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Author Topic: Nintendo cabinet build - Wreck-It Ralph  (Read 69401 times)

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yamatetsu

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Re: Nintendo cabinet build - Wreck-It Ralph
« Reply #240 on: September 10, 2020, 05:12:38 pm »
If the paint looks ok and you just want to get it shiny, try adding a clear glossy coat. You can polish the crap out of that coat without messing with the red coat.
                  

UnclearHermit

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Re: Nintendo cabinet build - Wreck-It Ralph
« Reply #241 on: September 10, 2020, 05:37:36 pm »
It’s more that I want the paint to look EVEN. When sanded it has a matt finish that is “pink”, when wet it looks rich red and even, when dry and then polished I get some bits shiny red and some bits more like shiny pink!

yamatetsu

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Re: Nintendo cabinet build - Wreck-It Ralph
« Reply #242 on: September 11, 2020, 12:38:10 am »
That's the point. I'm assuming that it looks even and matt when it's dry and NOT polished. On top of that you can then add the glossy clear coat which can be polished to become even more shiny.
                  

Jimbo

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Re: Nintendo cabinet build - Wreck-It Ralph
« Reply #243 on: September 11, 2020, 03:19:07 am »
what grit sandpaper are you sanding with?  wet or dry?

UnclearHermit

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Re: Nintendo cabinet build - Wreck-It Ralph
« Reply #244 on: September 11, 2020, 03:51:17 am »
Sanding wet, have worked up from 320 to 1500, with one last pass at 2000.

So I'm hoping now that clear coat is what I'm looking at to consistently turn my matt pink to red  :) So would something like this be what I'm after?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rustins-POGC250-250ml-Gloss-Varnish/dp/B001GU4BLW

I keep pinning hopes on the "next" thing because the one that will finally give me a finish I can live with!

yamatetsu

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Re: Nintendo cabinet build - Wreck-It Ralph
« Reply #245 on: September 11, 2020, 04:17:58 am »
The clear coat will most likely turn your matt pink to glossy pink. Perhaps you will have to bite the bullet and use a coat of darker red first.
                  

Jimbo

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Re: Nintendo cabinet build - Wreck-It Ralph
« Reply #246 on: September 11, 2020, 07:13:36 am »
Sanding wet, have worked up from 320 to 1500, with one last pass at 2000.

Sounds good then!  I used some Maguire's Ultimate Compound after I'd wet sanded my bartop.  Came out lovely!

UnclearHermit

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Re: Nintendo cabinet build - Wreck-It Ralph
« Reply #247 on: September 11, 2020, 09:53:30 am »
The clear coat will most likely turn your matt pink to glossy pink. Perhaps you will have to bite the bullet and use a coat of darker red first.

I'm hoping that because it looks red when wet that clear coat would do the same, but I'd have to test on something that's not the cabinet to be sure!


Sounds good then!  I used some Maguire's Ultimate Compound after I'd wet sanded my bartop.  Came out lovely!

I'd wondered about that having read it in other threads.  I did try with standard T-cut on a test piece and it just ate the paint, made it soft and destroyed the finish.  Perhaps the Maguire's stuff is less brutal...
« Last Edit: September 11, 2020, 10:11:21 am by UnclearHermit »

Jimbo

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Re: Nintendo cabinet build - Wreck-It Ralph
« Reply #248 on: September 11, 2020, 10:05:58 am »
I'd wondered about that having read it in other threads.  I did try with standard T-cut on a test piece and it just ate the paint, made it soft and destroyed the finish.  Perhaps the Maquire's stuff is less brutal...

Always do a test area!  >:D

javeryh

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Nintendo cabinet build - Wreck-It Ralph
« Reply #249 on: September 11, 2020, 12:18:56 pm »
I have a description in one of my project threads on how I got a piano finish on my cabinet.  I used pink paint over MDF (with primer) and sanded the crap out of the clear coat - I put on at least 25 clear coats (rattlecan) and sanded to 2000 and then used Novus 3 step polish to finish it.  If I recall correctly, the paint changing color was not a concern or something that I had to even think about.  I did this 15 years ago and it still looks brand new.

Let me see if I can find the direct link to when I started. 

EDIT: OK try HERE.

This is the last post but if you read backwards I go through it step-by-step.

Here is a pic I took 30 seconds ago.  I’ve done nothing but occasional dusting and the finish has held up great.





Still as pink as the day I finished!
« Last Edit: September 11, 2020, 12:36:45 pm by javeryh »

UnclearHermit

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Re: Nintendo cabinet build - Wreck-It Ralph
« Reply #250 on: September 14, 2020, 05:56:14 pm »
Thanks, yours is one of the threads that I've read many times on this.  Again, you seemed to use a rubbing compound to clean up the finish before moving on to your lacquer coats.  I tried t-cut and it basically melted the paint so I'm guessing that's too harsh.  Anyone have any recommendations of products I can try?  I'm a bit nervous attacking the paintwork again, but since I last posted I decided that the base finish still wasn't great and so I went right back to 240 grit again and have come up through the grades.  It's now very smooth again but it's not even.  I took the picture below in the worst light to illustrate.  This was last sanded with 2000 grit, but even with that I'm INTRODUCING new surface markings.  Some kind of rubbing compound that's not harsh does seem to be what I need here.

As before, when it's wet it looks wonderful  :)

yamatetsu

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Re: Nintendo cabinet build - Wreck-It Ralph
« Reply #251 on: September 15, 2020, 07:01:22 am »
That looks nasty. When wet sanding, make sure that the sandpaper is wet enough (like dripping wet), clean it often to make sure that no paint is stuck on it that will cause scratches and don't use much pressure.

I used Meguiar's for polishing. I don't know if the stuff is still around as I bought it like 6 years ago.

Step 1: Meguiar's Ultimate compound - Color & clarity restorer

Step 2: Meguiar's Swirl remover

Step 3: Meguiar's Deep crystal carnauba wax
                  

UnclearHermit

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Re: Nintendo cabinet build - Wreck-It Ralph
« Reply #252 on: September 15, 2020, 03:25:29 pm »
I do all of those!  Very wet paper, constantly removing ANY grit or pain accumulation so that they don't cause new scratches, and working very lightly!  The surface FEELS really smooth, it just LOOKS terrible!

I ordered Meguiar's swirl remover earlier today, so really hoping that does its stuff.

javeryh

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Re: Nintendo cabinet build - Wreck-It Ralph
« Reply #253 on: September 16, 2020, 11:48:45 am »
I can't imagine why you are having such a hard time with this... you are doing everything right.  Maybe you are expecting too much?  My finish isn't *perfect" by any stretch.  It looks perfect from regular viewing distances though.  If you get up super close you can see some pits here and there but you have to look for them.

It seems like you are expecting 100% perfection, which may not be achievable.  I bet if you finished one side completely - top coat, rubbing compound, etc. and let it sit for a few days you the surface would start to blend into the rest of the room. 

Part of the reason why I will never finish a cab like that again is because it doesn't make that much of a difference.  It is "pink" in the same way that my DK is "blue" - it's just in the room and you only notice the color out of the corner of your eye.  The DK was an afternoon of painting with a roller.  The other one was pure hell.

Wyo

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Re: Nintendo cabinet build - Wreck-It Ralph
« Reply #254 on: September 17, 2020, 02:20:43 am »
 Yeah, dude....if you want a perfect finish you’re gonna have to go the route that JaveryH is suggesting, with the clear coat.

It’s going to be dang near impossible to have a perfect finish with a rattle can out of the bottle...especially considering the HUGE surface area.  And rattle can colors alone cannot easily be wetsanded without dulling the color and buffed back like an automotive single stage can.

What you are attempting to do is VERY difficult....painting barn door sized panels with a tiny rattle can fan pattern and have it turn out without a lot of issues.  It can be done, but it’s freaking hard (for me) especially with Metallics!

You may need to Base the cabinet again with your color (or you may not if you didn’t damage the paint or color you put down) and then like JaveryH suggests....if you clear coat it....like a lot of clear (a lot), you can then wetsand a lot of those imperfections you don’t like (like orange peel) out and then buff them it all out.  The great thing about adding clearcoat too is....you can bury a lot of those nibs and imperfections you’ve been fighting, and when you wetsand the clear you can level everything out, again, assuming you put enough material (clear) on there.  I wetsand my cabs 1000, 1500, 2000,2500,3000 then machine polish with Polishing compound on a wool pad and then again with glaze on a foam pad.  Starting 1000 may be to aggressive, but it does most of the cutting work and then the subsequent grits just remove each predecessors sand scratches...by the time you’re at 3000, the shine is almost back.  I use automotive products and systems which puts down a lot of material..., but the effect can be replicated with rattlecan as JaveryH has shown.   I always use a minimum of 4 wet coats of clear (HVLP, rattle can would be different) so I have enough material to work with in my cutting/polishing process.

Random fact: Two part Automotive basecoats are always dull when dry after they have been applied to the substrate, it’s the clear coat that gives the finish it’s gloss.

Anyways, this may be more work than you want to do but considering your perfectionism, it’ll give you the look you’re after I’d imagine.   Again, this is all really difficult with rattle can on such a large surface area...but it can be done, especially if you do one side at a time.  :cheers:

« Last Edit: September 17, 2020, 02:41:19 am by Wyo »

Wyo

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Re: Nintendo cabinet build - Wreck-It Ralph
« Reply #255 on: September 17, 2020, 02:29:45 am »
On and the reason it looks wonderful when it’s wet...is because the water is acting like a clear coat would.   :)

UnclearHermit

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Re: Nintendo cabinet build - Wreck-It Ralph
« Reply #256 on: September 17, 2020, 02:26:21 pm »
Thanks all  :notworthy:.  I've said before and I'll say again that I never set out for a perfect (let alone "glossy" finish), but you're all right that the size of the panels meant that, for a complete novice like me, getting it even with spray cans just wasn't working out.  I'd hoped that by moving to a roller that it'd get a lot easier, but with this gloss paint it's ended up just changing the problem.  I painted something in the house a few years ago (that was a similar size) using just emulsion.  It was done in a couple of coats and a few hours.  THIS is a different beast entirely.

Starting again I'd just find a good emulsion colour match and go with that.  I don't mind the texture rollered on emulsion.  I quite like it.  But with where I am I've had to go for the smooth finish to try and get something that looks half decent. I just want a single colour, not a patchwork of shades :)

And so to the swirl remover.  A promising start, with a couple of minutes in one corner it's lifting the colour and not in as patchy way as when I tried polish (and without melting the paint like t-cut). 



Repeating that over the whole cabinet was less successful, with different areas looking very different.  The swirl remover doesn't seem to work like the bottle instruction say, which says you should rub in for a minute or two and then wipe off with a cloth when still not fully dry.  If I try that then the stuff dries out WAY before two minutes and just wiping it leaves a mess on the surface.  I have to rub away with the original applicator until it finally reveals the shine, after which there's not much for the wipe-off cloth to do.

For the second going over I concentrated on areas that look dull and had to give attention to bits where either the finish isn't right or possibly the swirl remover compound itself is hanging around on the surface.  It takes about an hour to cover the panel and it's heavy on the elbow grease.  BUT it's looking not bad.



The photo is deceptive and doesn't show (other than in the light reflection) that the entire surface is covered in micro-scratches that can't be felt but which can definitely be seen, at least in the right (wrong?) light.



So "swirl" remover doesn't go anywhere near these, or maybe it would if I kept going at it!

The question is now if I can live with the scratches, which is hard because I don't know what the light will be like in the room where this thing ends up.  If I live with it then it's just going to be one more going over to pick off any remaining problem areas.  There are some bits that simply won't take a shine, mostly around the edges, but I don't see what else I can do there.  And maybe I give it a coat of polish, if that's something worth doing to protect it...?

If I decide I'm NOT happy then I'd be looking at a repeat sanding exercise to try and remove some of those scratches and then I repeat with the swirl remover.  I'd love to be moving on though; I've got the other side to do yet  :-\
 
« Last Edit: September 17, 2020, 02:47:29 pm by UnclearHermit »

Wyo

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Re: Nintendo cabinet build - Wreck-It Ralph
« Reply #257 on: September 17, 2020, 02:31:21 pm »
Dude, that looks nice!!!  Way to persevere through your problem!  Congrats man, looking sharp!  :D

yamatetsu

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Re: Nintendo cabinet build - Wreck-It Ralph
« Reply #258 on: September 17, 2020, 05:22:15 pm »


So "swirl" remover doesn't go anywhere near these, or maybe it would if I kept going at it!

Since you are now a believer (praise Meguiar's!), you might try Meguiar's Ultimate compound - Color & clarity restorer to get rid of or at least reduce those scratches. The swirl remover is step 2 in a 3-step process, Ultimate compound is used to get rid of scratches, the swirl remover is for removing the swirls and light scratches you might get using the compound. After that, you can polish using the carnauba wax, which will make it even shinier.

Oh, and congrats on that finish, it took me 6 months of painting, sanding, sanding everything down, painting again, etc. to get a finish that looks good, but not as good as yours.
                  

UnclearHermit

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Re: Nintendo cabinet build - Wreck-It Ralph
« Reply #259 on: September 18, 2020, 07:47:29 am »
Thanks  ;D.  It's the change I've been waiting for, from terrible finish to something half-decent!  I am VERY torn on the Ultimate Compound, and nearly bought that initially (had no idea which to choose, and Ond's paint tutorial mentions the swirl remover) only I couldn't get hold of it as quickly as the swirl remover.  My fear, now that I've got something approaching a finish, is if the Ultimate Compound destroys it in any way. 

What I'm thinking is that I might move on to paint the other side, which should be a lot faster with all the things I've learned to NOT do, and then use Ultimate Compound on that side.  If I damage that side then it's annoying but not horrendous, but if it works a treat then I can always go back and repeat on the first side once the cabinet is upright again.  I'm conscious anyway that I could easily end up with a scratch or two when I lie the cabinet on the finished side and then spend the next weeks pushing down on it to sand the second side.

javeryh

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Re: Nintendo cabinet build - Wreck-It Ralph
« Reply #260 on: September 18, 2020, 09:13:22 am »
WOW what a difference.  Looks incredible.  If I were you I'd try getting rid of those scratches - they are going to drive you crazy considering all the effort that has gone into this.

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Re: Nintendo cabinet build - Wreck-It Ralph
« Reply #261 on: September 21, 2020, 04:32:04 am »
That is looking great.   :applaud:

I've been thinking a lot about scratches like this, and my conclusion has been... this cabinet is going to last for many years.  It is going to acquire wear.  Somebody is going to bump into it, somebody is going to scuff a shoe against it. 

If you make it perfect, that first real scuff is going to just be gutting.  If you merely make it "really good", like what you've got above, that's still great, and the two paint jobs are probably indistinguishable after it's first year in your house.  You'll be lucky to even get it out of the paint booth and on final location without putting some minor marks on it.  It's still worthwhile to do a good job, but I'm not sure that it's worthwhile to do a -perfect- job. 

That said - chase it as far as you are having fun chasing it.  When you decide it's good, it's good. 




Wyo

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Re: Nintendo cabinet build - Wreck-It Ralph
« Reply #262 on: September 22, 2020, 03:43:34 am »
That is looking great.   :applaud:

I've been thinking a lot about scratches like this, and my conclusion has been... this cabinet is going to last for many years.  It is going to acquire wear.  Somebody is going to bump into it, somebody is going to scuff a shoe against it. 

If you make it perfect, that first real scuff is going to just be gutting.  If you merely make it "really good", like what you've got above, that's still great, and the two paint jobs are probably indistinguishable after it's first year in your house.  You'll be lucky to even get it out of the paint booth and on final location without putting some minor marks on it.  It's still worthwhile to do a good job, but I'm not sure that it's worthwhile to do a -perfect- job. 

That said - chase it as far as you are having fun chasing it.  When you decide it's good, it's good.

This man knows what he’s talking about. I put a game I made in bubble wrap for storage (which kinda defeats the purpose of making it? Haha) and I moved it the other day and put a chip in the paint...bummer, nothing I can’t fix.  Still though, keeping these giant, heavy pieces of furniture absolutely perfect really is impossible....unless you plan to wrap it in bubble wrap, never look at it, and never play it.  :laugh2:  :)
« Last Edit: September 22, 2020, 03:45:08 am by Wyo »

javeryh

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Re: Nintendo cabinet build - Wreck-It Ralph
« Reply #263 on: September 22, 2020, 11:11:31 am »
Wait... you guys play your cabs???   :lol

UnclearHermit

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Re: Nintendo cabinet build - Wreck-It Ralph
« Reply #264 on: October 18, 2020, 06:34:36 pm »
A month on, another side painted, in stolen moments and hours. For "side 2", which was faster than side 1 because I didn't have quite so many first-time mistakes to make, I thought I'd give an overview of the steps in case it helps others in the future.

I started with a light sand, 240 grit, over the spray surface that I already had.  Just a quick sand before I got going with the roller for a first coat.  Don't worry like I did about the state of this first coat.  Lines are fine, bubbles are annoying but unavoidable unless you lay off with a brush.  You're going to be sanding all the surface away anyway.  I'd PROBABLY lay off with a brush to get rid of the hassles that bubbles create (pits, that you'll spend an eternity trying to fill and still end up with a billion of them) but the paint dries too fast for me to do this effectively.  Don't bother trying to roller over your finished coat trying to get a better finish with less lines.  This just seems to result in more bubbles, presumably because the ones made when the paint is wettest have the greatest chance of collapsing.  Re-rollering paint that's dried even slightly (like ten minutes later) gives more bubbles.  I tested this "scientifically" by doing a second roll on one half of the cabinet.  It looked better until it dried, after which it had loads more bubbles than the side I left alone.  You can just about make this out in this picture - top-right diagonal area didn't have the extra roller attention.



After this coat I went over with 240 grit, always wet sand, but this is mainly just about taking the top off any bubbles, so don't spent too long.  Then another coat of paint, after which it looks like this.



This the the bubble-ridden glossy coat that you're then going to destroy again.  After a bunch of sanding with 240 it looks like the below.  I tend to work down the cabinet with a sanding block in lines, using circular motion in areas no more than twice the height of the block and just slowly working down the cabinet, then returning to the top for another vertical pass until I've been over the whole cabinet.  This just helps me keep track of where I've covered and to make sure all the cabinet is getting the same attention.



At this point the cabinet has had its initial spray coats and then two coats with a roller.  Without the roller coats I'd have needed at least an extra coat I reckon to get to this point.  You can see there are still loads of low points in the paint from roller texture and bubbles, but the matt/flat areas are starting to get there.



The trouble with wet sanding is that it's usually hard to see what you're working with when wet.  As you can see here, when wet it already looks pretty good, but in the dry areas you can see it still need a load of work.



After a decent about of work with the 240 it lookes like this.  You can see it's now flat in more places, with the remaining low spots still shiny and obvious. 



It's really tempting to drop to a higher grit, and I've made this mistake loads of times, but you have to get the surface right before moving on.  Otherwise you'll spend an eternity and not achieve anything.  Also, don't forget to change sandpaper. This sounds like the most obvious thing. But you can spend hours breaking your back and arms sanding, and seeing the paint come off and make the water red so you feel you're making a decent impression, only to then change the sandpaper for a fresh sheet and see what a massive difference it makes straight away.  This would all be faster with an even lower grit, but then you have more scratches to deal with.  It's a balancing act.

At this point I hit a problem.  I'd planned to put two or three extra coats on, slightly thinned to help the paint reach those dips, but I was running out of paint fast and everywhere had sold out of the stuff. I made a decision to continue in a less than optimal way, just in case the paint never came back into stock.  In order to conserve paint I opted to focus my extra paint on the areas that demonstrably needed an extra coat - all the areas where the coverage wasn't even or where there were large clusters of bubble remnants.  This is risky.  It means that I'm more at risk of sanding right through the paint where it's not thick enough, plus it means more work sanding away "patches" and still getting the overall surface even.  I wouldn't have done this if I could have got hold of more paint.



After sanding this lot back I then repeated this technique a second time.



The good news is that I was able to get the surface even still.  After a load more sanding, still at 240, it looks like this.  Note the left edge still has a bit of work needed.



But it's looking quite nice when wet now.



Unfortunately, my fears were realised and there was a spot of white coming through on one edge, typically in a very visible spot.



I touched this up with a drop of paint.  This kind of touch-up is tedious because you pretty much have to wait a day for the paint to dry.



Unfortunately it didn't work either.  Once I'd sanded away the "blob" that I'd created I ended up with the white coming back through again, so I had to roller on an area about a foot wide to allow me room to blend down the raised surface, then a second roller coat about half a foot on top of that to give the edge two coats.  I saw "two coats" but I was literally working with what I had left on the roller at this point.  Paint tin was completely empty and I was having to keep the roller wet overnight by wrapping in plastic.  Luckily I just about got away with the repair.  There's one new white dot that's appeared about an inch from the edge, but I think that might actually be something that got in the paint that I've now exposed in sanding rather than the actual wood/undercoat surface.

After this it's a case of lots more sanding working up through the grits.  I used 320, 400, 600, 800, 1000 (maybe...), 1200, 1500 and finally 2000 on this.  For the lower grits I was maybe going over the cabinet once or twice, with only once over once I reached the higher grits, except where I could see scratches etc. that needed a bit more work.  In close-up the corner looks like this after all that sanding.  This is better than the other side looked, or at least it's more even over the whole surface. 



I picked up some Meguiar's Ultimate Compound this time to see if it does anything to help with those really fine surface scratches.  This is the same corner after applying it.  There are still plenty of scratches to be seen, so I'm not sure how much difference it's making.  It's taking plenty of red off onto the applicator sponges, so it's doing SOMETHING.



It doesn't wipe off well though and I feel like it started to make the paint perhaps a bit softer or sticky, but not so much as when I tried with t-cut.  I certainly found that even a microfibre cloth wiping over it would leave a slight mark on the surface. 

After Swirl Remover it looks like this:




Nice and shiny, but you can really see that edge scratching and you can see all the tiny bubble dots.  This is as good as it's getting though! 

So I'm undecided on the Ultimate Compound, but gave the whole cabinet a going-over anyway.



You can see here the striping from just wiping it off with a clean applicator sponge.  I decided this was better than what I was getting when trying to rub it off with any kind of circular motion, leaving the Swirl Remover to sort out the final surface.  This shot is with the Swirl Remover well underway, but you can see the duller areas on the left where it still needs to be properly finished.



And, finally, partially unwrapped and back on its feet.



Celebration, unfortunately, was short-lived, because lifting it back up uncovered that the finished side it's been lying on for a month has now been damaged :( 



Currently deciding whether it's going to be possible to sand that out, but it's quite a deep textured mark that it's left.  The visible top one is the worst, but there are about 4 others.  The only good news is that the paint is now back in stock, so if I have to re-paint then I can.  But it's a bit soul-destroying to think the painting is finally finished and then get a setback. 


UnclearHermit

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Re: Nintendo cabinet build - Wreck-It Ralph
« Reply #265 on: November 02, 2020, 01:46:27 pm »
The damage to the first side cost me a couple of weeks of sanding to try and get it better.  Fortunately there's a fair depth of paint on that side, but I was nervous about sanding too much where the damage was and creating "dips" instead.  The other problem I had was that I was sanding until I couldn't SEE the damage any more, only to polish it up and find it was still there when viewed in the right light.  Plus I was now having to work with the cabinet standing up, which makes for a load of extra fun with all the red water running down the cabinet side.

I eventually reached the point where I'd simply had enough of this whole painting phase.  It looks fine where it is, but I haven't braved it in daylight yet.  It is what it is, at this stage.  I need to move on.

On the second side I found that once exposed to the right light that there are still a million little bubble holes.  Extra paint layers would have reduced these enormously but, as I said before, I ran out of paint.  This is it with light shining across the surface.



From the other side you can't see them at all.  So ultimately it'll depend upon having the cabinet where the light is favourable  :)



It's nice to see the thing finally unwrapped and painted.



Finally moving on, I attached the t-moulding, which actually went well given that I've never done it before.



On tight inner curves there's some bumping.  Not sure if this is because I didn't make enough cuts, or because the remaining barbs aren't grabbing the surface as much.



 At the rear of the cabinet you can see that the t-moulding is sitting slightly proud of the surface so it's not quite as "flat" as it's supposed to be.  This seems to be because the slot is slightly too wide, but I had no narrower slot cutter.  You don't noticed this on the rest of the cabinet other than with the t-moulding being slightly "not flat".  It seems secure enough, so unless it starts coming loose then I don't see a need to do anything with it.



Next step, monitor mount.



javeryh

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Re: Nintendo cabinet build - Wreck-It Ralph
« Reply #266 on: November 03, 2020, 04:28:18 pm »
Looks great - your paint job is better than 99% of paint jobs on these things.  No one is going to notice imperfections and after a while you won't notice them either.

vertexguy

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Re: Nintendo cabinet build - Wreck-It Ralph
« Reply #267 on: November 03, 2020, 10:24:53 pm »
 :applaud: :applaud:  Perseverance pays off!  I've been watching you through this process trying to decide if I should try paint.  Your results look really good!  Having anything high gloss tends to show the smallest flaws but for as glossy as you've got it, that's impressive to me.  I think you achieved your piano finish as best as anyone could hope for.  My feeble painting skills can't keep up so I'm going with laminate. :)  Really looking forward to seeing your cab finished.  I absolutely love the look!

Regarding the t-molding, I'm guessing the little bulges are because it's not grabbing as tightly as it should.  Hopefully someone more experienced chimes in.  I'd think you could feel if there was room to push it down though with your thumb?  Did you only slice the spine about every inch where you see those bumps? If a bump goes away with your thumb I'd say it's just needing more grab.  You could try a light adhesive in there as a simple test to see if that makes the difference.  If so, maybe that's enough, otherwise try a stronger adhesive to make sure it stays put.  I am a little surprised you decided to cut it all the way to the edge in the back leaving the T molding spine exposed.  I'd cut an 8th off the spine and add black filler wood / bondo, but that's just me. :)

Keep up the great work!  :cheers:
 
« Last Edit: November 03, 2020, 11:03:14 pm by vertexguy »

jennifer

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Re: Nintendo cabinet build - Wreck-It Ralph
« Reply #268 on: November 04, 2020, 06:00:24 am »
I generally shave the spline off on those inside corners just leaving a 1/16" stump for centering, heat it up good and warm with heat gun, and stick it down with hot glue in the groove, That top (and bottom) corner I will cut a V and shave the splines off, fold it onto the back about 4" and staple it, That effectively creates bumpers on the corners ...That cab came out nice man, The next one will be so much easier,  8)
« Last Edit: November 04, 2020, 06:12:15 am by jennifer »

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Re: Nintendo cabinet build - Wreck-It Ralph
« Reply #269 on: November 05, 2020, 02:02:16 pm »
I've been watching you through this process trying to decide if I should try paint  ...   My feeble painting skills can't keep up so I'm going with laminate. :) 

:) I completely understand that, and there's a lot to be said for laminate.  I've never worked with it (I can say the same about most stuff in this build...) but seen the great results that others have managed.  I didn't really look into availability because things like the speaker grille looked like they could get complicated.  Not sure how I'd have managed that.  All that said, there are no "painting skills" at work here.  I've tried, failed, tried, failed and generally experienced all of the things that don't work to get to the point where I finally found something that did.  At the start I was looking for a perfect paint finish from the original spray or roller and worried when I couldn't get that.  Turned out I didn't need to CARE about any of that so long as I was happy to lose the sprayed or rolled look and simply sand the hell out of the thing.  I've wasted weeks and weeks in recovering things time and again to get to a point that allows me to move forward again.  So, with all those lessons learned, it comes down to painting it in a number of coats, then being prepared to wet sand until you simply can't go on  8)  It's patience, at the end of the day.  I have more than I thought I did.  But I also had to temper "perfection" with a need to ever finish this thing.  Running out of paint was a blessing and a curse.

The t-moulding was all done pretty quickly and I haven't had a chance to go back to it yet to look at whether I can push it with a thumb or anything.  It LOOKS pretty tight on the surface, just not 100% level as you can see on those curves.  It was cut a lot more than every inch though.  Probably about 5 cuts per inch, I'd guess.

I am a little surprised you decided to cut it all the way to the edge in the back leaving the T molding spine exposed.   I'd cut an 8th off the spine and add black filler wood / bondo, but that's just me.

I'd have done the same, except that it seems to be done this way on Nintendo cabinets, so it was about being accurate rathen than anything else.  I've got a load of photos of Nintendo cabinets and they all seem to be finished the same way.

I generally shave the spline off on those inside corners just leaving a 1/16" stump for centering, heat it up good and warm with heat gun, and stick it down with hot glue in the groove, That top (and bottom) corner I will cut a V and shave the splines off, fold it onto the back about 4" and staple it, That effectively creates bumpers on the corners ...That cab came out nice man, The next one will be so much easier,  8)

Ah, thanks, I remember reading now about people warming it up.  Typically I got around to this when the weather got cold rather than when it was insanely hot in the summer :)  I might give it a little heat and a tap on those curves to see if it does anything, although if it's already pulled around those curves then there might not be any "slack" to work with now.

And thanks, for the "next one" I've certainly learned a lot of what not to do!

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« Reply #270 on: November 06, 2020, 06:00:24 pm »
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« Last Edit: March 19, 2021, 02:10:05 am by ChanceKJ »

UnclearHermit

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Re: Nintendo cabinet build - Wreck-It Ralph
« Reply #271 on: November 29, 2020, 03:58:33 pm »
A few catch-up posts incoming...

First, I think I forgot to mention the coin door bolts, but if I'm repeating myself then just skip this post.  It's been a while.

When I came to attach the coin mechs to the coin door I found that the holes in the mech plate were round, but the bolt head undersides were square.



I had a good shop around and couldn't find any smooth-headed bolts without square undersides.  This makes some sense, since with no slot in the head and without a square underside/hole they might just spin in the hole rather than tighten.  So my only options were to either square-off the holes in the plate or round off the bolts.  I chose the latter.  I did check the bolts for the coin door itself to see if they would help at all.  They're the same thread size, but the square underside is actually larger.



I attached a couple of nuts to allow me to grab the bolt whilst filing it. 



Then I used a little file, from a set I picked up from eBay, to file down the undersides. 



Once done I was able to attach the bolts, and because they're still very snug in the holes then I was still able to tighten the bolts without any problems.


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Re: Nintendo cabinet build - Wreck-It Ralph
« Reply #272 on: November 29, 2020, 06:36:57 pm »
Nice solution for those bolts.

That coin door looks great.   :cheers:

UnclearHermit

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Re: Nintendo cabinet build - Wreck-It Ralph
« Reply #273 on: November 30, 2020, 02:53:54 am »
Thanks  :)  It also dawns on me that those photos of the bolt are in the wrong order - the one with the two nuts attached is a partialled filed bolt.

UnclearHermit

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Re: Nintendo cabinet build - Wreck-It Ralph
« Reply #274 on: November 30, 2020, 03:23:06 am »
The rear door is also complete.  I thought I had more photos of this, but if I do then I can't find them.  There's not a great deal to say anyway.  It's cut to size, then a rabbet cut at one end where it slots into the bottom panel of the cabinet.  There's also a hole for ventilation, cut and routed in the usual way.  I then primed, then painted with emulsion using a foam roller in the same way as the monitor mount, given the size of the panel.  I did a couple of coats of emulsion, then a good sand to remove a load of the texture, then topped it off with a couple of coats of black matt spray to match.  I finish off the matt with a clear spray to help protect the surface, since otherwise it shows every single mark.



For the lock I drilled a hole in the relevant place, but then had to cut out some of the rear since the lock isn't deep enough to allow the nut to reach the thread if it has to go through the full 12mm of the wood.  When I do extra holes like that I've started adding a bit of MDF primer or sealer to the cut edges, just to try and protect any exposed edges from moisture etc.

Anyway, it all turned out pretty well.  It's a little bit tight, but taking the edges down now will mean re-painting them, so it's staying a bit tight.  The only thing I'm not 100% happy with is that the gap on the top right is slightly larger than the gap top left.  This isn't actually because the door or the cabinet isn't square, it's because the top panel is mounted a tiny bit too high thanks to the blocking on that piece being the same.  This error knocks out the top panel, which then means the rear top piece (where the "handles" are) is aso slightly high.  So the only way to fix this is to remove the side of the cabinet, lower the blocking etc. etc. and I'm not doing that! 



Looking at that photo the back of the top panel looks like it's hardly painted.  It doesn't look like that in real life but the flash is obviously picking up SOMETHING so I'll have to look at that...

The only real deviation from Nintendo here is the vent cover.  Standard Nintendo here is a piece of wood that covers the vent but is held off the surface by a piece of wood at each side.  It's not particularly elegant.  In one of Chance's threads he covers the vent with metal mesh, so I'd already allocated enough of the same mesh I'd used for the speaker grille and handles.  I didn't have any hammered metal paint left (I DID, but the can has given up) and so I sprayed it with black and am just hoping it doesn't flake off or anything.  You can see it in place below (and also get a sneak peak at the start of the wiring with the power inlet...).  I've also got a few watery paint runs to clean up!



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« Reply #275 on: November 30, 2020, 06:40:05 pm »
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« Last Edit: March 19, 2021, 02:09:16 am by ChanceKJ »

UnclearHermit

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Re: Nintendo cabinet build - Wreck-It Ralph
« Reply #276 on: December 01, 2020, 02:37:13 pm »
Ah, thanks, missed those when I placed my order with Mike's Arcade, and another international shipping order for a few bolts isn't on the cards!  I ordered all the bolts for the coin door, so could so easily have added these to the order.

I did look into getting the proper Asahi mechs when I was first researching all of this but lack of availability (and a desire to not take out of the market the "genuine" ones from people with real cabinet) led me to finding some old Coin Control mechs that seem to have the same profile.

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Re: Nintendo cabinet build - Wreck-It Ralph
« Reply #277 on: December 02, 2020, 12:14:47 pm »
Keep up the high standards, this thing is looking great!

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« Reply #278 on: December 03, 2020, 04:28:24 pm »
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« Last Edit: March 19, 2021, 02:08:59 am by ChanceKJ »

UnclearHermit

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Re: Nintendo cabinet build - Wreck-It Ralph
« Reply #279 on: December 08, 2020, 03:17:35 pm »
Good to know, thanks.  I thought I'd read that they were no longer made.

Going back to the topic of artwork, those with long memories might recall that this is a re-imagining of Fix-it Felix, which in itself was based off Donkey Kong.  As such there are elements of the artwork with origins in both, plus some bits totally new.  This leads to a button layout that looks like this:



There are a couple of problems with this.  Firstly, the spaces aren't quite large enough to accommodate the button INSIDE the black lines.  This is never going to be a completely precise thing because even my "jump" button and my 1P/2P buttons are about 1mm different in diameter, but I can try to make this better.  Secondly, because DK only had a single button it meant that button spacing was never an issue.  The triangular shape means that a second button placed to its right ends up quite far away, and this only gets worse when I try to accommodate the button inside the black line.  I end up with button centres just over 2" apart, which doesn't feel comfortable.

So I'm considering a redesign.  If I make the styling of all four buttons the same I can bring "jump" and "fix" closer together.  But by doing so I squash the button area so I'm not sure.  Thoughts?  I'm tempted to shrink the jump/fix lettering a bit.