What do you finish the top of your CP with so its not raw wood/abrasive?

[SpatzST]

Does regular paint work? Or do you put put some kind of covering on it?

Best method? I am thinking about just using some kind of plastic/plexiglass or whatever it is.

also then, can I use 3/4" plywood and plexiglass on top, or will it be too thick? Would 1/2" plywood work better in this case?

thanks

[eds1275]

Many/most people use plexi/acrylic. I have seen metal ones covered with nothing but a sticker.

[lamprey]

I've been trying to decide what to do for my build coming up shortly. If I'm reading things right; the current consensus (as much as there is a consensus around here  ) is to just cover the control panel with a nice overlay that is laminated (polycarbonate if I remember correctly). This is what the arcade machines of yore used to do before they started covering them with plexiglass. I think the plexi is more difficult to keep clean an scratch free, so I'm pretty sure I'm going to just go with a nice overlay. I also plan on using 5/8" plywood and then I'll put a 1/8" plexi or mdf on top of that with the overlay attached to that. That way can remove the overlay to service things if need be.

As to the thickness, I'm not sure that matters too much. If you want to use t-molding for trim, then it might be easier to get 3/4" molding. But, it does come it lots of sizes.

 

[PL1]

Not sure about your plan, Lamprey.   

Which method do you plan to use for mounting your sticks? (top-mount recessed with cover not shown, but I'm trying to convince Felsir to add it  )

Depending on how you do that, it could be a real pain to change out the sticks.


Scott

[lamprey]

Not sure about your plan, Lamprey.   

Which method do you plan to use for mounting your sticks? (top-mount recessed with cover not shown, but I'm trying to convince Felsir to add it  )

Depending on how you do that, it could be a real pain to change out the sticks.


Scott

At the moment I'm thinking about top mounting. My thought was to just router out a little bit for the plate to recess into and then bolt them in. That's why I was thinking about topping off the CP with a 1/8" think plexi or mdf covered with the vinyl overlay. That way I can pop off the 1/8" think piece and service anything that needs it.

[PL1]

I figured that was your plan.

Remember that you'll need to remove every button on the CP to swap a stick.

As long as you're OK with that, full speed ahead.   


Scott

[lamprey]

Hehe, yup. Fully understood. Hopefully, I won't need to do much servicing!

 

[PL1]

Which method do you plan to use for mounting your sticks? (top-mount recessed with cover not shown, but I'm trying to convince Felsir to add it  )

Felsir just added the top mount (recessed) image and text to the wiki. 
[/derail]

To answer OP's question, I like to use vinyl -- not a fan of plexi. YMMV.

For best results, you should prime the MDF first, but I've done a few panels with vinyl directly on the MDF that turned out pretty well. 


Scott

[SpatzST]

What did arcades use besides plastic?  Something like this...

http://www.pinballzarcade.com/wp-content/uploads/wpsc/product_images/teenate_mutant_ninja_turtles_video.jpg

[PL1]

What did arcades use besides plastic?

As Paigeoliver mentions here, silk screening was used for many of the older overlays -- most original machines didn't use plexiglass until around the mid 90s.

Some places where you get your art printed like GameOnGrafix (Hint: Use the "BYOAC" code for 10% off.  ) use a thin polycarbonate lamination process to protect the printed art.

This example pic shows the art feeding into a lamination machine.  The clear material feeding down and over the orange roller is the polycarbonate.  The laminator will heat-fuse the two together.  Some places put the lamination on both sides. (I think that GoG does, based on their FAQ)




Scott

[SpatzST]

thanks for the advice, I have gotten in contact with the site you mentioned.  Might be going with a custom CPO