Building My Arcade Machine log

Optimus Prime · 19-08-2011 12:25pm

Had a look there, doesnt seem to be that option with UPS and they have recieved the package now according to the UPS site, so they didnt catch it before they shipped, they didnt see my emails. i opened a ticket on the gameongraphix site, no reply yet.

Just ordered a coin door there off arcademachines.ie too, purely for asthetic purposes. and my blue t-moulding arrived today.

not sure what to do about this wrong address, maybe ill just hold on for a while and wait for a reply, i paid with paypal so i can always put a claim in.

nacimroc · 19-08-2011 12:30pm

keithgeo wrote: »

I sent them loads of emails to any address i could find on the site, also logged a "ticket" witht them. if it doesnt arrive ill be looking for them to print it again, if not ill be getting my money back through paypal. i dont really want go that route though because i dont think there are many other sites out there that print arcade artwork?

I always got mine printed at my local sign shop. Its the exact same and a control panel artwork was a tenner. I get the marquee printed onto white translucent perspex and cut to size for 15 quid aswell. I could never figure out how those online companies charge so much and why so many people use them.

Optimus Prime · 19-08-2011 12:34pm

Dunno if i have a local sign shop, ive never seen on to be honest? is this a place like snap printers etc?

Steve X2 · 19-08-2011 12:37pm

keithgeo wrote: »

Had a look there, doesnt seem to be that option with UPS and they have recieved the package now according to the UPS site, so they didnt catch it before they shipped, they didnt see my emails. i opened a ticket on the gameongraphix site, no reply yet.

Just ordered a coin door there off arcademachines.ie too, purely for asthetic purposes. and my blue t-moulding arrived today.

not sure what to do about this wrong address, maybe ill just hold on for a while and wait for a reply, i paid with paypal so i can always put a claim in.

I think you need to forget about the place you got the artwork from just for the moment and focus on the delivery company, in this case UPS. If you ring them or contact them via email etc they should be able to help you out.
Even if it means sending the package to Ireland from their centre in Israel or wherever it lands first.

Try the Irish UPS contacts first and see if they can sort something out.
http://www.ups.com/content/ie/en/contact/index.html?WT.svl=Footer

They have systems in place to deal with these sorts of problems so the sooner you contact them directly the better.

.

Optimus Prime · 19-08-2011 12:43pm

haha i just rang that UPS crowd, and its not UPS its posted with haha its USPS! different company!

Steve X2 · 19-08-2011 12:52pm

keithgeo wrote: »

haha i just rang that UPS crowd, and its not UPS its posted with haha its USPS! different company!

Ahh, well they do have an option to change address or forward to another.

I noticed the option the other week when I got something sent from Amazon via USPS. It was Amazon UK so I was surprised when the sent me an email saying my item is coming from the USA. Took 1 week to arrive by the way(medium size packet, iPad case).

.

Optimus Prime · 19-08-2011 1:42pm

ill see if i can find anything on the site, everything there though seems to relate to internal US postal service.

nacimroc · 19-08-2011 2:19pm

keithgeo wrote: »

Dunno if i have a local sign shop, ive never seen on to be honest? is this a place like snap printers etc?

Ya! Anywhere like that! Most towns have one. I give my local one a disc with the photoshop image on it. They can do sticky back or front and a fraction the price.

Optimus Prime · 19-08-2011 5:17pm

anyone able to point me to a website i can get wire off for wiring up the buttons, joysticks etc. i was reading there a recomendation on another site to get stranded 18-22 gauge. any suggestions?

Andrew76 · 19-08-2011 5:51pm

keithgeo wrote: »

anyone able to point me to a website i can get wire off for wiring up the buttons, joysticks etc. i was reading there a recomendation on another site to get stranded 18-22 gauge. any suggestions?

Try arcadeshop.de, Ultimarc or Jammaboards. If your buttons are Sanwa or Seimitsu then you'll need those .110 female quick disconnect terminals, these chaps.

Optimus Prime · 19-08-2011 5:56pm

Cool, i just found on gremlinsolutions ebay site, 10 of those already wired up. so i bought a load of them, only 5 quid each. saves me hassle!

Ive loads of those connects already at home anyways if i need anyway, was just looking for the wire itself.

CathalDublin · 19-08-2011 6:14pm

Radionics rialto

Optimus Prime · 22-08-2011 2:56pm

Got an email off GameonGraphix he is printing again and reposting them. might end up getting two in the door!

My coin door arrived today. anyone know where i can get the little pics to go in the coin inserts? eg 50c Insert Coin or whatever they usually say on them?

CathalDublin · 22-08-2011 10:49pm

I printed my own

Mine say
======
FEED
ME
MONEYS
======
PUSH TO
REJECT

Optimus Prime · 23-08-2011 5:06pm

printed some off there today, turned out grand.

Optimus Prime · 23-08-2011 10:12pm

Made some progress today, got my coin door the other day, pictured below. so as suggested i printed up some Coin Inserts in work. stuck them in earlier.

Also cut out the slot for the coin door on the front panel.

and also this arrived, got it for 15 delivered, its a double edge trimmer for trimming the sides of T-Moulding etc. its got blades inside, you run it along the mdf and it trims the Moulding! Hopefully it does the job.

Optimus Prime · 04-09-2011 3:32pm

Finally done with Priming, no longer is the mdf white in colour!!

Optimus Prime · 12-09-2011 11:07am

Sigh, I finally got my arcade artwork last week, but, of course, there was a problem..

The control panel was a completly different shade than the marquee. what happened was the original is more a purple colour so i change it to a brighter blue and change the marquee colour too. when ordering i uploaded the purple coloured one first by mistake. I realised my mistake and didnt follow through with the order.

I then uploaded the correct blue coloured control panel and marquee and then followed through and paid. what happened then was a mess, first the order was printed and the guys sent it to Israel instead of ireland! so i got onto them and they printed again and posted it to me. when it arrived, they had printed the first CP i uploaded, the purple one i didnt pay for! after much emailing back and fort and the guys saying it was only a slight difference etc they finally realised they had indeed sent me the wrong one.

So the CP is printed again, the correct one this time and is hopefully getting posted today.

Heres an image of the one i got, granted you can barely tell here its more purple, but thats due to the camera i think, its looks purple to the eye. You can see the colour difference between the marquee and the control panel.

and this is the correct one i wanted, they sent me a pic of it yesterday before they posted. you can see its brighter and more of a Blue colour.

I dont know what it is, but whenever i order something, there is always some problem with it, granted i know its not as big a problem as Steve is having with the monitor but it really is a pain in the a*$e when you order something and it gets messed up. seems to happen everytime!:pac:

Andrew76 · 12-09-2011 11:32am

Bottom one looks brighter alright, cool image. But wtf with the double E in arcade?

(hehe chances arm with same joke again)

Optimus Prime · 12-09-2011 11:34am

Andrew76 wrote: »

Bottom one looks brighter alright, cool image. But wtf with the double E in arcade?

SIZE]

Haha fool me once shame on me, fool me twice... never gonna fool me again!

Deep Thought · 12-09-2011 11:50am

keithgeo wrote: »

Haha fool me once shame on me, fool me twice... never gonna fool me again!

Or as George W Bush would say........

"fool me once, shame on ... shame on you. It fool me. We can't get fooled again."

Optimus Prime · 12-09-2011 11:51am

Thats what i was going for but couldnt remember the exact quote, so again.. i made a fool of myself. I could Ninja edit, but ill leave it.. :pac:

Optimus Prime · 21-09-2011 4:30pm

Im having some trouble with finishing the painting on this, im not happy with the way the black turned out. It wasnt as smooth as i was hoping, not even close in fact. Ive sanded it down again but it needs another coat of paint on it as the sanded black is definatly not acceptable.

At the minute it has 3 coats of primer sanded in between each coat, and 1 coat of black sanded. all applied using a small roller.

My brother can get one of those spray machines they use for cars etc, he works repairing supermarket fridges and they have one. So im thinking of getting this and spraying on a coat of black to finish it off.

has anyone any experience of painting their cabs and getting a smooth finish at the end?? what way would you recomend i do it?

The Last Bandit · 21-09-2011 7:03pm

Are you looking for a high gloss black finish ? Black is a bugger to get right and will happily show up any imperfections in the undercoats.

Unless the base surface is absolutely smooth you'll see it in the final coat. I'd suggest a few coats with filler primer (any car paint shop will have it) and rub this back with 800 & 1500 grit paper.
How you apply the top coat will determine how much rubbing back (again 800 then 1500 wet) you'll have to do to get a decent finish - brush being the worst and spray the best.

I've no experience of painting cabs, but done a bit on cars..

Optimus Prime · 21-09-2011 9:30pm

Im not looking for a real shiney mirror finish to be honest, i just want the paint to be smooth, thanks for the tips, there are so many different ways of doing this its just a bit confusing!

Optimus Prime · 27-09-2011 1:38pm

Right, my brother is organising getting that spraying machine and im going to give that a go.

I bought this today for the marquee. its brilliant led backlights made by novamatrix, I got extra strips so ten in total and they hook up to the pc power supply.

Fairly cheap too, think it was like 25 quid including shipping.

Optimus Prime · 06-11-2011 9:02pm

Got the Spraying done today! Painting is officially finished (took long enough).

I cant recommend spraying enough, its a bizillion times better than trying to roll onto mdf. It went on like a dream, the finished mdf looks almost like plastic its so clear. Heres what i did today.,

First up, I Dexter'd My back room! :pac:

My Bro got me a lend of the spraying machine, as you can see this is no B&Q jobby, its a proper yolk.

Heres the result, paint is still wet here so it doesnt even look perfect, but trust me this is the ONLY way to go if you are fussy about the finish on your cab. rolling for me is no a go if im ever doing this again, too many bits and imperfections as far as im concerned.

Finally i can make some real progress over the next couple of weekends, should be finished by Christmas!

Pyongyang · 06-11-2011 11:04pm

Looks great! Love your gaf, it looks like a scene from The Departed.

Optimus Prime · 21-11-2011 11:40am

I put the artwork on the control panel last night and cut out the holes for buttons etc. it took some time to get it on without it bubbling up. I put a coat of paint over the mdf on the panel last week with a brush then sanded it down. Id forgot that i needed to coat this part, i figured i didnt need to since the artwork was going on there.

After reading some stuff on the net its recomended you paint over the mdf and sand it down so the adhesive on the artwork sticks better. I got it on fine in the end, then cut out the buttons using a hobby blade AFTER the artwork was on. I didnt feel confident enought to cut out the holes first then attempt to line them up. they came out perfect.

I then started to put on the TMolding. initially i thought this is going to be a breeze, it went on perfect, banged home with a rubber mallet. BUT i then got to a part on the sides where the channel cut by the router was too wide to hold in the T on its own, knightmare.

I had to get a tube of adhesive, its like no more nails but bonds wood and plastic. stuck that in the gun and fired it into the channel, stuck in the T and have it sitting with a weight on it now, it takes 24hours to fully bond. hopefully it turns out ok. I dont think the Tmolding is going to be as tight as the sections that just popped in, but theres nothing i can do about that now. :rolleyes:

Dont have the camera so cant post a pic, but the artwork looks well on it.

Optimus Prime · 23-11-2011 11:17pm

Heres the control panel, stuff isnt wired yet, but finally looks like a bit of progress. as i said i had to basically glue the tmolding into the channel on the right hand side, i turned out ok. not exactly flush to the side but its staying in there. i may.. .may.. try to superglue it to the side, but one wrong move and the art thing will be ruined.

Building My Arcade Machine log

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