Arcade Cabinet Repair

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

I have heard of "sanding between layers." Is that... would that help?

It involves grit?

[Flack]

Sadly, you are correct. One way to fix a bad paint job is to lightly sand and reapply. I went over the whole thing with some 220 grit and will try again later.



I got sick of sanding and painting so I decided to work on something else. I got my old gumball machine out of storage today, cleaned it up, and got it moved out to the lobby. Now I need to restock it! I have considered repainting this thing many times and every time I mentioned it, someone says that it's worth more in its original state, so I've never done it.



I also changed the code on my PosterPi project to read movie posters from the local SD card instead of streaming them across the network. Performance is way better now. Still need to build a frame and get the TV mounted to the wall, but at least the code is stable and running.



Also, a gift arrived from an anonymous benefactor -- a replacement power supply! Instead of painting, I think I may install this tonight instead. Painting is boring.

[AArdvark]

Did you ever find the poster television that disappeared during the move?

[Flack]

Nope, never did. The only possible scenario is either the guys who painted our old house stole it, or the moving guys stole it. Both would be pretty brazen, but there are only so many possibilities.

[Jizaboz]

Man that big poster screen is wild! Do you plan on mounting it to the wall with dim lights around it?

[Flack]

Man that big poster screen is wild! Do you plan on mounting it to the wall with dim lights around it?

This evening I mounted it to the wall and put dim lights around it.

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

That looks EFFING AWESOME.

How did you get the dim lights to just sort of glow behind it with no cord? (If there was a cord I couldn't see it.)

Looks great, man.

[Jizaboz]

Very nice! Fucking awesome dude.

[Flack]

How did you get the dim lights to just sort of glow behind it with no cord? (If there was a cord I couldn't see it.)

All the cords are hanging out the bottom. There will eventually be a snack counter below the TV that hides the cords. Right now there are three in all -- power for the TV, power for the Pi, and power for the lights. I experimented with shoving a power strip up behind the TV and plugging everything into it, but one cord doesn't look any better than three cords.

I do like that even the cheapest strip of LED lights at this point has a zillion features, like color fading and all that. I could see changing the color every now and then just for a different look.

[Flack]

Today after work I started on the surround sound wiring. The home theater is going to be 5.2.2 -- that's five surround sound speakers, two subwoofers, and two Atmos ceiling speakers.



Right now everything looks like a rat's nest. Tomorrow if they're open I'm going to swing by the electronics store and pick up some more velcro (I hate zip-tying everything). I bought that rack from Home Depot because I couldn't find a better one at the moment. The wiring closet has a 24" opening so my choices are limited.



I went with an 86" LG and Elac 2.0 speakers up front. I'm using my old Infinity subs for the time being. I need to order some speaker stands next week so until I do, two bar stools and a metal chair will have to do.

[Tdarcos]

I looked at that picture, and said, "Ho-lee shit! Is that a 75" TV?" Only to discover it's even bigger. Way to go, Flack!

Those are almost $1,900, is that about right or did you get a better price?

[AArdvark]

That's a pretty serious power amp you got working there. Why does it have ethernet?

THE
MONSTER CABLES
AARDVARK

[Flack]

That's a pretty serious power amp you got working there. Why does it have ethernet?

It has built in settings for streaming Pandora, Spotify, and from a local server share. A better question is, why does it have wireless, too? :)

[Billy Mays]

I like how you are using the snack counter to hide the cords. It also means you don't have to walk to a completely unnecessary wall to get snacks.

[Flack]

I got my rear surround sound speakers in and they're white. Time to make them black!



This was the speaker with the grill removed. First thing to do was to paint the grills. I bought a $2 can of spray paint which said it was good for metal or wood, indoor or outdoor.





I don't think I've ever spray painted anything like an adult in my life. Usually I just spray the shit out of everything from 2" away until it runs and looks like shit. This time I took my time and did several light coats. Turns out, that advice works. After two or three coats, it looked great.



Here's the speaker reinstalled in the freshly painted black frame. Once I've got them dropped into the wall, I'll reinstall the grills.

I really need to get back to the arcade machine.

[AArdvark]

schweet!

[Tdarcos]

This evening I mounted it to the wall and put dim lights around it.

Since you seem to be up for challeges, how about this? Instead of one poster disappearing and another appearing, try doing an "advertising crawl" in which the poster moves up and the other poster follows it? I've seen them do that in mall advertising displays.

Not that I'm criticizing, as Jonsey said, it looks awesome, but, sitting down and doing a little programming might calm your nerves. Being cooped up every day (even if it's with your significant other) has got to be nerve wracking. Especially if you have kids.

[AArdvark]

Maybe you could write a script for him and calm nerves?

[Tdarcos]

figure two blocks made out of 2x4s should be 3" tall, so if I paint them black

"I have some redwood and I want it painted black." The quote just seems to fit.

Could you remove some of the hardware on the casters to make them wheels you could add to your improvised solution? then you'd get both movability and the right height. Of course, they could be the kind you can't do that to so my suggestion won't work.

[Tdarcos]

Maybe you could write a script for him and calm nerves?

Before I got sick, I had 3 raspberry Pis. Now I don't have any, so I have no way to write anything. Also, for reasons I will explain later today, It's doubtful I could do any programming.