LED button discs/inserts for translucent Happs, fx, or ice!

[Timoe]

MikeDeuce,

Thank you thank you.  They came out great.  I just need some buttons for these now.


Review:  This is a quality product.  It comes well packaged for consumption.  The fact that it comes with a white film on the backside that I can use as a diffuser or remove to suit my preferences is really slick.

Here's a pic as the discs arrived.  I will, of course, post pictures after installation

[Level42]

Hey, sure...

Is it just a "G" shape? Like one of these:

http://www.24carat.co.uk/images/2001netherlandsguildersilverrev240.jpg

http://images.bidorbuy.co.za/545/3572.5%20guilder.jpg

Hey Mike,

Can't believe I forgot to get back to you about this, sorry !!!!
Actualy no. The Dutch Guilder symbol was the letter f.

I think I got some examples of the Dutch versions of your 25c labels for the coin buttons. I will check it out and get back. Would be very nice.

It wouldn't be possible to do an actual coin like you listed,right?  I meant the modern one with the straight lines.

[MikeDeuce]

No worries at all, these B/S/T threads go around so quickly I barely even notice new posts! 

This one: http://www.24carat.co.uk/images/2001netherlandsguildersilverrev240.jpg  miiiiiiiiight be possible. The lines would be very thin and have very little surface area for the actual adhesive. I'll play around with it when I get a chance, have some ideas bouncing around in my head.

Hey, sure...

Is it just a "G" shape? Like one of these:

http://www.24carat.co.uk/images/2001netherlandsguildersilverrev240.jpg

http://images.bidorbuy.co.za/545/3572.5%20guilder.jpg

Hey Mike,

Can't believe I forgot to get back to you about this, sorry !!!!
Actualy no. The Dutch Guilder symbol was the letter f.

I think I got some examples of the Dutch versions of your 25c labels for the coin buttons. I will check it out and get back. Would be very nice.

It wouldn't be possible to do an actual coin like you listed,right?  I meant the modern one with the straight lines.

[Level42]

It would be mega-cool if possible

Think this is about the only "real world" coin that could possibly be done this way....I remember when they came out, a lot of people called them "coffee machine tokens" here, but I always like the modern and tight designe of Dutch money......sigh.....now we are using those hideous Euro coins and bills. They sound wrong, they feel wrong and they made everything twice as expensive 

Would it be easier to make a disc of it, instead of vinyl ? I still haven't made up my mind which way to go with my buttons yet....

[Howard_Casto]

I'm lovin what you are doing here mike.... I've got a special project for you if you have the equipment to handle it... I'll post it here because other people who own gorf machines probably have a similar problem. 

My gorf machines screen printed cpo is done for, so I sanded the metal panel smooth.  Now I'm trying to figure out a good way to put new graphics on... see the bare metal is the background of the design so the methods are limited.  Screen printing doesn't seem like a solution considering how quickly the original dissolved.  I've been thinking of rub-on transfers, but that seems a little fragile.  Spray painting isn't an option with a traditional template because there's a ton of lettering, tiny lettering. 

Here is a link to a vectorized gorf cpo:  http://www.localarcade.com/arcade_art/details.php?image_id=519


As you can see, there are only three colors and they aren't blended or dithered at all.  Also you have calibration points where the bolt holes are, so it'd be easy to align them all.  Would it be possible for you to make a kit of either decals, or die cut templates?  A single sheet for each color.  It'd have to be something that has some sort of suspension paper obviously, because nobody would have the patience to manually place each letter on the panel. 

If you can just give me an estimate and be sure to let people know you are doing it, cause this is a rather serious problem for gorf cabinet owners.  I've yet to find an intact gorf control panel. 

[NightGod]

If Mike doesn't take a stab at it, I know a guy who runs a sign buisness that might be able to do it-I'm guessing he would charge more than Mike would, however, and I don't have any intentions of getting involved in doing work other people are interested in and already established on in the community.

[Barry Barcrest]

I'm lovin what you are doing here mike.... I've got a special project for you if you have the equipment to handle it... I'll post it here because other people who own gorf machines probably have a similar problem. 

My gorf machines screen printed cpo is done for, so I sanded the metal panel smooth.  Now I'm trying to figure out a good way to put new graphics on... see the bare metal is the background of the design so the methods are limited.  Screen printing doesn't seem like a solution considering how quickly the original dissolved.  I've been thinking of rub-on transfers, but that seems a little fragile.  Spray painting isn't an option with a traditional template because there's a ton of lettering, tiny lettering. 

Here is a link to a vectorized gorf cpo:  http://www.localarcade.com/arcade_art/details.php?image_id=519


As you can see, there are only three colors and they aren't blended or dithered at all.  Also you have calibration points where the bolt holes are, so it'd be easy to align them all.  Would it be possible for you to make a kit of either decals, or die cut templates?  A single sheet for each color.  It'd have to be something that has some sort of suspension paper obviously, because nobody would have the patience to manually place each letter on the panel. 

If you can just give me an estimate and be sure to let people know you are doing it, cause this is a rather serious problem for gorf cabinet owners.  I've yet to find an intact gorf control panel. 

Have you tried printing this on the trasparent window plastic you can buy for inkjet printers? If you print it on there inverted and stuck it under some perspex it would last for ages and look pretty cool.

[Howard_Casto]

Well that won't work because the maximum length you can get is 11 inches and it's a 19 inch cp.  Thanks for the idea though.

[MikeDeuce]

Ack, I really need to set this thread to email me when there's an update. Many apologies for the slow response!

That said, I actually do imagine my machine would be capable of turning something like this out... but I'd like to run a sample through before saying for sure. The one potential problem is the only blue I have at the moment is a darker, more typical blue. But I'd absolutely be willing to pick up a roll of the lighter blue which this appears to use if even one person was interested (that's the whole point of me selling here, anyway... to get new colors that I otherwise wouldn't be able to play with).

I do also have avery paint mask vinyl, if you wanted to go the spray route and absolute color accuracy was a requirement.

And last but not least, all vinyl ships with a transparent transfer tape which holds all the tiny objects together.

Can you confirm these dimensions? It's what Illustrator is reporting, but I'd rather make sure.

W: 544.14mm / 21.4228346 in
H: 189.794mm / 7.47220472

And NightGod: I appreciate the thought very much. Though I wouldn't disapprove (or have the right to) of any competition. Since vinyl work is purely hobby to me, if anyone could offer items cheaper, quicker, or otherwise superior to mine, it would only be doing the community a service. And that's the most important thing (really, I'm being sincere here... plus I do this stuff after a long day at work, so I wouldn't complain much ). That said, I wouldn't have a decent selection of colors if it wasn't for the purchases so far, so keep em coming if you need em

edit: except for the discs, I might be miffed if someone duplicated the idea exactly/100% heheh... but only because I feel like I pulled those out of my own arse.

[MikeDeuce]

Guilder = "Frickin' Sweet" according to the girlfriend... I'd have to agree. This one came out really cool! For the super thin lines I used a white vinyl, and applied the 1g on top in black vinyl. It looks really cool unlit, too, but was difficult to capture :\



I also played with the Gorf file (colors are obviously wrong, I was messing with black and white vinyl at the time so I tested with that):


( http://ironvulva.com/vinyl/gorf.jpg for full size )

I'll talk more about it tomorrow!

[NightGod]

Honestly, I think about the only thing the guy could provide would possibly be a bit faster service, mainly because he does this sort of thing as part of his job (he runs about three or four different buisnesses with a handful of employees). Prices I can't see him really being better on and cut vinyl is cut vinyl, so quality is pretty much a moot point. Color wise he might have a bigger selection, but there's really only so many colors that matter in something like this anyway.

Actually, one other thing he might be able to do is printed vinyl, he has one of those massive inkjet vinyl printers, but I know those things aren't cheap to run and I honestly doubt he'd be big on cleaning up alot of artwork in order to do it unless his prices really went up.

There's also the fact that I haven't even talked to him about the idea, so it could all be moot anyway I'm pretty sure getting him to print one or two things for me personally isn't going to be a problem, but I'm not convinced he'd really be ready to get into something large scale, his plate is pretty full these days as it is.

On the vinyl thing Mike-hope you are buying that stuff off of Ebay, from what he tells me, the prices there are quite a bit cheaper, as in 30-50% difference from some of the retail suppliers, especially in lower quantities.

[Santoro]

These inserts are the only reason I haven't been able to bring myself to install my Electric Ice buttons yet.  I think the practical ability to put nice labels in single-color lit buttons may outweigh the RBG bling effect of the electric ice buttons.

[whatzcrackn]

These inserts are the only reason I haven't been able to bring myself to install my Electric Ice buttons yet.  I think the practical ability to put nice labels in single-color lit buttons may outweigh the RBG bling effect of the electric ice buttons.

The inserts look nice in the ICE.  I just installed mine finally and will take some pics.  I removed the film from the back like it alot.

[Howard_Casto]

The vinyl test you did looks perfect!  I will get out my measuring tape and confirm the dimensions tonight. 

I'm rather torn about the technique myself.  You see vinyl would almost definately last longer than paint, but of course vinyl can be picked off or accidentally rubbed off from use.  On the other hand, paint as you said is going to allow a person to get exacting colors.  But then the work will have to be sealed in some way, and originally the paint was just put on and left (of course that's why it wore off so easily, I'm just saying.... flat metal finish.)  On my own personal cab it probably won't matter as I'm considering getting some thin, polished, sheet-metal flashing and covering all the aluminum parts for an extra shiny look and then put the artwork back on the cp.  So it won't be totally original anyway, I just want it to look original to the average joe blow. 



Plexi isn't an option on a gorf panel in case anyone was wondering.  It would interfere with the bolts that hold the lower bezel retainer and run into some of the inner sideart, not to mention the fact that the front of the panel is curved and thus it'd take a lot of heat bending to even make one. 



-edit-

Got the dimensions:

57cm X 20.5 cm for the top area of the cp.  I think that some extra sapce was put at the bottom of that vector image to put over the front edge of the cp so I measured from the top of one bolt hole to the bottom of the one below it for a scale reference.  I came up with 14.8 cm.   


Opening the art at 72 dpi gives me a size of  56.66 cm by 20.5 cm. 
So the art given is cropped slightly, no big deal, just increase the canvas size.  Probably whoever made this had a panel that wasn't stamped exactly true.

The stamper that midway used to make the panels isn't spot on accurate, so each panel has a clear rubber edge on the back, similar to the channel edging you see on the sides of marquees.  The panels aren't always perfectly square either.  Mine for example has a corner that just barely (I mean almost immeasurably "barely") leaves a crack.  I meantion all of this because if you were to make a painting stencil you'd want to put a 1 inch lip on the bottom and you'd defintely want to make it 57 cm, because that is the maximum width the cp can be. 


Hope that helps... let me know if there is anything else I can do. 

[Howard_Casto]

These inserts are the only reason I haven't been able to bring myself to install my Electric Ice buttons yet.  I think the practical ability to put nice labels in single-color lit buttons may outweigh the RBG bling effect of the electric ice buttons.

I don't like the ice buttons because.. well when they are turned off, they are this gay white color.  Not to mention the fact that anyone who actually plays their cab will have that nice white finish almost yellow in a month just from grime. 

What I'm looking into is getting the clear happs buttons, sanding the entry hole once it's made (to diffuse light) and then putting a very tiny diffuser over top of the led once it's in place.  Then the light is diffused into the blended color all the way up, not just on the inserts.  Shouldn't be hard to do... a tiny circle of plexi (small enough that the button prongs don't get caught up on it) with a recessed dimple for the led sticking up would do it.  That is if you diffuse the plexi in some way like sanding it or spraying some fake etching on it.  They even have such a thing as "milky white" rgb leds, but I am having a hard time finding them. 

[MikeDeuce]

On the vinyl thing Mike-hope you are buying that stuff off of Ebay, from what he tells me, the prices there are quite a bit cheaper, as in 30-50% difference from some of the retail suppliers, especially in lower quantities.

Yeah I used to get a lot on ebay, then I found one online retailer that had decent prices on Oracal and Avery. Was great for a while but they just recently stopped selling them both for some other brand I've never heard of, so now I'm back to shopping for vinyl shops.

These inserts are the only reason I haven't been able to bring myself to install my Electric Ice buttons yet.  I think the practical ability to put nice labels in single-color lit buttons may outweigh the RBG bling effect of the electric ice buttons.

Sorry for conflicting ya

I'm rather torn about the technique myself.

You hit the nail on the head... that's what I was going to add today.

I chose the right chunk of the cp artwork for the test because it featured some of the smallest text ( C 1980 MIDWAY MFG, etc). If it was going on super smooth glass or acrylic, I might not be as worried... but on anything even slightly porous (sanded metal?), the vinyl text in that area is so small that there's barely any surface area for the adhesive to work. I wouldn't be too surprised to see some of those tiny decals coming off with regular use/abuse.

So yeah, aerosol clear coating (matte clear maybe?) might work... but I just thought of something...

They do make a clear vinyl film as well... or at least I've seen it on the order forms. Maybe I'll have to pick up a batch as well as the lighter blue.

This would cover and basically protect all the underlying bits, and add a thin layer of protection to your CP as well, though it wouldn't be as protective as acrylic.

Overall, I could imagine something like this being sold for around $25 with all 3 colors and the additional layer of clear vinyl (assuming it is what it sounds like). Hopefully that's cheap enough to be a good value at "average joe" quality. There's a loooooot of text to weed in that CP. What do you think?

Thanks!
mike

[Howard_Casto]

That's more than reasonable.  The crappy replacment cpo they sell for gorf is like 45 bucks and some guy made a reproduction run of the orignal cpos with the original screen printing and it ran upwards of 100 bucks! The quality on both, by all reports is horrible, even to the passer by, so I think anyone would be more than willing to pay that price or even a little more. 

Yeah I'm thinking even if the film doesn't work out (what might get scratched easily, I don't know about such things) a nice clear coat should take care of the issue.  I wanted to point out that because the orignial paint we screen printed the graphics were raised considerably so if the kit is done right even sticklers aren't going to be able to tell the difference cosmetically I'm just worrying about durability like you are. 

[MikeDeuce]

Great to hear! It sounds like at $25 this could make a great economy option. Thanks for the info on pricing for the alternatives.

Oracal has an "Azure blue" which appears nearly identical to the one in illustrator file:


Sky blue is a close second:


But who knows how accurate these simple color swatches are, especially on screen. Would you say the Illustrator file is close enough to accurate?

Thanks!

I think I'll pick that up regardless of any orders, there's a project I wanted some light blue for anyhow.

Here's the red I have right now: 

That's more than reasonable.  The crappy replacment cpo they sell for gorf is like 45 bucks and some guy made a reproduction run of the orignal cpos with the original screen printing and it ran upwards of 100 bucks! The quality on both, by all reports is horrible, even to the passer by, so I think anyone would be more than willing to pay that price or even a little more. 

Yeah I'm thinking even if the film doesn't work out (what might get scratched easily, I don't know about such things) a nice clear coat should take care of the issue.  I wanted to point out that because the orignial paint we screen printed the graphics were raised considerably so if the kit is done right even sticklers aren't going to be able to tell the difference cosmetically I'm just worrying about durability like you are. 

[NightGod]

I was just wondering if doing those with a vinyl printer on clear might work out even better, especially with a sheet metal CP like that. That stuff is designed to take the abuse of being an outdoors sign, so I doubt there's much you can do to it on a cab that could hurt it and it would just be a one-piece install. But then you'd lose some of the originality since the entire surface would be covered with vinyl. You'd add in the benefit of perfect color matching, however, since it would be printed instead of a set color of vinyl. Just spitballing some ideas here.

Though I'm not sure what the cost on stuff like that would be, I really need to get a day when I'm not insanely busy and I can sit down and talk to that friend of mine that does the sign stuff.

[Howard_Casto]

Great to hear! It sounds like at $25 this could make a great economy option. Thanks for the info on pricing for the alternatives.

Oracal has an "Azure blue" which appears nearly identical to the one in illustrator file:


Sky blue is a close second:


But who kn
ows how accurate these simple color swatches are, especially on screen. Would you say the Illustrator file is close enough to accurate?

Thanks!

I think I'll pick that up regardless of any orders, there's a project I wanted some light blue for anyhow.

Here's the red I have right now: 

Hmm... I'm not good on the color matching thing.  How about this:




This is a scan from my own gorf machine before I resurfaced the panel. My scanner is color calibrated, so unless something effected the scan it should be spot on.  I have the full scan if you need it.  Man looking back I can't believe how rusted and gunked up that cp was when I got it. 

[NightGod]

Looks closer to sky blue than to Oracal to my eyes.

[Santoro]

I don't like the ice buttons because.. well when they are turned off, they are this gay white color.  Not to mention the fact that anyone who actually plays their cab will have that nice white finish almost yellow in a month just from grime. 

What I'm looking into is getting the clear happs buttons, sanding the entry hole once it's made (to diffuse light) and then putting a very tiny diffuser over top of the led once it's in place.  Then the light is diffused into the blended color all the way up, not just on the inserts.  Shouldn't be hard to do... a tiny circle of plexi (small enough that the button prongs don't get caught up on it) with a recessed dimple for the led sticking up would do it.  That is if you diffuse the plexi in some way like sanding it or spraying some fake etching on it.  They even have such a thing as "milky white" rgb leds, but I am having a hard time finding them. 

I'd probably go with 'feminine' rather than 'gay' but I agree with the idea... They are sort of pearly-looking and look out of place on a dark control panel.   

I like your idea for using modded clear buttons. I will be watching with interest to see if you go forward with that.

[JoeyJoeJo]

I'm confused on which Happ buttons that these kits fit in.  I searched their site but couldn't find it.  Can someone be kind enough to provide a link?

[MikeDeuce]

I was just wondering if doing those with a vinyl printer on clear might work out even better, especially with a sheet metal CP like that.

That does sound like a good idea... plus no weeding, or dealing with multiple colors of vinyl. I bet those could be produced for super cheap, if so inclined.

This is a scan from my own gorf machine before I resurfaced the panel. My scanner is color calibrated, so unless something effected the scan it should be spot on.  I have the full scan if you need it.  Man looking back I can't believe how rusted and gunked up that cp was when I got it. 

Hah, funny... according to photoshop, the color match is nearly exact when you blend the 2 blues together, but alone one is slightly lighter and the other slightly darker.

Without knowing how accurate those swatches might be, I guess it's a toss up. I would love to see the full CP if you don't mind... If it's compressed at all I can take it at dage@pixelstorm.net

I'm confused on which Happ buttons that these kits fit in.  I searched their site but couldn't find it.  Can someone be kind enough to provide a link?

Mr. Junior Shabadoo: These fit the standard gameplay pushbuttons like Happ's competition or Ultimate pushbuttons:
http://www.happcontrols.com/pushbuttons/5896xxl.htm
http://www.happcontrols.com/pushbuttons/539200xx.htm

Although naturally you'd want to use a translucent or Frosted Ice button with the discs.

ponyboy and divemaster127 both sell the translucent buttons at great prices. Here are their threads:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=36770.0
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=47066.0

They also fit the FX buttons or GroovyGameGear Electric Ice buttons of the same shape, or any button with a 5/8in or ~16 mm internal diameter in the plunger. And the discs are approximately 3mm tall.

[NightGod]

Raw cost for the printing on clear would likely be relatively inexpensive, though I believe it uses a special type of vinyl that holds the color properly and the machine itself costs a fortune, so I'm worried about how big the markup would be on it.

That said, Howard, how would the community react to a full sheet of clear vs individual vinyl cut-outs? Not sure the purists would be OK with the entire CP being covered like that.

And, again, this is all conjecture based on the guy I know even being interested, hopefully I can talk to him this afternoon for a few minutes, we've both been insane busy lately.

[Howard_Casto]

Well my thoughts on a ful sheet of vinyl is that while it would defintely be easier to apply and might get more accurate colors there are other issues. 

I've never seen stuff printed on clear vinyl that didn't eventually wear off.  Usually inkjet technology is used to print on it, which isn't premenant.  Also clear vinyl that's meant to be printed on is very soft and seems kinda "puffy" to me.  If you take the side of your fingernail to it, it leaves a mark.  This would apply somewhat to the individual color inserts too, the only difference is to leave a mark on them you would have to press down on an area that actually has graphics, while on a full sheet, anything from a heavy pop can to some kid being a little too rough andywhere on the panel is gonna leave marks. 

If you put a "hrad coat" over either the individual pieces or paint that was put on via a vinyl stencil you won't have these issues. 

But that's just my thoughts. 

[NightGod]

This stuff is the kind they use for outdoor signs, the only thing it does is eventually fade with enough UV light, though that takes on the order of years when it's outside. It's actually heated with a corona wire so the ink permeates the vinyl and it's a very thin vinyl. It's almost like printing on photo paper, except the clear coat comes off of the paper. That's how it seemed to me from looking at it, at least, I'll grab some scrap sheets he has tomorrow when I stop over there and get a closer look.

And since I'm a Imperial measure kinda guy, the dimensions on that are ~22 inches by ~7 inches, correct? Just checking because the guy prices it by size and he needed to know before he could quote me.

And am I right in thinking that people would prefer to have the sheets a couple inches bigger on each side (say making the overall size 24 inches by 12 inches, since most companies prefer to work in square footage and it sounds like this guy does, as well) to they could trim to fit rather than trying to get exact dimensions? I think that's what you were saying when you were talking about the stamper issues there, but wanted to confirm.

[Howard_Casto]

Yeah that sounds about right.  The only thing about making it bigger though is you would have to print the bolt holes, which are on the artowrk file and I've measured and found to be correct.  The edges might be off, but as long as you center everything by the bolt holes it'll line up nicely. 

[Level42]

Guilder = "Frickin' Sweet" according to the girlfriend... I'd have to agree. This one came out really cool! For the super thin lines I used a white vinyl, and applied the 1g on top in black vinyl. It looks really cool unlit, too, but was difficult to capture :\

HOLY %&*( !!!!!! Here I am, thinking my idea of getting the actual Guilder coin on a button was just another of my wild dreams, so not paying attention and Mike just made the COOOOOOOOLEST COIN BUTTON EVER !!!!!!!!

TOTALY    Couldn't agree more with your girlfriend !! FAN-TAS-TIC work !!!

OK we gotta talk business Mike, you just made my decision for which way to go with the buttons. Personaly, I'm not too fond of the ICE buttons either. It's really cool all that flashy stuff....just not my thing. This just looks SO classy.

So, the Guilder button is actualy two decals on top of each other ? OK, I gotta figure out what I need more to make my order, that is, asuming you can make a couple of these for me.

Thanks for trying that Guilder and making it SOOOO beautiful !!
Will PM you VERY soon !

Man, I've GOT to show this to my fellow Dutch BYOAC-ers......wait a minute.......there are no fellow Ducth BYOAC-ers afaik......

[NightGod]

Did some more talking to him today. In it's base form, it feels alot like thick paper. It takes the ink very well (I soaked a piece of it in water for about three hours and no bleeding at all, even when I rubbed it) because not only is the paper corona treated to open up the pores, the ink is also solvent based to it actually permeates the fibers of the vinyl.

The only other question is: would you want the stuff 'laminated' (covered with a thin sheet of UV protectant clear vinyl) or in the raw form? Basically the difference between a matte finish (raw form) or glossy (UV protectant)?

[MikeDeuce]

Glad you caught the update

It's a button insert, the ones that go inside the button, but beside that it's just two layers of vinyl. If you just put the vinyl alone on top of a button I think it would be too fragile, but inside it's nice and protected

Thanks for the idea, it was fun to try something other than the standard!

Guilder = "Frickin' Sweet" according to the girlfriend... I'd have to agree. This one came out really cool! For the super thin lines I used a white vinyl, and applied the 1g on top in black vinyl. It looks really cool unlit, too, but was difficult to capture :\

HOLY %&*( !!!!!! Here I am, thinking my idea of getting the actual Guilder coin on a button was just another of my wild dreams, so not paying attention and Mike just made the COOOOOOOOLEST COIN BUTTON EVER !!!!!!!!

TOTALY    Couldn't agree more with your girlfriend !! FAN-TAS-TIC work !!!

OK we gotta talk business Mike, you just made my decision for which way to go with the buttons. Personaly, I'm not too fond of the ICE buttons either. It's really cool all that flashy stuff....just not my thing. This just looks SO classy.

So, the Guilder button is actualy two decals on top of each other ? OK, I gotta figure out what I need more to make my order, that is, asuming you can make a couple of these for me.

Thanks for trying that Guilder and making it SOOOO beautiful !!
Will PM you VERY soon !

Man, I've GOT to show this to my fellow Dutch BYOAC-ers......wait a minute.......there are no fellow Ducth BYOAC-ers afaik......

[Level42]

Hey, occasionaly I got some crazy idea's (still need to install that motion detector in my cab ), it's just so amazing that this one actualy was possible and that it came out so great

I'm afraid you won't be selling these in numbers, but I totaly love it !! It's like a real see-through coin inside the button

PM sent

[Level42]

Thanks for the idea, it was fun to try something other than the standard!

Mmmmmm, be careful of what you say........I've got some more ideas for custom buttons :D

1: Level 42 button (would be used as Power button on my cab)
The old logo is very well suited for this:


There are two possibilities: either the entire logo in lines, but this would be quite small I guess, the other option and I think I actualy like that one better: only the circle with 42 in it. That should be pretty easy I guess...

2: A Q*bert button. What ? A Q*bert button.
I will be including a knocker in my cab. Q*bert was fitted with a knocker that went off when Q*bert is loosing a life. I will be fitting a knocker inside my cab. Now, the knocker will be controlled through one of the keyboard LEDS (through a JPAC). Since other moments when that keyboard LED is fired, I don't want the knocker to be triggered. So I need something to turn it on and off. (Also nice when you want to play Q*bert without the knocker at night time etc.) I wanted to use a standard arcade button for it already. Would be cool to have an outlined graphic of Q*Bert on it

This will need some graphic work, but not to dificult I think. I think an outlined version of him like on the marquee would be great.


An alternative for the knocker would be something like a little hammer, tilted to the right with some half circles around representing the noise it makes. This would be cool if you prefer a more general button for the knocker, since this can also be used with Pin emu's.

3: Knievl uses a LISTS button on his cabs (at least the Woody). Good idea, but I'd like an icon instead of text on it. I was thinking of a rectangular box with three horizontal lines in it. (Much like a teletext button on a TV remote, but you guys don't have teletext in the US afaik). Can't seem to find an image of what I mean on the net though....

4: adding to this, Knievl also uses a button to switch Emulators.....another great idea....but how to graphicaly represent that

I know this will be a lot of work, I'm just dreaming crazy again :D ( but it worked before

[MikeDeuce]

Hey hey I'm a little bit on and off during the weekend, but I can definitely work with these ideas.

As for an icon alternative to Knievel's "Emu" button, might I suggest:

 


 

Ok no, I don't have a serious thought, but it's uh... still the weekend here. Maybe tomorrow when I'm back at work

[Timoe]

WOOT 

[Howard_Casto]

Level42... are you going to use a special vesion of mame or what?  Cause mame hasn't supported the knocker in ages afaik. 

I'm working on a manager of sorts for this, but I'm trying to do it externally from mame.  It'll let you assign outputs to keyboard and aw light states in mame via ini files, which means you wouldn't need the button, just make a ini for qbert that "binds" the knocker and don't make one for the rest and like that it only works for qbert. 

[Level42]

Mike:

  not bad, not bad, but this might get confused with it being a Joust button 

Howard:

Yes I will have to find an old version of Qmame (http://members.cox.net/brado426/QMAME) somewhere just for this one, so maybe that button also starts that Emu specificaly.I need to dig up some old mails that I got from Brad Oldham about this. Yes I also thought about a software solution, would be nice, but I've stopped programming around the time I switched from my Atari XE to ST.....
Would be much inerested in a software only version of course would be slick.....

[Howard_Casto]

Well I played around with a solution today... it's either extremely smart, o extremely stupid, I'm not sure, but it works. 

What I do is setup an external program that samples all open sound channels.  What it's doing is "listening" for the knocker.wav sample to be played. When it's played the event fires.  Considering how it shouldn't work at all (sound is too variable)  I was suprised to find it worked 100% of the time with my tests.  It seems that the knocker sound has a very flat ending (all the sample levels are complete 0's) which is very odd, so odd that this the is only noise in the game that does it.   I could easily crop the sample as well so that only the flat part is played (which is inaudible). 

Of course you wouldn't want this running all the time, but my app will support more than qbert and check for the current running rom, so it would only run when qbert is active. 

pm me and i'll send you a test app later on in the week to play with. 

[Level42]

Before we completely hi-jack Mike's thread, I propose we continue to discuss the "Q*bert software for triggering the knocker" in a new thread in the software section....

I've openend it here:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=56568.msg555969#msg555969

So back on topic here please

[edge]

Mike,
Do you have a picture of the 25 cent disc in a red translucent button, with a red (versus black) background?  Wonder how that compares.

Thanks!