Here are some pics of his cute haircut...
Hanging out in the backyard...
Is that a dog barking?
Thursday, September 24, 2009
MacGruber got a professional haircut
So Greg and I broke down today and got MacGruber groomed. We walked into Petco and had him washed, dried, cut, fluffed, ears cleaned and nails trimmed. He is one handsome puppy. He needed his nails trimmed and we don't have any clippers for them, hence we got him completely groomed instead of just getting his nails clipped.
Hanging out in the backyard...
Is that a dog barking?
Hanging out in the backyard...
Is that a dog barking?
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Big Progress & Can See Finish Line...
Well, I decided the coin door needed a little paint so I took out the red coin buttons, taped it up and gave it a few coats of flat black spray paint. I think it turned out pretty well actually. I have some new red push buttons coming anyway as the other ones looked really old and dingy. (picture is a little blury)
I had the whole thing up and running for the last 2 days running on the original monitor from when this arcade cabinet was built in 1987 and while it worked it looked awful. There was burn-in in the screen and the picture just wasn't very crisp. Plus the colors were a little off at different parts of the screen. So, starting today I decided to rip out the old monitor. Here it is after I took it out. The thing had 20 years of dust on it and was disgusting. You have to be careful working on monitors because they hold charges even after they are unplugged. Like 20,000 to 30,000 volts. Enough to ruin your day and even can kill. Luckily I know what to touch and what not to touch and I didn't have any problems thank goodness.
I made a bracket with some extra wood I had left over and mounted the monitor to the piece of wood. I then was able to use 4 carriage bolts to bolt this piece of wood to the supports that were for the old monitor. A little ingenuity and about $4 dollars in hardware later the new 19" LCD screen was mounted and starting to look pretty good. All the games require the monitor to be mounted vertical instead of horizontal so that is why it may look sideways. Oh, and may have noticed the new Multicade marquee I installed. I had to get rid of the old Arkanoid one which just didn't make sense anymore.
Here is the view from the back of the cabinet. As you can see there is soooo much more room back here now that I have the LCD monitor in there instead of that old nasty CRT monitor. You can see the board that the LCD bracket it mounted to and how the board is bolted to the frame.
So.... What's left to do? Well, just a few things...
I had the whole thing up and running for the last 2 days running on the original monitor from when this arcade cabinet was built in 1987 and while it worked it looked awful. There was burn-in in the screen and the picture just wasn't very crisp. Plus the colors were a little off at different parts of the screen. So, starting today I decided to rip out the old monitor. Here it is after I took it out. The thing had 20 years of dust on it and was disgusting. You have to be careful working on monitors because they hold charges even after they are unplugged. Like 20,000 to 30,000 volts. Enough to ruin your day and even can kill. Luckily I know what to touch and what not to touch and I didn't have any problems thank goodness.
I made a bracket with some extra wood I had left over and mounted the monitor to the piece of wood. I then was able to use 4 carriage bolts to bolt this piece of wood to the supports that were for the old monitor. A little ingenuity and about $4 dollars in hardware later the new 19" LCD screen was mounted and starting to look pretty good. All the games require the monitor to be mounted vertical instead of horizontal so that is why it may look sideways. Oh, and may have noticed the new Multicade marquee I installed. I had to get rid of the old Arkanoid one which just didn't make sense anymore.
Here is the view from the back of the cabinet. As you can see there is soooo much more room back here now that I have the LCD monitor in there instead of that old nasty CRT monitor. You can see the board that the LCD bracket it mounted to and how the board is bolted to the frame.
So.... What's left to do? Well, just a few things...
- Install new red push buttons in the coin door
- Run power to the coin door for back lighting for the new red buttons so they light up.
- Replace black T-molding running along the cabinet. I have some new green T-molding coming which might give the cabinet a little more "pop".
- Run power to the flourecent light behind the top marquee. It also will light up to highlight the Multicade marquee.
- Clean up my mess. I'm surprised Christy hasn't killed me yet with the mess I am making. :)
Friday, September 18, 2009
Making Progess Slowly but Surely...
Alright, over the last 2 days progess has been slow but steady. I mostly have just been waiting for paint to dry. I painted the front of the cabinet and have been spraying the control board with a couple layers of polyurethane.
After sanding down the front of the cabinet it looked really rough. You could see 20 years of wear and tear taking its toll.
I gotta say though. Once I started painting it really started to transform into something pretty nice looking. It took 3 coats of paint but I think it turned out pretty well. I also plan on giving the coinbox a little black paint but I'm not in too much of hurry to do that.
As I was doing the 3 coats of paint on the cabinet I put the overlay using the spray adhesive onto the new control board and started spraying a few layers of polyurethane just to give it a nice pretty shine and it will also protect it a good bit. After everything has dried I did a test fit on the cabinet and lucky for me everything fit like a glove. I also added that Multigame decal to the front. I think it looks good there.
So, now on to installing my new arcade parts along with the wiring. This wiring can be very confusing. There are wires for the joystick (up, down, left, right), 4 buttons, Player1, Player2, Coinbox, Power, Speaker & video. Ughhhhh. Just to give you a picture check it out. It took me over an hour just to identify all the wires. :(
I went ahead and put the buttons and joystick into the control board as well. I think it turned out pretty well. :)
And, all this wiring and the game circuit board (not shown in pics yet) needs to go somewhere in the back of this cabinet. I'll be figuring this one out as we go... I'll keep you posted.
After sanding down the front of the cabinet it looked really rough. You could see 20 years of wear and tear taking its toll.
I gotta say though. Once I started painting it really started to transform into something pretty nice looking. It took 3 coats of paint but I think it turned out pretty well. I also plan on giving the coinbox a little black paint but I'm not in too much of hurry to do that.
As I was doing the 3 coats of paint on the cabinet I put the overlay using the spray adhesive onto the new control board and started spraying a few layers of polyurethane just to give it a nice pretty shine and it will also protect it a good bit. After everything has dried I did a test fit on the cabinet and lucky for me everything fit like a glove. I also added that Multigame decal to the front. I think it looks good there.
So, now on to installing my new arcade parts along with the wiring. This wiring can be very confusing. There are wires for the joystick (up, down, left, right), 4 buttons, Player1, Player2, Coinbox, Power, Speaker & video. Ughhhhh. Just to give you a picture check it out. It took me over an hour just to identify all the wires. :(
I went ahead and put the buttons and joystick into the control board as well. I think it turned out pretty well. :)
And, all this wiring and the game circuit board (not shown in pics yet) needs to go somewhere in the back of this cabinet. I'll be figuring this one out as we go... I'll keep you posted.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Okay so now you know what the cabinet looks like I'll show you what I've done so far.
The first step was to take it apart. I had to take the Controller Board off and disconnect all the old buttons and joystick looking thingy. I also removed the Marquee at the top because I will be replacing that with a new "Multicade" marquee. There are also some light bulbs I need to replace up there. I also sanded the front of the cabinet a little just because it's going to get a nice coat of fresh blue paint before this project is done.
Anyway, here is the old Controller Board that I had take off and removed the joystick, buttons etc. As you can see it's in pretty bad shape and someone carved it up a good bit. I have 2 options here. I can try to salvage this piece and use some bondo to fill the holes, sand it down and then cut new holes for my buttons and joystick OR....
Just replace the entire board and start over, and that's what I did. I went to lowe's and had them cut me a piece of wood to the same dimensions and then sanded down one of the edges to a nice rounded shape. I cut my holes and I'm good to go. I also got some paint to match the new overlay (pictured as well) and painted teh new controller board just so the blue looks real blue once I use adhesive to mount the overlay on top of the board. I don't think I explained it too well but I'll post some pics of the finished product once done.
This is the Overlay graphic that will go on top of the new controller board.
And these are just some of my tools. Spray adhesive, sand paper & polyurethane to give the panel I nce smooth glossy finish.
That's all for now. I gotta go finish the board. I think the blue paint should be dry by now. I'll keep you posted on my progress.
The first step was to take it apart. I had to take the Controller Board off and disconnect all the old buttons and joystick looking thingy. I also removed the Marquee at the top because I will be replacing that with a new "Multicade" marquee. There are also some light bulbs I need to replace up there. I also sanded the front of the cabinet a little just because it's going to get a nice coat of fresh blue paint before this project is done.
Anyway, here is the old Controller Board that I had take off and removed the joystick, buttons etc. As you can see it's in pretty bad shape and someone carved it up a good bit. I have 2 options here. I can try to salvage this piece and use some bondo to fill the holes, sand it down and then cut new holes for my buttons and joystick OR....
Just replace the entire board and start over, and that's what I did. I went to lowe's and had them cut me a piece of wood to the same dimensions and then sanded down one of the edges to a nice rounded shape. I cut my holes and I'm good to go. I also got some paint to match the new overlay (pictured as well) and painted teh new controller board just so the blue looks real blue once I use adhesive to mount the overlay on top of the board. I don't think I explained it too well but I'll post some pics of the finished product once done.
This is the Overlay graphic that will go on top of the new controller board.
And these are just some of my tools. Spray adhesive, sand paper & polyurethane to give the panel I nce smooth glossy finish.
That's all for now. I gotta go finish the board. I think the blue paint should be dry by now. I'll keep you posted on my progress.
My Arcade Machine Project...
Okay, so I guess its my turn to actually post something on this Glog so here it goes....
While I am looking for a job (still don't have one yet) I started up a new project. I am the new proud owner of a vintage 1987 Arkanoid arcade cabinet. Christy helped me pick up this "beauty" last weekend and boy I have a good amount of work in front of me. My goal is to turn this machine into a Multicade Machine that will play all the vintage 1980's arcade games (60 total) such as...
While I am looking for a job (still don't have one yet) I started up a new project. I am the new proud owner of a vintage 1987 Arkanoid arcade cabinet. Christy helped me pick up this "beauty" last weekend and boy I have a good amount of work in front of me. My goal is to turn this machine into a Multicade Machine that will play all the vintage 1980's arcade games (60 total) such as...
- Donkey Kong, Donkey Jr, Donkey Kong II, Donkey Kong III
- Pac Man, Ms. Pac Man, Pac Man Jr, Super Pac Man,
- Millipede, Centipede, Gunsmoke, 1942, 1843
- and others I can't remember right this second
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Macgruber turns ONE!!! Aug 31st
I yelled at him for trying to eat the ice cream with the candle lit... that is why he looks scared.
Here are some pics of MacGruber's birthday. I sang him Happy Birthday when we first got up, he got some bones, some stuffed animals that he quickly destroyed and some puppy ice cream with a candle in it (you can buy this at the grocery store - they have plain flavor and peanut butter flavor) Overall he loved it and is one of the best behaved one year old dogs I know - i may be biased!
Here are some pics of MacGruber's birthday. I sang him Happy Birthday when we first got up, he got some bones, some stuffed animals that he quickly destroyed and some puppy ice cream with a candle in it (you can buy this at the grocery store - they have plain flavor and peanut butter flavor) Overall he loved it and is one of the best behaved one year old dogs I know - i may be biased!
Macgruber already tore off the ears on his giraffe
Langley AFB
Here are some pics I took of the base one day...
view from the "inn"
the large "inn"
by the bay
circle of flags with some old F15s in front of the hospital
one of the gates
another pic of the flags.
I had a pic on my cell phone of 4 F-22s but I can figure out how to get it on here.
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