My biggest arcade project so far: The building of gameroom "Level 42"

[Level42]

Frizz how is "orange peel" applied, I guess using a foam roller ?

If so, I think we call it structuurverf (structure paint).

[orion]

"Now, I am in doubt. I don't think I did the mudding nice enough to paint the dryboards directly. There are some holes and "slots" in the mudding that are going to be irritating I think when it's painted. So I guess I will go with the glassfiber-wallpaper thing. Will make it look tight, classy and will hide those little bad parts in the mudding. Also it will enforce the wall which is always a good thing."

Hehe.... you are definitely learning all about the joys of construction... see what I mean about making that stuff look good. I can't do it myself, lucky for me though my father in law used to hang drywall for a living and is always willing to help me with that when I need it done.

"I'm sick and tired of sanding and filling and mudding and stuff so I figured the glassfiber would be a good option. Cheap, quick but still tight looking."

You know where I stand on that issue.... the way to go for sure!!!!!! You could do the "orange peel" technique, but its still not as easy to apply, nor will it look as nice as that glassfiber wallpaper... plus it can be kind of messy. You also have to rent the sprayer, mix the junk up and then clean the sprayer out before returning it to the hardware store... I say just slap that wallpaper stuff up there and be done with it and then treat yourself to a few brewskies for a job well done!

[orion]

Another thing you could try is to apply the primer with a very thick nap roller, and then use a flat paint as your final coat. This will give the wall a bit of a texture and hide a lot of the imperfections in the wall. I do this myself sometimes.... by far the cheapest and easiest thing you could try, and you will have more time and money left over for brewskies.

[Darth Nuno]

Orange & Dark Blue 



...the DK Jr & Tron colors 

 

[Kevin Mullins]

You could do the "orange peel" technique, but its still not as easy to apply,

The paint that was mentioned for the orange peel effect does it by design.
In other words...... all you have to do is "paint". (like with a roller)
The peel effect happens on it's own.

But it's still just a matter of choice.
It definitely can be a pain to get drywall prepped enough for just straight paint.

[Level42]

Just picked up the glassfiber and paints.  Blue (purplish ) and deep red. Super Mario World sky-blue for the rest of the ceiling   and the blackest black for the "DK" wall.

The paints are semi-gloss (except the ceiling and DK wall.

I'll be forced to do the "DK" wall without the glassfiber though.....I asked about the vinyl decals and they said it wouldn't hold on the glassfiber structure.

[orion]

"The paint that was mentioned for the orange peel effect does it by design"

I was thinking of something else then, I didn't think they were referring to a type of paint.

[Ummon]

Thanks Bruno. It's weird. When the starlights are off, the black is really "coming at you" and gives a feeling like the ceiling is very low. However when the stars are on it gives a really roomy feel   (Or should I say "spacey")

It's interesting....most people I've talked with have said dark colors seem bordering, enclosing to them, whereas white or light colors are the opposite. I feel quite the reverse, as light colors are boundary defining, and dark colors provide a depth I can sink into.


Plaster: um, couldn't you just wet sand it to smooth it out?

DK wall and decals: um, glue. Maybe even better, try that gummy stuff they use for temporarily sealing laminated advertisements that come in the mail. That ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- is great.

[FrizzleFried]

Frizz how is "orange peel" applied, I guess using a foam roller ?

If so, I think we call it structuurverf (structure paint).

It's sprayed on usually. 

[Level42]

Frizz how is "orange peel" applied, I guess using a foam roller ?

If so, I think we call it structuurverf (structure paint).

It's sprayed on usually. 

I see, yeah we know that stuff overhere.

Anyway, I had some second thoughts about the colors and returned them and traded them in for PAC MAN YELLOW !!!!



Must say the damn stuff doesn't cover very well.

[polaris]

excellent, that yellow will be a nice backdrop for the cabs and neons, looking sweet, when's the opening party?

[patrickl]

Lol, you even added the dots and powerpills to complete the "pacman" theme 

[Kevin Mullins]

Frizz how is "orange peel" applied, I guess using a foam roller ?

If so, I think we call it structuurverf (structure paint).

It's sprayed on usually. 

I see, yeah we know that stuff overhere.

Ah... I must be thinking of something else and mis-read the earlier information given.
Sorry bout' the confusion.

Level42.... guess you'll just have to tear it all down and start over.
(kidding of course)
The yellow will look good, but I am surprised it didn't cover better than that even for a first coat.

[patrickl]

The yellow will look good, but I am surprised it didn't cover better than that even for a first coat.

I was assuming it's the primer.

[Level42]

It is

Not sure primer is the correct word. This is the el-cheapo thin stuff you roll on a surface that is still "open" and thus would suck in all the expensive paint if you'd apply the first layer directly on it. In this case, not the paint but the "glassfiber wallpaper glue".

Even if I wanted, you can't return any specially mixed paints.

Haha, I didn't even think about the dots and pills 

Polaris, opening....soon ! The "official" opening will be in spring-time I guess though. Can't handle that much people in the room so we need to get the rest of the shed and the yard/garden in a decent state as well (so we can do some beer drinking there).

I have to get my Meteor and Konami GT cockpit out of it's current storage place before jan 15 since they're going to tear the flats and the little storage places that belong to them down. The other cabs that I brought from the old shed to a friend's garage will have to return before jan 30 because they will start reconstruction works on their house and garage. It was/is actually good to have a dead-line like that. Keeps you going....

Still to do:
- glassfiber wallpaper
- paint everything
- install all wall sockets, mount the connectors for the switchboxes and install those.
- Install fire and burglar alarm detectors and neons
- clear the floor completely
- put a top layer on the floor that makes it a nice finished and flat floor (can't walk over it for at least a day IIRC)
- pick up and install the vinyl on the floor (that worries me most, never done that before ! How the hell do you handle a 4x5.5 m piece of vinyl. I'm already worried if it'll fit in my car.....

Took days off from work next week and I'll work on it tonight and tomorrow night too. Guess that should be plenty of time to get all it all done, including getting all the cabs inside. I need to plan how I will arrange the cabs in there....

Heating also still has to be installed but that's not that much work inside the room itself.(just mounting the radiator, very short pipe work) and my neighbor will do it. Trouble is that we are currently in a freezing cold period like we haven't seen for 10 years and so digging 60cm. deep is out of the question.....of course this would happen to me because it also is always extremely hot when I do these kind of jobs around the house in the summer-time. Note to myself: next gameroom construction => Plan in spring !

[Kevin Mullins]

Anyway, I had some second thoughts about the colors and returned them and traded them in for PAC MAN YELLOW !!!!

Must say the damn stuff doesn't cover very well.

Phew.... glad to hear that's just a primer. (was a bit concerned)
And over that will go some of the glassfiber wallpaper ? After glue....

Gonna be sharp I'm sure.

[Level42]

Yep, you roll the glue directly on the walls and then roll down the glassfiber, cut it off on the bottom and press it (with a rubber roller) to the wall. It's adviced to do a second layer of glue over the wallpaper after the first one has dried. Then paint.

About the vinyl: guess this is how it'll look:




That's Darth Nuno picking up the carpet for his gameroom Can't believe you drove 76 km like that and not get a fine my friend (Hope I'll be OK, it's only a couple of KM's to the Hornbach for me).

[Level42]

Ahhhhh.......finaly I've got the power switch boxes !

Not from the bloody www.conrad.nl company though !

I had sent them an angry e-mail three days ago and no reply. So I checked the site again and the delivery date for the boxes was now jan 27 !!!! (it had gone from being on stock when ordered, to delivery jan 5, jan 7 and now jan 27 !)

I had enough of it all so I grabbed the phone and called them (at 10 €cent per minute  ) did my complaint about getting not a single e-mail about the delay of the order, no reply to my complaint mail etc. This is a pretty big company in Germany and Holland and they've existed for years (post-order before the internet) and I can't imagine they have a lousy ordering system like that....

Anyway, I said I canceled the order and wanted my money back and I was relieved that the guy said he would actually do that....

Next it was hunting the internet again for the boxes. After some long searching (those boxes are one of those products that are sold under a lot of brand names, while still being the same product) and nobody having 3 of them in stock, I finally ended at Correct, a consumer audio/video etc. store that is quite close to me. They had them listed on their site but I wanted them NOW, so I called, yes they had 3 on stock, order placed and half an hour later picked them up..........why hadn't I thought of them in the first place 

Did 3/4 of the glassfiber "wallpaper" tonight. It is quite easy to work on this indeed !

My little helper tonight, rolling the glue

[Level42]

Scanned the color samples...

[Ummon]

Oooooooo. Violet.

[Level42]

Yeah.......that's the problem choosing colors at night in a fluorescent lit DIY store...........it was meant to be a bit more blue really.....I wanted blue with a hint of purple....

Ah, what the hell, it's going to be my little arcade, it HAS to be tacky
I'd never dream of coloring a ceiling but it's fun to go a bit nuts now

Finished the glassfiber today and put a second layer of glue on top. Bit strange, the woman in the store said I didn't have enough glue so I picked up another bucket of 10 liters, but I haven't even used half of the first bucket !?!?! I guess the primer did it's work of sealing the boards well.... ?

Since I had the switchboxes now I was able to make the wood construction for that part of the wall that was still unfinished:



The lower wood board will carry all the electrical connection boxes and stuff, will be installed and reachable from the shed part.



Looking at it now, I should have put a second support to the right of the boxes and shift the whole thing left a bit so it would have been in the middle of the board. Could have cut out the hole for the switches and install one full board. Ah well, it's a done thing now and through mudding and glassfiber, you're not going to see it anyway

[Blanka]

Ah! Rocker switches. Can you post a close-up of the panel?

[Level42]

Yeah, I'll take a close-up today. Will put some edging around them to hide the drywall imperfections.

About them, or more precisely about the connectors I got from the UK:

They suck.

Big time.

Your typical Chinese peace of crap.

They don't have ANY approval on them and I soon discovered why. They are SO poorly constructed, it's impossible to connect the wires ! I won't use them because I'm not looking for a fire.....and I'll e-mail the seller. I can't imagine that it's even allowed to sell these things without the regular European signs of approval (Kema, VDS, you name them).

Well, that's what you get when you want to go the cheapest way possible. Another lesson learned....

[fixedpigs]

Well, that's what you get when you want to go the cheapest way possible. Another lesson learned....

you haven't ever learned that lesson earlier in life...

[Level42]

Well, that's what you get when you want to go the cheapest way possible. Another lesson learned....

you haven't ever learned that lesson earlier in life...

Probably did but I still find it hard to understand that I have to pay €97,50 for the three boxes and €80,- for the (25) connectors.....Remember that there are 24 female connectors inside those boxes plus 24 switches and the boxes themselves and a cable and a fuse......and the boxes _are_ approved quality...

But you're right, I should have known better....

Anyway. Did the last mudding (the boards around the switchboxes) and completely cleared the room of tools, stuff and dust and dirt. First applied one layer of the light blue stuff on the ceiling. It covered very nicely but will need a 2nd layer.
Don't have the time to wait for that so I did the two walls with the blue/purple/violet color. It really paints very easily on that glassfiber stuff. However, some parts were apparantly not glued well enough and came loose a bit  Especially near the edges. And I _did_ a last check for those spots yesterday. The problem with the glue is that it's white colored but it looses it's color when you start rolling it, so you can easily miss spots.

I hope it's possible to add some glue at those spots after the paint has dried....

Blanka asked for a close up of the switch boxes:


Nice to be able to get all the materials and tools out, ready for painting !:


Believe me, it looks better in real life. (Especially in dark-arcade "lighting"). Camera had a hard time focusing.





Ceiling. More blue in real life, but again, in darker conditions, color gets less clear to see.


Everything was only the first layer and still not completely dried.

[Level42]

I ordered the connectors at RS online. Blanka, do they send the bill to the shipping address or to the company address ?

It amazes me they deliver on bill right away !

[Level42]

Just received a full refund for those cheap connectors (incl. shipping) from the seller plus an e-mail explaining that they source these connectors from a large company with distribution all over the EC and asked if they could forward my e-mail to them. I hope they discontinue carrying those connectors as they can easily lead to shorts or maybe even fire.

At least, a very decent seller there.

[Blanka]

I don't know what they do with the bill, in my case both addresses are the same. RS really amazes me. Even 10 resistors for 31 cents arrive next day without starting fee Guess they better start demanding a minimum order for free delivery. Its so different then Farnell. One component could only be ordered with them if I ordered 15000 items of it. RS sells most by the single piece. Really amazing service.

[Ummon]

Hey, I love violet. Purple, and it's range of hue, is one of my favorites.

[richms]

Are the connectors supposed to be for direct wire attachment? I had some that were just screws so no way to connect a wire to it, but they were supposed to have a spade or ring terminal crimped onto the wire and then that attach into the terminal. Seemed a waste to me since they could have just made the pins crimpable but that's electrical designers for you...

[Level42]

I don't think any "designer" was around when these were "created". I'll taks some pics of them to show how bad they are, they made me think about the Chinese Wico-copy joystick.

But yes, you're probably right, the only way to mount any wires to them would be using spades (very small one's). But I'm not going to.

[Neverending Project]

Still looking great here. And I just wanted to say that I am really enjoying following this thread. Thanks! 

[Level42]

Thanks Neverending Project (how appropriate ) ! I guess the hit-number on this thread says a lot but it's always nice to get a compliment like that

I re-glued the parts of the glassfiber that came loose. The "good" thing about when there are loose parts is that the paint won't fill the holes in the woven pattern. So, I simply took some glue in my hand and smeared it over the entire spots, rubbing it in really well so that it got "behind" the fibers.

Let it dry and what I expected happened, the glue was invisible after drying. Applied a 2nd layer of latex and it looks TIGHT now. All in all I'm actually really pleased with this color.

Got an e-mail from Supernice in London and they told me that the Blik DK decals will work fine on the glassfiber (but of course it would show the structure a bit). Sounded like they had experience with it so I decided to apply glassfiber to the "DK wall" too (the one with the switchboxes).

Incidentally the DK decals were just delivered a couple hours earlier The look GREAT.

Instructions tell me to wait 2 weeks before applying them on fresh paint though so it'll take some time. No problem, want to see how I arrange the cabs so I can make a nice arrangement.

I picked up the vinyl today and instead of the equalizing concrete I picked up two sets of "underlayment floor", those green tiles. The concrete is quite flat and these will level it enough for the vinyl. Saves a lot of hassle, and it's also insulating.

Also bought the edging and stuff.....pics later.....

Now off the paint the last wall (red-first layer).

[Level42]

1st layer black applied on the "DK" wall. Not enough paint, needs a 2nd layer and will be looking great then.

2nd layer of red applied and I can still see through the mudding spots etc........and I have a feeling a 3rd layer won't improve it much. 

No time for that though.

Painted the top edges (MDF, covered them with some glassfiber too, sort of born out of the fact that I didn't feel like going to the DIY store to get some primer for them.....but turned out to be a good idea).

Instead of using the equalizing concrete I had bought two packs of those green tiles you can put on the floor. They equalize the floor good enough as the concrete was pretty flat already.

I dragged the vinyl inside but there's no way I can install it on my own (damaged the paint on one wall a bit trying to) so I'll have to find someone who can help.

However, I had to pick up the Meteor and the Konami GT cockpit. The whole area of buildings where they were stored will be torn down very soon and my young friend had to leave the house before jan 15.

All in all, I guess those two cabs have had the poorest storing conditions of all my cabs. The last couple of weeks it has been freezing here but the last couple of days it's above 0 again. When I stepped into the little shed I was shocked to see that the tiles, walls and indeed the cabs were VERY humid. So I was glad to be able to get them out of there. The Konami GT already is not in the best of conditions.

The Meteor is now safe in my kitchen (wife loves me) and it looks like it survived very well. Glad I didn't leave the game PCB in there though....

Glad I had some help (look at the nice scenery):



Don't have a pic of the GT loaded. I thought the thing had wheels like the SW cockpit, but it didn't. Luckily it's not that heavy and the guys simply carried it from the shed to the car. It's good to have some young muscle to help Because I had them around now, I figured it was a good idea to pick up another cab at another storag at another friend.....





Safe in their new home, beauty...:


...and the beast

[orion]

I just have to say that those cabs look great in their new home!  You are really doing a great job, as I said before, I'm really impressed!

"2nd layer of red applied and I can still see through the mudding spots etc........and I have a feeling a 3rd layer won't improve it much"

I don't know anything about that glass fiber product than what you have said about it, but it sounds like it needs a coat of primer. Tint the primer red and then you should only need one coat of paint (two max) on top of that.... I'm sure you know this, just trying to offer a helpful suggestion.

[xar256]

I did a red wall in my bedroom.  After using tinted primer, it took about 5-6 coats to look good.  Red is apparently one of the worst colors for covering.  Using a good quality paint will help, but even that will only get you so far.   

[Level42]

Yeah, they already told me at the store red is a "difficult" color.....

Orion: Normally the glasfiber & latex should cover very well. The blue/purple wall took only 2 coatings to cover perfectly.


So............let me tell you where this project is right now.

Yesterday I decided to bring away a lot of the "debris" that I created during the project (since I still had borrowed the cart & car with "hook" (how do you guys call that, the thing to hook up the cart to)). Brought back the cart to my brother-in-law and by the time I got home I felt like a fever coming up. I guess the stress of the "deadline" and the fatigue of all the hard work the past weeks all came out at once. I slept a part of the afternoon, slept a part of the evening, took a hot bath and fell asleep like I hadn't slept all day, thinking a flue was getting hold on me.

However, this morning I felt great and no flue or tiredness. So, my dad had come to help on putting the vinyl in.

Well, I guess every project has it's little disasters/bad decisions, and boy was this a mistake.

We put in the vinyl pretty easy, it just takes two to make it doable. Cut the whole thing to fit and then it was time to roll the SW cockpit back inside and to it's spot. During doing this we discovered that the vinyl was really curling up everywhere. That wasn't so bad, we could pull it straight. However I felt that this was not going to work. If I'd ever have to take her out (to work on her) it would be a disaster. Even worse, something on the bottom of the cab had torn two cuts in the vinyl ! Not too big, but still 

All in all, the combination of the green soft foam like boards and the soft vinyl was a BAD mistake.
After cursing everything but mostly myself I decided to go for a rigorous different route:

Tiles.

I'd concluded that what I would need was something as hard and rigid as possible. Laminate is hard but still vulnerable. Tiles are pretty tough (although these also can get scratched of course.)

So, tomorrow it's out with the vinyl and the green boards. Costly mistake, and it _really_ sucked that this happened at the time I thought I was doing the last bits on the project....... 

I'm looking if the guys who built the room can maybe do the job of tiling. Gotta go back to work (hardly remember I had a job.....). I'm too sick and tired of it and we got the 2nd deadline of end of january for the Centi, Puck, Playscene, Galaxian and Getaway........

Also have to put the SW cockpit on the side to check what's wrong on the bottom side that cut the vinyl....

[Level42]

Well, put the lady on her side and soon discovered the cause of the tearing of the vinyl. As not everyone here has a SW cockpit: the machine has 4 wheels that can turn 360 degr. However, for fixed installation, it has 4 feet that should be extended before playing it. All feet were gone (or removed, except for one, that was broken off, so there was just the pin there. No wonder....

The bottom side looked surprisingly good by the way.

Bought some nice new black tiles and removed the vinyl and green tiles under it. Installed 8 of the IEC connectors. Didn't have much time today.

On a negtive side: the Meteor seems to have not survived transport. That is..... I had removed the board-set and stored it in an anti-static bag in my home to keep it safe.  I wanted to see if it was still OK so installed the set, checked all wires etc. and fired up the cab. The monitor and marquee light come up without a problem, but there's no game

As per Andy's suggestion (who masterfully repaired the board-set) I'd been replacing some sockets and caps on it while the cab was still in storage and maybe something went wrong. Gotta check that out....later.


Don't think I mentioned it, but the SW is working fine. I couldn't help but playing it for some time, cab in it's planned position. It was awesome to play at her new home

[Ummon]

Don't think I mentioned it, but the SW is working fine. I couldn't help but playing it for some time, cab in it's planned position. It was awesome to play at her new home

Hell, yeah.

[Blanka]

A working Star Wars cockpit 
I never learned to like the Star Wars movies (I'm a Trekkie), but I played the cockpit at Bruno in Belgium, and the game I have to say is fantastic. Best vector game ever I guess. Have fun with it!