What Are Marquees Made Out Of?

[VectorGamer]

Dumb question - what exact material are video game cabinet marquees made out of and where can I purchase this material to make a custom marquee?

[Rev]

my guess would be some king of plexiglass.but that is only a guess as i do not own any.

[Mirage]

Some are glass, some are plexiglass. I don't know specifics other than that though.

[Dr Galaga]

My Galaga and Donkey Kong Jr. are plastic, my Centipede is glass, and I can't remember what my Asteroids is (besides in my in-laws basement!).

[BigO]

I'd think that polycarbonate (Lexan) would be a good choice given it's strength and scratch resistance relative to acrylic (Plexiglass).

[Tempest]

What Are Marquees Made Out Of?

 

Sunshine and farts! What the hell kind of question is that?

 

Actually they can be made of either glass, plastic, or just a thin mylar type material (for the cheapo marquees).

 

Tempest

[Cassidy Nolen]

I think you are asking the process that prints them too? The material varies but Lexan works well for replacement. I would suggest using a dye-based (not a water based) printing process to produce your "underlay". Most wide-format printshops could handle a 300-600 dpi image you take them and print it for you, say 8 inches by 25, and then you can trim it down to fit. Water based inks will eventually fade (all print will but water based it happens MUCH faster when exposed to light) and your colors will wash out. Spend the money, get a good print made, you'll be happier.

 

CN

[Ian Primus]

Depends on the marquee - some older ones are glass, newer ones are plexiglass, the real cheap conversion kind are just thin plastic of some kind, and some are made of "unobtanium".

 

Making a marquee is actually pretty simple. Just cut a piece of Plexiglass or Lexan (available at the hardware store) to the right size, and have your artwork printed out on something and cut it to the same size. A friend of mine went to Kinko's and had something printed on some sort of plasticy paper - it worked perfectly. Just cut it to the size, put it behind the plexi, and bolt in place. With the light in the cabinet, it looked great, and it only cost him a few bucks.

 

-Ian

[VectorGamer]

The reason I am asking is I have a Satan's Hollow cabinet that I am working on that will about a 2" gap between the control panel and monitor. My idea is to fill the void with mounted e.g. plexiglass tinted by blue film and a fluorescent light mounted beneath. There would be a cover over top of the plexiglass that would emit a linear glow that I think would look cool.

[BigO]

If it's something that will be touchable, I'd go with polycarbonate for the additional scratch resistance. If it will be inaccessible, cheaper acrylic would be fine.

 

I'm not quite able to visualize what you're describing, but there are some cool edge lighting effects that can be done with plastics like this. That's what I keep imagining rather than a solid sheet covering the entire display.

[VectorGamer]

If it's something that will be touchable, I'd go with polycarbonate for the additional scratch resistance. If it will be inaccessible, cheaper acrylic would be fine.

 

I'm not quite able to visualize what you're describing, but there are some cool edge lighting effects that can be done with plastics like this. That's what I keep imagining rather than a solid sheet covering the entire display.

 

What brick-and-mortar shops carry the acrylic?

 

If you go to the following thread and look at the pic that shows the front of the cabinet, you can see the gap between the control panel and the monitor.

 

My Cabinet Project

[BigO]

If it's something that will be touchable, I'd go with polycarbonate for the additional scratch resistance. If it will be inaccessible, cheaper acrylic would be fine.

 

I'm not quite able to visualize what you're describing, but there are some cool edge lighting effects that can be done with plastics like this. That's what I keep imagining rather than a solid sheet covering the entire display.

 

What brick-and-mortar shops carry the acrylic?

 

If you go to the following thread and look at the pic that shows the front of the cabinet, you can see the gap between the control panel and the monitor.

 

My Cabinet Project

I've seen acrylic at Home Depot. Not sure if they offer cutting services for it. I remember seeing 1/8" there, but not sure what all they carry.

 

It's that vertical gap between the bottom of the display area and the control panel? And you're wanting to put transparent material there? Would this typically be a solid piece?

 

I know you can get smoked acrylic, that's something you might look into.

I've seen some translucent paints that you might be able to use on the back side of clear acrylic to achieve your color effect. Are you planning to put the light directly behind it? I think I'd want to put a solid panel some distance behind it and reflect the light off that panel so the light source isn't directly visible through the acrylic. (Assuming I'm in any way understanding what you're doing)

 

I don't know the color scheme of the game, but violet or blue neon behind slightly tinted acrylic might look good.

Edited April 21, 2009 by BigO

[VectorGamer]

I've seen acrylic at Home Depot. Not sure if they offer cutting services for it. I remember seeing 1/8" there, but not sure what all they carry.

 

It's that vertical gap between the bottom of the display area and the control panel? And you're wanting to put transparent material there? Would this typically be a solid piece?

 

I know you can get smoked acrylic, that's something you might look into.

I've seen some translucent paints that you might be able to use on the back side of clear acrylic to achieve your color effect. Are you planning to put the light directly behind it? I think I'd want to put a solid panel some distance behind it and reflect the light off that panel so the light source isn't directly visible through the acrylic. (Assuming I'm in any way understanding what you're doing)

 

I don't know the color scheme of the game, but violet or blue neon behind slightly tinted acrylic might look good.

 

The gap is the horizontal gap between the monitor and control panel.

 

Actually, I was at mikesarcade.com and stumbled up a "light shield" for a Pac-Man cocktail cabinet. This is similar to what I want to do although I plan on having a cover of sorts over the panel that will transmit the glow through a linear hole for a more "sleek" look.

 

The cabinet is going to be for Galaga, so I chose to go with a blue glow (green was also a consideration and actually may be better - I'll see). One of the challenges will be mounting the light so that it is positioned properly as you said but also accessible for maintenance.

[Artlover]

http://www.klov.com/images/11/118124215870.jpg

 

That angled piece between the top back edge of the control panel and bottom front edge of the monitor with the swirly gold things & purple inlays?

 

Anyone know what the original piece was made out of. I'd venture to say even wood might have been a possibility.

 

 

Anywho.... Light. That's a very visible location, one that points up towards the player. Even if it was dim, I personally think a light there would be distracting when trying to play. Unless you plan on mounting whatever you're going to put there completely different then how that cab originally had it. If it was perfectly vertical so the light only came straight out towards your mid-section, it wouldn't be an issue. But then that also might look sorta funny breaking the flow of the lines not to mention it would be mostly right up against the monitor frame out and not leave you much room to do anything behind it.

[VectorGamer]

http://www.klov.com/images/11/118124215870.jpg

 

That angled piece between the top back edge of the control panel and bottom front edge of the monitor with the swirly gold things & purple inlays?

 

Anyone know what the original piece was made out of. I'd venture to say even wood might have been a possibility.

 

 

Anywho.... Light. That's a very visible location, one that points up towards the player. Even if it was dim, I personally think a light there would be distracting when trying to play. Unless you plan on mounting whatever you're going to put there completely different then how that cab originally had it. If it was perfectly vertical so the light only came straight out towards your mid-section, it wouldn't be an issue. But then that also might look sorta funny breaking the flow of the lines not to mention it would be mostly right up against the monitor frame out and not leave you much room to do anything behind it.

 

Yes, one of the considerations I recognized was that if there is a light in that space it must be a soft glow light that will not distract the player. As you suggested, I suppose this may have to be angled similar to how Satan's Hollow was.

 

Once I have the monitor in place, I will know more how this can be achieved, if at all.

[NML32]

Dumb question - what exact material are video game cabinet marquees made out of and where can I purchase this material to make a custom marquee?

I found a vector graphic on the Internet for my MAME cabinet and had it printed at Kinkos on Mylar and put that in between two pieces of clear plexiglass.

 

Edited April 21, 2009 by NML32

[VectorGamer]

Dumb question - what exact material are video game cabinet marquees made out of and where can I purchase this material to make a custom marquee?

I found a vector graphic on the Internet for my MAME cabinet and had it printed at Kinkos on Mylar and put that in between two pieces of clear plexiglass.

 

 

Nice game being displayed there!

[SRGilbert]

I would suggest using a dye-based (not a water based) printing process to produce your "underlay". Most wide-format printshops could handle a 300-600 dpi image you take them and print it for you, say 8 inches by 25, and then you can trim it down to fit. Water based inks will eventually fade (all print will but water based it happens MUCH faster when exposed to light) and your colors will wash out. Spend the money, get a good print made, you'll be happier.

 

CN

I think you might be a little mixed up. Dye based inks ARE water based, what you might be thinking of are pigmented inks, or even better, solvent based inks. I've been in printing for many many years and have used all kinds of large format printers.