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SeverdHed's Donkey Kong project...OFFICIALLY DEAD
severdhed:
i'm now in the need of a little advice. it will be a little while until i can do alot of the cosmetic work on this cabinet, but i am just trying to figure out how to go about doing it.
javeryh's thread was very informative, and i think bondo is definitely the way to go..even though i havent really worked with it very much before. i am a little afraid that i am going to make the cabinet look worse. ive thought about leaving the few chips and marks intact and just replacing the T-molding. i dont mind a few marks here and there, they add character. but then i look at it that it is stupid to install brand new decals on a beat up looking cabinet...i just dont know which way to go.
the biggest problem on this cabinet is by far the front panel where the speaker grill is. the laminate surface is chipped away from the grill area, and i'm just not sure how to fix that. i thought about just replacing that entire piece of wood and trying to cut a new set of slots. but i am afraid that without the laminate surface, it will look different than the rest of the cabinet.
how else can i fix this? i guess i could slap some bondo on there and then use a file or something to even out the slots or something. any other suggestions?
Javeryh, if you are reading this...did you have any problems painting that laminate surface?
i've never worked with laminate, but from what i have seen, it isn't cheap and i doubt i'd be able to find it in the proper color.
here is the area i am talking about...
if any of you have any suggestions on how to get this looking good, i'm all ears.
javeryh:
--- Quote from: severdhed on September 08, 2009, 10:48:00 pm ---Javeryh, if you are reading this...did you have any problems painting that laminate surface?
--- End quote ---
I had no problems at all. I roughed up all of the surfaces using 100 grit sandpaper and the paint went on really nice. I would definitely fix that if I were you. In fact, I'd put a brand new coat of paint on both sides and the front at the very least. It is an afternoon's worth of work to bondo and sand and then another few hours to put on the primer and topcoats. It actually takes less than 15 minutes to put an entire coat of paint on but you have to space it out for drying. The cabinet will look brand new if you take the time to do this.
The speaker cut out on mine was in much better shape but I did have to bondo one area. It was my first time working with the stuff and it was pretty easy once you get a feel for the consistency and drying time. Sanding it to the proper shape was real easy too. Even if you can't do this stuff now, maybe plan for it after Christmas and when the weather starts to warm up again in the Spring. Mine's been in the living room for a month and it doesn't look that out of place since it looks brand new - a little bondo and paint goes a long way for the wife acceptance factor. :cheers:
javeryh:
--- Quote from: severdhed on September 08, 2009, 10:29:54 pm ---i had never played most of the pacman games, other than pacman and ms pacman...most of them arent really that great. however i did discover that i like crush roller and pengo. mappy is pretty stupid. overall though, i think i have 26 games, and i'd guess 90% of them are alot of fun...even if i am not very good at them.
--- End quote ---
Add Jumping Jack to the list if you haven't already. It is VERY challenging but it is a lot of fun. Also, I really got into Super Pac-man, Pac & Pal and Jr. Pac-man after playing them for a while. I especially enjoy Super Pac-man and Jr. Pac-man is really tough even though there is more space to move around. It's like the ghosts are always anticipating my moves! :cheers:
severdhed:
thanks javeryh, i'll check out jumping jack when i get a chance...my wife was not in a good mood tonight, so no gaming for me. perhaps tomorrow.
as for the bondo, i will have to wait till spring. i may go ahead and do the tmolding right after Christmas, because it would really make the cabinet look alot better. even if i have to replace it again later after i paint it...it is not that expensive.
i did get the coin door lock installed tonight, so at least my 8-month-old wont pinch his fingers in it anymore. i am going to make some changes to the speakers..i'm just not real happy with the sound of them. they are very small and sound crappy. i have some more pc speakers sitting around i may play around with. i should probably add a subwoofer at some point, but i dont have one sitting around, so i'll have to do without one for now.
severdhed:
small update. i havent got much done with the cabinet lately, mainly because i'm running out of things to do that dont cost money. i did get a lock installed on the coin door to keep my sons from pinching their fingers. i also replaced the speakers i had installed. i thought that having stereo speakers back there would be good, however they just sounded like crap. (they were crappy cheap speakers). i found a harman kardon PC speaker lying in a box of stuff to be thrown away the other day. it was just the speaker with the amp in it, the matching speaker was missing. it was much heavier than the speakers that i had in the cabinet, and when it comes to speakers...heavier is usually better.
i opened it up and saw that the speaker that was in there was 4ohm, which is the same as the 6.5" speaker that was in the DK Cab originally. so i installed the original speaker back in the cabinet and powered it with the amp from this speaker i found....now it sounds really good. the high frequency stuff still sounds nice and clear, but there is a little more mid/low range in there as well. i wasnt sure how it would work out with only one speaker, but a quick trip to the windows control panel, i set the speaker type to "laptop mono" and now everything works great and sounds great.
i mounted the amp/volume control right where the other one was so i can adjust it by opening the coin door. my camera batteries are dead, so i didnt take any pics...i'll try to take a few in a day or so. so, if any of you have a cab with only one speaker location, dont be afraid to install only one, as long as you set up your PC for mono it will sound fine.
oh, and thanks Javeryh...jumping jack is awesome....difficult, but awesome