New Member/ LCD Mount

[Yoshi]

Hey Community!

I just wanted to introduce myself to everyone because I hope to join this community and share whatever insight/knowledge I come across in my arcade journey.

So in a nutshell, I just finished my woodworking for the table top arcade and I'm kind of stuck on the LCD mounts for the side of the table top.  I've attached a picture here and wanted to know anyones advice regarding how big the strips should be for my Dell 17" LCD?  Any suggestions or help is much appreciated


Again, I"m just a novice and I apologize in advance if this post seems redundant or idiotic.  Thank you to everyone who contributes to this forum and shares valuable information to us.  Power to the people.

Yoshi

[PL1]

Welcome aboard, Yoshi.

A monitor that size probably has a 75mm or 100mm square VESA mount pattern.

The VESA mount holes may be hidden under a removable plastic cover or a sticker like below -- the corner holes weren't originally there.



You should be able to find screws that fit the threaded holes in the monitor.

Use paper to transfer the mount hole pattern to thin cardboard and punch out the holes in the cardboard.

When the cardboard template lines up perfectly with the mount holes, use the cardboard to mark the holes in the wood mount-piece.

Remember that the center of the mount is determined by the monitor's center of gravity, not the center of the screen.


Scott

[Yoshi]

Your awesome Scott.  I appreciate it.

I did what you mentioned and I'm currently mounting the monitor to the mount, paying attention to the center of gravity of the monitor.  I just went to Home Depot for the screws and plexilass and was deciding whether to take the plastic case off the monitor and mount the monitor like that but I decided to keep the plastic frame on ( I think it's also called a Bevel).  Forgive me if the terminology is off, I'm so new to this.

Now I'm trying to figure out the best approach to have my plexiglass align perfectly with the top of the control panel.  Is it better to have a support strip for the plexiglass on either side of the cabinet to give builders a better alignment and for good practice? Any advice and suggestions on the next approach is invaluable.

Oh yea, for everyone reading this post, I may have started a little out of order but I figured working my way from the outside of the table top to the inside is the best way to go. 

[Yoshi]

Hey everyone,

While preparing my monitor mount, I just wanted to give everyone a heads up.  Be careful when countersinking as to not split your wood.  Hmm.. I'm thinking maybe use pine instead of MDF? Smaller countersink perhaps?  To be continued...

Let me play around with this and pick my brain.  I hate getting held up on petty stuff!!!! 

[Yoshi]

Hey everyone.  Happy Tuesday.

I just wanted to update the community on the progress of this build.  So I finally rolled out of bed and went right to work under the beautiful sun.  I decided to try plywood for my monitor mount because of my previous splitting of the wood (as you may have seen).  This plywood worked well but I would say, stick with MDF.  Just make sure you countersinks properly so your wood doesn't split.

As you can, I'm well on my way to almost being done with the exterior build of this cabinet.  So after it rained for a few hours, I decided my next step would be to pain the interior of this cabinet a nice matte black.  So as you can, I did just that.  Something about solid matte black gives the cabinet an almost sleek, ominous look that I seem to be partial to.

Ahh.. it feels good with finishing even minor tasks. 

Anyone have any advice on what my next step should be?  hmm.. maybe drilling some vent holes for my back panel then adding the vinyl to the control panel and any other exposed parts?  Any suggestions or advice is again much appreciate!!

Yoshi

[Yoshi]

Hey everyone...

Before beginning today, I just had a couple of questions and wanted to know what anyone thinks.

How  do I go about putting my vinyl on the control panel?  Should I just match the holes on my control panel with my vinyl and cut out the buttons?  Some of the videos I’ve been watching having their ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- custom done with another company.

Whats your best source for LED light box for the marquee?

I just ordered vinyl online but I wanted to know how to go about getting the vinyl and design for the control panel and marquee section?  I planned on putting plain matte black marquee to the exposed sides of the cabinet but didn’t know how to approach the control panel and marquee…

Any suggestions?

[Drnick]

If you want to do anything truly fancy for the control panel you will need to create a blank template of your control panel.  This will involve measuring it many times and then getting the button/joystick placement exactly correct.  (If you used a template from Slagcoin then it should be a bit easier). You will want to create a blank image at 100DPI that has all the holes in the right place.  Alternatively you could always find a generic image that you like, Or a simple patterned background in which case the placement of the buttons doesn't really matter that much.   

As for the marquee just measure the area you have to work with and create a blank artwork template at 300 dpi which measures the same,  So if you have 22Inches Wide by 5 Inches high the template would want to be 6600Pixels by 1500 Pixels. You should always use 300Dpi for the artwork to have a nice looking finish.

Have you got any ideas on a name or a theme for the machine?  If not what were your Favourite marquees/control panels?

[Yoshi]

Thanks a bunch for the advice. 

Well, since this is my first build and I'm still in the habit of practicing for my next one, I wanted to use a standard theme and design.  Nothing too fancy but rather straightforward and simple.  I'm browsing a few designs and hope to tackle the marquee and control panel within the next few days.  I'm considering as to keep it as is with the theme being plain black but I may put in an ominous red marquee.  My buttons are white, black, red and blue so I wanted a little contrast but I also want to keep this cabinet simple.

  Problem is since this is my first table top, I am waiting for my tool and supplies to come in which does take a few days.  So in the meantime, I plan to bang out the artwork and work on the inside of the cabinet.

Thanks a lot for the approach on the control panel and marquee.  I'm going to do just what you suggested and I'll post the status and progress of the build.

Here's what I have so far.

[Yoshi]

hey everyone,

Anyone have any good sources of where to get marquee backlights and 1/2 inch Tmolding?  I can't find a source as yet and I'm open to suggestions.  Thanks everyone.
I'll keep the updates coming in as progress happens on the build.

[PL1]

You can get 1/2" T-molding from t-molding.com or gamemolding.com.   


Scott

[Yoshi]

Thanks Scott,

Just ordered 1/2 " Tmolding.  So far I calculated this order at .37cents per 20 feet.   (always nice to have numbers in our heads).

So in a nutshell, I'm pretty much done with the exterior, now I'm just literally waiting around for a 28mm hole saw, my marquee and cold cathode, and an extra spade bit to come in by mail.  That is the only thing keeping me from progressing.

I'll keep you guys in the loop as soon as the build resumes.  Oh yeah, for my marquee, I ended up taking some good advice from this post:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,138414.0.html

So I went to WalMart and picked up some poster strips at $3.50 a pack (4 per pack) and will end up mounting my marquee that way.  Yay.

Laters...

[EMDB]

I'll keep you guys in the loop as soon as the build resumes.  Oh yeah, for my marquee, I ended up taking some good advice from this post:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,138414.0.html

So I went to WalMart and picked up some poster strips at $3.50 a pack (4 per pack) and will end up mounting my marquee that way.  Yay.

Nice to see my idea to be picked up. Its really an easy, great looking and still cheap solution!

[kahlid74]

Hey everyone,

While preparing my monitor mount, I just wanted to give everyone a heads up.  Be careful when countersinking as to not split your wood.  Hmm.. I'm thinking maybe use pine instead of MDF? Smaller countersink perhaps?  To be continued...

Let me play around with this and pick my brain.  I hate getting held up on petty stuff!!!!

Your problem is not countersinking here, it's using MDF in this manner.  It's not meant to be used like this and if you do you need to be damn sure your drill bit is very large compared to your screw.  MDF doesn't have as much "breathable" room as other types of wood.  For this type of application MDF would be fine but you need to use firring strips on the back of the LCD mount and you need to use wood glue.  The power of MDF connectivity is more glue than it is screw/nail. 

[Yoshi]

Thanks EMDB and Khaled... I appreciate the feedback.

And for the community.  I'm still a student who is learning so I apologize if some of my terminology is off.  I will apply Khaled's advice on future LCD mounts.  The strips on the back is a new concept to me but I'm surely gonna try it.  Perhaps on the third cabinet.

yeah, I figure since this is the first build EMDB, I take your advice and use these plastic strips.  I didn't want to just use an L Bracket without anything else because a friend told me it may look tacky.  I agree. 
Ok, time to workout and twiddle my thumbs while my goods(cold cathode, marquee, Hole saw bits) come in by mail.

 I'll keep everyone posted and updated.

Happy Monday.

[Yoshi]

Quick Question:  I'm using the online editor:  Pixlr.com

for all my marquee designs.  I want to start with this simple one (see below) and wanted to ask anyone out there if they use this program and if they do, how exactly they edit their DPI?   Also, since I'm using this very basic marquee header and color, does it even matter about the DPI when I print it?  I'm so eager to get on with the build but I also want to learn good technique while I"m building and approaching all the angles.

 I'm under the impression Pixlr uses a standard 72 DPI setting and I read on their forum that it can't be changed.  I'm too cheap to buy Adobe so any feedback much appreciated.

Thanks community.

[Generic Eric]

Quick Question:  I'm using the online editor:  Pixlr.com

for all my marquee designs.  I want to start with this simple one (see below) and wanted to ask anyone out there if they use this program and if they do, how exactly they edit their DPI?   Also, since I'm using this very basic marquee header and color, does it even matter about the DPI when I print it?  I'm so eager to get on with the build but I also want to learn good technique while I"m building and approaching all the angles.

 I'm under the impression Pixlr uses a standard 72 DPI setting and I read on their forum that it can't be changed.  I'm too cheap to buy Adobe so any feedback much appreciated.

Thanks community.

Its all black  #000000

[PL1]

Its all black

That's racist!                   jk       


Scott

[Yoshi]

lol.  Don't start.  That's how rumors get started.

[Yoshi]

Sup gamers.

I just wanted to ask if anyone has a spare plain blue to bluish marquee header at 300DPI just laying around?  I'll adjust the sizes myself.  I didn't really want to get them off the net but thought Id ask anyone out here.  I'm still having issues with Pixlr not being able to bang out 300 dpi me and Scott were talking about earlier.  I'll keep looking at programs... Maybe torrent something.  I mean a friend of mine is gonna torrent something.  Later.


Happy Thursday...

[Caparo8bit]

My screen will b mounted on bazel(plywood) im using a laptop screen . Iknow iknow weird ahhh but works just perfect...

[Drnick]

Sup gamers.

I just wanted to ask if anyone has a spare plain blue to bluish marquee header at 300DPI just laying around?  I'll adjust the sizes myself.  I didn't really want to get them off the net but thought Id ask anyone out here.  I'm still having issues with Pixlr not being able to bang out 300 dpi me and Scott were talking about earlier.  I'll keep looking at programs... Maybe torrent something.  I mean a friend of mine is gonna torrent something.  Later.


Happy Thursday...

GIMP,  Gnu Image Manipulation Program, http://www.gimp.org/