Toddzilla

[tthurman]

Posted October 7, 2015 (edited)

Getting a bit better with the mdf cutting.

Only a couple areas over the line, overall I'd say I'm happy with the results. I'm hoping that after a few times over with the sander, nobody will be the wiser 

For anyone curious, I started with the PBX logo, but unfortunately when enlarged to the size I needed, it is to large for a 2 x 2 sheet of mdf, so I had to do a little customizing on this part of the project. I took a single flipper bat and enlarged it using one of my overhead projectors that I rent at my dads store. This got me to a big 24" flipper bat, so I came home last weekend all smiles. I cleaned this up all nice and neat with a ruler and protractor.

oops, when diagonal this this needs to be right at 32", and now no overhead. My *buddy with the wood shop loaned me a pantograph to do the enlarging. Quite an interesting tool...

*Lynn had the idea to flip over the piece, and strike out lines to final cut the nips near the center in the first picture, I couldn't reach these areas from hitting the body of the band-saw. He made it clear that he felt I should give him credit for this, so there you have it. 

 

[tthurman]

Posted October 22, 2015 (edited)

Ah well, continuing along with my slow, but consistent speed, I slotted out my newest creations in the world of mdf last night in preparation for the T-molding.

The router is a tool that I'm uncomfortable with, especially when working with it inverted like this. It can become the bass-o-matic real quick to your fingers/hands.

I'm glad to report that wasn't the case 

You would not believe how much hand sanding I did on these since the last post!

[tthurman]

Posted October 26, 2015 (edited)

Finally, light at the end of the tunnel on the CP for the yoke. Considering some of the challenges I've faced with this thing, I'm pretty happy 

Lots of work that can't be seen in these photos from yesterday, pre-drilled holes for the led mounts, side panel attachments and the like..

 

[tthurman]

Posted October 26, 2015 (edited)

The yoke is in several boxes separated by section. Hopefully I can get it reassembled without having a bunch of left over pieces. 

It has been tore down for some time now!

[tthurman]

Posted October 29, 2015

Finished what was perhaps the most difficult cutting on the side panels last night.

For some added effect, I'm going to be using some inlays that will flange out on the exterior side of the panel.

Basically I cut a 3" hole on each, then moved the cutting tool in 1/8 to allow for a 1/16 relieved edge for the inlay to rest in. I then went back to the router to bevel the rim around the outside perimeter to make it appear to flare out.

I hope this has a little more effect once painted and lit vs the subtle appearance it has in this shot. Regardless, I was really glad to successfully complete this without destroying them in the process. 

[tthurman]

Posted November 12, 2015 (edited)

Being slow has some perks I'm noticing. I've never been the most creative person, but when the PBX base idea hit me, it got me to thinking about what other creative ideas I might incorporate. Long ago I knew I would need something to give the pedestal extra rigidity from a right and left perspective. My idea was to fix some boards to the base and upright panels to tie it all together. I referred to them way back here as flared rear panels, but with the time quickly approaching to actually cut them, I couldn't get past the fact they were boxy, and boring.

First it was just going to be some rectangular boards from top to bottom, but I didn't like the boxed in feel it gave it. From there it became triangulated shapes, curves, and at one point I was dreaming up some real cartoonish lighting bolts. Yeah right, those would have been hell to cut 

Then it hit me, outriggers Atari style

Not surprisingly, these weren't the easiest cut either. My eyes aren't what they used to be, but like most things, Lynn had a solution for this too.

These were time consuming cuts going through 3/4" cabinet grade birch plywood, but they turned out pretty good. I'll run them through the drum sander next week to clean them up, but I can already tell they'll look much better than any of my other ideas.

Aside from this, there has been a great deal of painting going on, but it doesn't make for much of interesting thing to post about 

[tthurman]

Posted November 22, 2015 (edited)

Man, I've been so busy trying to finish painting these parts that I had no idea how long it had been since I actually fired up a game 

The up side is that I got it all shot before the cold temps set in, pretty much just before it appears.

Finishing isn't my strong suit, and being in an uncontrolled environment just adds to that. All things considered though, I'm pretty happy thus far into it.

A bit of wood grain showed on this, but not enough to bother me. If that changes after final assembly, I've been eyeing some carbon fiber wrap, and the paint will make an excellent base for it. I plan to let these cure for at least 30 days before assembly. I even brought the panel up to the man cave in hopes it wouldn't get knocked over since it's too big to hang-up like the other pieces. At about the week and a half mark, it's still quite smelly 

The birch plywood has beautiful grains IMO, which I hope to enhance with some wipe-on poly, but the first order of business is to veneer the edges. I took Friday off to start on this, and worded a good bit on into last night.

 

The big boards aren't too bad, but those half Atari outriggers I cut.....they where a b!7@|-

 

[tthurman]

Posted November 28, 2015 (edited)

Thanks for the kind words, I'm hopeful things all go together during the final assembly stages.

I'm getting a bit nervous as I start tying together this collection of parts I've amassed, especially the upright panel sections, as they will need to be accurately spaced.

I figured the best way to attack this is a complete assembly prior to sanding and finishing. With any luck it will all fit, and get me out of the doghouse at the same time. The dining room has been my staging area for the last 18 months. 

The top of the entire cabinet will be open, with the forward most section being home to the control panel(s). The rear section will remain open until the play-field portion of the build is ready to put in place. I plan to use pull latches to join it so it is easier to move and work on.

I used some 1 1/2 x 1 1/2 popular project lumber to cut support braces that I will attach with double sized corner brackets. This should make the top rigid enough to withstand gaming.

For the front cross brace I did a dado style cut to recess a scrap piece of 1 1/2 x 1/4 red oak stock into so my panels will always slide into the same position when being changed out. Unfortunately I got this flipped during one of my measurements and I inadvertently cut it deep. I remedied this yesterday by ripping a levolor blind slat to fill the gap, and once it's screwed together it will function the same.

Truly one of those rare instances where pack-ratting paid off 

These next steps probably seem trivial to most, but for me they represent a milestone. Months ago these parts were all cut and painted, so no doubt I gave them plenty of time to fully cure. Regardless, to see them assembled vs. spread out on the floor is quite rewarding for me.

The machining on these relay racks isn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination. Keeping them square, and at 20 5/16 wide, was more time consuming than you may think.

....and finally here is the last of two, right as I finished it last night.

The next steps will involve drilling and fastening the panels all around these, and will determine just how accurately I got the spacing on the railing assemblies.

Update:

Progressing, slowly (surprised  ), but there's a lot of test fitting going on. There's always a bit of give and take, since no matter how hard you try, things just aren't dead on square. Anyway, out of the gate I changed gears on assembly, and I think this method will yield superior results to what I was going to try.

[Draco1962]

Looking forward to seeing more of your build and Toddzilla crushing Tokyo, or at least some good retro games, in the near future!

[tthurman]

I wish I had left the old thread alone when I became frustrated and decided to throw in the towel of sorts, but I'm glad I saved the pages never the less.  The comments really add to things that don't translate to this "redo" thread.

Oh well, hopefully I will be able to make some progress on it over the summer.

It's funny, I've had to go back in and "fix" somethings and still have more fixing to do, but one thing is for sure...Rust-Oleum paint never really cures.  I don't know if it has just gone down hill with all the regulations or what, but it pretty much sucks now days compared to the days of old.  The stuff just flakes off, sticks to itself when parts are put together, etc. 

[Draco1962]

I have seen similar comments about "Rusto" with people switching to automotive spray paints for various projects with way superior results.

[tthurman]

Posted November 29, 2015 (edited)

It will be quite the contraption when it's done, a mutant between an control panel stand and pincab w/o a back-glass. My 40" Sammy will be the back-glass, and the play-field is going to be supported by a circa 1960's table stand with the pinball X flippers as the base.

This isn't my table, but it's a similar model, I've just robbed the base off of it. I retired it to storage many years ago, but when the "X" idea hit me.....I'm sure you can see where I'm going with the PBX logo.

Since I can't get good viewing angles of the picture in my head, it could very well look like crap once completed! 

I tried to sketch something out, but drawing isn't a strength of mine. It's not post worthy, trust me!

That said, I may be sorry I posted all this when I finally assemble it all. 

[tthurman]

Posted December 6, 2015 (edited)

I always try and save some extra time for around the holidays, and so I'm enjoying 4 day weeks (or should be) until the end of the year. It's been unseasonably warm, and so Friday made for a good day to be sanding. I managed to get all of the veneer edging level with the panels, and everything nice and smooth with only a couple areas getting a bit thin on the veneer. Much of this could have been avoided, had I not had the panels so long in advance of actually using them. 

So begins finishing, something I'm not alone on when it comes to disliking, I'm sure.

A little patching had to be done first, which I did with some poly, mixed with sanding dust. It worked pretty good actually.

Saturday I moved on into full production, and this is where I was after the first three coats last evening.

'm between coats on round 2 currently, but so far it's been interesting. I'm doing this per instructions I got outside my usual sources, using wipe on poly. 1st coat, wait one hour then 2nd coat, wait two hours then 3rd coat. Allow to dry over night, then sand with 3M 7447 scotch brite pad and tack cloth thoroughly to remove all residue. I've got to say, this pad seems to make the difference. You really can't burn through the original coat as easily as you can with normal sandpaper on a sanding block, especially at the edges. You repeat this for the second round of coatings, and the for the 3rd, and final coat, switch from gloss to satin to give it the look I'm going for. I'm hopeful the effect will be as good as described, but apparently using the satin all along during the layer builds adds a bit of cloudiness that this method avoids.

Time will tell 

 

[tthurman]

Posted February 1, 2016 (edited)

I'm still at it! Following the holiday break I decided it was time to reorganize the garage. I'd been planning this for some time in hopes my car can fit in there if needed, imagine that, a car in the garage. Anyway, this snowballed (I'm still not entirely done), and ended up being a real time eater.

I did reassemble the pedestal once everything had cured, and Vick and I managed to get it up the stairs without too much drama.   I have to say, the control panel latches are a bit of a trick, spacing wise, and I didn't get quite enough tension on them. I remedied this by attaching some cut strips of rubber with double faced tape, which should also protect the cab while change out panels.

I guess by this point it's clear nothing about what I'm doing is conventional, so I plan to use two sets of Yamaha 2.1 multi-media speakers to create quad.2 sound. The YST-MS30 sub pictured above will be rear firing in order to accommodate the limited space I have. I picked these up on ebay, and much like the bigger YST-MS50 set I restored last year, they pack a punch for such small speakers.

Turns out it is going to be a pretty tight fit with my sliding shelf installed, but it should be workable.

I'm using lacing bars and fillers to keep it from looking void in some areas, and it seems to give it a bit of an industrial look too.

 

[tthurman]

Posted February 11, 2016 (edited)

Forgive me if I don't shake hands seem to come across as gloating a bit.

After months of slow progression, my Star Wars control panel has entered the final turn.

I believe there's a good chance that this idea that had been floating around in my head for so long might actually work well, and look somewhat cool at the same time.

The brackets intentionally leave about a 1/8" gap between the main frame and the caps. With any luck this will be just enough for the effect I'm going for 

The glass inserts proved to be somewhat of a pain. First I tried to soak the mirrors in water for a week to get the silvering off of them. Water seems to work fine on the bathroom mirrors, but it must take years to get to that point. I finally caved and soaked them in muriatic acid, which had the silvering coming off in a single piece when I checked them the following morning.

The fun didn't stop there though, mounting them to the inlay cuts I made was frustrating. I was going to use mounting squares cut into tiny slices to hold them, but since the is like using chewing gum, they never feel secure enough to me to make it the long haul. I ended up using 3M foam body molding tape, leaving the backer on so it would slide into place. If you've never used this stuff, it's super sticky, but also compresses and expands. I cut small slivers and rounded the sticky side to the mirror glass, then inserted them into my recessed cuts. They are still removable, but when the tapes foam based expanded out, the fit was good, snug, and covering 360 degrees.

I finished them off with a vinyl crest for both the Rebellion, and Galactic Empire.

With any luck, the effect should look cool once the real Star Wars cabinet pieces are attached. Regardless, my part of the creation process for this piece is completed 

[tthurman]

Posted February 11, 2016 (edited)

Took advantage of some time off today, and among other things we caught "The Martian" at the dollar theater. When we got home, I figured no time like the present, so I carried on. 

The control panel overlays have been something I've dreaded. The coolness factor these bring is somewhat of a given, but the potential consequences from a botched application can make for a bad day in short order.

I've been sitting on these for a long time now, which I'm sure comes as no surprise  I sprung for the reprints from This Old Game, that came right from the original screens.

Lots of trial and error, masking tape (#@!*&? and beers) later.....they turned out about as well as I could have hoped!

For anyone wondering, the hair dryer does help to get things nice and tight in those troublesome bends so often found in the control panels. I used Vic's 1875 watt dryer, which did the job quite satisfactorily. I was prepared to bring out the heat gun; although I didn't want to go there, but it wasn't necessary.

[tthurman]

Posted February 13, 2016 (edited)

Thanks!

This game is the primary reason I got involved in this hobby, but funny enough as time went on I really almost didn't build it because of the cost associated with these controllers. I had my eye on the RAM controls reproduction yoke all through development, but by the time I came back to it all hell had broke loose. If you aren't familiar with that mess, consider yourself fortunate.

This panel had me wanting to throw in the towel on several occasions, but I'm pretty happy with it.

You'll have to imagine the yoke being fitted for the time being 

The crevice glow did about what I expected, and it was born from a need to cover my ass due to the fact I accidentally cut the main control panel chassis exactly to size with the metal Atari yoke mount. This was a classic example of a "oh shit" moment, that in turn was quickly reinvented into a "feature".

The inlay cuts with the routed flanges hit me one night after seeing some Star Wars figure stands on ebay. Some fellow was etching them in to acrylic, and gluing a foot peg into hole drilled into them. I contacted him about making some without the foot peg, and although he agreed, he blew me off twice. I made my own with 3" round mirrors I got at Jo-Ann's, and some 2 1/2 vinyl decals I found from another fellow on ebay. One things for sure, they won't scratch like acrylic!

 

Now, to put this thing back together.......

I think that when the pinball attachment is completed in the coming months, it will go a long way making the completed assembly into a decent looking rig. It looks really odd in it's current state with that big void following the control panel, but rest assured that is only temporary.

(please excuse the mess)

[tthurman]

Posted March 3, 2016 (edited)

I knew this would be a fairly involved process when I disassembled the controller, it hasn't disappointed!  

Although I had cleaned and painted the main body parts, everything else ended up sorted in plastic containers.  As you can imagine at 30 years plus, some of this stuff was pretty dirty and worn.  Never Dull; available under many brand names, is some amazing metal polish that cleans everything to near new appearance.  I used it to remove tarnish and rust on the lock nuts, retaining rings, washers, etc. to a nice shiny smooth finish.

I'd hate to know how much I've invested in this restoration, but thankfully most of the parts are readily available.  I've got to give props to ArcadeFixIt for having a large selection of hard to find parts, and excellent customer service.

The retaining rings and springs were especially tough removing, but over time I discovered techniques that made reassembly relatively easy.  A little twisting goes a long way 

Tonight I got the potentiometers installed and greased. 

Next up, wiring harness installation 

[tthurman]

Posted March 7, 2016 (edited)

Believe it or not, it's finished  Well I do have to get some #4 screws to mount the usb interface board inside the control panel, but all things considered.....

Since starting this project way back when, I've realized this yoke was really not that old, small tweaks along the way improved theses with time.  All things considered, I got a deal on it compared to what I've seen them going for these days.  The handle covers had dug in groves, that appear to be a result of rings.  I intentionally didn't repair them to add a sort of nostalgic authenticity.

I topped off my yoke cover with some thumb screws.

I used some 1/4- 20 brass knurled screws in combination with aluminum wing bolts to lock access panel into place while playing.

Here's what it all looks like installed on my enclosure project.  

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, and yes, I played about ten games immediately after firing it up.  After all these years I'm very rusty, but reliving the days of old is an amazing feeling!

Phase 1:  Complete

[tthurman]

Posted June 3, 2016 (edited)

It's been a long stretch of down time while we move to a new home, so I decided to take advantage of it.  With the Win 10 free upgrade end quickly approaching, I decided it was time to pull the trigger on some over do upgrades.  The Q9550 has performed like a champ, but with the second phase of my build bringing a pin attachment, I wanted a little more oomph to ensure smooth playing action.  

The players:

The trend with gimmicks on motherboards is as present as ever, I just cannot bring myself to pay insane amounts for a decent motherboard.  In sticking with the same mindset I used when buying the GA-EP45-UD3P for my Yorkfield build, I sought out one that struck the fine balance between price/performance.

I'd swore off ASUS after so many problems with several P35 based boards, but the Z170 Pro reviews well most everywhere, and so it got the nod.  I'm also crawling out from under the rock I've been living under, and included my first ever SSD for my OS drive.  

Hopefully 10 will perform equally as well as 8.1 which; contrary to public opinion, has ran fantastically for me!