Arcade Chopper Project!

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December 9, 2003
I have nearly completed the 3 pod-like feet. I had the waterjet company cut out 7 inch circles of the checker plate aluminum when I had the side plates cut. To build the feet, I used 7" diameter X 3/4" thick birch plywood circles that were a byproduct of the cabinet frame where I cut circles out to reduce weight. I used a hole saw to cut a 5/8" inch deep depression so that a standard pinball machine foot would sit flush. I drilled 1/2" holes in the checker plate aluminum circles and glued them on top of the plywood circles. The feet therefore pivot as real pinball machine feet do. I have included a couple of photos of the side plates too. I just need to spray another coat of gloss black paint on the cabinet base rear side corners where the side plates will attach and the paint will show through.

I am supposed to get the corner pieces back from the silk screening company this week along with the helicopter decals and "US Terrorist Hunt" decals. I should be able to assemble a lot of the cabinet very shortly.

I also ordered some of the lights. Some of these will be for the corner pieces and others will be used as indicators and special effects within the landscaping and buildings. They have been shipped already.

The 3/4" plywood circles were scrap pieces from the cabinet frame. First I had Go H2O cut out the aluminum circles. Then I used a hole saw and a chisel to create a round inset pocket for the pinball feet.	The pinball feet needed to be slightly below the surface so the plates would sit flat on the surface. I then drilled 1/2" holes in the aluminum leaving enough play for the bolt to pivot freely.	The plates were glued on with contact cement. Lastly, I used a table disk sander to index the edge of the plywood to the edge of the aluminum. I still need to paint or wrap the sides of the plywood with some metal to complete the space age look of the feet.
I need just one more coat of glossy black paint here, before I can mount the side plates.	I am hoping that wide head 1/4" Robertson wood screws will look good and work well as a fastening system. Robertson screws are also known as recessed square screws in USA.	Full size graphics (these are shown smaller) were sent to the graphics company. The building graphics shown, exported with some errors as you can see. I had to send the original Corel Draw file to another company to get a full side positive film, then deliver the film to the silk screening company. The helicopter file exported fine. The helicopters will be white vinyl decals and the building will be the same color paint as the base, a burnt orange. I'm hoping the buildings look like high tech vector graphics. Not shown is the artwork for the decals that say "US Terrorist Hunt".

December 11, 2003
I learned today that I will not be able to pick up the silk screened corner pieces until Monday. They will be done on Friday but the paint needs to cure over the weekend. I sprayed the last coat of gloss black paint on the base rear sides and I completed the feet. I used aluminum duct tape to finish the sides of the feet. They look like expensive solid aluminum feet. Very cool! I also bought some colored rope lighting. One length is orange and another is blue. The orange rope light will fit under the roof for general lighting. It should produce a really nice orange glow. The blue rope light will be fastened to the bottom of the cabinet base in a circular shape. Hopefully it will produce a blue ground effect light.

December 15, 2003
I picked up the panels and vinyl graphics today. I was very excited about starting the assembly of the cabinet. It has been about 1 year since I started this project. I had no idea it would take me this long. I can say one thing though, it is far more functionally sophisticated and complex than my original vision. Anyway, the panels fit perfectly. I pre-drilled everything, de-burred all edges and protected the cabinet with tape while fitting things. It looks great. I am really happy with the silk-screening and vinyl graphics work that Addenda Studios did for me. The silk-screen paint is a perfect match. Thanks Darwin! In the pics, I have not yet put on the vinyl helicopters that overlay over the buildings and I have not yet put on the name of the machine "US Terrorist Hunt". PS - The round spots on some pics are dust particles on my camera lens.

The side panels went on perfectly. Luckily my measurements were accurate.	The band around the front was a bit tricky. I protected the surface of the paint with masking tape while fitting the metal which I had pre-drilled.	I really like the look of the metal and the vivid colors!	My shop is a bit small so I could not get a full shot of the cabinet.
The graphics look like high tech vector art. I have not yet put the white helicopters on. Below the graphics, there will be 4 lights.	The name "US Terrorist Hunt" will go somewhere here and on the other side. The controls go in the center of the front and I'll likely have additional buttons and switches to the left of the controls. As such, I'll hold off on putting on the graphics.	A better shot of the silk-screened buildings. I'm still trying to sort out the lights for the top. It looks like I'll get this machine in my basement by Christmas, short of the top however.

December 17, 2003
I have finally solved my lighting problems! A couple of weeks ago I thought of using pinball machine bumper caps as light lenses because I could get them in the colors I needed. Any blue light is particularly hard to find and the size I wanted (about 3 inches), well, good luck. Anyway, I ordered in some samples 2 weeks ago and they finally arrived. I had been researching led marker lamps. After some thought, I came up with a solution which would allow me to make my own unique lights. I can honestly say these look fantastic. The parts needed per light are;

1 - pinball pop bumper cap
2 - 5/8" round, 4-40 threaded nickel plated standoffs
1 - #47 or #44 bayonet style 12V bulb
1 - bayonet type lamp socket base with no mounting flange
1 - 1/2 metal cable clamp to mount the lamp socket base
2 - 3/8" 4-40 bolts round head bolts to mount the bumpercap to the standoffs
2 - 1/2" 4-40 flat head bolts to fasted the standoffs to the checker plate aluminum
1 - 1/4" #6 metal screw for the cable clamp

The bumper caps are elevated ever so slightly to provide clearance for the lamp and for heat dissipation. The aluminum makes a perfect reflector. Having them a bit off the aluminum is a really neat affect. They look very space age.

Here's the solution for the lighting for the top. Shown (upside down) are pop bumper caps for pinball machines. I'll mount them using metal standoffs so that they are about 1/8" off the metal. The reflective metal and the translucent cap produce a great lighting effect.	The light socket will be mounted to the metal using 1/2 metal cable clamps. Bayonet style sockets are available with a mounting lug however they are too long. The standoffs will be nickel plated brass measuring 5/8" long, threaded for a 4-40 bolt. I've already ordered all of the parts including 8 orange bumper caps, 8 blue bumper caps, lights, sockets, cable clamps and standoffs.	Some of these pinball dome lights will go on the rear corner sides and others will mount inside the machine.
Shown is one potential configuration for the dome lights. Perhaps I should have them poke through from the inside so they don't protrude so much?	Just for the heck of it, I tried this arrangement. I think I like this better. Can I introduce red into this machine? I think so?	These other dome lights may or may not be used.

December 22, 2003
I reconfigured my games room to accommodate the chopper machine. I plan to have the machine in the room with basic functionality by Christmas. I may not have the top on at that time but there is a chance I will. I have received all of the parts for the top lighting accept the pinball pop bumper caps which I am using as light lenses. I hope to have all of the lighting hardware and the aluminum checker plate mounted so that when the bumper caps arrive, I can just fasten them on. I'll start off by moving the base in the games room. I just need to put some cable routing holes in the back corners and do a few other minor things. Once the base is out of my shop, I'll have more room to work on the top. As well, with the base in my games room, working on the details such as the landscaping and electronics will be very convenient because I have an electronics room beside the games room. There should be a big leap in progress, in the next week or so.

December 23, 2003
It looks like I am on target to get the the machine in my games room tomorrow..okay, it's 1:10 AM so I guess I'll be moving the machine later this morning. I still have to route some holes for cables and wires but I did drill all of the holes for the side lighting. After reverting back and forth several times, I decided to go with the lighting configuration shown in my December 17th journal, bottom row, middle picture. Drilling the holes perfectly took some time. First I made a template from maple with precise measurements. I drilled all of the holes using a drill press and a sacrificial backing plate so that when drilling the template, I wouldn't get tear-out around the edges of the holes. Then I took the template and clamped it on the side of the corner left corner piece with a sacrificial backing plate on the inside. I mucked around with the positioning of the template until it looked good. Then I aligned the template so it was true. You would think that the lights should be exactly centered between the bottom edge of the silk-screen and the bottom edge of the corner piece. It didn't look quite right so I moved it up and forward about 1/2 inch. The template and backing plate insured I got perfect holes with no tear-out. #47 bulbs and bayonet sockets protrude thru holes to light the blue pinball dome lenses. I had to make those holes sufficiently large for air circulation. After I did the exact same stuff the the right corner piece, I painted the holes for the sockets and 1 one for wire through the side for the chrome light. Perhaps I was over meticulous. A lot of people would have the side lights on in minutes. I want this machine to look like it was factory made if at all possible so I spend a lot of time making jigs and templates to get professional results.

I am struggling a bit with the cable and wire routing holes for the top. The top will have 14 to 16 lights and some semi-hidden rope lighting that have to route to the base of the machine, underneath. I can probably route everything through the rear corner pieces and hide that wire. But hiding the wire will become irrelevant with all of the buildings and landscaping that will soon come. I could route all of the wired on the inner face of the corner pieces. I would like to decide what to do before I move the base but I will not let this hold up the move.

December 24, 2003
I have the machine in my games room! I assembled all that I could including the base, legs, corner pieces, back panel, the audio system, power supply, etc. The top remains in my shop where I intend to work on it, likely tomorrow. I applied the vinyl decals of the helicopters and the name 'US Terrorist Hunt". It looks awesome! I am thrilled with the look of the decals. Generating the machine graphically in Corel Draw was well worth it. It gave me insight of many color combinations and other graphic details.

I really like the look of the name "US Terrorist Hunt". It was a bit strange to have the words "US" and Hunt" with a white outline when the word Terrorist" is solid white. I wanted the words to look American, displaying the red, white and blue. I'm glad I did. I think it works well.

It's funny, I drew the helicopters and the first draft of the buildings in about 20 minute in Corel Draw, just as a concept, expecting to do something much more elaborate later. I found however that the simplicity of the helicopter shapes and the line art buildings worked. I ultimately redrew the buildings but the helicopters are original.

To the left and right of the controls will be will be some other switches for different game modes. I may also add some lights on either side of the name.

A view from my stairs. It's quite the site when you come down stairs. It is very large with vivid colors.

One disappointment is that the blue and orange rope lighting do not have enough light output. As soon as I got the machine in my games room, I tested the rope lighting. I wanted a blue halo on the floor and the orange rope light would mount under the top to light the inside. I'll likely need to install halogen lights in the top to light the inside and blue halo...I'm not sure what to do yet. Perhaps automobile ground effect lighting would work??

December 28, 2003
I accidentally deleted this entry so here is an abbreviated version. I completed the infrastructure of the roof and mounted it. I made a jig for all of the lighting and mounting hardware. I installed the halogen lights too.

This jig ensured exact positioning of the pop bumper light hardware.

The first look at the nearly completed cabinet.

The machine is large and has a retro-modern look.

December 28/PM, 2003
I have nearly completed the roof. The gap between the roof sides and the corner pieces is less than I thought. It is actually about 1/16th". To resolve this, I glued precisely cut black material used for lining music equipment cases to fill the gap. It looks good. I believe what is going on is I likely made the top just slightly wider so that it would slide over the corner pieces. I cannot quite remember. The rear part of the top's sides bow out a bit until they are fastened. Anyway, it looks crisp and straight. I would have liked to add a piece of plywood to each of the top's sides (rear area) to add strength but the gap is smaller than I thought. The strength of the sides near the rear is only an issue if you grab it there when installing or removing the roof. I wouldn't come apart or anything, just perhaps fracture the paint from the flexing.

I finished wiring all of the pop bumper lights and installed and wired the 3 halogen lights. The halogen lights, when operated from a 12V source are way too bright. As such, I'll make an electronic dimmer and operate them at about 6 or 7 volts. I needed 3 lights to get even light distribution. The pop bumper lights look really sharp when lit with a sample bumper cap I have. I'm still waiting for the blue and orange bumper caps to be delivered.

You may notice that the helicopter arm is dismantled. This is because after a few minutes of test flights, a wire in the arm melted. I'm not sure what happened to cause this. I know I was pushing the amperage limits on the wire that melted but I believe the insulation was likely cut due to a sharp edge where the wires exit the arm, ultimately shorting out the wire. This will be about the 4rth time I have rewired the arm. This last one lasted a long time however. I have had problems with connectors and with wire that is too ridged. Recently, I found some fairly flexible wire. This wire combined with a design change will hopefully resolve the issue. I'll use the arm as the main 12 volt/16 amp feed, run two 18 gauge flexible wires for the motors returns (8 amp each), and two 22 gauge wires for the signal wire and helicopter controller's ground. I'm counting on the arm to handle a lot of current through the bearings and bushings. We'll see.

Tomorrow I'll pick up some connectors for the roof wiring, some 22 gauge wire for the arm and hopefully, cut some large cable routing holes through the top of the base. After that, I'll begin planning and building the landscaping and buildings. I don't have a clue where to begin.

The lighting for the top is nearly complete. I left about 16 inches of the front void of any lights for now because I a plan to add an off set sign.

Each light consists of 2 stand-offs, a cable clamp, a socket a light and a pop bumper cap.

The checker plate aluminum acts as one of the conductors. The lights are daisy chain wired.

The chrome halogen lights will be electronically dimmable.

The arm is being re-wired for the last time, I hope.

December 29, 2003
Another busy day on the project. I can't believe how long it takes me to do things. I completed every detail that I could before I can start building the inside landscaping and buildings. I completed some loose ends associated with the top's wiring. I concealed some soldered connections with 1/2 of an electronics enclosure mounted on the top to the left rear side. You can see that I ensured all of the wiring visible on top is straight. I used an old pinball technique by using staples to attach the wiring. I wired the side lights (less the sockets because I am waiting for them) and added a Molex connector for the top lighting and the side lights.

I re-wired the helicopter arm using much better wire and introducing a design change where the arm is the most significant conductor. I used 18 gauge wire for the motor return and 24 gauge for the signal (serial data wire) and the helicopters DC ground. I was very meticulous about he wiring with a lot of consideration for flexing with minimal fatigue and physical resistance. The helicopter flies beautifully.

This stage is a very pinnacle moment in the overall project. It is the second last phase; Inner construction next, then finally electronics. I don't know where to begin with this next phase. I have no experience with plastics or fiberglass if that's the route I choose. Stay tuned!

I want everything to look as good as it can. Shown here is an electronics enclosure that hides a few solder connections.	The wires on top are stapled.	Molex connectors will allow for easy disconnects when disassembling the machine.	I pre-wired the side lights. I am waiting for the sockets to arrive.
The helicopter runs fantastic. It took countless hours to get it right.	The details are endless. Here I built a terrorist graphic from the CIA's "Terrorist Busters" logo. I plan to have a terrorist appear in one or more building windows. When they appear, you'll need to shoot them.

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