water proofing my CP

[Trebeck]

Hey all,

Well, I have alcoholic friends who love to play Street Fighter.  And, when they have been extremely drunk, have spilled on my control panel.
The first time this happened I was ready to kill.   

Until I took off the plexi and found that the graphic is completely liquid proof.  That made me very happy.
I realized that the liquid would seep under the buttons and spread under the plexi.  Now, I figure that if I were to place some sort of... rubber washer.... under the button, this could stop it from going under the plexi.
Now trouble is, I'm not sure what I should use.  It would have to be quite thin and squishy so it doesn't raise the buttons too much and change the feel of the CP.
Has anyone done this or have a suggestion on what I should use?

Thanks

-Beck

[Trebeck]

visual aid.
the blue line is the sealer

[HaRuMaN]

Simple solution...

No drinks near your control panel.   

[javeryh]

Simple solution...

No drinks near your control panel.   

I agree with this 100%.  Even drunk friends should have some respect for something you spent so much time building for their enjoyment.  There are plenty of places to put a beer other than the CP.  That said, if you are going to try and seal it up go buy a whoopee cushion or something made of thin rubber and cut some washers out of it and clamp them down under your buttons.  The joys, trackball and spinner are a little tougher to protect I think.  Bah, after typing this out just tell your friends no beer near the arcade machine.  That's what I do.

[HaRuMaN]

Even non-drunk people can accidently spill stuff.  I don't know how many countless hours I've spent cleaning dried-up cola out of arcade machines I've bought.  It's not fun... so my rule is no drinks near my machines!

[jban4us]

You could pick up some silicon "liquid gasket" from an autoparts store and then just put it on the lip of the button and install the button. It would probably work better than some sort of O-ring.

[Trebeck]

I hear ya.
My friends are all really good about their drinks but when you have a 60 person party spills happen. Plus having beer holders on the side doesn't help.
Thanks for the suggestion jban, I'll look into the liquid gaskets and let you all know how it goes.

[fjl]

Well the gasket would protect only the outside of the button, but liquids can still get in through the button itself. It's not made water tight from within where the spring and the microswitch is located.

[jban4us]

Well the gasket would protect only the outside of the button, but liquids can still get in through the button itself. It's not made water tight from within where the spring and the microswitch is located.

Touche; I didn't even think about that. Looking at a happ button, I don't think there would be a way to seal it with a gasket or o-ring without affecting the responsiveness of the button.

You could shrink wrap or otherwise encapsulate the button-microswitch assembly on the bottom and that would keep liquid from getting into the panel, but it could still kill the switch.

[facesmiths]

I dont know if you ever questioned why all the weird angles to the cabs of older days but the reason from what I have been told is to discourage people having drinks around the games. the top is sloped and when I set a drink on one as a child it fell right over losing my drink IMMEDIATELY thus I was well aware as a child and did not ever do it again. I am sure this has destroyed it's fair share of machines but the lessons learned probably saved countless others from those drinks that would have been left either forgotten or on purpouse due to being nothing but ice and melting so that when some one moved the game it would fall spilling down on the game. or worse yet left there long enough to degrade as paper cups do and splitting dribbling it slow enough to get most of it in the game again destroying it. I would say partition off the area and tell anyone who goes in there with a drink looses a hand

[facesmiths]

oh that was only about the top forgot to mention the CP is this way to avoid drinks being sat on them as well since these things were designed before ergonomics were considered so I believe it was a combination of not being a viable surface to set drinks and being at an angle cause anything that gets through to go to the bottom side and there for avoiding the electronics of the C.P. of course this still does not stop a coke from totally causing a button to stick down and not return period so no there is no way to water proof the button since even if you protect the micro-switch you are not going to stop it from getting into the delicate area between the button and the bezel that it slides up and down in   I think the best thing I came up with wa a routing system that causes anything spilt on the board to run back out on the lap or over the person that spilt it

[wildbill]

when you have partys or whatever and have drinks around the games. Try cling rap over the cp, like what you put over your keypad for your computer.Then you can just take it off and whala back to norml