Some More Side Art Pics

OK, time for some good pics! Here are some shots of the cab with the side art and bezel installed. I also put the computer inside and wired everything up (which I will detail in future posts). It's about 95% finished. The only thing left cosmetically is the decal above the CP on the black bar otherwise what you see is what you get.

Here's the punch list:

1. laminate front bar above CP
2. apply decal on front bar above CP
3. remake back door (I made one already but it could be MUCH lighter)
4. streamline computer boot-up
5. figure out CabVol or some other volume app
6. disable pop-up boxes (when I first boot, Mala loads and goes straight to DK but after I exit MaLa is no longer the top window and I need a mouse click to get it to respond again and it works fine from then on - annoying)
7. Re-skin MaLa - I'm using the one from John's Arcade, which is great (I love the Games Played counter) but I want to tweak it a little and I have no idea how
8. I also might make the black posterboard bezel to go around the monitor but honestly it is so dark in there it isn't necessary at all so I may skip it

That's it (I think). Anyway, check out the pics. It's pretty sweet.

Enjoy!

I really love the way this has come together. It looks and plays exactly like a real Donkey Kong machine and it has 29 other classic games available to play. I'll post the gamelist eventually (I'm constantly tweaking it but I'm pretty settled on it for now).

More later!

The Side Art

OK, finally. I got the side art on. It was pretty easy actually once I figured out how to line it up. I felt like a genius when it finally clicked but I'm sure it is an obvious solution.

The first thing I did was put a piece of tape 2-3/4" from the top - no need to be precise here - just make sure that the piece of tape covers the imaginary horizontal line 2-3/4" from the top of the cabinet. Then, using a carpenter's square (pictured) to get a straight line I marked the line in pencil on the tape. This gave me the line to place the top edge of the side art on. I repeated this process along the back edge of the cabinet (2-3/4" again) and now had a vertical line to place the left edge of the side art on (or right edge depending which side you are doing).

In order to use the carpenter's square properly you set the short edge of the ruler in the picture to 2-3/4". Then you place the black handle on the top edge of the cabinet so that the short edge of the ruler is hanging down exactly 2-3/4". Next you place your pencil on the bottom of the ruler's edge and run the carpenter's square along the top while moving the pencil at the same time. This will give you a perfectly straight line exactly 2-3/4" from the top (on the masking tape!). This is an invaluable trick for building things and laying out lines in general.

Now that I knew exactly where to place the side art, I just taped it to the side.

Next, I removed all of the tape near the top and peeled off the paper backing from the sticker and cut it away with the scissors.

Then, very carefully and using my vinyl squeegee, I applied pressure to the top portion of the decal where I removed the paper backing. No turning back now! The decal is in place!

Then, I removed all of the masking tape around the edges now that it can hang on it's own. Finally, I removed the rest of the paper backing starting at the top and working my way down with the squeegee and pressing the decal into place.

After the decal was applied the only thing left to do was remove the top layer of paper. This part took a long time - the paper did not come off easy and in fact during this process there was a tendency to remove the actual decal form the force of removing the top layer of paper. I think this was due to my own inexperience - I did not prep the surface before applying the sticker and I should have used some rubbing alcohol to really clean it and remove any oils that may have been present.

Anyway, it came out great:

I didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked because my hands were tied and I was a little nervous. It was actually very easy! I can really see the finish line now.

More later.

The Coin Decal!!

Finally - the moment everyone has been waiting for is here. I applied the coin door decal to the front of the control panel!! Before attempting this, I bought a plastic squeegee off of eBay for $3 (search "vinyl squeegee") - this really helps in applying the decals and it eliminates any air bubbles.

The first thing I did was put a piece of masking tape in the center of the panel. The tape lets me draw on the cab lightly with a pencil without leaving a mark. It makes it really easy to line up the decal. The decal is centered and the top edge of the decal is 2-1/4" from the top of the panel.

Next, I peeled the back of the decal off just a little along the top to expose the sticky surface and cut the back off with some scissors. This allowed me to line up the decal and stick the top down. Then using the vinyl squeegee from top to bottom while removing the rest of the paper backing I pressed the decal into place.

Looking good - all that's left is to peel away the top layer of paper. Man, you should have seen the smile on my face as I was peeling this off.

It looks pretty sweet! Next up will be the side art - it's actually the same process just on a much larger scale and way more nerve-wracking!

More later.

The Coin Door: Part 3

Well, here it is - all installed and looking brand new:

Next up - installing the side art and other random stuff!

The Coin Door: Part 2

In addition to having the door powder coated, I also ordered two brand new coin mechs from Asahi Seiko in Las Vegas (they still make them!) so the entire thing now looks factory fresh. It was EXPENSIVE ($93 for the new mechs!). Here is what the old mechs looked like - these were unfixable to me with the rust and everything (not so much on the outside but around the coin return button):

It took about a week for the new mechs to arrive but it was worth the wait. Here's some unboxing pictures for the full effect:

They look great. Next up - final installed coin door pics!

The Coin Door

The coin door is the one thing I didn't feel comfortable restoring myself. I could have taken a can of spray paint to it but I didn't want to risk ruining it. As far as I know there aren't any vendors out there selling Nintendo coin door reproductions which means there is a finite number of these things out there to be had. I was lucky - mine came with the cabinet and was in pretty good shape. No major dents or scratches.

As you can see the door had started to rust in several spots and the paint was bubbling all over the place. A local custom motorcycle shop has powdercoating capabilities so had them refinish it for me (as well as the bottom marquee retainer). It came out very nice and way better than if I had attempted to do this myself.

I ordered some #6-32 carriage bolts from Quarter Arcade to secure the door to the cabinet and they fit perfectly. I had to order 2 sets though since I needed 12 for the door and they only sold them in packs of 10. I also bought a $4 lock from Home Depot which fit perfectly. Here's what it looks like installed:

I'm not sure why - maybe it was the lighting or the sweet finish on the door - but I can't seem to get a good picture of it. The door looks brand new and I couldn't be happier with the result.

More later.

The Monitor Mount: Part 5

Now that the monitor is in place I guess I can show off what it looks like from the front!

It looks great! I'm hoping the monitor is at a suitable viewing angle - since I didn't have anything but pictures to go off of it was tough positioning it just right. Seems OK to me...

More later!