light up control panel

[sodapopinski]

I'd like to put some lights under my control panel and make it light up, much like the marquee. figure this is a good idea? or to many shadows of parts.

[Stingray]

So are you planning on making your CP out of just plexi with artwork under? Sounds like it would crack unless you used maybe 1/2 inch plexi. In any case I think you are correct, there's just too much stuff under there to be able to effectively light it it. The wiring alone would make this pretty impractical.

-S

[Witchboard]

A better aproach might be similar to johnnysmitch's CAF arcade, but put the etched plexi on the CP instead of on the front.  It would be rather distracting though. 

[cholin]

Okay, to clear this up, if you want to light the whole thing like a marquee, you wouldnt be able to use the same type of lighting.  You would need to wire a ton of bulbs to the bottom of it to light shadowed parts.  It will be different lol, and may take away from the arcade if you planned on using lighted buttons AND/OR lighted trackballs.

[krakboi]

What you need to do is find someone who has a Cosmic Chasm, and ask them how the CP is backlit.  This is going to be difficult because the game is very rare.  Here is a pic I took of one at CAX 2 years ago.

[Santoro]

Search, I remember seeing someone here that had 1/4" (1/2"?) Plexi and had lit the edge inside the cabinet, turned out pretty well. 

[sodapopinski]

this plan certaily needs some re-evaluation, I didnt think about the strenght of the plexi. But, perhaps I could jigsaw out circles or other shapes then router a lip, place the plexi and light up areas of the control panel. Like the pinball play surface.

[cholin]

I bet you could, but I wouldnt risk it with plexi because it is asking for it to break.

[Trimoor]

Use several layers of plex.  It will be much stronger.  You can even engrave the different layers for a 3D look.

[spystyle]

Use several layers of plex.  It will be much stronger.  You can even engrave the different layers for a 3D look.

That's a good idea, stack lexan or acrylic to 3/4" and use printed transparancy paper as a CPO under the 1st layer.

Groovy

[Chris]

That's a good idea, stack lexan or acrylic to 3/4" and use printed transparancy paper as a CPO under the 1st layer.

Or just have the CPO printed on the same material the marquee is printed on.

You could also take the TRON approach, put a blacklight above the panel and highlight parts of the CPO with UV-reactive ink or paint.  (Aren't yellow highlighter pens UV reactive?)

[ErikRuud]

I don't know if all yellow highlighters are UV reactive, but I do know that the UV reaction tends to fade over time.

Your best bet is to use products like these:

Terror By Design - Haunting Materials  (Near the bottom of the page)

[SteveJ34]

You could illuminate the plexiglass itself by imbedding superbright LEDs in the top edge of it.

I created a mousepad with this effect after running across a similar project at this link which appears to no longer be operating....

http://www.metku.net

Of course, few mfrs picked up on the idea and created similar retail products like what is found here:

http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/input/keyboards/6945/

Not backlit like marquee but makes for some cool lighting....