Posts Tagged ‘Downing’

CNC Control Box Update

Posted: 02/15/2013 in Current Project
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Made quite a bit of progress over the past few days. Though I ran into a nasty snag yesterday trying to get the PC to even turn on. Turned out the On/Off header that the power button connected to was color coded incorrectly. So instead of hooking up the switch, I was plugging in the LED instead which just shorted out the power supply!

So after 2.5hrs of screwing around with that, I was able to start making some real progress. With that said, the list of accomplishments go as follows:

  • PS1 screen mounted, wired and tested. Composite for now.
  • All buttons, LEDs and Spindle control installed.
  • Face plate rough mounted.
  • All wires extended and plugged in.
  • ATI X1300 128MB graphics card installed.

A full update and pics can be seen on MBB as always.

Progress still needing to be made:

  • Finish wiring up the CNC Controller to the face plate
  • Cut plastic panels and mount back hardware (i.e. spindle and stepper motor jacks)
  • Prime and paint the main box
  • Label buttons and add decals

I’m hoping by the end of Saturday I’ll have much more complete, at least to the point I can get my router running again as I have a few jobs that I need to get started on, including another case for a ShockSlayer commission. If you didn’t see his previous video of the last case I sent him, have a look. Quite comical in its approach and not the format I was expecting, but fun to watch regardless!

 

 

CNC Control Box: Small side project to distract me from my snow shovel

Posted: 02/09/2013 in Current Project, General News
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I know for the past few months I’ve been pretty quiet all around with posting anywhere on the net. But as most of you know, I’ve been working on a fairly massive project for the past 6 or 7 months. Because of this though, I needed a bit of a break from it and decided to do an old fashioned “off the cuff” hack that will help spruce up my CNC set-up a bit.

What you’re looking at is a CNC Control Box that houses not only the CNC controller but also the PC that runs the software for it. The idea here was to save a bit of space in my shop and make a more centralized control center all around. The siding, base and top are made out of MDF which is something I’ve never used until recently. It’s got its pros and cons but I love it’s milling properties and how flat/sturdy it is. I don’t like how well it holds screws though and it splits quite easily if not pre-drilled. Anyway though, we’ll see how well it holds up. I mounted all the components to the MDF using Pine spacers, super glue and screws. Everything holds in quite nicely.

As always, there are more progress pics and more details over on MBB, but once complete this will also include a 5″ PS1 screen, a numeric key pad and keyboard mount. Now I’m just waiting on a few parts to come in.

Continuing on this this morning was the plan, and then of course I wake up to this.

Snowedin

25 to 30″ of snow all piled up in a drive way with no where to put it! My dog Dakota was standing in a low spot that we had cleared away last night and it was still up to her shoulders! So that took us a good 2 hours worth of shoveling to get the cars out so the snow blower could get in and clear the driveway for us. Fortunately everything is cleared now and I can get back to work. I don’t really care much for winter anymore, but it comes with the territory I guess. Anyway, I’ll have more updates in the next day or so and we’ll see how this turns out.

CND Custom Gaming Swag

Posted: 02/02/2013 in General News
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I guess like any starting out entrepreneur, the time comes when one has to start making the face time with potential clients and really start to work on getting their name out there.  Though I’ve been quiet for awhile, believe me I’ve never been busier in my life. With several projects underway and the time for marketing said projects only mere months away, I decided to take Vista Print up on some of their very nice business card offers as well as a few other treats!

Now that I feel all cool and hip with my own business cards, magnets, pens, stamp and cool engraved card holder, I can get back to crunch time with these projects and hopefully be able to break my silence that I’ve been keeping for the past couple of months. (more like 6 months, but very quiet for the past two)

Thanks again to everyone who has stuck by me this far and the help they have all been willing to give! Big things will come because of it and for that I thank you again!

Controller #2 cut and looking beautiful

Posted: 12/10/2012 in Current Project, General News
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Not sure why I didn’t think of this method before as its simplicity is only over shadowed by its brilliance! By simply painting the casing a different solid color from the base material and then engraving it, the effects really just “POP” out at you! Though this was slightly misaligned, the effects still came out acceptable and I’m quite happy to move on to the next stage with this. This is also the first time I’ve ever used Blue as a color and I’m quite pleased with the turnout.

SNES-001 Advance II controller one complete

Posted: 12/07/2012 in Current Project, General News
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It’s been nearly a month since this project has had anything done to it other than moving it from one place to another in my shop as I updated that. Now that that project is nearly complete, I decided it was testing time for the nearly completed controller.  All in all, I like very much how this came out utilizing my first attempts at homemade circuit boards and CNC machining.

Though I did have to make a few adjustments with the homemade controller board, as in ripping it out and putting the official SNES controller back into it, I still can’t complain much. I will be hopefully starting the second controller shortly and will make every attempt to get this finished before the holidays! This will be for sale too and there will still be a bit of time to get it out for Christmas so if you are looking for that special gift for the retro geek in your family, send me a message!

As for now, enjoy the video and check out the build logs on the MBB forums! More info there as always!

My You Tube channel hits 100 Subscribers!

Posted: 12/05/2012 in General News
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Yeah I understand that this is not much of a feat and really taking almost 4 years to get there too is a bit long winded, but the past year has no doubt been my biggest with over 34,000 views of the 48,709 coming since January this year. Most of my modding buddies though have over three times the number of hits on just one video which is pretty amazing, but then again they make some really cool stuff!

2013 will be the year for me though with all the cool gizmo’s I’ve got cooking up right now! Will that illusive 100K hit video come my way, maybe but it’s all about the projects and all about being proud with your work at the end of the day.

With that said though, 2013 really will be the year this takes off for a number of different reasons. In working with some of the biggest names in the console modding scene, we’re going to bring to you a few fresh ideas and gadgets that have not been seen before. I’m already getting excited, but the prep work must continue. Speaking of which, I’ve got to get back to it!

 

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