About time..

Finally started sanding the arcade box! Yeah, i know...

Went out and got myself some sandpaper (while I was buying some particle board to extend a old table I got for free from work) and some more bog to fill up the rest of the screw holes. So i got outside and spend a few hours sanding it to size with some 60 grit. The biggest problem has been the top part has a ever so slight bit of play along the piano hinge - which of course means massive variances at the end your playing at. Ive had to sand each side to match the other by putting it on a flat surface and sanding a bit, flip over, sand a bit more, etc. After a while, It's starting to all come together - while the edges arnt perfect yet there a massive improvment as now only a few bits feel raised, where when I started it have a overbite of about 4mm and was a good 1-2mm out on some parts of the side.

Unfortunately im not quite as in-shape as I could be.. After hours of sanding I noticed it was nearly 9PM and the light was gone so I packed up. Pouring a celebratory bourbon, I proceeded to nearly glass myself in the face due to my right arm suddenly responding to all commands by moving about 10 times more than it should have.

Ive done some research and settled on trying to use some decent spraypaint to paint it, after using a automotive putty/primer spraycan. A few goes of the putty/primer (with liberal sanding) should help me really fill in any gaps I have left.

As for colouring, Im still working out what i want to do with artwork.. But im starting to thing black with red lines might be the go (ala a Shivan cruiser.. Damn Shivans...)

Also... ive finially settled on a name. The Black Box, in honor of the phreaking done in the 60's & 70's (shit even 80s I think) - check it out on wiki HERE and even HERE.



Ive also done some work on the VGA->CAT adapters. One of them had its wires tear off their solder joints (damn cheap crap) which I had to re-solder. I suspect it has a lot to do with the bend that it gets internally - i had a right angle adaptor, then the adaptor, then the cable.. and when the lid was closing, it was hitting the cable and bending the whole lot sideways.

So I converted the VGA-CAT adapter itself to right angle mount to save 20mm to avoid this problem in the future. Ugly, yes. Effective, yes.