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Author Topic: Gil's Robotron Build  (Read 41039 times)

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wp34

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Re: Gil's Robotron Build
« Reply #40 on: February 26, 2019, 06:50:23 pm »
Looking great so far!  Are you going to stencil the sides?

I've got a similar build planned when the weather breaks here but in cabaret form.  Looking forward to following your build.   :cheers:

Gilrock

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Re: Gil's Robotron Build
« Reply #41 on: February 26, 2019, 07:23:37 pm »
Yeah I think I'm going to buy the stencils for the sides.  They seemed a little high considering you could almost buy side art for the same price but I figure I've got enough into this I might as well do it right.

wp34

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Re: Gil's Robotron Build
« Reply #42 on: February 26, 2019, 07:57:53 pm »
Yeah I think I'm going to buy the stencils for the sides.  They seemed a little high considering you could almost buy side art for the same price but I figure I've got enough into this I might as well do it right.

 :applaud:

Mike A

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Re: Gil's Robotron Build
« Reply #43 on: February 27, 2019, 09:27:37 am »
Yeah I think I'm going to buy the stencils for the sides.  They seemed a little high considering you could almost buy side art for the same price but I figure I've got enough into this I might as well do it right.


This just keeps getting better.

Gilrock

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Re: Gil's Robotron Build
« Reply #44 on: February 27, 2019, 09:44:36 am »
Thanks guys.  I'm also going for my 3rd set of joysticks.  I bought the Dominux8's from GGG but I haven't even unwrapped them yet.  I then saw the Wico's at Arcadeshop and bought those.  They feel really stiff but maybe that's how its supposed to be I don't remember.  But then yesterday I messaged a guy I saw on KLOV who used to sell restored Robotron joysticks and he said he had enough parts to make me a set and said they should be the best ones I can get.   So I'm going to have enough joysticks for a few panels when I'm done...lol.

8BitMonk

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Re: Gil's Robotron Build
« Reply #45 on: February 27, 2019, 10:11:36 am »
Original Wico's are the best, they'll feel stiff initially compared to other joysticks but that's how the originals were. Took me awhile to get used to it after playing with the U360's I have on my Mame build. If you're looking for color codes and stencil application check out my Robotron restoration thread.
Games: Asteroids Deluxe | Atomiswave | Centipede | Championship Sprint | Defender | Donkey Kong | Dig Dug | Frogger | Ikari Warriors | Missile Command | Pac-Man | Pole Position | Robotron | Spy Hunter | Tempest | Super Mario Strikers

Gilrock

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Re: Gil's Robotron Build
« Reply #46 on: February 27, 2019, 10:17:26 am »
Original Wico's are the best, they'll feel stiff initially compared to other joysticks but that's how the originals were. Took me awhile to get used to it after playing with the U360's I have on my Mame build. If you're looking for color codes and stencil application check out my Robotron restoration thread.

Thanks I'll check it out.  The Arcadeshop Wico's are supposed to be like the originals but I've read they have a different lb grommet.  The ones I'm getting made for me are supposed to be originals with new grommets.  I'll be curious to feel the difference.  I've gotten used to playing with the Servostiks which are really loose.  I've only gotten 319,000 high score so far and I've been joking I'm expecting these original sticks with CRT to triple my high score...lol.

Gilrock

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Re: Gil's Robotron Build
« Reply #47 on: February 27, 2019, 10:21:47 am »
Original Wico's are the best, they'll feel stiff initially compared to other joysticks but that's how the originals were. Took me awhile to get used to it after playing with the U360's I have on my Mame build. If you're looking for color codes and stencil application check out my Robotron restoration thread.

Wow...I just looked at the Robotron competition from a year ago and see you were up there in the "play till you get tired" category.

wp34

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Re: Gil's Robotron Build
« Reply #48 on: February 27, 2019, 10:38:06 am »
Thanks guys.  I'm also going for my 3rd set of joysticks.  I bought the Dominux8's from GGG but I haven't even unwrapped them yet.  I then saw the Wico's at Arcadeshop and bought those.  They feel really stiff but maybe that's how its supposed to be I don't remember.  But then yesterday I messaged a guy I saw on KLOV who used to sell restored Robotron joysticks and he said he had enough parts to make me a set and said they should be the best ones I can get.   So I'm going to have enough joysticks for a few panels when I'm done...lol.

I currently play Robotron in my Total Carnage cabinet.  For some reason Williams switched from Wicos to a (Happ?) microswitch for the sequel to Smash TV.   The joysticks work surprisingly well but Wico is definitely the way to go.  You won't be disappointed.

8BitMonk

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Re: Gil's Robotron Build
« Reply #49 on: February 27, 2019, 10:38:31 am »
Wow...I just looked at the Robotron competition from a year ago and see you were up there in the "play till you get tired" category.

I'm a mid-level player at best, I posted a decent score but Opt still kicked my butt. :D I don't think either of us could hold a candle to the guys who actually marathon the game, the record takes somewhere in the 48hr range. :dizzy: I've since switched to playing Tournament settings, 5 men with no extra lives which I really like. The world records on Tournament are ~800k - 1.2 million which I think is achievable with some practice though I've yet to get higher than ~350k. 

Records are here: https://www.twingalaxies.com/game/robotron-2084/arcade
Some good Robotron info here: http://www.robotron2084guidebook.com/
Games: Asteroids Deluxe | Atomiswave | Centipede | Championship Sprint | Defender | Donkey Kong | Dig Dug | Frogger | Ikari Warriors | Missile Command | Pac-Man | Pole Position | Robotron | Spy Hunter | Tempest | Super Mario Strikers

Gilrock

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Re: Gil's Robotron Build
« Reply #50 on: March 04, 2019, 10:56:36 pm »
Started cutting out several pieces and putting things together.


Zeosstud

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Re: Gil's Robotron Build
« Reply #51 on: March 05, 2019, 01:14:32 am »
Looks Fantastic..

opt2not

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Re: Gil's Robotron Build
« Reply #52 on: March 05, 2019, 02:38:08 am »
Great progress. Looking forward to seeing the rest!

Gilrock

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Re: Gil's Robotron Build
« Reply #53 on: March 07, 2019, 11:12:27 pm »
A little more progress.  Got the control panel mounted...it swivels down on a hinge and I have a couple clamps to lock it in place.  Then I cut out a piece of wood to fit inside the speaker grill I bought.  To create channels for the marquee I couldn't find any good plastic trim so I'm using 2 pieces of angle aluminum on the bottom and 1 piece on top.  I'll take that all off and paint it black later.  After taking the photos I noticed some adjusting I needed to do to the grill since the board was not seated all the way on one side.  Next I need to fit the bezel but I needed to wait for a second pair of hands.






javeryh

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Re: Gil's Robotron Build
« Reply #54 on: March 08, 2019, 05:22:51 am »
This build is coming out awesome.  It looks perfect and that CP - wow!   :cheers:

Mike A

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Re: Gil's Robotron Build
« Reply #55 on: March 08, 2019, 06:23:20 am »
This build makes me happy.

Gilrock

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Re: Gil's Robotron Build
« Reply #56 on: March 08, 2019, 08:41:16 am »
Yeah I'm having to kinda wing it when it comes to positioning of all these front items.  The control panel artwork had precut holes for where the hinge mounts.  I laid the hinge over the holes and thought it all looked good so that's where I drilled and attached it.  Then when I went to hold the panel in place I realized the hinge was causing the control panel to be pushed forward about 3/16" more than I had planned.  If I had to do it over I would have moved the bottom coin door board back 3/16" and I could have cheated the hinge a little deeper on the control panel.  The only real effect was I didn't get as big of a lip where the side panel sticks out past the control panel.  It's barely a 1/4" and I was shooting for closer to 1/2".  So not a big deal and I'll be happy with how it ended up.  And the lip I had sized above and below the marquee seemed to come out a little thinner than I planned.  I did have to sand down the top edge of the side panels so maybe I made it 1/8" shorter.  My CNC can only cut 4' pieces so I had to get creative to cut the 6' side panels using 2 tiled toolpaths and cut registration marks.  It seemed to be aligned perfect but for some reason the 2nd cuts came out a smidge off so I clamped the sides together to sand them even.

I've ordered stencils for the side panels from thisoldgame.  I had seen where some folks recommended gamestencils.com but I didn't like not even being able to see their products.  The website required an account create before you can even see what they have to offer.  Kinda weird I've never seen that before.

Zeosstud

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Re: Gil's Robotron Build
« Reply #57 on: March 08, 2019, 11:49:37 pm »
Without question my favorite build going.. says a lot when I also have mine posted.. 

Looking GREAT!!

Gilrock

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Re: Gil's Robotron Build
« Reply #58 on: March 12, 2019, 12:13:45 am »
Got my rebuilt original Wico's in the mail from Andrewb on KLOV.  They feel really nice.  At least half the stiffness from the ones I got through ArcadeShop.  Starting to work on painting the cabinet.  Looks like it could be a couple weeks to get that done to my satisfaction.  I sprayed on a couple coats of primer and it was ok for the inside stuff but I wasn't happy with the progress of it leveling out the side panels.  So I ended up laying the cabinet down so I can work on one side at a time.  I sanded most of that primer off except for down in the grain sections and then I'm using rattle can filler primer.  Got 4 cans on just one side so far and its feeling pretty nice.

bperkins01

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Re: Gil's Robotron Build
« Reply #59 on: March 12, 2019, 08:35:53 am »
You've inspired me to try Robotron on my cabinet.. 
I started it up and nothing was configured right..  I set up the joystick and some buttons..
I should have come back to the thread and looked at your CP

2 joysticks!

I'll reconfigure Player1 and Player2 sticks.  That will work better!
My Arcade Cabinet Build and other projects here:
Centipede, Joust, Joust Cocktail, Asteroids, Galaga, Ms. Pacman Cabaret, Defender, Space Invaders Cocktail
https://bperkins.wordpress.com/

Zeosstud

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Re: Gil's Robotron Build
« Reply #60 on: March 14, 2019, 01:02:22 am »
Looking forward to what you get done next!!

Wyo

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Re: Gil's Robotron Build
« Reply #61 on: March 18, 2019, 11:33:51 pm »
Awesome work, I love this project!

Gilrock

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Re: Gil's Robotron Build
« Reply #62 on: March 19, 2019, 12:58:41 am »
Thanks I'm still chipping away at it.  Just stripped and repainted the coin door panel tonight because I messed it up the first time.  Just when you think it's ok to do one more spray pass.  It looks fine then I come out 15 minutes later and its drooping.  So I stripped that panel and laid it so it's flat this time.  I also diverted some time this weekend to doing a cap kit on my Defender monitor.  Had some issues getting that working.  I still don't like the colors so I'm going to work on it some more.  Red is really strong and green and blue are weak.  Tweaking the black level I can get green and blue to look good but then I gotta turn red down so far that it looks muddy.  Everything does look better on the monitor though so it was an improvement.

Gilrock

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Re: Gil's Robotron Build
« Reply #63 on: March 19, 2019, 12:16:31 pm »
Well the coin door panel redo looks great.  It only has one coat over the primer and I'm worried trying to add more paint may just make things worse so I think I'm going to leave it as is.

I went to the Sherwin Williams automotive store and was going to buy a metallic silver.  I was only going to get a half gallon.  She rings it up and along with the required mixer it came to $216.  I said well just print that out and let me think about it.  I went back to Home Depot and I'm going to just try using Rustoleum oil-based Aluminum color.

Zeosstud

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Re: Gil's Robotron Build
« Reply #64 on: March 21, 2019, 12:19:33 am »
Love everything about this build.. you need to get it working so we can race to 1,000,000, Pedestal vs Full Size awesomeness, battle of the JROK boards!!

- Zeosstud

Gilrock

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Re: Gil's Robotron Build
« Reply #65 on: March 21, 2019, 09:03:05 am »
The way painting is going I'll never finish.  I have a nice Fuji Mini Mite 3 HPLV gravity sprayer but this silver paint is like a magnifier if it's not a perfectly flat surface.  I just don't think I can work with it unless I lay it on its side and do one surface at a time.  I can't spend the proper time sanding with it upright.  Seems like you gotta sand off 97% of what you just sprayed on to fill in the other 3% imperfections.  At some point I'll just say enough is enough because once its done nobody coming over will really even be able to see the sides or give a crap about what it looks like.

Gilrock

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Re: Gil's Robotron Build
« Reply #66 on: March 21, 2019, 09:24:07 am »
Love everything about this build.. you need to get it working so we can race to 1,000,000, Pedestal vs Full Size awesomeness, battle of the JROK boards!!

- Zeosstud

If I can't score high it will be all on me and not the cabinet.

Zeosstud

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Re: Gil's Robotron Build
« Reply #67 on: March 21, 2019, 09:38:39 am »
I know EXACTLY how you feel.. :-)

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk


jennifer

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Re: Gil's Robotron Build
« Reply #68 on: March 21, 2019, 09:47:42 am »
Usually you can cheat it a bit when you are that close, with satin clear, your problem will still be there just hidden by distraction, make sure it is compatable with your paint if you try it (same brand is usually safe).

Gilrock

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Re: Gil's Robotron Build
« Reply #69 on: March 21, 2019, 10:18:27 am »
Usually you can cheat it a bit when you are that close, with satin clear, your problem will still be there just hidden by distraction, make sure it is compatable with your paint if you try it (same brand is usually safe).

Yeah I believe everything on the sides is oil based.  I used Filler Primer spray cans and thought I had it fairly smooth.  I knew it wasn't perfect but it felt really smooth when you run your hand over it.  Seems like the aluminum color shows marks that you almost can't feel with your fingernail.  The aluminum color is rustoleum oil based and I was going to use rattle cans for the red and blue because I didn't see colors I liked in anything else.  It was my first time spraying oil based and I gotta say I kinda liked it.  It seemed to spray much nicer than latex.  And I'm using the 3M cup system so cleanup was pretty easy.

If I spray a clear coat I would imagine doing it after spraying the red/blue stencils would be best but at that point there's no going back if you don't like how the silver looks.  Painting is my weakest skill.

JDFan

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Re: Gil's Robotron Build
« Reply #70 on: March 21, 2019, 10:43:59 am »
Wouldn't worry too much about it since even the factory cabs had imperfections in them  :dunno

Gilrock

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Re: Gil's Robotron Build
« Reply #71 on: March 21, 2019, 11:27:47 am »
Yeah I'm afraid the poor quality of the originals has no bearing on the level of quality I expect from myself.

jennifer

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Re: Gil's Robotron Build
« Reply #72 on: March 21, 2019, 01:09:42 pm »
Yeah I'm afraid the poor quality of the originals has no bearing on the level of quality I expect from myself.
You will know from experience next time and no reason it can't be something to be proud of...Without seeing it, Jenn would let it dry, cured out in fact, Just set it aside in a warm place (work on somthing else for awhile) and in a week or three sand it flat again with 400/800 grit, and repaint.

Gilrock

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Re: Gil's Robotron Build
« Reply #73 on: March 21, 2019, 01:56:46 pm »
Hell if you're using 400 grit it's already flat in my book...

Gilrock

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Re: Gil's Robotron Build
« Reply #74 on: April 03, 2019, 11:33:12 am »
Well I'm about to go back and strip the sides down to the wood for the 3rd time.  At one point I had it lying sideways and sprayed what I expected to be the last coat on one side.  It was looking perfect.  My wife comes home and does something she almost never does....opens the garage door.  I run out yelling noooooooo....  Got the door back down and everything seemed ok.  Come back out and check it 2 hours later and there are 2 moths stuck in the paint.  In the morning that side looked perfect except for the moths.  I tried sanding them out but they seemed to be dug in like 3 layers of paint and it just looked too messed up in that area.  I ended up stripping it back down to the wood on both sides.  Then I tried just leaving it standing up and spraying both sides at once.  It actually was looking pretty good and I was going to accept that you could see a little bit of the wood grain texture.  It didn't feel deep at all.  I lightly sanded and thought just one more coat.  Spray on that coat and its just looking worse like it has pock marks in the areas where it was grainier.  It just seems like the paint avoids the divots and looks worse every coat.  This paint just doesn't sand very well no matter how long I let it dry.  Whether I use an orbital sander or a manual sanding block it always gathers in the middle of the paper and I had to try to clean it off with a razor edge every 10 seconds.  The filler primer was the only thing that sanded very well but that try got messed up by the moths.  Between buying stencils, an HPLV sprayer, paint, sanding pads, and other junk I'll probably have $1,500 in this paint job when I'm done.

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Re: Gil's Robotron Build
« Reply #75 on: April 03, 2019, 12:38:37 pm »
That is actually a fun story, most of us have been there...From what you are describing that sounds like orangepeel, probably need to thin your paint a little more, and keep it wetter by overlapping your passes next time faster with less tack...For now Jenn would just stop and let it dry (or your going to have shrinkage issues)(infered Uv lights, like incubator chicken egg lights from the farm store, or hot natural sunlight will speed up your dry times...And take your wife out on a date night, she probibally feels bad about the moths.

Gilrock

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Re: Gil's Robotron Build
« Reply #76 on: April 03, 2019, 03:22:25 pm »
This paint is already super thin.  If I spray the cab upright I have to be super careful to keep the flow very minimum to keep it from running.  I had a friend who paint professionally come over and try my sprayer on a practice piece of wood and he had issues with it running.  I was laughing saying dude I told you this paint will run unless you put just a really thin coat on there.  I've tried going thicker when lying it flat.  I don't think what I'm seeing is orange peel because I've seen what that looks like with a latex paint.  This metallic oil-based paint is a completely different animal and is a big pain.  I'm also learning how to use this sprayer from scratch on this project so I think I learn something each time.  My lesson with this paint is you pretty much need the surface to look like however smooth you want it before spraying this metallic paint.  So you gotta use primer to get it smooth don't expect to be able to sand this metallic paint very much to level the surface.  And it seems like 2 to 3 thin coats is the max you should do once you get more than that it then seems to not look as good.

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Re: Gil's Robotron Build
« Reply #77 on: April 03, 2019, 06:45:27 pm »
You have learned some valuable information during the course of this... Cars for example are usually painted in coats of 3. Your gun is not set up correctly,  First look a the cap for the tip, It should be around 1.4 for what you are doing, a 1.8 go example would be too big. I it clean? Those little holed next to the center hole need to be open, that is your atomization, The vent on the cap needs to be open too or it will vaporlock...And finally with your pressure around 25psi, turn the fluid knob in a bit (try 1/4 turn clockwise) It is the knob on the back directly in line with the centerhole on the front.
« Last Edit: April 03, 2019, 07:19:15 pm by jennifer »

Gilrock

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Re: Gil's Robotron Build
« Reply #78 on: April 03, 2019, 07:54:14 pm »
This is my gun:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00D4NPPNM

So I'm using a 1.3 needle.  I clean it after every use.  I currently don't have a way to measure pressure I'd need to buy a gauge to mount at the end of the hose.  I know what all the controls do and I can disassemble and reassemble this gun in my sleep now.  I've experimented with several different positions of the fluid knob.  One video I watched from a professional car painter the guy said he liked to turn the knob in till you just start to feel it push the handle and then he said you control the spray by how far you pull back the handle.  I've done that and I've also tried racking it all the way in and then backing it out till I was getting a fine spray.  I think I've done a pretty good job spraying my failures are probably more along the lines of not properly sanding flat between coats or not waiting long enough to sand and things like that.  This last time the first 3 coats sprayed beautiful and I should have just left it alone and gone with those results.  I tried to push it one more coat to get rid of a bit of the wood grain look and things went south.  And by the way this paint from the store sucks.  It comes with a big pile of sludge at the bottom of the can and I spend 15 minutes stirring it.  For one of the quarts I had the guy in the store break it loose and run it through their shaker twice and that was probably the best result.  I might be dealing with paint that's just too old.

Gilrock

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Re: Gil's Robotron Build
« Reply #79 on: April 03, 2019, 07:56:26 pm »
If I could find a local expert I'd pay to have them use my gun just once to show me how its done and maybe see if something is not setup right.  It definitely doesn't seem like the paint comes out "atomized".