Franco's Custom Cocktail (UPDATE: Wood cutting commences!! =) )

[thatitalian]

I'm just happy to be a part of a MAMEY winning project! (you know this blatantly will win one when it is finished!)

[venkman]

this cabinet looks like it'll be pimp!

very impressive finishing already with the leds, metal and professional graphics. 

[Franco B]

Thanks for the kind works. Not so sure about the mamey tho!!

I cant really take any credit for the artwork, I have Sam (uprightbass360) to thank for that. Im currently waiting for him to mail a DVD with the artwork on it to me so that I can send it on for thatitallain to finish.

I really am looking forward to getting on with this project, I just need to get pinky out the way first.

I have had an idea for a related project that I am REALLY excited about, mountain has kindly agreed to post some components over from the US to me for it. Ill probably get this secondary project finished before the cocktail as I really want to see what it (or should that be they ) look like.

I hope to have some progress pics of the cocktail before too long. I think im just going to do a reveal for the secondary project tho and then post build pics if people are interested.

[bfauska]

HEY!!! It's a lovely pink juke you have going and all, but what happened here? Some of us needy folk are feeling a little blue-balled. Such sexy progress for so long and then nothing. It's bad enough that we all hate you for your bad-ass skills, but now we can hate you for leaving us out in the cold too.



Ok, sorry about all the anger and hate speak, but this build is like a drug. We need our fix man.



  

[Franco B]

He, he 

Yeah Pinky is kinda holding me up at the moment, I can't wait to get cracking on it again in the new year. I probably wont be working on it until about February purely because I have even less space here now that my GF has moved in with me and my parents. Were  getting our own place in February so I'm probably going to be putting it on hold until then. I've learnt a few things since working on Pinky and I'm going to pretty much redo everything except from the CPs and table top.

I do have a relating smaller project that I will be revealing soon after Xmas though

Thanks for the interest 

[Kaytrim]

Looking for some progress updates.  Just love the metal working that is going into this case.

TTFN 
Michael

[Franco B]

Nothing major to report I'm afraid bud. There's a couple of projects I need to get finished first before I start work again on her. Pinky is obv priority #1, The next thing I'm going to do is make those two wireless CPs for 360/MAME. I'm desperate to get some kind of controller done as I have been MAMEless for over two years now  . When those are done I'm going to finish off a rather special relating project and then get back on with the cocktail.

As I said apart from the CPs and table top I'm pretty much going to redo the rest and use some laminate to protect what has become a rather expensive project in time and expense. I was originally going to use vinyl but it just wont be hard wearing enough to protect it over time.

I'm eager to get it finished though as our new place has a nice living room and it has the perfect space for the table.

Thanks for the interest 

[dkssprs]

This project cant be true!!!!!! I am really amazed of this projects precicion talking about the parts.I am amazed with all the custom metal parts especially with the custom metal panel (on/off usb). Really great work Franco. I am making my cab using only this
You must feel great having all those tools.Of course tools isnt everything....you must love what you are doing ...and i am sure you are.

Again really impressed and a little bit jelious (with the good way  )

[Franco B]

Thanks for the kind words

I'm just lucky that I have access to the machine tools at work. Everyone on the forum seems to have a talent that they can apply to their build. I'm seriously in awe of some of the projects that get built and I would love to have some of the woodwork, artwork, programming and other talents that I see applied.

One area I really want to concentrate on is my woodwork. Up to now I have only had a couple of basic tools and no real area to work in. Once I have moved into our new place I'm going to set up a workshop in the garage and invest in some decent tooling to play with. I've been planning some jigs, templates and fixtures so I can start knocking more projects out easier and to a higher standard. I also want to start to learn some artwork programs so I can start developing my own artwork.

So much to do, so little time to do it in!

[Bender]

So much to do, so little time to do it in!

Amen! Brother!

[thatitalian]

I also want to start to learn some artwork programs so I can start developing my own artwork.

Hey hey hey, wait a darn minute! We have enough artists in this place already, we don't need the likes of you coming in here and messing it up for the rest of us!

Are you planning on making your art out of metal?...............

Just a suggestion.....

[Franco B]

Well, its been a while so I thought we had better have some kind of update.

We have finally moved into our new place and its so awesome to have our own place. The property has a single garage and I've put a fair bit of time setting up a workshop in there. Here's a couple of pics in case you are interested.







The garage was a right mess when I moved in. It was full of concrete dust and was a general state. It only had one light bulb and a single power point so I put in a couple of strip lights and two more double sockets. I also painted the floor to keep the dust down and make it it easier to sweep up. It was a nightmare when trying to sweep the floor as it just brought up more and more concrete dust which doesn't taste nice.

I've put in a workbench that my GF bought me for my birthday. I put a piece of kitchen worktop on it to give a more durable work surface and it also allowed me to over hang a vice on the end.

I installed my pillar drill on a platform to get it to a decent work height and also made a platform for my mitresaw and scroll saw.

Everyone needs some tunes whilst they work so I put up some speakers and attached an amp to the bottom of the workbench draw. I have an Ipod dock attached to the workbench and there is a radio too that I can hook up.

Ive also been working on my dual router table. Here's a couple of pics.





Its not fully finished yet but its operational for what I need right now. I still need to add a rear fence, front mitre fence and some storage draws. The two top pieces are hinged and the router swing upwards though a recess in the lower top piece for easy tool/height changing. I have a load of construction pics that I'm going to post in the BYO router table thread once I have a couple of more bits done on it.

Now for a little actual project update.

Ond came up with an awesome idea for button lighting, this is a pic from his awesome [Retro-Futuristic cab build]



I thought they looked awesome and I asked him if he minded if I had a go at some myself and he said that was cool so I thought I would try to make some similar ones.

Here's what I've been up to so far:



I thought a stainless button top and a stainless casing bezel would look pretty nice so I made a set. I also made a set out of brass and you can also see two brass/stainless variations.

I'm going to remove the casing bezel from some Happ buttons I have and swap if for the new ones. I'm also going to swap the center button part out a la' Ond and light a translucent disc.

Fingers crossed I should have some finished button pics later.

[mountain]

The garage looks good Franco. You should finally be able to turn out some good work. 

Seriously, those buttons look too damn cool. How do they feel when using them?

[Kaytrim]

I was wondering how things were going for you Franco.  Nice little shop setup and it is even bigger then mine.   Now that your shop is setup let's see some progress on your projects.

Michael

[drventure]

Wow. Those buttons look incredible!

Hmm, Wonder what they would look like with a very lightly etched pattern, or maybe laser engraved.....

[Franco B]

The garage looks good Franco. You should finally be able to turn out some good work. 

Seriously, those buttons look too damn cool. How do they feel when using them?

Cheers bud. They feel stock to me although I haven't been able to have a good thrashing with them.  They do feel kinda more slinky though

I was wondering how things were going for you Franco.  Nice little shop setup and it is even bigger then mine.   Now that your shop is setup let's see some progress on your projects.

Michael

Hey buddy, long time no speak! I don't get much time to get on MSN anymore, I'm normally too busy in my home, cough, garage

I though all you guys had 17 acre garages over there?

I've got those button bezels we were talking about into production now. There are some pics etc [here] if you are still interested.

There should be lots of progress on all front now I have my garage set up, this latest addition has really spurred me on

Wow. Those buttons look incredible!

Hmm, Wonder what they would look like with a very lightly etched pattern, or maybe laser engraved.....

Cheers fella. I am planning on a little extra something for the buttons. I'm hoping to get Pongo to make me some vinyl space invader transfers for them. For the top row of each 3x3 array I'm thinking of having one spacie in its two frames of animation (up, down up) and then on the lower row have the next style of spacie but alternating its frames (down, up, down).

Lazer engraving would be pretty damn cool but its not something I can easily do on site, we I have a dot matrix machine available but its not suitable, I may look into it though, thanks.

Ok, I made a little more progress today....

The only 'Happ' style buttons I have are some clear Completions and some vertical blue Ultimates. I've started experimenting with these for now.

I used a lathe to face the existing casing bezel off the buttons to leave a nice flat and concentric face.



These are the resulting buttons:



As you can see I made two versions of each button, one with the casing bezel completely removed and one leaving ~1.5mm of the material.

This is a side view of the button with the stainless bezel and plunger insert in place:



Removing the materail completely will give a result similar to Onds with the inner part of the button lit. Leaving a slight shoulder will allow two things:

1) When using a solid colour it will give a contrasting band of colour when used in conjunction with the stainless/brass parts. These are a couple of examples of the mix and match styles that could be achieved:







2) When using a clear button the remaining shoulder should also light up giving a second outer ring of light (more of this in a minute)

I also faced ~6mm of the front of the stock buttons as the stainless/brass plunger inserts are 3mm thick and the mounting/diffuser disc I'm using will also be 3mm thick. I did have a photo of this but I seem to have lost it 

Ok, onto the mounting etc:

To attach the SS/brass inserts to the stock plungers I made a mounting/refractind disc similar to Onds by making a SS tempate and then using that to template route the disc.



I only have clear Acrylic so I used some 320 grit emery to roughen up the edges and sides to give the light something to refract off.



I also gave the clear shouldered button some 320 treatment to help the light refract:



I used Araldyte to attach the disc to the plunger and then the inserts to the discs. Then it was play time

As the buttons are clear I would lose a lot of light so I wrapped some electrical tape round them for now, when I do the real thing I'll spray paint the inside of the buttons. (I realise I dint cover the bottom, I was just too eager to see how they looked )

Ok, clear button, stainless casing bezel and stainless button and blue led:





That for me right there is the money shot The pictures have come out a little funny but the blue light is a really rich blue and IMO it looks awesome with the stainless.

I also tried the brass parts with a yellow LED to see how it would look (cough, somunny, cough!)





I think I have red, green and pink LEDs, let me know if you want to see any other combos.

[mountain]

Thats it! The Fantasy cab is officially back on because of those stainless/blue buttons 

Beautiful!

[javeryh]

Totally SICK.      

I wonder what a black Happs button would look like lit up like that.  The Woody cab I'm building (or, um, not building at the moment) is set to receive all black buttons on the CP.  I've always wanted to try some lighting - maybe something cool can be done?  Do they make "blacklight LEDS" or something like that?   

[Kaytrim]

Totally SICK.      

I wonder what a black Happs button would look like lit up like that.  The Woody cab I'm building (or, um, not building at the moment) is set to receive all black buttons on the CP.  I've always wanted to try some lighting - maybe something cool can be done?  Do they make "blacklight LEDS" or something like that?   

Yes there are UV LEDs available but they are not as bright as the normal LEDs.  If some UV reactive plastic could be used it would be really cool.

[thatitalian]

HOLY ---steaming pile of meadow muffin---!

[drventure]

Wow. Just Wow. 

I like the blue, love the gold (or yellow, whatever)

You've totally put my little painted buttons to shame 

[BASS!]

Ok, now I have something to work for. You still need some spacey art franco (I am switching jobs soon, and my girlfriend is finally able to help me do school. Free time is here!!!

[Bender]

Jeezzzzusssssss!!!!!!! 

those are hands down the most bad a$* buttons I have ever seen!

and fast too Ond just posted that yesterday, DAMN!

[Ond]

Very nice!     These are definitely a very cool improvement on my idea, there's just something about metal and the LED glow/backlit look that really works. 

I have another idea involving optic fibre and stuff, but hey I’ve gotta have something up my sleeve!  .

Franco your metal work skills are a real asset, not just for yourself but for the DIY cab hobby in general. 

 

Ond

[Franco B]

The garage looks good Franco. You should finally be able to turn out some good work. 

Seriously, those buttons look too damn cool. How do they feel when using them?

Cheers buddy. I gauged the actuation weight of the modified button compared to the stock one (using the same micro) and there is less than 9% difference between the two. You can't feel the difference in the button but somehow it feels a little more slinky

That's it! The Fantasy cab is officially back on because of those stainless/blue buttons 

Beautiful!

Woot! That's great news, I was sooo hoping you didn't end up selling it.

Totally SICK.      

I wonder what a black Happs button would look like lit up like that.  The Woody cab I'm building (or, um, not building at the moment) is set to receive all black buttons on the CP.  I've always wanted to try some lighting - maybe something cool can be done?  Do they make "blacklight LEDS" or something like that?   

I think black happs buttons would look awesome. Obv you wouldn't have the lower lit ring but they would look pretty damn nice with any colour. For some reason I'm thinking black buttons with white LEDs on a monochrome style cab would be pretty cool

Wow. Just Wow. 

I like the blue, love the gold (or yellow, whatever)

You've totally put my little painted buttons to shame 

Cheers fella. I have you and Ond to thank for the initial idea. I did think about making SS buttons a while ago but that's when I was thinking of solid SS buttons. It was only after seeing Onds pics that I got the idea for the SS plunger and casing bezel 

Ok, now I have something to work for. You still need some spacey art franco (I am switching jobs soon, and my girlfriend is finally able to help me do school. Free time is here!!!

That's great news Sam, I know how busy you have been with things. We'll have to catch up soon

Jeezzzzusssssss!!!!!!! 

those are hands down the most bad a$* buttons I have ever seen!

and fast too Ond just posted that yesterday, DAMN!

Ha! Cheers bud. No they didn't take long, I had the profiles done in CAD not long after Ond has posted and I got the prototypes done the next morning. 

Very nice!     These are definitely a very cool improvement on my idea, there's just something about metal and the LED glow/backlit look that really works. 

I have another idea involving optic fibre and stuff, but hey I’ve gotta have something up my sleeve!  .

Franco your metal work skills are a real asset, not just for yourself but for the DIY cab hobby in general. 

 

Ond

Cheers dude. I'm a sucker for SS and LEDs and combining them to me just makes it 100x better

Keep up the good work 

The Seimitsu PS-14-KN clears are next on my list to do. I have the 14-K's rather than the KN in this pic but they should both be moddable.



These have proved to be a bit of a pain and I nearly thought they would be impossible due to their small size and how they function but I think I have come up with a solution for them.

I've got the parts designs in CAD and I have written the programs in notepad so they are ready to transfer tomorrow. Fingers crossed if yesterdays progress is anything to go by I should have some finished pictures tomorrow 

[Kaytrim]

Franco,

what would be really cool is if you could replace the inner plunger with a translucent version the same color as the button itself.  The stock inner plunger is opaque and blocks the light from the LED.

Michael

[mahalos]

Clearly there's a little bit too much skill and finesse going on here, so i thought i 'd show you all how to get things done.....with no skill, or finesse for that matter...

Behold the lit buttons!!!!


and behold the lack of skill and finesse!!!


truly stuff of legend Franco.....well done

[retrofuture]

I'm a likin' the Daft Punk frame.

The cocktail's looking absolutely fantastic. Well done 

Why does my garage look more like a bombsite than a beautifully crafted workspace? Oh, that would be my kids 

[Franco B]

He he, thanks.

I made them a few years ago using a program called [Rasterbater]. It takes a small picture and turns it into a raster image. You can then choose how big you want the image to be and it blows it up and creates a PDF for you to print out. Its generally used to make huge wall size posters etc but I quite like the effect and didnt want a huge picture so I just used it to make some 50mm squares and spaced them out slightly.



After we moved house we didn't really have anywhere to put them so I put them up in the garage.

Have a look at the [Rasterbator Gallery] for some other rasterbations

[thatitalian]

I knew you were a rasterbater!!! 

[retrofuture]

Now, I want a garage like this 

What line of business is your company in Franco?

[Encryptor]

Franco B,

What exactly is the purpose of your dual router? Just so you don't have to change bits on the router each time? Just curious.




Encryptor

[spacies]

Tell me it ain't so!

[Franco B]

Howdy spacies, long time no see bud! Hows things? 

Yeah its just to save swapping bits all of the time. A lot of the time I'm just using a 1/4" template bit and a 3.2mm roundover bit for a lot of the production stuff I make and its a pain having to swap bits and accurately set the tool height each time. I just had to do 175 dustwashers for an expo over here and It would have been a nightmare swapping bits for each one. It was much easier having the two set up as I could get them done much faster.

The table isnt quite finished as yet. I still have to make a micro adjustable rear fence and a front mitre fence guide but its serving its purpose at the moment.

[spacies]

Howdy spacies, long time no see bud! Hows things? 

Things is good bro. Those buttons are VERY SLICK man. I want! 
Had a little chuckle when I logged in and saw your thread. I was expecting to see you playing! 

[Kaytrim]

One final necro bump.

Micahel

[Franco B]

Damn you and your encouragement (x2) 

I've just come back to work today after two weeks on the sick with some severe dental pain but all is good now

Well I'm kinda stuck on this one at the moment as I don't really have anywhere to put it once its completed now after buying a few other cabs.

This one is on permanent hold for now 

[KissMyWookie]

I'll do you a huge favor and let you keep it at my place ... just until you have some more room at home

Seriously, it's a shame, because I love to see what new details you've been coming up with for this project. It's a work of art so far.

[Franco B]

Thanks Wookie

Don't worry, it WILL get completed. Me and the GF have been thinking about building a gameroom onto the back of my garage and If we do it will take pride of place

I have tons more ideas planned for it that I haven't posted yet and I'm really keen to implement them.