Prong (Wall mounted, slimline, vertical screen for square bezel, first build!)

Main > Project Announcements

<< < (10/12) > >>

Laythe:
Excellent work on the coin switches! That is a slick detail and looks great.

I really dig this machine, it's got good lines and plenty of appeal.

I have an aesthetic suggestion if you want to hear it, worth what you paid for it - if you are going to be keeping the control panel deck bright yellow, I think the white or illuminated colors of the RGB buttons wash out a little against it. You've got black T-mold, black speaker grills, black dust washers on the sticks, and a black surround lip on the trackball. If you could keep the clear button plungers and LEDs, but swap out the button surrounds for black ones, I think the result would pop visually a lot more against the yellow. It would look kinda like this. It would mean buying a full set of black buttons of the same type, popping the switches and lights off, removing the buttons, and swapping the guts around and reinstalling, but it wouldn't mean rewiring anything. It's good as it is, don't get me wrong!

I like your build. :cheers:

PL1:
To carry Laythe's suggestion two small steps further, how about:

1. Swap out the two start three admin button surrounds for black ones.
- All of the buttons would have black surrounds.

2. Paint the coin switch plates and loops black.
- The silver switch arms on black plates with black loops would be like the silver joystick shafts with black dust washers and black handles.

Scott

zestyphresh:
The photograph makes them look a lot more washed unfortunately, they are really bold in use. When not in use it does all look a little bit 'meh' though, lots of boring buttons and a dull trackball!

Either way, I do agree - it was originally my intention to use black plungers and translucent surrounds but there was nothing available at the time I ordered the controls (or at least that I was aware of!). Ultimarc do sell the black replacement plungers now so i'm going to get a few to test - i'm not sure it makes a lot of difference whether it's the plunger or the surround that are black - either will 'tie' the design in better as you point out. The admin/start buttons will have black inserts of some kind so i'll probably leave those as is.

I think the coin switches look really good, it was nice to do something innovative on this machine as there isn't a lot else that is original in any way (other than the shape to a certain extent).

Laythe:

--- Quote from: zestyphresh on August 08, 2020, 05:09:29 am ---I think the coin switches look really good, it was nice to do something innovative on this machine as there isn't a lot else that is original in any way (other than the shape to a certain extent).

--- End quote ---

I totally agree, I love those coin switches exactly as they are, and I'm with you on the enjoyment of innovation. :cheers:

I proposed black button surrounds rather than plungers to match the trackball. Either might work, and I do believe it looks different in person vs the pictures. Amused that you had already had the same idea, heh! Thanks for taking my efforts to help well and not thinking I was picking on you or trashing your really cool build.

zestyphresh:
This is more or less finished from a hardware point of view. I rewired everything into a 4 way smart relay so I can turn it all on/off easily and automate the screen/amp to come on as required. This would have been easier with one of those power sensing mains plugs but there wasn't actually enough space left inside. The picture below shows the machine with the control panel fully removed, something I thought might be a bit tricky but was OK in the end.

Fitted the glass and it really elevates the machine. I think i'd have preferred something a touch darker but couldn't find anything available, unless I wanted to use 10mm thick and I didn't leave a big enough gap for that.

One thing I have done is extend the vertical resolution. Initially it was going to be 1080 x 1080 and I left space around this for a 5cm bezel on all sides. When in use it became apparent that while the angle of the screen helped, it would be useful on some horizontal games to shift them up the screen a bit to make it more comfortable to play. Using the extra 10cm (~200pixels) still allows a bit of space around for the bezel. It also means you can play vertical games at the equivalent of something like a 34" screen, complete overkill ;D

Navigation

 Message Index

Go to full version