Author Topic: * Project Arcadeus * (Read 61250 times)

Knievel · « **Reply #40 on:** April 05, 2006, 07:36:33 pm »

Thanks for the praise guys. Jontox and Pixel are the true creators of this CP of course.

Tim I appreciate the kind words but after looking at Dweebs CP build thread I can't understand why you're so impressed. Looks to me like your work is on the same level.

To answer your earlier questions the CP is 3/4" MDF with a single sheet of 1/8" plexiglass covering the CPO. The joysticks are all top-mounted, should be pics of that on Jontox's site. The t-mold is the standard 3/4" variety, I bevel the bottom edge of the CP to make up for the extra thickness of the plexi. Once the bottom of the CP is painted black the bevel disappears.

Sorry I haven't been more active in this thread. Taking care of my newborn full-time plus trying to finish this project and a couple of other things hasn't left me with much free time.

Timoe · « **Reply #41 on:** April 05, 2006, 09:38:59 pm »

Does the artwork have any adhesive on it or does it just lay flat?

If it has adhesive, does it stick to the MDF or the plexi?

its really your led work, the cleanliness of your wiring and those "european wiring mount do-dads" that really made me go wow.

that and the jig-saw cuts to for the trackball.

Anyway, thanks for the help. I'm always learning. I guess thats what keeps me coming back.

That and arcade-cabinets-as-art.

Jontox, you've got one heck of a cabinet.

Knievel · « **Reply #42 on:** April 05, 2006, 10:01:37 pm »

It's the same type of overlay you used on Dweebs CP, the mamemarquees self-adhesive vinyl.

Havok · « **Reply #43 on:** April 06, 2006, 10:52:14 am »

Nice!

The only change I would make is matching LED lit Slikstik joystick handles ( one red, one blue).

But still AWESOME!

Jeff AMN · « **Reply #44 on:** April 06, 2006, 12:41:22 pm »

Yeah, lit handles would look pretty awesome, but the aluminum handles are a really classy touch. Either way you've got a killer looking panel though.

Jontox · « **Reply #45 on:** April 06, 2006, 01:10:42 pm »

Thanks again for all these nice comments...

Knievel · « **Reply #46 on:** April 09, 2006, 10:04:44 pm »

The completed CP is now on it's way to Belgium.
I look forward to seeing it mounted up on Jontox's great cabinet.

A few final pic's from me, the underside of the CP...

MYX · « **Reply #47 on:** April 09, 2006, 10:17:16 pm »

That is a totally sick wiring job. I love the strain relief loop for the ipac. Another beautiful job by Knievel!!!

Havok · « **Reply #48 on:** April 09, 2006, 11:13:16 pm »

Nice wiring! What type and gauge wire are you using? The neatness with some of the bends leads me to believe that's solid core?

Timoe · « **Reply #49 on:** April 09, 2006, 11:54:14 pm »

I just looked at that wiring and I threw up

Havok · « **Reply #50 on:** April 10, 2006, 06:02:47 am »

Quote from: timoe on April 09, 2006, 11:54:14 pm

I just looked at that wiring and I threw up

That's ok - once they hook up the panel, they'll find that he forgot to connect the grounds to the I-pac, and we won't have such a complex about how we suck so bad compared to him...

Timoe · « **Reply #51 on:** April 10, 2006, 08:06:18 pm »

I betchya groovygamegear.com just got a spike in orders for those euro-wire-mount-do-dads!

I dont even know what they do and I'm thinking of going over to order 3 of em.

Knievel · « **Reply #52 on:** April 10, 2006, 09:04:08 pm »

Heheh..after you get that vomit cleaned better get over to Groovy and buy 6 of those dealies.

Yes solid-core wire for pretty bends..20 gauge I think.

NiteWalker · « **Reply #53 on:** April 11, 2006, 11:55:54 am »

timoe:
I use them things in all my panels. They're awesome and make wiring a lot cleaner.

Knievel:
Very nice wiring job. The cleanest I've seen yet...

Jeff AMN · « **Reply #54 on:** April 11, 2006, 02:28:12 pm »

Quote from: Knievel on April 10, 2006, 09:04:08 pm

Heheh..after you get that vomit cleaned better get over to Groovy and buy 6 of those dealies.

Yes solid-core wire for pretty bends..20 gauge I think.

I'd probably pay you $5-$10 for a wiring guide if I could manage to do that myself...

MYX · « **Reply #55 on:** April 14, 2006, 05:04:51 pm »

Hey Is that a solder job? I am not seeing quick connects.

Knievel · « **Reply #56 on:** April 14, 2006, 05:21:15 pm »

Yes solder. I have had issues with connects coming loose and this one has a long, bumpy journey ahead of it.

MYX · « **Reply #57 on:** April 14, 2006, 10:19:57 pm »

I keep going back to the pictures. A lot of what you did, you did for artistic sake. Alternating colors every other row on the strip. Wires precisly measured to fit and bent just right. Makes a momma proud. Brings a little tear to the eye, it does.

dpz147 · « **Reply #58 on:** April 15, 2006, 09:27:42 am »

How are you attaching the top of the CP to the base?

Timoe · « **Reply #59 on:** April 15, 2006, 10:45:55 am »

Quote from: MYX on April 14, 2006, 10:19:57 pm

A lot of what you did, you did for artistic sake. Alternating colors every other row on the strip.

Alot of that is to not mix up the ground and positive leads for the leds, I believe. but yeah it looks cool and who uses green and yellow? ya dont see that every day.

nullb0y · « **Reply #60 on:** April 15, 2006, 11:58:49 am »

i was getting sick of quick disconnects you have made me decide to solder again my solder skills are much better now anyways ^_^

my first controller was solder and it was a terrible job lol and i had to resolder it alot but i know how to solder now lmao so i could actually do this properly

Knievel · « **Reply #61 on:** April 16, 2006, 12:46:50 am »

The top is held on with 3/4" black Velcro, all the way around. I've been using it since my first CP and I wouldn't do it any other way. Simple, clean and so strong you have to break the seal with a credit card to separate it.

I recommend you use a medium thickness solder to do the switches, the tiny solder for doing pcbs is too fluid. With the thicker stuff you can go around and add a blob to all the switch terminals that your using beforehand. Then you won't have to fumble with the solder reel when you're trying to solder on the wire.

MYX · « **Reply #62 on:** April 16, 2006, 09:21:17 am »

Quote from: Knievel on April 16, 2006, 12:46:50 am

The top is held on with 3/4" black Velcro, all the way around. I've been using it since my first CP and I wouldn't do it any other way. Simple, clean and so strong you have to break the seal with a credit card to separate it.

I recommend you use a medium thickness solder to do the switches, the tiny solder for doing pcbs is too fluid. With the thicker stuff you can go around and add a blob to all the switch terminals that your using beforehand. Then you won't have to fumble with the solder reel when you're trying to solder on the wire.

Thanks for the tip Knievel. I am looking very seriously right now at an all solder job. Can you tell me more about the strips. You used them for a reason. What is ther benifit? I used them when I was doing a keyboard hack as there were equal numbers of x to y wires. I have an encoder, so why wouldn't you just make a couple of loops all the way around the buttons directly from the encoder? Or is this the art side of things? It is kinda like when you are at a car show and they have all the hoods poped and everything is super clean and neat and tidy. That is what I want.

I really like the velcro idea. I have been chomping on the idea of a piano hinge but the reality of that small of screw with MDF... Just seems like it would strip easily. Do you staple the velcro? I am worried about the velcro coming unstuck from the MDF.

Also, did you build out all the wires or did you take it one by one? Just wondering about your organization. It would suck to get that far then realize something is in the wrong place. You seem to enjoy doing imaculate work wiich I really respect. I went as clean as I could when I built my desktop CP several years back. I am going to try to do an even better job than my last. So far so good. Beter tools and beter materials help.

lettuce · « **Reply #63 on:** April 16, 2006, 02:59:21 pm »

Pixelhugger, do you make these CP art designs on request then?

lettuce · « **Reply #64 on:** April 17, 2006, 10:49:59 am »

What prog did u use to degin that CP, and how did u get the red and blue line/chequred effect?

Pixelhugger · « **Reply #65 on:** April 18, 2006, 01:44:37 pm »

Yeah I do a bit of commissioned work. While I used to design this stuff for free, demands on my time have meant I now charge for the work to keep things manageable.

To answer your other question....

The shapes (trim, logo, outlines, grid etc.) were all designed in Adobe Illustrator. I brought them into Photoshop as black and white elements and applied color corrections and effects to them to create the chrome and neon. Illustrator is a much better application to design line art in than Photoshop. Photoshop however is a much better application to create raster/painterly effects in than Illustrator.

The checkered effect relies on a grid which sits on it own layer in Photoshop. That layer is given a transfer mode (ummm.... "overlay" I think) which affects light areas differently from dark areas on the layer beneath. It's a bit like doding and burning an image in a dark room. This allows the grid to "fall off" or fade across the gradient beneath it.

Cornchip · « **Reply #66 on:** April 18, 2006, 05:52:21 pm »

Nice work all around. This one sets a new standard. Does Illustrator work much the same way as let's say a CAD program? (lines are drawn with X,Y co-ordinates). I have not yet tried CP artwork yet as you can geuss.

Cornchip.

Pixelhugger · « **Reply #67 on:** April 18, 2006, 05:56:26 pm »

It is similar in that it is vector based. Curves are drawn with splines, lines with points.

Knievel · « **Reply #68 on:** April 20, 2006, 11:43:44 am »

Quote from: MYX on April 16, 2006, 09:21:17 am

Thanks for the tip Knievel. I am looking very seriously right now at an all solder job. Can you tell me more about the strips. You used them for a reason. What is ther benifit? I used them when I was doing a keyboard hack as there were equal numbers of x to y wires. I have an encoder, so why wouldn't you just make a couple of loops all the way around the buttons directly from the encoder? Or is this the art side of things? It is kinda like when you are at a car show and they have all the hoods poped and everything is super clean and neat and tidy. That is what I want.

I really like the velcro idea. I have been chomping on the idea of a piano hinge but the reality of that small of screw with MDF... Just seems like it would strip easily. Do you staple the velcro? I am worried about the velcro coming unstuck from the MDF.

Also, did you build out all the wires or did you take it one by one? Just wondering about your organization. It would suck to get that far then realize something is in the wrong place. You seem to enjoy doing imaculate work wiich I really respect. I went as clean as I could when I built my desktop CP several years back. I am going to try to do an even better job than my last. So far so good. Beter tools and beter materials help.

The strips were used only for the lighting, so Jontox could easily replace a single LED if required. Not really any need for them when wiring the controls, you could use one for your grounds but it's much easier just to daisy-chain them.

I've never had the Velcro come loose, they use some serious adhesive. Sand the top of your CP box smooth and then wipe it off with a tack-cloth to insure a real tight bond.

I do the control wires one-by-one, attaching them to the encoder as I go along so there's no mistakes. If you run all the wires to the encoder and try to connect them afterwards your bound to mix up a few.

MYX · « **Reply #69 on:** April 20, 2006, 05:21:16 pm »

Thanks Knievel.

lettuce · « **Reply #70 on:** April 20, 2006, 06:15:26 pm »

Knievel, are those the Happ Translucent push buttons in that CP, if so how many LEDs did you put in each button?

Knievel · « **Reply #71 on:** April 20, 2006, 06:27:22 pm »

Yes, you can get them from Ponyboy over in the Buy/Sell forum.

1 LED per button, and 3 behind the trackball.

lettuce · « **Reply #72 on:** April 20, 2006, 07:53:06 pm »

Are they just standard white/clear LEDs or coloured?

Nannuu · « **Reply #73 on:** April 20, 2006, 08:16:58 pm »

I don't see any resistors there. Did you get LED's with resistors built in? And if so where did you get them?

That is impressive guys, very very nice job.

Knievel · « **Reply #74 on:** April 20, 2006, 09:23:23 pm »

I matched the LED color to the button color.

The resistors are there, attached directly to the leg of each LED. You can't see them because I shrink-wrapped the heck out of everything.

Jontox · « **Reply #75 on:** April 21, 2006, 01:26:47 pm »

Waow,

It is quite a long time I haven't cheked the thread 74 replies and 2417 views.
It seems that more people than I expected are following the project...

Thinking about it, it is quite logical

due to the guys involved in it, I'm not speaking about me of course

More to come guys,

I've received a few additional parts this week.
I'll post some pictures next week but just to list them there are Coin protectors, Coin door, Bezel.
CP is on its way... I can't wait to receive it ....

See you

Jontox

P.S.: Marquee first attempt by Pixelhugger should not be too long from now...

psychopanda · « **Reply #76 on:** April 21, 2006, 02:36:10 pm »

I keep looking and the only thing I have to say is 'Wow!' about this whole project.

I can only hope my next wiring job ends up half as good as Knievel's. He does some amazing work.

lettuce · « **Reply #77 on:** May 05, 2006, 04:37:14 pm »

Jontox, how wide is the cab? Cos ive seen some examples of the same design cab, but they look kind of fat, where yours looks alot slender??

Jontox · « **Reply #78 on:** May 17, 2006, 01:31:15 pm »

Sorry for the late reply.

Actually the bottom part is 63cm (24.80 inch) wide as the internal top part (from internal side to side).
I think that the slender effect is more due to the back side modification of the bottom part itself.

See you

Jontox

Pixelhugger · « **Reply #79 on:** May 18, 2006, 05:35:27 pm »

Marquee sent to Jontox for feedback/approval.

I'm dying to post it here so lemme know man!


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Author Topic: *** Project Arcadeus *** (Read 61250 times)

Author Topic: * Project Arcadeus * (Read 61250 times)