bezel confusion

[hypernova]

I'm planning on making a custom bezel, except the concept of bezels confuse me a bit.  Maybe...

My parents have a Centipede cab, what's inside is a monitor that has a green 3-dimensional cardboard butted up to the monitor.  I assume that's the bezel, which is totally independent of the monitor glass, correct?

My cab is based on the project arcade plans, using a 27" tv for a monitor.  So how exactly do I go about creating artwork for it?  Is there a universal set of dimensions to go by?  Is the artwork that mamemarquees produces for the bezel not really an actual bezel that folds in to the monitor, but just a flat piece, and i still need a bezel from happs or wherever?  If that's the case, and it seems it is, if someone's got general dimensions of how much area I can use for artwork, that'd be great.  I don't have the tv yet, and won't for maybe 2 months.  i want to get the bezel done now so I can save on shipping.

i've read that smoked plexi is great as the monitor glass.  will this affect the viewing of the coloring on the custom bezel?

yes, i know my capitalization flip-flopping.  for a few years, i stopped capitalizing online, as correct punctuation does the job when separating thoughts.  capitalization is really nothing more than a mere formality, if you really think about it.  However, I am trying to get back into the groove of using it, since I'll be going back to college in a year or so.  (I barely got started, really.  And I'm 26 now.)

[hypernova]

Now i know someone of the nearly 40 people who've read this has an answer...
Everyone who has an upright should have a bezel.  Unfortunately, saint's book never really discusses bezels and bezel artwork that much.  It just talks of buying a Happs bezel.

[Bones]

If you want to apply artwork to a 3 dimensional bezel I suspect the best thing to do is to make/buy your bezel and then measure the areas where you want artwork to appear.

You can can then design your artwork at the correct size and shape for later application to the supporting bezel.

[Felsir]

My bezel isn't 3D, it's cardboard artwork with a square cut out of it. The plexi, bezel and monitor surface are all are parallel to eachother. You can just see the edges of the monitor if you look for it. However since I painted the monitor housing black and the inside of the cab is dark you'd have to look hard to see it. A 3D bezel is nice but a 2D cardboard bezel would do fine in most cases.
I use clear plexi but I've read threads in the main-forum that smoked plexi gives great results without affecting the viewability (is that a word?) of the monitor. I even helps to obscure the gap between the bezel and the monitor more since it makes the inside look even darker.

[hypernova]

alright...assuming i'm going with a 27" tv (jvc 27530) and i have the project arcade plans (26" wide cab) how much room does that amount to on the sides and top for artwork?

[miles2912]

Let the Bezel be one of the last things you do.  Get the TV mounted in the cab and then grab dimensions.  You can then cut it out and hold it up to check fit.  You could do a plain black bezel to hide the TV or use colored paper and put whatever you want on it.  From what I hear smoked plexi or smoked glass will hide everything but the picture to the point you do not need a bezel.  You could then just add any graphics to the glass or plexi just to make it decorative.  Oscar did a write up on it...

http://www.oscarcontrols.com/smoked/

Don

[ChicagoDave]

I agree with miles2912.  You should wait until the end to to your bezel.  You will not know the exact dimensions you need until after the TV is mounted.  Plus every TV is different, so the results may be different from person to person.  I used a 27" TV in my "Project Arcade" and a Happ 27" Bezel.  I also covered the Bezel with a sheet of Lexan.   I think the Lexan ended being like 26" wide and 26.5" high.  The bezel was also trimmed to similar dimensions.

[hypernova]

True.  I had hoped to save some on shipping from Scott at mamemarquees, but since he has a VERY fair 5.95 shipping fee, I'm not too concerned about it.  So I'll just follow the advice.  Thanks guys.