A few items did get paint. The wood panel that holds the cabinet light (not shown) and the drawer body was painted black. The inside of the drawer was then flocked in Hunter Green.
Friday, May 1, 2020
Time For Stain And Finish
It was a milestone. I was disassembling everything so that I could stain and finish it. The stain was a regular oak stain (brush on) and the finish was a satin polyurethane (spray on). Here is the cabinet, along with all the smaller parts, after the final poly coat:
A few items did get paint. The wood panel that holds the cabinet light (not shown) and the drawer body was painted black. The inside of the drawer was then flocked in Hunter Green.
A few items did get paint. The wood panel that holds the cabinet light (not shown) and the drawer body was painted black. The inside of the drawer was then flocked in Hunter Green.
Colored Flashing Lights? Really???
Yup, really. I purchased some LED strip lights, along with music sync sensor, to really push my build over the top. I figured, "Hey, I've got a sound system then why not colored lights too?" The lights are noted in the Bill of Materials.
I am almost at the point of applying stain and finish to the cabinet but, before doing that, I need to get the light strip tracks in place. I found some corner tracks on eBay that would fit my need. The lights will run vertical up/down either side of the front opening shining light onto the play field. The tracks will not only hold the LED light strips but will also serve as a stop for the front window to lay against.
Installing the tracks was not difficult. Mostly just had to figure out how long so that I could cut them, and then screw in the clips that hold the tracks.
I am almost at the point of applying stain and finish to the cabinet but, before doing that, I need to get the light strip tracks in place. I found some corner tracks on eBay that would fit my need. The lights will run vertical up/down either side of the front opening shining light onto the play field. The tracks will not only hold the LED light strips but will also serve as a stop for the front window to lay against.
Installing the tracks was not difficult. Mostly just had to figure out how long so that I could cut them, and then screw in the clips that hold the tracks.
Keeping It Cool
The motor I chose, after about 10 minutes of running, gets quite warm. So much so that I can not keep my finger on it for more than a moment. I was not concerned as much with heat buildup in the cabinet as I was with the long term effect of the heat on the motor itself. I found a fan on Amazon, noted in the Bill of Materials, which I felt would work well for me. It has 3 speeds, very quite, and is USB powered. All I needed to do was figure out a way to mount it.
Once again, back at my 3D printer, I printed out this stand. It straddles over the motor, allowing the fan to blow down onto the motor and has a recess for the fan itself to help keep it secure. The fan is bolted to the platform and the platform is bolted to the motor bridge.
Not sure what speed I will run the fan at, probably will start at the middle speed, and I can add a heat sink later if I need to.
Once again, back at my 3D printer, I printed out this stand. It straddles over the motor, allowing the fan to blow down onto the motor and has a recess for the fan itself to help keep it secure. The fan is bolted to the platform and the platform is bolted to the motor bridge.
Not sure what speed I will run the fan at, probably will start at the middle speed, and I can add a heat sink later if I need to.
Tuesday, April 28, 2020
A Back Door & A Top
The back door and top boards were cut from regular nice plywood and not oak. The stain applied will be the same but there was no attempt and making them look as nice as the front of the cabinet. For the door, I designed and cut it out on the CNC.
With the gap I have around the door, and so little heat build-up in the cabinet, I did not really need vents but I added them more out of aesthetics than anything. What is important is the hole for the power port. The port, purchased off of Amazon and is noted in the Bill of Materials, has both a switch and a fuse. I used a piano hinge for the door and a couple of magnet catches from my junk drawer, to help keep it closed.
The top board, other than needing some trimming to fit around the protruding speakers (as shown in the picture above noting the top magnet catch), was a simple cut-out and held in place with a some drywall screws.
With the gap I have around the door, and so little heat build-up in the cabinet, I did not really need vents but I added them more out of aesthetics than anything. What is important is the hole for the power port. The port, purchased off of Amazon and is noted in the Bill of Materials, has both a switch and a fuse. I used a piano hinge for the door and a couple of magnet catches from my junk drawer, to help keep it closed.
The top board, other than needing some trimming to fit around the protruding speakers (as shown in the picture above noting the top magnet catch), was a simple cut-out and held in place with a some drywall screws.
Coin Drop Backboard Update - Part 2
In Coin Drop Backboard Update, I mentioned a problem with coins bouncing and a solution. This is a follow-up and shows a walnut strip of wood that I used in place of the MDF test piece.
It proved to be as functional as the test piece at preventing coins from bouncing out. Plus, it is very decorative in my opinion.
It proved to be as functional as the test piece at preventing coins from bouncing out. Plus, it is very decorative in my opinion.
Starting On A Drawer
During the way early on initial thoughts of my pusher build I knew that I wanted a metal coin return tray. Not a narrow slot, rather a TRAY. I just did not know how hard it would be to find one. After tons of internet searching I found one from, I believe, AliExpress which turned out to be both impracticable and undesirable for me. I resorted to ordering one off of EBay I had noticed earlier. I was super happy it was still available.
It is geared more towards slot machines but it was the shape and metal material I wanted. Problem was it was too long. Fortunately the end caps could be easily removed and the result was definitely worth making work. Unfortunately, however, I had to re-cap those ends. To do that, I traced the edge profile on a piece of paper, scanned it in to my computer, loaded it in my design software, and completed the task by carving this test piece on my CNC.
The test piece worked perfectly. So I loaded up some walnut and did the same carve.
Placing them on the ends of the tray and then in the cabinet.
So far, so good. I felt encouraged that I was on the right track. Now to figure out the rest of the drawer.
"But why is is a drawer?...Why do you keep saying 'drawer'?" This drawer actually serves two purposes - (1) It holds the coin return tray for the person playing the game and, (2) It provides easy access to the coins that fall in the lose chutes. This second reason is huge in that it allows easy access to the house-winnings without having to move the cabinet and access those coins through the back. It is this dual support that has made the installation of the coin tray more challenging.
This drawer needs a front. Back to the CNC gave me this:
I then came up with this over complicated way to attaching the tray to the drawer front.
In my defense, this is more complicated than it would be if I did not want to take it back apart for stain, paint, and finish. That is the drawer front. As for the box of the drawer...a little doodling to get dimensions and cutting/nailing some wood gives me a drawer:
I attached some self-closing drawer slides and then made this video showing how it works and why:
With the drawer frame done I can now address a problem with its size and construction - coins that drop from the extreme sides of the play field could drop to the side of the drawer or, worse yet, get jammed up in the drawer slide.
Knowing this would be something to address I kinda already had a plan. Back to the 3D printer I made a couple of wedge shaped pieces. On those I glued some walnut and then sanded the walnut to match the shape of the wedge. The back of the wedges have a slot that slides over a screw. If the screw is tight enough the wedge will be snug and not flop around. (One of the screws is visible in the above 2 pictures.)
And when in place:
That is all the work for the drawer itself (except for stain and paint). One additional thing, however, needed to be done for the drawer's lose chute feature to work properly. Much like the wedge slides above for the push platform dropping into the coin tray, I needed a way to make sure that coins that drop in the lose chutes make it into the drawer and not along side in jammed in the drawer slides. For that, more 3D printing. The picture below shows the underside of the cabinet where one of the lose chute holes is and how it is relative to the drawer.
A quick design and print gave me these to slides:
Here are a few pictures of them in place:
They worked great at redirecting the coins towards the center of the drawer.
That is all for now for the drawer. Stay tuned for more.
It is geared more towards slot machines but it was the shape and metal material I wanted. Problem was it was too long. Fortunately the end caps could be easily removed and the result was definitely worth making work. Unfortunately, however, I had to re-cap those ends. To do that, I traced the edge profile on a piece of paper, scanned it in to my computer, loaded it in my design software, and completed the task by carving this test piece on my CNC.
The test piece worked perfectly. So I loaded up some walnut and did the same carve.
Placing them on the ends of the tray and then in the cabinet.
So far, so good. I felt encouraged that I was on the right track. Now to figure out the rest of the drawer.
"But why is is a drawer?...Why do you keep saying 'drawer'?" This drawer actually serves two purposes - (1) It holds the coin return tray for the person playing the game and, (2) It provides easy access to the coins that fall in the lose chutes. This second reason is huge in that it allows easy access to the house-winnings without having to move the cabinet and access those coins through the back. It is this dual support that has made the installation of the coin tray more challenging.
This drawer needs a front. Back to the CNC gave me this:
I then came up with this over complicated way to attaching the tray to the drawer front.
In my defense, this is more complicated than it would be if I did not want to take it back apart for stain, paint, and finish. That is the drawer front. As for the box of the drawer...a little doodling to get dimensions and cutting/nailing some wood gives me a drawer:
I attached some self-closing drawer slides and then made this video showing how it works and why:
With the drawer frame done I can now address a problem with its size and construction - coins that drop from the extreme sides of the play field could drop to the side of the drawer or, worse yet, get jammed up in the drawer slide.
Knowing this would be something to address I kinda already had a plan. Back to the 3D printer I made a couple of wedge shaped pieces. On those I glued some walnut and then sanded the walnut to match the shape of the wedge. The back of the wedges have a slot that slides over a screw. If the screw is tight enough the wedge will be snug and not flop around. (One of the screws is visible in the above 2 pictures.)
And when in place:
That is all the work for the drawer itself (except for stain and paint). One additional thing, however, needed to be done for the drawer's lose chute feature to work properly. Much like the wedge slides above for the push platform dropping into the coin tray, I needed a way to make sure that coins that drop in the lose chutes make it into the drawer and not along side in jammed in the drawer slides. For that, more 3D printing. The picture below shows the underside of the cabinet where one of the lose chute holes is and how it is relative to the drawer.
A quick design and print gave me these to slides:
Here are a few pictures of them in place:
They worked great at redirecting the coins towards the center of the drawer.
That is all for now for the drawer. Stay tuned for more.
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