hansolo77 Posted August 17, 2011 Author Share Posted August 17, 2011 Yeah, but I'm not too worried about it. I'm not good with stuff like that either... I tried my hand at painting my spare (modded) xbox 360. I thought I read all the suggested instructions right, but it turned out looking like crapola. The paint is uneven, bubble/drip in some spots, chipping, etc. And the clear coat I put on it wasn't smooth enough and dried with fingerprints. I masked off the power button so I could have the lights show through, but apparently it wasn't good enough and they don't. I'm just no good at the hand's on stuff.Way back before the fire, I had attempted a custom build of a control panel. I bought a USB keyboard and mapped all the key's to the controller chip. Then I bought a set of buttons and a joystick from a web retailer. For the panel itself, I used an old closet shelf (like 5 feet wide, 1 foot deep, 1 inch thick). I cut it into a box using a powered jigsaw since I don't own a table saw. It looked terrible, with half inch gaps in the corners, and places where the finish split off. When I drilled the holes for the buttons, I didn't have a hole drill bit, so I marked it off and drilled lots of tiny holes in a circle, and chizled the holes out. Took me all summer to do to, and it looked like total crap. But it worked, and I loved the feel of the joystick and buttons. I even put a homemade spinner (from an old mouse) on the right side, and 2 flipper buttons for pinball. I was proud it worked, but ashamed at the look. I salvaged it from the fire, but decided it just looked way to crappy to keep, and chucked the whole thing when we moved back in. I kinda wish I saved the internal parts and buttons though, but they only cost me like $16 I think.I'm probably not going to do any other kind of hands on stuff like this again. I'll just stick to pre-fabricated stuff if I decide to get a new control panel. Until then, I'm happy with my keyboard, mouse, and game pad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adultery Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 Honestly, making stuff that looks like 'crapola' is the best way to learn IMHO. I built cabs before this last one (or remodeled actually) and man were they crap. But I took away the knowledge to make the second one better and the one I just finished even impresses me when I look at it. There's just no replacing that feeling of 'woah, I made that!'I cherish my first attempts and I couldn't be happier with the learning experience I came away with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Draco1962 Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 @Adultery - agreed! My first attempt at themes are a good example. Granted, I have an artistic eye having been an art student while in school which helps tremendously in getting to know how various media perform on certain surfaces, but when I look back on my first attempts I am like "Gads! Who the heck did THAT? Oh, I did." followed by the urge to try to bury it deep in the litter box. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adultery Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 Haha! You see my first theme? LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.