something slower setting. I just can't take the stress!

Titebond makes a slower-setting glue you could use.  Something to keep in mind for better joints is to use that regular stuff (the stuff that sets up too fast for you) as a prep coat on any end grain.  You'll essentially be using that glue to somewhat seal the end grain so when you finally fasten the two pieces together, that end grain won't wick away as much glue and possibly starve your joint.  With miter joints, that's a REALLY important step, but if it's just plain butt joints, it's not as important, but still something you might want to think about.  Kinda like glue primer.

[Pixelhugger]

blah blah blah somehow DK is to blame blah blah blah but I suckered you into looking at no pictures again blah blah blah

OK this time I actually LOL'd. Quietly, since I'm still at work. But audibly.

[DrewKaree]

Are you just going with a clear finish on the whole thing, or a Danish oil or something?  I can't seem to remember, and there's way too many pages to sort through. 

[Pixelhugger]

The walnut will get a dark stain to even out it's color and prevent lightening over time. It'll also help bring it closer to the super chocolate dark look I had hoped to go for with *coughs* ebony. It'll be topcoated with whatever I use to top the cherry, probably shellac or varnish. The cherry will get no stain.

[DrewKaree]

The cherry will get no stain.

Go with an amber shellac.  That'll get that nice warm color right from jump.  You might even like the walnut with only shellac.  That coloring only looks uneven because there's no finish on it.  Once you lay a finish on, even a coat of poly for instance, the whole look of walnut will change dramatically.  You might like it with just straight shellac. 

If you've got your mind set on the ebony look, I'd suggest a dye rather than a stain.  It'll look "deeper" than a stain would once your finish is on.

Grab a scrap of walnut from somewhere and spend the time testing these things out.  Unfortunately they don't just sell little cans of the crap you'll be using, but $30-40 spent to test out how things will look will be money well spent in the end, yes?

[Pixelhugger]

Titebond makes a slower-setting glue you could use.

[Pixelhugger]

If you've got your mind set on the ebony look, I'd suggest a dye rather than a stain.

[DrewKaree]

Titebond makes a slower-setting glue you could use.

I'll look for that.

It's the bottle with the green tip and label.  I know there's blue, and red as well, but the green gives a longer open time.

I'm particularly concerned about timing during the final cab glue up. The only other "large" woodworking project I've done was a corner fish tank stand. Glue up on that was hectic enough. I'm concerned that with all the interior parts and the massive/heavy sides, that positioning and clamping is gonna be tough to do in 5 or 10 minutes. I'll probably have to place the sides on separate furniture dollys in order to pull them "easily" together during clamping. It's gonna be craaaaazy.

Something you might consider is using a biscuit cutter.  I know you used one for other stuff like fastening some pieces together already, but for larger assemblies, I don't throw a biscuit in there for structural use, it's to help with alignment.  Pre-glue a biscuit into one side to further help with final assembly.  Mebbe invest in a glue bottle with a roller head to help you lay it out better too, or a few of those disposable chintzy metal-handled brushes

The "primer" coat of glue will help too.  You'll have more open time with the regular glue because it won't be being wicked away as quickly.  Test it out on some scrap.  Prime one piece first and then throw glue on both test scraps.  You'll find the glue doesn't seem to disappear as quickly.

[nostrebor]

1. the glue up and the bull nose look great! It appears no flames were used... true? I really think that you will like the acrylic for your CPO in the long term. It is more difficult to scratch than Polycarbonate, and cheaper to replace if you do

2. If you like working with Yellow woodworkers glue, but want more open time, use white elmers type glue. It is exactly the same glue as the yellow, without the accelerators that are in the yellow.
 I like the white with MDF, because it is easy to clean, you can use alot to offset the super suction of MDF, and it stays open for quite a long time. Same rules apply to real woods, but you have even more time because the wood does not absorb it (typically) as fast as MDF.

3. Can you do a few "sub" glue ups? I glue my interior pieces into assemblies, and let them dry. Then to one side, let it dry. Then glue that assembly to the other side. If you are using dados, it is pretty easy to insure that all the pieces will go together square and snug. Just do a dry fit first.