Arcade Bones (Marquee & Dashboard graphics finalised)

[Timoe]

I'm in construction management and I love to help out on every job.  This same thing happened to me about three weeks ago.  I was cutting a small piece of stair nosing (half round solid wood) and I was holding it by hand.  The chop saw was dewalt and the blade was a red diablo.

I brought the blade down maybe before the motor was at full speed and I guess I wasn't holding the small piece well enough.  It went BANG!! and shot a jolt up my arm.  Scared the crapola out of me but there were a bunch of workers on the site so I played it of legit.  No one said a thing.

There could have been a lot of factors that caused this to happen.  Who knows.  But I personally have the $99 Ryobi 10" chop saw that still has the blade it came with on it.  Its done baseboards for three entire houses + and still wont even chip MDF.

Everyone rags on Ryobi but this saw is great.  I cant tell you how many fast cuts I've made with my fingers 3/4" from the blade with the blade between my line of site and my fingers!!

I love my fingers so I'm trying to "help out" a little less now.  I can actually visualize mameing myself when I use the thing.

"mameing myself"  eh? 

[Tailgunner]

I'm with Tailgunner on this one.

[Bones]

OK.... here is something interesting.

Today I returned the dropway and while waiting I was looking over it and noticed the bevel indicator was not set at 0 degrees. It was sent at about 8 degrees which is roughly the slant on my monitor shelf and also the same angle I had been cutting the previous day.

As the Dropsaw Incident was on the first cut I did on the following day, there is a reasonable chance my carelessness was two-fold.

Not properly locking the wood into place and attempting to do a bevel cut is likely the true cause of my close call.

Then again there could be the chance it moved while I was carrying it and putting it in & out of my car but it all seems a bit too much of a coincidence.....

Live and learn.

[Bones]

So... how do you auto-trace in Illustrator?

[wintermute]

My guess is that because the piece you were cutting was so short, it was getting squeezed into the open space between the two sides of the fence.

[RandyT]

Wow...Glad to hear you weren't hurt.

My take on this is that the friction between the wood and the blade was high enough to overcome the force available for spinning the blade, which is also responsible for cutting the wood.  Once it stopped cutting, it grabbed the wood and pulled it into the blade guard.

Possible causes:

Dull blade

Underpowered motor on saw

Extension cord too long or low current at outlet.

Too much down pressure on saw

Saw not up to full RPM

Damp wood  - can create more friction and cut less readily


These are few things to consider, some have already been said and I'm sure there are more possibilities.  And power tools deserve a lot of respect.  Accidents happen in the blink of an eye (when's the last time you heard about it taking a couple of minutes for someone to loose a finger on a tablesaw? )    There is almost never time to react to a dangerous situation, so your only alternative is safe operation and proper preparation.

Always, safety first...unlesss you want learn how to play Asteroids with your TOES!!

RandyT

[Bones]

Have no fear all. The skid marks in my undies, the pounding heart and the fact my mind had already processed what damage that thing could have done before I even caught my first breath back have put me on the straight and narrow.

I am glad it happenned. I can learn from the experience.

[RayB]

Thanks Bones.

[DrewKaree]

Have no fear all. The skid marks in my undies, the

Not only didn't you need to add more words to this post, you probably NEVER needed to type those in the first place.  Did you leave those in the bathroom too, like the last pair you shart in?

[Bones]

Did you leave those in the bathroom too, like the last pair you shart in?

No. I am still wearing them 3 days later. 

[[derek]]

Glad you're ok, it's a freaky experience to say the least.  I had a similar incident happen with my tablesaw.. I took the guard off, mainly because the guard on my craftsman sucks. I was just chopping sections of mdf and one caught ( I must not have had a good enough hold on it). The whole piece jerked, the saw lifted a little bit, I suspect using me as a pivot with the large piece of mdf as the fulcrum; and it pulled me a bit towards the table before I let the piece go.  I just about had a heart attack.

No matter how many times someone tells you about power tool incidents, it seems to take a scare (for most people), to fully appreciate their power.

BTW, your cab looks awesome


- derek

[Bones]

I got sent a PM asking about the Logitech Z3 speakers I purchased so I thought I would give them a quick review. I would have blindly purchased the Klipsch speakers as recommended in the book but they were unavailable here.

Firstly I should admit to not having sampled many different speakers so comparisons are always going to be difficult. The only real comparison I have is against my normal PC speakers which are the Creative Gigaworks 7.1 speakers. To compare against these would make any of my comments useless and unfair, but

[Brewser]

I bought this same set of speakers about 2 months ago for around $70. They sound great. I purchased the UAII kit and velcroed the speakers to top and have the volume control coming out under the marquee. I velcroed the volume control next to the speaker grill for easy access. Looks pretty good.
The sub adds a lot to the setup, especially for asteroids.

[vornar]

Bones, thanks for the review on the Z3's

Like you said, for mame alone they'd be great. But when playing Metallica and Guns and Roses at a party, they probably wouldnt quite cut it. (I have some pretty loud mates).

Oh well, now i have to talk the missus out of more money.....

[vornar]

P.S. - Bones, nice bacon......

[Freeplay]

I'll have mine crispy with the rind off please.

[Bones]

Got the magic call today. Mr Bones, your saw has arrived.

Picked up my errrr, ummmm

[speedhumpcat]

Bones dude,

Whats with the Bacon?

Nice review on the speakers

[Stingray]

What's with the bacon? What kind of question is that?

-S

[Stingray]

I'll be bacon.

-S

[Stingray]

BACON!

-S

[Stingray]

Bacon's curse.

-S

[Stingray]

Smoked bacon.

-S

[DrewKaree]

Bones dude,

Whats with the Bacon?

Your very first post EVER on BYOAC, and you trashed it with THAT?  There should be some probationary period for new folks where all they can do is read, and if bacon is disparaged within their first 5 posts, they are immediately banned and forced to talk to Subzero in person

Bones, way to stick it to Big Saw

[PetitMorte]

Have you seen the demonstration video?  Evidently the saw can detect when the blade touches flesh, and super-quick pulls the blade out of the way.

I wonder if it would work with bacon?

[shippy1973]

Have you seen the demonstration video?

[DrewKaree]

I've only ever seen the safety test done on a hot dog, but man, if it works on a hot dog, wouldn't you feel safer after potentially sawing your finger off and being saved losing a digit?

That said, no, I don't own one either

[ChadTower]

Your very first post EVER on BYOAC, and you trashed it with THAT?  There should be some probationary period for new folks where all they can do is read, and if bacon is disparaged within their first 5 posts, they are immediately banned and forced to talk to Subzero in person

And by Subzero, you mean Hillary Clinton.

[DrewKaree]

And by Subzero, you mean Hillary Clinton.

Dartful taught me it's Hitlery

[Bones]

Bones dude,

Whats with the Bacon?

I am surprised there was not more of a bacon related backlash.

If pork were king, bacon would surely be a god. I would explain the bacon fetish to you but to do this is to betray my fellow enthusiasts and to even whisper the secret of bacon is taboo.

I will however say this, tradition states that a great bacon god will again walk the earth and reward all his followers with a mint condition Star Wars sit-down cabinet which has been lovingly stroked by a harem of blonde virgins, each one even more attractive than Jessica Simpson and Joss Stone combined.

Welcome to the forum.

[Bones]

Saturday night update.

Hardly worth updating tonight. Really didn

[Bones]

Unfortunately I didn

[Bones]

Some other unexpected success today.

I went out to pick up Thai food tonight and the place I buy my computers from was open. Crazy, I went there on Thursday night when all the shops are open and he was shut. Now on a Saturday night he is open. Anyway I went inside and had a chat with him.

I got a quote on a P4 2.8 system, 512mb memory, 160Gb hardrive with CD ROM. I already have the Ultimarc VGA card ready to go. I explained to him what I wanted it for and showed him this thread. He said he could wire an on/off lead to the motherboard so I can mount the power switch where I want it. I may take him up on the offer if he is going to be the one holding the soldering iron on my new computer.

I don't need the PC just yet so I will hold off for a couple of weeks before ordering it.

[DrewKaree]

I got a quote on a P4 2.8 system, 512mb memory, 160Gb hardrive with CD ROM. I already have the Ultimarc VGA card ready to go. I explained to him what I wanted it for and showed him this thread. He said he could wire an on/off lead to the motherboard so I can mount the power switch where I want it.

Dunno, I expect you'll get comments on "that's WAY overpowered for what you're doing".  The only thing I'd say is step down to a smaller hard drive, and if you aren't planning on playing anything off of a CD, and only want it to transfer your r0m$, perhaps think of picking up one of those nice little sweet USB keys.  It'll cost you a bit more, and DON'T use the brutally slow USB 1 versions, move up to the 2.0 for speed. 

I started transferring my music collection from the PC it's currently held on, and it takes longer for me to transfer 'em from a CD than if I filled my USB key and did it that way.  Dunno if it's a computer setting, but it saves me about a minute and a half per CD, which will amount to HOURS AND HOURS after transferring the entire collection.

Think about jumping up the RAM as well. 

[tivogre]

Dunno, I expect you'll get comments on "that's WAY overpowered for what you're doing".  The only thing I'd say is step down to a smaller hard drive, and if you aren't planning on playing anything off of a CD, and only want it to transfer your r0m$, perhaps think of picking up one of those nice little sweet USB keys. 

Think about jumping up the RAM as well. 

Go for it Bones!

I just bought a new PC for my cabinet as well;  while the specs are WAY over what I need for 99.9% of MAME games, it DOES have some advantages.

The thing I love most about my cabinet now with the new PC is the speed it goes in and out of hibernation.

I press a key on my CP to "wake" the cabinet;  the PC is at the ready BEFORE the monitor turns on / warms up enough to show a picture!

You (and I) will also have the ability to do ANYTHING on our cabinets that we want (play Doom 3 for example).

Also, depending on your motherboard, you SHOULD have the ability to set your new PC to "wake on keystroke".  If you can, you can then set up a "hibernate" icon in the windows software.

Result:  click the big red hibernate icon on the desktop to "turn off";  press any key on the control panel to "wake up".

Don't listen to the naysayers!

[RaggedEdge]

That's cool.  I have been reading about people using t-nuts, and that's the first good picture and explaination about how they work.  Thanks.  I could have used those in several places in my cab.  I'll just use them on the next one......

[Bones]

I got a quote on a P4 2.8 system, 512mb memory, 160Gb hardrive with CD ROM. I already have the Ultimarc VGA card ready to go. I explained to him what I wanted it for and showed him this thread. He said he could wire an on/off lead to the motherboard so I can mount the power switch where I want it.

Dunno, I expect you'll get comments on "that's WAY overpowered for what you're doing".  The only thing I'd say is step down to a smaller hard drive, and if you aren't planning on playing anything off of a CD, and only want it to transfer your r0m$, perhaps think of picking up one of those nice little sweet USB keys.  It'll cost you a bit more, and DON'T use the brutally slow USB 1 versions, move up to the 2.0 for speed. 

I started transferring my music collection from the PC it's currently held on, and it takes longer for me to transfer 'em from a CD than if I filled my USB key and did it that way.  Dunno if it's a computer setting, but it saves me about a minute and a half per CD, which will amount to HOURS AND HOURS after transferring the entire collection.

Think about jumping up the RAM as well. 

It is overkill, I agree. But I am getting it at a good price.

I originally started with a 80gb hardrive and no CD ROM but the difference in price to get the CD and big HDD was only like another $60 so I thought what the hell. At least it will do anything I throw at it.

Interesting comment about the RAM, I though 512mb was more than enough after some of the stuff I have read here. Maybe I will consider maker the jump to 1gb when the time comes to order.

[DrewKaree]

512 IS more than enough, but I bet since he's building you a system, you can get an additional 512 relatively cheap.  It'll help with anything else (I rip DVD's on my HTPC now because I save more time than on my old machine due to the increase) you might plan to do, like throwing a jukebox in there.  Oops...did I just add to the ideas you want to do with your cab?

[Bones]

Sunday night update.

Last night I spent considerable time writing a list of what needed to be done and put the tasks into some type of order. This was a good call and it made today

[Bones]

I secured the speakers using scrap wood and have sandwiched the speakers into place. They will be held down with a strip of Velcro but if ever my cabinet is in a position where the speakers could fall out, you better call the paramedics because it would mean I was trapped underneath. In reality I see no reason to really hold them down at all.