UberCade Update: laminated CP & smoked Plexi

[rampy]

I was inspired a bit by Chris's post where he added some finishing touches to his "completed" cabinet (well no cab is ever complete) and showed some before an after shots that showed what a difference it made.


sorry for the fuzzy before picture - it was originally intended to show the plexi glass and used a longer exposure setting without a tripod and apparently didn't stay perfectly still long enough (I suck with the camera)...

a smattering of updated pics/gallery is shlopped at ubercade update gallery and the rest of the site is much nicer really (if i ever finish it)  Ubercade Taito Mame arcade cabinet conversion of doom!

*shrug* It's not perfect... but it looks a hell of alot better than plywood woodgrain... and just looks more finished this way.  

I got to break my router cherry this weekend and kept all 10 fingers...  one mishap though.  My flush trimming bit had it's guiding bearing disintegrate like 10 seconds into the cut (I guess that's why there is a difference between a flush trim bit and a laminate trimming bit)  and without the bearing the bit kinda routed a bit funny...  and there's one spot that's particularly unsightly, but only really to me cuz I know where it is... *shrug*

Rampy

[Frostillicus]

Looks pretty sweet rampy!  The new cp looks a lot better than the old one.  how are you liking the smoked plexi?  i'm waffling on that...  

[rampy]

Looks pretty sweet rampy!  The new cp looks a lot better than the old one.  how are you liking the smoked plexi?  i'm waffling on that...  

Thanks Frosty...

Just for the record it's the same panel, just laminated and t-moldeded =P

I really like it (smoked plexi).  It cleans up the cabinet alot (i.e. makes it more uniform) and hides any bezel/monitor mounting uglyness...  The one downside is that I think it will put the kabosh on using bezel instruction sheets unfortunately as i'm 80 % sure they won't show up legibly (unless they were backlit somehow... hmmmm)

*shrug*

rampy

[Brax]

you'll be surprised how well it shows through. My smoked cocktail glass shows text through it no problem.

[rampy]

you'll be surprised how well it shows through. My smoked cocktail glass shows text through it no problem.

hmmm... i hope you're right... i think if I were to adhere something directly to the smoked plexi it would see through just fine... but i think if I attached it to the makeshift bezel that's like 1/4" away behind the plexi it'll be unreadable...   we'll see, it would be awesome if it shows up okay.

rampy

[Birdtales]

Looks great but shouldn't there be a SW Yoke somewhere on that panel?  

[bionicbadger]

I'm curious how vector games (Asteroids in particular) look through the smoked plexiglass.  Are they too dim?

I asked this on the original smoked plexi thread and never got a clear answer.

I'm off to Japan for a few weeks soon, but when I come back I will finish my cabinet and am thinking about smoked plexiglass

Your Cabinet looks much better with the finished control panel, good job.

[rampy]

BT said:Looks great but shouldn't there be a SW Yoke somewhere on that panel?

Oh there definitely *should* be... I still haven't devised a way to make it easily attached physically to the control panel...  current higher priority items are: getting the software situation squared away (I have a faster cpu now and am in just windows and it's got me all screwed up), wiring up the spinner...

someone asked about vector games and smoked plexi
It looks "ok" to me but it is kinda dim, although I haven't futzed with it that much...  really depends on the game too... (color vectors vs bw vector) with the bw vectors suffereing more... I'll do some play testing tonight and futzing with antialiasing and brightness controlls... (I'm using a 21" SVGA monitor btw)  I'm not a vector game nut/purists so what's good enough for me may not be for you... I'm perfectly content as long as I hear obi wan say, "use the force luke..." and can play star wars... *shrug* i'll post a follow up tonight

rampy

[Frostillicus]

Looks pretty sweet rampy!  The new cp looks a lot better than the old one.  how are you liking the smoked plexi?  i'm waffling on that...  

Thanks Frosty...

Just for the record it's the same panel, just laminated and t-moldeded =P


rampy

Yeah i figured - i just meant the finish looks a lot better with the overall design of the cab.  That finish makes such a difference.  

Was the smoked plexi expensive? I want to try it out but don't want to spend 80 bucks and then not like it.

[rampy]

Frosty,

it cost me 31 bucks for 1/8" smoked plexi at a local glass place cut to size... (approx. 23" x 24")  I have no doubt it would be cheaper at a general hardware store, but you'd have to find one that had smoked plexi (I had zero luck with that)

*shrug* I'm not sure about all the image smoothing / color voodoo that oscar had going in that thread, but the bezel/monitor mount hiding is what sold it for me...

rampy

[rampy]

FWIW I just played some vector games and I think they show up fine...  the black and white vectors are a little bit muted - which I guess if you really really want things authentically bright smoke plexi is taking you in the wrong direction...   but let me put it this way... I wouldn't kicked smoked plexi version of vector games outa bed...  (whatever that means)

*Shrug*

rampy

[rampy]

For those of you playing at home... I've updated the Diary of A Madman quasi step by step journal of how ubercade came together... it's not totally done, but i've written up a signifigant part of the project.

*shrug*

Rampy

[OSCAR]

*shrug* I'm not sure about all the image smoothing / color voodoo that oscar had going in that thread, but the bezel/monitor mount hiding is what sold it for me...

rampy

Voodoo?!?  As SirP told me once, "It's a camera, light doesn't lie!"

Seriously, great job on the improvements to your project...  Are you planning any other "tweaks"?

[rampy]

*shrug* I'm not sure about all the image smoothing / color voodoo that oscar had going in that thread, but the bezel/monitor mount hiding is what sold it for me...

rampy

Voodoo?!?  As SirP told me once, "It's a camera, light doesn't lie!"

Seriously, great job on the improvements to your project...  Are you planning any other "tweaks"?

new tweaks? hmmm  A dedicated 4-way j-stick... maybe swap in the ball top 8-way leafs instead of the x-arcades (or get some p360's and replacement ball tops --- damn you OSCAR, filling my head with idears)... and finally removably mount my star wars yoke!  I need to take pics of the DOT spinner knob on there, if that's what you were getting at =P

heh, I was insinuating that the camera was lying just that I preferred the monitor mount masking properties best (rather than the color filtering)... and fwiw camera's do lie... you put up enough soft white-white light, fuzzy lens, and pancake makeup and Barber walters almost looks human.. *almost*.

=P

rampy

[Aceldamor]

Very nice improvement Rampy!!

I do have a question about the plexi thing....

My cab doubles as a TV (thanks to my all in wonder card) and a DVD player.  Would the smoked plexi make those images look darker or distort color??

[rampy]

Very nice improvement Rampy!!

I do have a question about the plexi thing....

My cab doubles as a TV (thanks to my all in wonder card) and a DVD player.  Would the smoked plexi make those images look darker or distort color??

thanks!  I don't honestly know.  It will make images "darker"  er... less bright, but I think it doesn't mess up the colors too radically...  (probably depends on the quality of the plexi you use to -- regarding color transmittability/color shift... but i'm talking out my arse there...)

Mines a PC monitor so I can really tell... I do watch the occasional DIVX clip on it and aren't freaked out by the smoked plexi if that's what you mean... =P

rampy

[Aceldamor]

Hmmm.....

I would assume it would be ok, I'm usin' a WG D9200. I suppose if it was a problem, I could make it removable.  

Anybody else out there play movies on thier cabs??

[IceCold]

Hmmm.....

I would assume it would be ok, I'm usin' a WG D9200. I suppose if it was a problem, I could make it removable.  

Anybody else out there play movies on thier cabs??

I plan on playing movies on my cab once I get it working.

[Shieldwolf]

What's the difference between smoked plexi and non smoked? I understand the smoke has some sort of tint or cloudy look but how does that make your machine look better?

[rampy]

What's the difference between smoked plexi and non smoked? I understand the smoke has some sort of tint or cloudy look but how does that make your machine look better?

Well smoked plexi is tinted, non smoked is well clear. A good discussion about why it can be a a good thing here

1. it helps hide monitor mounts or obscure cheezy poster board bezels.  

2. Aside from vectors it does kinda make games look a little better

3. If you are playing a vertical game on a horizontal monitor it hides that fact a little bit (aside from the reduced size) as the black borders =--- just look black

4. It amkes the games seem like they kinda glowing in empty space

5.  on an old arcade monitor it's a trick to obscure/minimize the ovbiousness of burn in.

6.  When the monitors off it just looks dark and cool...  I guess

would you rather have your cabinet look like this?  or   this?  (actually after pic here  more pics in half arse gallery )

Granted adding the laminate and t-molding on the CP coupled with the smoked plexi helped make Ubercade look more finished... they were nice semi-smallish touches that made a big difference in appearance IMHO -- which was the whole point of the beginnin of this thread...


*shrug*

Rampy

[AlanS17]

If your monitor has burn-in it can be reduced and if you don't have a good bezel it can hide the edges around your monitor. I suppose beyond that anything is an aesthetic opinion.