I you sourced one, can't you use it to color match?
It's WILDLY faded. Like JP game store left a game in the window since 1992 and now there's no red or yellow left on the packaging faded! It's the palest one I've ever seen. But the logo's intact and that's all that really matters! I appreciate your offer, and will keep it in mind!
Very cool to see this. If you need any parts for testing / measuring let me know. I have LS-30s and a DDR cab if you need anything specific. Also happy to test junk for you as well. Can;t wait to see what you're able to do!
Thank you! If you've got any other DDR part needs, let me know, ha. Those are small and easy to do runs of. Even with my hobbyist toolset.
Sounds like a great plan bud, curious to see what kind of projects you kick off. Any pics of the stuff you're going to be working with?
I ended up passing on the commercial injection machine because the model numbers are all wonky and it turns out it is only good for about 0.7cubic inches more material per shot than the one I ended up paying for this morning (and doesn't require rewiring, moving a 1500lb machine, and takes up less space). Nothing super fancy, but I snagged a BusterBeagle3D mk4 injector with extended barrel and pnuematic vise.
Should be fine for most of the toy stuff I wanted, and will easily knock out these few projects as well. Tons of others as well, I'm sure, but won't be seeing PGM carts or anything. Maybe CPS3 ones as they're not much bigger than a famicom cart if memory serves. I did see folks making big chonky glasses rims with it quite successfully, so I know that one way or another it'll pay for itself. And a bunch of folks have automated them, so it should be pretty fun to put together and start using.
That's an ideal part for vacuum forming . That's how the originals were made. The longer variant just has a longer bottom board which is just a flat piece of plastic with holes in it. the top is the same on the longer variant.
This is the stuff I *really* want to get into. These, monitor bezels, lots of different CP areas, etc. I'm excited to mess with injection molding for toy repro parts for things I can't seem to find to save my life, and will happily knock out projects with it to pay for building the vacuum bed. Still can't believe how pricey some bits are. Covid really did a number on anything you'd buy through Grainger, etc.
I got down this rabbithole from seeing a reproduction Grendizer Spazer a gent made online (they usually run north of $10k) and it looks remarkably close to the real thing. I've missed a couple opportunities at buying one of his repros in the past few years, and figured I could make my own.
Anyway, that lead into what he used for a vacuum bed, buying a set of plans, buying half the parts, now at a standstill needing to buy some very pricey parts unless offerup gives me a deal. Have space for a 2x4 bed, but electricity may limit me to 2x3, but even that's big enough for 95% of arcade uses, and is just about the right size for making my own version of the Spazer! For a bit of scale, Grendizer's about 24.5 inches tall.
