Arcade signs for Parabolic

DPtwiz

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Here's some signs for Parabolic, he sent me some files and had me cut these. He plans on doing something cool with these, i'll let him fill you in on the rest!

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I got to hand it to you, you do great work. I have even seen one of your repro cabs somewhere.
 
Man, I have thought SO many times about having you do the same for me, just haven't got to that point (my gameroom still needs a few other things first). Could paint them flourescent in the recess, roll on back, then attach a hidden blacklight to the bottom shooting up, for a really sweet lighted sign.

Wade
 
parabolic is doing something even cooler.. i need to do a few more brands, i just worked with what he sent me!
 
Man, I have thought SO many times about having you do the same for me, just haven't got to that point (my gameroom still needs a few other things first). Could paint them flourescent in the recess, roll on back, then attach a hidden blacklight to the bottom shooting up, for a really sweet lighted sign.

Wade
A couple of drilled holes and some ELwire is all you would need. You could even make it battery powered or sound activated.
 
Brett,
Your AMAZING!! These turned out better than I expected.
Ok - I was going to wait until I had at least one of these done, but I guess Ill let everyone know whats going down.
I have decided to make "poor mans" neon signs using EL wire. I have used it in the past on my Arcade rooms for accent. The only problem is that you really cant form it into any shape as its to soft to retain any shape. So after Ive seen What Brett can do with his machine I figured Id ask him to route a channel to put the el wire into. These will get painted black, and framed with some light smoked plexi over them. The frames will be offet enough to be able to hid the wire plug and controller behind the frame. I have already wired in 5 outlets in both of my arcade rooms on a switch to turn these baby's on and off.
So - pending it all works - Ill have some pics soon! - Well as soon as I get them at least! LOL!
As far as which signs I chose- yes there are plenty of other logos I could have done, but the reason I picked these are:
I have a 7 game Atari Row, a 7 game Bally/midway row (8 including my pin), a 5 game Century row, and a 3 game Williams row. I figured Id go with the logos for the biggest amount of games I have (although I do have a Taito, Gottlieb, Data East, etc as well). The Nintendo (which I have 2 of), is mostly because its a well recognized logo like Atari is. I was really hoping there was enough room for the squared oval around the letters, but it looks great anyhow!
Thanks a bunch Brett! I REALLY appreciate you squeezing this in - in between all the major cabs you are building.
 
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I can't wait to see how they turn out! I think I'd use regular plexi though, the tinted plexi might cut down on the EL light too much.

Wade
Wade,
It will be VERY LIGHT tinted plexi - just enough to cut any imperfections in the build (glue, chips, etc.) Think plexi over a tube to cut the screen burn.
Again - this is just an Idea I had/have and will try to perfect it the best I can. Maybe Ill have to go with totally clear. I had Brett cut the grooves wide and deep enough to accept the 5mm EL wire. which may or may not be the brightest - but im familiar with it. In any case it should be bright enough to light up pretty good through a light tinted plexi.
 
If ya need any info on how to solder the ends on EL just let me know.. there's definitely a technique to it to get a strong connection.
 
If ya need any info on how to solder the ends on EL just let me know.. there's definitely a technique to it to get a strong connection.
Yup, Thanks Brian I may just have to do that!! Although Ive messed with it before - fun stuff! Its amazing how its not a completed circuit and it generates light!!
Heres a few pics of my old arcade room before I moved:
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As you can see it throws off a pretty good amount of light just in a line like that - now put it in multiple lines in a 12"x36" box - should put out some light!
 
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Thanks Jeff! looks cool. Signs will be 25.00 each, these are 1 foot X 3 foot, in Birch ply. Some sanding required, and they do tend to chip slightly here and there. If you paint them black and add the EL wire, i don't think anyone would notice it. I can do some next week, i have some cabs to finish first! Brett
 
Thanks Jeff! looks cool. Signs will be 25.00 each, these are 1 foot X 3 foot, in Birch ply. Some sanding required, and they do tend to chip slightly here and there. If you paint them black and add the EL wire, i don't think anyone would notice it. I can do some next week, i have some cabs to finish first! Brett

Can you do them out of MDF too?

Wade
 
yeah, mdf i can do too.
Ill definately be putting up pics of my buildup of these - I hope it works the way I want it to. I personally think its a pretty cool way to have a neon-like logo sign that is totally custom made for whatever logo you want.
Thanks again Brett! That machine of yours will be paying for itself in no time! :D
 
thanks! I ordered an El wire starter kit from gamestencils.com this morning! :D
 
I made a cool sign similar to this for my gameroom of a tron lightcycle from the legacy movie coming out this year.. I used half inch milky white plexiglass and routed the lines in from behind and cut out the profile of the cycle. Ran both blue and yellow EL wire in the channel routed on the back and sealed them in there with clear epoxy. Put a switching electrode on the el and now it pulses between blue and green every whatever seconds I turn the dial to. When it's off, it just looks like a white flat piece of plastic but when it's on the EL glows thru really cool.
 
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