Main > Project Announcements

A Mame machine in an antique buffet - USB probs solved (I think!)

<< < (9/144) > >>

Octo:
This is so freakin sweet!  :hissy: I've always loved the HG Wells/Steampunk motif, and this has so much potential.

I was thinking that you could modify your buttons by screwing brass knobs through them to give a raised typewriter sort of feel without having to make them completely from scratch. Something like these:




And it would be pretty sweet to have a trail of copper gears that rotate the monitor. Offset a foot to the left, turning the main gear then turns each consecutive gear, which rotates the monitor. Clockwork stuff like that just looks so crazy :blah:

You could also craft some phonograph horns from tin flashing, which is pretty cheap at Home Depot or whatever you have around you. It comes in 10" wide x 10' lengths for ~$7. If you make a series of cones and solder/weld them together it would come out with that phonograph look, for much cheaper than the ones you found in an antique store... Fit the speakers in there, and put a copper wire screen over them and it would really kick.


OK, that's enough from me, for now.... :laugh2:

drventure:
Thanks for the comments!

 I like those knobs, my only concern with actually using some kind of metal would be the effect on the speed of the button. Adding a lot of mass might make the button slower.

That's funny about the tin for a horn. I actually picked up some sheet brass at Hobby Lobby to experiment with for precisely that purpose (and to fashion a frame around the monitor eventually). But I'm no metalsmith, so how it'll turn out, I'm not sure :-[

My biggest prob with the gears is finding a suitable set of gears. I just have no idea where to look. I thought about possibly using old bike sprockets and some chain... that +might+ look good. Of course, it might end up looking like a bike crashed into my cab, too  :-\


@bender
Thanks for the compliments! I wish I had your speed and quality of work! Those street fighter sticks are fantastic!

This cab is turning into as much an art project as a mame cab. But, it's all part of the fun.

Octo:
Well, as for the horns, I can model some up in Blender and use Pepakura to unfold them into a sheetmetal template. You would just need to solder/braze/rivet the edges together.

Bike sprockets would look cool, as long as you changed them to a brass or copper finish to match the rest of the cab (chrome would look out of place) Usually there are bikes cheap or free on Craigslist, to harvest gears and chain from...

Good luck on this, really hope to see it complete :cheers:

drventure:
Oh definitely about the brass, Chrome would just not cut it on this at all  :P

Never used blender or pepakura but they sound pretty cool. I really appreciate the offer. Let me get a bit further along and determine how much room I've got for those sorts of things before I commit to anything there, though. No point in spending the time if there won't be room anyway :'(

On a side note, I've gotten 4 of the vacuum tubes put together. I think it's looking pretty good. Once I find something suitable for a base and get them mounted, I'll upload some picks.

This EL Wire is very cool, but DANG it's tough to work with! Getting the sleeve stripped without ripping the corona wires is tricky business. If I was doing much more of this, i'd spring for one of the special wire strippers designed for this stuff.

DashRendar:
Here's some more ideas for this theme--

Spark Regulator:


Knife Switch:


Or maybe some tesla coils or plasma balls on either side of the marquee? 

Man, you could have some fun with this setup.  :)

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page