a few questions about marquees and mounting stuff n'at

[lanman31337]

Heya folks - i have a couple of questions. 

First, how do you guys do up your marquees?  Do I have to use a piece of plexi behind, then the marquee, then a piece up front?

Second - for my joysticks, I got carriage bolts and nuts.  Do you guys drill a bigger hole in the plexiglass like a 5/16th hole so it'll grip into the wood and not spin?

I think that's it for now, well, maybe.  I got a betson trackball and happ mount coming.  Do I cut a hole so the whole entire trackball assembly fits in it and drill holes for the mount to drop on?

Sorry if i'm asking stupid questions, I don't want to mess anything up with this.

[vidmouse]

First, how do you guys do up your marquees?  Do I have to use a piece of plexi behind, then the marquee, then a piece up front?

Exactly how I did it.  Lit with an 18" flourescent bar.

[javeryh]

First, how do you guys do up your marquees?  Do I have to use a piece of plexi behind, then the marquee, then a piece up front?

Exactly how I did it.  Lit with an 18" flourescent bar.

Same.  Back to front:  18" flourescent light.  Plexi.  Marquee.  Plexi.  Capped by marquee retainer strips across the top and bottom.

[lanman31337]

good good, i already have the light mounted, and the gentleman who is going to print it for me has paper that can be lit up.  just gotta get another piece of plexi for the rear.  thanks for the responses guys - i know enough to get me into trouble, but some stuff i just don't know.

[BobA]

Second - for my joysticks, I got carriage bolts and nuts.  Do you guys drill a bigger hole in the plexiglass like a 5/16th hole so it'll grip into the wood and not spin?

I think that's it for now, well, maybe.  I got a betson trackball and happ mount coming.  Do I cut a hole so the whole entire trackball assembly fits in it and drill holes for the mount to drop on?

Sorry if i'm asking stupid questions, I don't want to mess anything up with this.

If you are using a plexi overlay they you can countersink your bolts and put your graphic on top with your plexi over that.  Much cleaner that way.

The trackball mount can be placed in a routered recess the size of the mount and this allows flush mounting and your graphic to go over it without the mount or bolts showing.  The hole you cut is the shape of the trackball depending on which one you have.  There should be a template around that shows what you need to cut thru and what is routered to recess the plate.

Here is a link to the wiki info on trackball mounting.

http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Trackball_Mounting

The Wiki is your friend.

Another way to mount a Betson trackball.
Trackball Plans

Edit: Added wiki link

[lanman31337]

can you guys think of any reason why i'd need to remove the joysticks?  i'd have to unscrew, wow, around 39 buttons in order to remove the plexiglass to access the joysticks if i'd need to change them out.  looks like the switches are real easy to get to.

[shardian]

can you guys think of any reason why i'd need to remove the joysticks?  i'd have to unscrew, wow, around 39 buttons in order to remove the plexiglass to access the joysticks if i'd need to change them out.  looks like the switches are real easy to get to.

If you mounted T-nuts on top of the CP, you could attach your joysticks from the bottom and thus, remove them from the bottom also without disturbing the CPO and plexi.

[ChadTower]

39 buttons

 

[lanman31337]

maybe i miscalculated, there's 8 buttons per player, including the player start button (it's nice to be able to play some 4 player dreamcast action on the arcade) plus 3 buttons for the trackball.  so that's 35.

[Green Giant]

For a cheap way to mount the marquee, go to home depot and pick up some 2 pieces of 3 foot aluminum L bracket.  Found some for around $2, cut it really easily with a hack saw, spray painted it black, drilled a few holes and mounted it up.  Looks great and really easy and cheap.