Author Topic: Text labels on admin buttons - How? (Read 8306 times)

KissMyWookie · « **on:** June 26, 2009, 03:14:52 am »

At the moment I'm in the planning and gathering stage of building my first MAME cabinet. (I won an NEC XM2950 monitor on eBay for $40 a few weeks ago

)

On my control panel, I'd like to have admin buttons that are labeled for Esc/Quit, Pause, maybe a Select button etc.

I've considered the following:

Dymo type clear labels - don't particularly like that idea.
Typesetter's rub-on transfers - fiddly to line up, but possible. Not very hard wearing I wouldn't imagine.
Etching by hand - definately not for me ... I'm a perfectionist and would never be happy with them.
Painting by hand - Same as above and not hard wearing either.
Printing onto transfer paper - like that used by model makers. Might be my best bet, but would it be hard wearing?

Does anyone have any other suggestions on how this can be done?

It would be great if someone had done it before and can post a pic.

Thanks

Steve

surface tension · « **Reply #1 on:** June 26, 2009, 04:15:15 am »

What do you plan to make your control panel from... metal or wood?

If you're using metal, silk-screening looks very clean. For a wooden panel, you could use some kind of overlay.

Franco B · « **Reply #2 on:** June 26, 2009, 05:17:48 am »

If yolu don't want to DIY then Pongo is your man for button decals etc. Check out his BST thread [here].

javeryh · « **Reply #3 on:** June 26, 2009, 06:07:19 am »

Pongo is the man. Check it out:

Malenko · « **Reply #4 on:** June 26, 2009, 07:44:33 am »

I 3rd Pongo, the dragon logos he made me survived 4 demon spawn kids (my nephews) beating the crap out of the buttons hours at a time

Ginsu Victim · « **Reply #5 on:** June 26, 2009, 10:07:37 am »

Pongo!!!

severdhed · « **Reply #6 on:** June 26, 2009, 10:25:19 am »

i thought about vinyl decals, but opted for another choice. translucent buttons with inserts.

i bought some novagem buttons from groovygamegear.com, along with some inserts. you take the button apart and insert the disk, the spring holds it in place....when they light up, they look really good, and will never wear off.

those aren't the greatest pics, they look really good in person. having the admin buttons light up, makes them stand out from the regular buttons, which seems to be good for when other people are using the cabinet

jasonbar · « **Reply #7 on:** June 26, 2009, 03:35:44 pm »

Pongo vinyl!!!

http://s242.photobucket.com/albums/ff97/infernolab/Arcade%20Game/?start=all

-Jason

KissMyWookie · « **Reply #8 on:** June 26, 2009, 04:16:58 pm »

Thanks for all the replies - I now have two very good options.

Steve

drventure · « **Reply #9 on:** June 26, 2009, 04:18:09 pm »

Vinyl's fo' suckas

Go metal

(actually, I've always liked those stickers, just didn't fit with my cab)

Ginsu Victim · « **Reply #10 on:** June 26, 2009, 04:23:08 pm »

Doc, I'd hate to reach for COIN in the middle of a game and hit EXIT by mistake.

drventure · « **Reply #11 on:** June 26, 2009, 05:13:11 pm »

Hey Ginsu.

Hmm. Good point. Well, nuts. Maybe the exit and pause need to get mapped to shifted buttons....

I can see I have some configuration and tuning work ahead of me

blind_dado · « **Reply #12 on:** June 26, 2009, 11:15:52 pm »

I'm a big fan of the PGIs from Groovy Game Gear. Here is my admin panel, with these mappings:

Enter, Escape, Tab (MAME menu), Insert (throttle), F3 (reset), l (CPWizard)

severdhed · « **Reply #13 on:** June 26, 2009, 11:26:08 pm »

very nice

spjuenger · « **Reply #14 on:** July 02, 2009, 10:07:34 am »

Is Pongo still selling these? I emailed him and did not hear back.

Ginsu Victim · « **Reply #15 on:** July 02, 2009, 10:23:31 am »

Yeah, he is.

Pongo · « **Reply #16 on:** July 06, 2009, 01:19:50 pm »

Sorry if I missed the email. Didn't see anything come through, but my spam filter sometimes works overtime.

I just responded to your PM though, so hopefully all is good.

IronBuddha · « **Reply #17 on:** July 06, 2009, 01:52:28 pm »

I highly recommend pongo as well. I bought mine over a year ago and they still look brand new. I vote for pongo should be a vendor here, I had to bookmark his thread so I don't go crazy trying to find it.

drventure · « **Reply #18 on:** July 06, 2009, 02:06:20 pm »

Hey Ginsu
Tried out your "extending the spring" trick... Awesome. There's virtually no way anyone would ever hit the EXIT button accidentally now. Far too stiff for it. No drilling or rearranging required. Excellent.

I also did the same thing to a ball catch I use to latch the CP in place (I've got mine mounted on drawer slides so that it slides forward about 10 inches, for better plaling position.

the way it was, the catch worked, but didn't really "latch" and was very easy to knock loose.

Now, you definitely know it's latched, and while I'm guessing it'd still be easy to knock loose during a very heated game, it's much less likely.

Anyway, great suggestion!

Ginsu Victim · « **Reply #19 on:** July 06, 2009, 02:22:44 pm »

Glad it worked, though I can't take credit for the idea of stretching a spring. People have used that method to stiffen up a spring for far longer than I've been doing it, but most people don't strive to make a button damn near impossible to press like I did. Now you just need to toss a Sanwa microswitch in there and then you can call it a true workout.

MajorHavoc · « **Reply #20 on:** July 12, 2009, 08:01:32 pm »

Lets not forget our friend RandyT at Groovy Game Gear.
http://groovygamegear.com/webstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=302&zenid=57f67da41e19af7050bc118a8eda91b3

The inserts fit inside transparent buttons like the Novagem illuminated buttons. I got several of them for my admin buttons and they look great and since the graphic is inside the button, there is no worry of graphic erosion

Jack Burton · « **Reply #21 on:** July 12, 2009, 08:55:24 pm »

Don't know how good or cheap these are, but for the sake of including all options:

http://happcontrols.com/pushbuttons/ssc44.htm

Ginsu Victim · « **Reply #22 on:** July 12, 2009, 11:27:46 pm »

Quote from: MajorHavoc on July 12, 2009, 08:01:32 pm

Lets not forget our friend RandyT at Groovy Game Gear.

His stuff is mentioned (with photos) a few times in this thread.


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