another Robotron question - how much light should shine down onto CP?

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another Robotron question - how much light should shine down onto CP?

Sorry for all of the Robotron questions. My Robo CP receives light over almost the entire CP from an opening that shines down from the marquee area. It seems like quite a bit of light to shine down, especially over the 1P and 2P buttons which have their own lights.

Is this how the CP should really be? Or should there be something inside the marquee area blocking the light from shining down? I've tried looking around at flyer pics and YouTube vidz to get an idea of how dark-light it should be but no luck yet.

Thanks!
 
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That is a good question. My Robotron mini gets light across the monitor from the backdoor, under bezel instructions lights and I am not sure if that is normal.

Scott C.
 
I will have to check when I get home, there was a similar question about a Stargate last night on the chat. Seems like something may be missing that is causing this.
 
Sorry for all of the Robotron questions. My Robo CP receives light over almost the entire CP from an opening that shines down from the marquee area. It seems like quite a bit of light to shine down, especially over the 1P and 2P buttons which have their own lights.

Is this how the CP should really be? Or should there be something inside the marquee area blocking the light from shining down? I've tried looking around at flyer pics and YouTube vidz to get an idea of how dark-light it should be but no luck yet.

Thanks!

Yes, there's a slight gap where light can shine onto the CP area. I opened up the marquee area and used a strip of black electrical tape to block the light. The lighted buttons appear better that way.
 
Yes, there's a slight gap where light can shine onto the CP area. I opened up the marquee area and used a strip of black electrical tape to block the light. The lighted buttons appear better that way.

Thanks, that's what I was thinking about doing as well (actually using weatherstripping but the same concept).

My (g)arcade isn't pitch dark so the CP will still be able to be seen relatively well- plus, as you said, it makes the lights under the 1 and 2P buttons look more brightly lit. IMO that's a cool effect that you should accent for a game from that era!
 
Pretty much all of the Williams games have this. I think it was to provide illumination for lazy operators who won't go through the trouble of opening the control panel to replace a little bulb, but would replace the marquee to try to draw in customers.

It doesn't bother me to have the light there, except when it shows I haven't dusted the the bezel lately...
 
My Williams games have the gaps below the speaker grill too, allowing light to escape.

I chalked it up to the age of the machine, and wood shrinking. Probably a bit of loose engineering tolerances too in the cabinet construction.

If it bothers you, weatherstrip will fix it right up so long as it's not exerting too much pressure on the glass bezel. A better solution would be placing something within the marquee box to block the light from escaping through that gap, an extra piece of marquee retainer mounted inverted would do the trick.
 
Sorry the pic's not the best but here you can see how much light is shining down on the CP (3rd game from left):

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I guess you didn't get the gist of my previous post.

THIS IS NORMAL!

Done so by design, not shrinkage. If it bothers you and you don't mind your Robotron being different from a standard, out-of-the-box, original Robotron, then modify it as was mentioned above....
 
yup, its normal... my robotron and first joust that i got years ago i was annoyed by the extra light, thought it was a design flaw, and put electrical tape... not long after i got a really nice joust and made the connection that its actually there by design...

i never pulled the tape out of my robotron, but i like the light on the joust, and will probably leave it on the rest of my williams games... they are all the same as your pic, about the top 2 inches are lit up...

- gwarble
 
I guess you didn't get the gist of my previous post.

THIS IS NORMAL!

Done so by design, not shrinkage. If it bothers you and you don't mind your Robotron being different from a standard, out-of-the-box, original Robotron, then modify it as was mentioned above....

Oy, I *did* get the jist of your post, I was just late on delivering the picture LOL :D

I totally heard you and what you were saying- I had just snapped this pic afterward for another reason, and thought I'd share it here for the folks in the studio audience who were either following this thread or may not have a Robotron of their own.

Please try one less energy drink per day, and we'll all get along just fine (kidding).
 
yup, its normal... my robotron and first joust that i got years ago i was annoyed by the extra light, thought it was a design flaw, and put electrical tape... not long after i got a really nice joust and made the connection that its actually there by design...

i never pulled the tape out of my robotron, but i like the light on the joust, and will probably leave it on the rest of my williams games... they are all the same as your pic, about the top 2 inches are lit up...

- gwarble


Cool thanks- just for the sake of the poor 1p and 2p buttons I may still dampen the light a little, but I have not yet done anything to change it from how it shows in the photo.
 
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