Does anyone know where to get illuminated t-molding?

[matsadona]

Awesome! 
Please share some details about this. I have a some project that would definitely benefit from something like that.

[Green Giant]

www.illumicade.com

Why is this not in Buy/Sale/Trade plus stickied to the top?

This stuff is freaking sweet.

[yotsuya]

www.illumicade.com

Why is this not in Buy/Sale/Trade plus stickied to the top?

This stuff is freaking sweet.

Probably because he's currently having some issues and needs to take care of himself and his loved ones first before he fulfills any orders.

[ChadTower]

Been doing a bit of research to see what's out there for this now.  That guy appears to have never delivered anything but at least he refunded their money.

I did find this.  It doesn't provide the uniform glow mentioned earlier but it does provide a hundred other possibilities with the an RGB controller.

[Nephasth]

Nice!

[yotsuya]

Until they come up with something that evenly diffuses the light, color me unimpressed. But it is progress if you're wanting that sort of thing.

[ChadTower]

The product page does say a version is coming that fits EL tape.  So there is that.


This version may be overkill for a vid but I could see a dozen other uses for it.

[yotsuya]

With all these, you're going to have a design where there's a lot of light in the middle and it tapers out on the edges. Again, get it evenly distributed, and I think you have a winner.

[Nephasth]

I'm going to get some for my juke...

[Titchgamer]

Not very practical really but if you were to use a reflective surface behind the LED strip reflecting back at your T moulding you would probably get quite a nice light distribution the problem being the recess for it would be bigger than that of the T moulding!

[yotsuya]

I'm going to get some for my juke...

I'll believe it when I see it! 

[Nephasth]

You're right. It'll never happen.

[Nephasth]

T-molding.com says it's the same part as used in Jurassic Park. Look what the new local arcade just unboxed... I'm going to go check this ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- out in person.

[RandyT]

Not very practical really but if you were to use a reflective surface behind the LED strip reflecting back at your T moulding you would probably get quite a nice light distribution the problem being the recess for it would be bigger than that of the T moulding!

Probably wouldn't do much, if anything.  LED's are very directional, so a reflective surface would only reflect a portion of the diffused light reaching it.  The only real solution to getting proper diffusion is optical gratings (costly  and likely impractical) and/or material thickness (i.e. distance) in front of the LED.  A good way to test this for yourself is to illuminate an LED, and hold a piece of white paper in front of it.  You can mark a couple of lines on the paper, representing the area you wish to illuminate evenly.  Now move the paper away from the LED, until the area you wish to illuminate evenly is without an appreciable "hot spot".  This would likely be close to the distance required.  Denser diffusing materials may reduce this some, but will also reduce the brightness, and may still not achieve the effect desired.

[Titchgamer]

I dont know, I use LED strip to light my Conservatory up.
I have the strip Angled at 45 degrees to the roof so it shines up and then reflects off the roof to very good effect without looking patchy,

But the problem is as you say the distance which makes it rather inpracticle in this situation as in my conservatory there is lots of roof for it to reflect.

[rovingmind]

my immediate thought goes toward having that shape of t-slot in a UV reactive strip, then stuffing the uv led strips inside of them.

[RandyT]

my immediate thought goes toward having that shape of t-slot in a UV reactive strip, then stuffing the uv led strips inside of them.

It would be an interesting thing to explore, but my first thought on it is that the issue of "hotspotting" would remain.  UV reactive materials react stronger in locations of higher UV intensity.  While you might get more reaction at the outer edges (not a given), it will likely still show the locations of the LED emitters very clearly.

The reason UV reactive items glow evenly under black light, is because the item is usually bathed in it, at some distance from the UV source.  The reason the UV reactive item appears to glow in the dark is simply due to the contrast produced by the inefficiencies of the human eye.  In other words, when UV ("invisible") light strikes these reactive materials, the UV is absorbed, and light is emitted at a frequency the human eye can "see", relative to the intensity of the source but with losses.  If your eye could actually see UV light, that dark room with the glowing stuff in it would look very different.

[rovingmind]

True Randy but it would still look cool.  Plus UV lights and arcades go well together so it would glow niceley if the internal leds were off.

[wemr97dl]

I have a sample on the way from t molding.com I'm going to try 5mm EL wire inside, I have a ton of it. Ill post a pic or video when I try it.

[plazma]

How about using regular led strip with diffuser sheet from a TFT panel? Some sheets do an amazing job spreading the light sideways

[southpaw13]

Electroluminescent tape

[n3wt0n]

I have a sample on the way from t molding.com I'm going to try 5mm EL wire inside, I have a ton of it. Ill post a pic or video when I try it.

Looking forward to this. What do you do to deal with the high pitched squeal from the EL wire transformers? It appears in a lot of cases this is a deal breaker for EL wire. If you put the transformer in the bottom of the cab would you still notice the noise?

[BigCurtis]

This video does a solid job of demonstrating the sound concerns some have http://www.thatscoolwire.com/articleDetail.asp?articleID=75 Interestingly, the one inverter the presenter is tone deaf to was loud and piercing to me.

I saw one suggestion of covering all the electronic components in the inverter with a mountain of hot glue, with reported measured but not complete silencing (I have not tried this).

But first thought, why not stuff it in a small box filled with egg foam/acoustic dampening material? With the main cabinet around that as well I can't imagine it would remain audible to the player.

[wp34]

I can't speak to any sound for EL Wire but with EL Panels the only noticeable sound comes through the inverter.  I mounted my inverter in the back of the cabinet and can't hear anything. 

[RandyT]

I can't speak to any sound for EL Wire but with EL Panels the only noticeable sound comes through the inverter.  I mounted my inverter in the back of the cabinet and can't hear anything.

This made me think of something which may be related, where high frequency sound is concerned.  Old ears

I have a friend with a twenty-two year old son, who come over for party night on occasion.  Whenever I have the arcade cabinet powered up (old school 27" RGB CRT monitor) he asks "what is that noise"?  His father and I look at each other and shrug, as we don't hear anything, other than the fan from the projector and whatever happens to be playing on it at the time.  So I turned off the CRT, thinking he can hear the flyback, and he tells me that was it.

So, short story long, high frequencies, like those coming from EL inverters, will be heard by some who have good hearing, especially the younger folks.  Older ones, maybe not so much.

[JimmyU]

I can't speak to any sound for EL Wire but with EL Panels the only noticeable sound comes through the inverter.  I mounted my inverter in the back of the cabinet and can't hear anything.

This made me think of something which may be related, where high frequency sound is concerned.  Old ears

I have a friend with a twenty-two year old son, who come over for party night on occasion.  Whenever I have the arcade cabinet powered up (old school 27" RGB CRT monitor) he asks "what is that noise"?  His father and I look at each other and shrug, as we don't hear anything, other than the fan from the projector and whatever happens to be playing on it at the time.  So I turned off the CRT, thinking he can hear the flyback, and he tells me that was it.

So, short story long, high frequencies, like those coming from EL inverters, will be heard by some who have good hearing, especially the younger folks.  Older ones, maybe not so much.

Yup, your high frequency hearing does degrade as you get older. This is exacerbated if you work with loud machinery without the proper hearing protection.

[wp34]

Not only does your hearing start to go as you age but so does your memory.  Looks like I posted the same basic answer in this same thread over a year ago. 

That buzz drives me nuts as well.  It appears to come from the power inverter and not the panels themselves.  I located the inverter at the back of my cabinet and do not hear the buzz at all.

I bet that buzzing got really old by the end of the night.

I used EL wire in my Halloween costume this year, NVGs for Archer, and while it looked great the buzzing was intolerable.  Anybody else getting a harsh buzz?  I'm somewhat noise sensitive I guess because it put me off EL products completely.  Stuff was relatively fun and easy to work with tho and the results were great - for $3 and one night's use it was fine.

I can't speak to any sound for EL Wire but with EL Panels the only noticeable sound comes through the inverter.  I mounted my inverter in the back of the cabinet and can't hear anything. 

[wemr97dl]

I'm using EL wire on my CP now and I don't really notice the noise, its mounted inside the control panel

[n3wt0n]

I'm using EL wire on my CP now and I don't really notice the noise, its mounted inside the control panel

That is good to know, wemr97dl. Thanks.

[nitrogen_widget]

The product page does say a version is coming that fits EL tape.  So there is that.


This version may be overkill for a vid but I could see a dozen other uses for it.

I jumped the gun and got some of this t-molding and some el-tape.
Eltape is like 1/16 too wide (it will go in but after a few inches it gets tough to puch through.
But I have a steel t-square for drywall & a nice razor knife and and thinking I can trim 1/16 off each side so it will fit nicely.
When I have time.

[nitrogen_widget]

I can't speak to any sound for EL Wire but with EL Panels the only noticeable sound comes through the inverter.  I mounted my inverter in the back of the cabinet and can't hear anything.

This made me think of something which may be related, where high frequency sound is concerned.  Old ears

I have a friend with a twenty-two year old son, who come over for party night on occasion.  Whenever I have the arcade cabinet powered up (old school 27" RGB CRT monitor) he asks "what is that noise"?  His father and I look at each other and shrug, as we don't hear anything, other than the fan from the projector and whatever happens to be playing on it at the time.  So I turned off the CRT, thinking he can hear the flyback, and he tells me that was it.

So, short story long, high frequencies, like those coming from EL inverters, will be heard by some who have good hearing, especially the younger folks.  Older ones, maybe not so much.

Ever since I was a kid I could tell when someone in the house left the TV on when they turned off the cable box every time I went into the kitchen (adjacent to family room).
Even now, the kids have my 32" tube CRT hooked up to a roku in their room and when I go up the stairs I can tell half way when the TV is if their door is open.
and yes I hear the transformers for my ell-wire and when I wore ell-glasses for halloween last yr I heard it also when things were quiet but there was enough noise around to mask it at the event I took my kids to.
It's damn annoying really to me while others don't even notice it.

[Titchgamer]

The product page does say a version is coming that fits EL tape.  So there is that.


This version may be overkill for a vid but I could see a dozen other uses for it.

I jumped the gun and got some of this t-molding and some el-tape.
Eltape is like 1/16 too wide (it will go in but after a few inches it gets tough to puch through.
But I have a steel t-square for drywall & a nice razor knife and and thinking I can trim 1/16 off each side so it will fit nicely.
When I have time.

Lube and a draw wire might be easier?

[yotsuya]

The product page does say a version is coming that fits EL tape.  So there is that.


This version may be overkill for a vid but I could see a dozen other uses for it.

I jumped the gun and got some of this t-molding and some el-tape.
Eltape is like 1/16 too wide (it will go in but after a few inches it gets tough to puch through.
But I have a steel t-square for drywall & a nice razor knife and and thinking I can trim 1/16 off each side so it will fit nicely.
When I have time.

Lube and a draw wire might be easier?

I don't need to know your kinks....

[Titchgamer]

Double set and 90 degree baby!

[lilshawn]

But I have a steel t-square for drywall & a nice razor knife and and thinking I can trim 1/16 off each side so it will fit nicely.
When I have time.

depending on how the EL panel is constructed, usually you have 2 conductive layers with the luminescent material sandwiched between them. if you cut the panel (strip) you chance ruining the strip.

if the EL panel is conducted from either sides of the material it might work if you don't break the conductive stip down the side.

look into "EL wire". this may fit your moulding better.

[ed12]

EL wire
interesting

ed

[lilshawn]

yeah EL wire is basically a clear tube filled with phosphor with a wire running down the middle like a coaxial cable with a superfine wire wrapped helically around all that... It's easy to cut cause you can seperate the wires and wire them to the transformer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroluminescent_wire

[ed12]

thk-u
I went on a study spree. looks good for my crane games and touch tunes stuff


ed

[matsadona]

Hm...  would it be possible to insert a led-strip, and then fill the gap with some semitransparent silicone filler? Probably would require some kind of pressure to get it filled properly, but if done right it would perhaps render something similar to the "neon led flex" tubes.

[chito]

found this

which looks amazing and like what you see in modern cabs like "timber man" or "galaga assault"


this is how he did it

cut a 1/2 inch (13mm) groove, laid 5050 RGB led strip and then filled it with clear epoxy. cut the t-mould groove and attached the clear/white t-moulding

would love to find out how these cab companies do theirs. Would be even better if a company could manufacture something like this