Who's got a lit up backglass hanging on the wall?

DonkeyKongMD

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I'm in the need for some cool artwork for the gameroom. I'm halfway through a simple project to build a frame and lighting system for a backglass, and I was looking for opinions on the best way to light it.

I've already built a ~4" deep wooden frame. Glass to be mounted on the front.

Ideas:
1) Use Xmas lights. Have one string of solid, and one string of flashing. Get the ones where you can take out bulbs and the string will still work. That would give an excellent amount of control to where you want the lights. It would be relatively simple to staple them onto a sheet of thin plywood and mount it to the back of the frame.

2) Use rope lighting. Might not give the level of control desired for light locations/flashing.

3) Go all out and wire up a rig using a step-down transformer and actual pinball light sockets. This would look the best and would guarantee the closest level of realism, but could also lead me to burning my house down with my non-UL listed contraption.

So far, #1 seems the best...

Anybody else gone down this road before?
 
I have a flipper clown i'm doing for this.
after much pondering, i decided plain old led christmas lights are the safest route.
they illuminate just fine and no heat. got some cheap during the holidays and they illuminate the glass real nice.


by the way, if anyone is looking for a project, i have a black knight glass that needs a ton of paint work. i'm not too hip on doing it. so if someone wants to buy a cheap project, send me a message.
 
I'm in the need for some cool artwork for the gameroom. I'm halfway through a simple project to build a frame and lighting system for a backglass, and I was looking for opinions on the best way to light it.

Sounds cool. what glass are you using?

I've already built a ~4" deep wooden frame. Glass to be mounted on the front.

4" is really deep. You should have lots of options.

Ideas:
1) Use Xmas lights. Have one string of solid, and one string of flashing. Get the ones where you can take out bulbs and the string will still work. That would give an excellent amount of control to where you want the lights. It would be relatively simple to staple them onto a sheet of thin plywood and mount it to the back of the frame.

I've seen that done. You can get good results for reasonable money.

2) Use rope lighting. Might not give the level of control desired for light locations/flashing.

That could look good if you don't want any flashing effects. You could probably go with a considerably thinner frame too.

3) Go all out and wire up a rig using a step-down transformer and actual pinball light sockets. This would look the best and would guarantee the closest level of realism, but could also lead me to burning my house down with my non-UL listed contraption.

If you want to use original lamp sockets I would go with a 5VDC power supply. Using #44s it will be a bit dimmer than in the machine but still usable and you it will actually fit inside the frame.

So far, #1 seems the best...

It's definitely the easiest. Rope light seems like a good option too depending on how it looks installed.
 
I used the color changing LED's, 4 strips come in a package and a remote, from Hong Kong. Think they sell the same kit at Fry's Electronics. They're made to be used around a flat screen TV. Works great!
 
I'm in the need for some cool artwork for the gameroom. I'm halfway through a simple project to build a frame and lighting system for a backglass, and I was looking for opinions on the best way to light it.

I've already built a ~4" deep wooden frame. Glass to be mounted on the front.

Ideas:
1) Use Xmas lights. Have one string of solid, and one string of flashing. Get the ones where you can take out bulbs and the string will still work. That would give an excellent amount of control to where you want the lights. It would be relatively simple to staple them onto a sheet of thin plywood and mount it to the back of the frame.

2) Use rope lighting. Might not give the level of control desired for light locations/flashing.

3) Go all out and wire up a rig using a step-down transformer and actual pinball light sockets. This would look the best and would guarantee the closest level of realism, but could also lead me to burning my house down with my non-UL listed contraption.

So far, #1 seems the best...

Anybody else gone down this road before?

4) Use electro luminescent sheet lighting and make the frame 1/4" thick and F'ing amazing!

http://electroluminescence-inc.com/ELsheets.htm
 
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