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Scratch Build – In Progress Project: 'Troy's Pinball' - Arcade Sequel Build

Discussion in 'Project Logs' started by ARTbyTROY, 30 Mar 2012.

  1. ARTbyTROY

    ARTbyTROY Mod it Til it Bleeds!

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    I assembled the router table that sat in my shed forever and loaded it with an 1/8" roundover bit in preparation for this next part.

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    Wow, what a plastic dust making mess... note to self, next time do it outside. I rounded off the edges of the front and sides, it all feels nice and smooth now.

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    I wasn't real happy with the lack of picture adjustment that the USB 16" monitor had and the viewing angle was terrible. Below is the VGA model, it is fully adjustable, VESA mountable and the viewing angle is acceptable.

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    The two screens are almost exactly the same size, which is required for the project to turn out correctly.

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    Below shows an Antec EarthWatts 750 PSU, a white lazer LED, two sound control modules and four super bright 24 white LED strips. They will be used to power and help light up the replacement parts that are coming from the pinball projects first official sponsor, drum roll please...

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    I am happy to announce that Sapphire is on board as an official hardware sponsor for this build, I will be incorporating an illusion that showcases their hardware into the pinball table to thank them for being so awesome.

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    Below shows most of the 600+ LEDs that will be used in the build all laid out one last time to determine final placement. I decided that the two 44" SMD LED strips and two of the 19" SMD LED strips would be better used to shine from the table bottom onto the floor beneath, and to connect two of the 19" SMD LEDs that go up the sides of the back glass to sound activation.

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  2. Mechh69

    Mechh69 I think we can make that fit

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    This looks awesome nice work so far.
    Subbed MOAR!!
     
  3. kelmannen

    kelmannen What's a Dremel?

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    havent looked in this thread for a while, great progress! :D
     
  4. Overminde

    Overminde What's a Dremel?

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    Loving the project until now :D keep those updates coming :D
     
  5. ARTbyTROY

    ARTbyTROY Mod it Til it Bleeds!

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    I carefully measured and then drilled all of the necessary holes into both side panels, now the Alum-angle frame for the 40" LCD has mounting holes and there is an Alum-angle support piece for the back box. Last but not least I used a hole saw and cut out all four of the flipper button holes, below are a pair of buttons test fit.

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    The bottom part of the table is almost ready for paint, next up are the side panels of the back box. Below is an opposite side view of both sides, I installed Alum-angle onto all of the side edges except the front.

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    I found a great deal on four 120mm fans, they were seven bucks apiece with free shipping and come with a black fan grill, mounting screws and a fan controller, on top of that they look nice.

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    I bought 8GB of DDR3 and a 120GB SSD that is supposed to be whip quick according to everything I've read about it.

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    I am pleased to announce that AMD is officially on board as a hardware sponsor and want to thank them for supplying my digital pinball project with a sweet quad-core Zambezi processor.

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    The 36" roll of light diffuser film I ordered arrived, I am going to put it between the acrylic and the LED strips to help spread the light out. The following picture shows the test fire and it gives a good view of how it looks live.

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  6. Mechh69

    Mechh69 I think we can make that fit

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    Congratz on the sponsor keep it up looking good. I like the diffuser paper i think it will add to the look as long as you cant see the wires behind.
     
    Last edited: 5 Jun 2012
  7. ARTbyTROY

    ARTbyTROY Mod it Til it Bleeds!

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    I drilled a couple holes in the back sides of the alum-angle side braces to allow the wiring from a pair of SMD LED strips to poke through, then I soldered the wires together onto longer wires.

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    Below are the finished products all wired and sleeved, both are now ready to be installed.

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    Time to build and attach the back box... I used a couple C-clamps to hold the side panels in place and then marked and drilled the attachment holes.

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    With the back box attached and the fresh cut top panel in place for a test fit, it is finally starting to look like a pinball machine.

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    Here is a look at the attached top panel from behind the machine, below it is a length of alum-angle attached to the black plastic trim piece that will hold the playfield glass in place.

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  8. ARTbyTROY

    ARTbyTROY Mod it Til it Bleeds!

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    The Sapphire sponsored hardware arrived, the PURE Black 990FX socket AM3+ motherboard is shown below. I have been building computers since the late 90's, so I didn't have to look at this motherboard for very long to know that it's top tier with a switchable dual bios, post code readout and built in power and reset buttons, good stuff.

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    Sapphire also sent a pair of Radeon HD 6870 cards... any fears I had about the hardware being too underpowered to run Virtual Pinball, Future Pinball or HyperPin with every bell and whistle enabled are now history.

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    Sapphire is awesome and it would be a crime to hide away the killer hardware powering my pinball table, so I am going to work a window into the side with their logo on the outline, I'll also be building a mirrored enclosure inside the table to showcase the hardware within an optical illusion.

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    The parts needed to create the mirror illusion are shown below, clockwise from top right is a cut down Lian Li motherboard tray, black plastic mesh, white lazer LED, four 12v white LED strips, 12" x 24" sheet of 1/8" first surface mirror, Alum-angle, 3M heavy duty mounting tape, paper Sapphire template, 6" x 12" two-way mirror, 12" x 36" light diffuser film roll.

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  9. Mechh69

    Mechh69 I think we can make that fit

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    Congratulations on the new sponsor. That is very generous of them to sponsor such a high end piece of kit, it really shows their confidence in you. Glad your showing your appreciation to them and showcasing their kit.
     
  10. ARTbyTROY

    ARTbyTROY Mod it Til it Bleeds!

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    The motherboard tray was too large, so I measured things out and then used a Dremel to cut off the excess bit. Clamping down a piece of flat aluminum angle protects the surface and makes the cutting easier by allowing the cutting disk to butt against it, which keeps the edge cleaner and straighter.

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    I needed to find the proper location for the motherboard and window, once that was figured out I taped down the window template.

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    Below shows placement of the motherboard tray, having hardware in hand let me know that there are a few aspects of the mirror illusion design I still need to work out. They are small details and I will figure it out, but until then there is still work to be done on the back box.

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    The SMD LED strips that I bought for the sides of the back box were just a bit too long, luckily they can be cut at every third LED (as shown below), so crisis averted.

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    I installed two SMD LED strips onto the left and right side pieces of aluminum angle, I also rivet on support pieces for the 23" LCD monitor and cut 3 1/2" out of the bottoms of the angle to make room for the speakers.

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    Below is the 23" LCD monitor test fit onto the side support braces, since this monitor isn't VESA mountable it will be held in place with 3M heavy duty mounting tape.

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    It will also be held in place by an aluminum angle support brace on the bottom, the brace sits just beneath the edge mounted monitor control buttons, so they are all still fully accessible.

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    The 16" LCD monitor is VESA compatible, but I almost wish it weren't because 3M mounting tape would have been a lot easier than the home brewed VESA rigging I built for it.

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    This next picture shows how my Franken-VESA mount attaches to the back box, the four LCD attachment points are actually recycled bits from the 40" HDTV I tore down earlier.

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    Both monitors are shown test mounted below, since the front of the back box has a tapered edge the important and difficult thing is keeping everything lined up straight and even to the front edge.

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    To mount the speakers I cut a piece of aluminum angle slightly smaller than the height of the speaker and then cut a piece of 1/4" acrylic the same length as the alum-angle but slightly wider than the speaker and used two screws to hold it together, it is mounted onto the back box side aluminum angle with four rivets.

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    I will either use 3M mounting tape or Weld-on 16 to attach the speakers to the acrylic mounts I made. By cutting the bases off of the speakers I can get more left/right, up/down movement to better center them, unmodified the speakers sit tight to the 16" LCD monitor and level to the front edge as shown below.

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  11. kelmannen

    kelmannen What's a Dremel?

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    nice progress; love the build, going for classic i believe! :D
     
  12. ARTbyTROY

    ARTbyTROY Mod it Til it Bleeds!

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    I cut a piece of MDF pressboard to fit the back side of the back box, then I measured out placement for two 120mm fans near the top of the panel.

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    I used a dtremel to cut the holes and then cleaned up the edges with a dremel sanding bit, below shows a fan test fit and the fan controller that still needs modification.

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    I drilled an 1/4" hole in the pressboard under each of the 120mm fan holes to accommodate the fan control knob posts, the following picture shows the new improved mounting method.

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    Time to get back working on the Sapphire illusion, the first thing I did was make a mock up to get a better idea of how things will work. I made a design in Sketchup, bought a piece of foam backboard, then measured, cut out and taped together the four panels.

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    Next the panels are test fit to the motherboard, which looks sweet...

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    Then the panels get test fit inside the pinball table, which fits sweet...

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    And the panels get test fit to make sure the position of the window decal template is correct, it lines up sweet...

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    I took my Sapphire window design to Agnew Graphics, a local sign company, the price was reasonable and they did a good job cutting my design fast... and they even gave me a second (mulligan) decal free.

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    AMD came through as well, the sponsored FX4170 processor arrived via FedEx today and it came housed in a sweet little green case, so big thanks go out to them.

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  13. ARTbyTROY

    ARTbyTROY Mod it Til it Bleeds!

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    The foam board illusion section mock up worked well, now it's time to lay out measurements onto the two-way and first-surface mirrors and prep them for cutting.

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    I scored and snapped the mirrors and then couldn't resist setting it up around the motherboard to see how cool it looked, and also to get an idea of what to do next.

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    I used the back piece of motherboard tray and the motherboard back plate as a template and then cut the sections of mirror out using a ripsaw blade.

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    I had to modify the mounting bracket for both video cards to make them fit right against the mirror panel, a Dremel and a metal file made short work of it.

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    The next picture shows the illusion section test fit inside the pinball table, everything looks good from this angle.

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    And it looks good from this side too, it's almost ready for final assembly and installation.

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    Below shows the finished modified motherboard tray, I rivet a couple pieces of aluminum-angle onto the top of the tray to hold the back mirror panel in place and I rivet a few more pieces of alum-angle around the side edges as mounting points.

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    Next up are the mirror panels and pieces of aluminum-angle that make up the illusion section, I'm waiting to make two more cutouts into the mirror panel on the right before they can be final installed onto the motherboard tray.

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    Another great company has officially come onboard as a project sponsor, thanks go out to Performance-PCs for supplying my pinball project with a kick-ass Scythe Samurai-ZZ CPU cooler.

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  14. ARTbyTROY

    ARTbyTROY Mod it Til it Bleeds!

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    I removed the TV speakers from their plastic mounting assemblies and then devised a fairly simple way to mount them into the front of the pinball machine.

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    Below shows the aluminum angle and pop rivet solution to mounting the speakers.

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    Here's a look from inside the table at the back of both speakers being test fit.

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    The bottom edge of the speaker has an angled piece of plastic that should help to direct the sound upward toward the player. The black plastic mesh covers I made will be fit over the speakers during final assembly.

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  15. Cleveland216

    Cleveland216 Carbon Fiber King

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    Congrats on getting sponsorship from Performance-PC's. When I asked them if they could sponsor me I got a different answer.
     
  16. ARTbyTROY

    ARTbyTROY Mod it Til it Bleeds!

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    I rewired to lengthen and then sleeved the wiring to the speakers to give them a more finished look, even though it will never really be seen.

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    I removed the lower back panel and drilled three holes into it to accommodate the rocker switches that will control most of the lighting, while it was off I spray painted it black.

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    Below is a close up of the rocker switches...

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    I put the back box face down and cleaned the back pieces of aluminum angle with alcohol and a paper towel, then I cut, positioned and stuck down some heavy duty Velcro.

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    I painted the back panel to the back box black, I also installed two 120mm fans and then lined up and stuck the panel down onto the Velcro.

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    Here is a view from the inside of both 120mm fans and fan controllers.

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    Close up shot of the freshly installed fans...

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  17. maestro0428

    maestro0428 Master Modder

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    This is really interesting. My Dad loves pinball and I have been inclined to play as well. I look forward to see how you get the LCD panels to work as you have planned. Good luck and I will for sure be watching.:rock:
     
  18. ARTbyTROY

    ARTbyTROY Mod it Til it Bleeds!

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    The Performance-PCs sponsored Scythe Samurai-ZZ CPU cooler arrived and I waste no time installing it.

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    Here is a shot of the CPU cooler in its new home inside the illusion... the mirrors work great, CPU coolers appear to go on as far as you can see.

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    Another shot, this time looking over the CPU cooler and into the illusion.

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    The only way the two-way mirror illusion will work is if the lighting inside is brighter than the ambient light outside, that said I cut some channel aluminum-angle the same length as the LED strips to make a lighting array.

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    I attached the six pieces of channel aluminum-angle to a length of corner angle with rivets and installed the light strips into the channels, four white and two blue super bright LED strips.

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    Below is the finished lighting array, the wiring will receive the sleeve treatment when they are final installed.

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    Here is how it looks on the illusion section, I will be cutting the side rail to allow more light onto the motherboard. Small problem though, the lighting makes the illusion section just a bit too much taller and it sits directly below where one of the circuit boards from the TV is located.

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    I would almost swear that this Sceptre TV was made to be modified because moving stuff around on it is super easy. Below shows the new power inlet and black power circuit board placement, well out of the way now.

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    Since everything else is basically done it's time to move on to masking for paint, well not really paint, it's actually automotive vinyl color. I masked off a 3/8" and a 1/4" strip over the SMD LEDs that run up sides of the back box.

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    Here is the front of the machine also prepped for paint...

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    This next picture shows the installation of the side vinyl masks, the two SMD LED strip locations were also masked off with 3/8" tape.

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    Here's a look at the installed vinyl mask and the SMD location masking, vinyl color comes next and that means it's not far now.

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  19. Overminde

    Overminde What's a Dremel?

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    Coming up Great, need moar updates :D
     
  20. ARTbyTROY

    ARTbyTROY Mod it Til it Bleeds!

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    As you wish...


    Here is the entire thing completely disassembled, the panels were cleaned up and all the masked edges were tamped, so it's ready to spray.

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    Below shows what the acrylic panels look like after the first coat of black vinyl color.

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    Three cans later and the front side of each panel was sufficiently black. The backs of each panel were masked and then sprayed with blue vinyl color behind the vinyl decals.

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    Here it is with the all the masking removed, the shiny smooth blue letters look killer against the finely textured black surface.

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    Sapphire rocks and so does their window outline, vinyl sign material makes a great mask when used with automotive vinyl color, I didn't have color seep under the mask anywhere.

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    Time to install the Sapphire decal I had made, I lined it up and taped it along the top edge, then removed the backing paper and used the blue card to smooth it down.

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    It looks good, but I still have a little more to do on the back sides of the panels before they can be installed.

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    I cut the roll of light diffusing film into strips and black electrical taped them onto the inside panels over the SMD LED strips location, then I brushed all of the taped edges with liquid electrical tape to make sure they stay put. A piece of light diffusing film was also cut to fit over the Sapphire "S", it will also be getting some glow treatment.

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    Both side panels are finished and ready for installation... I still can't believe how nice they turned out.

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    It took a lot of patience and cans of vinyl color to get all the panels looking right, but at $9 a can I wasn't so worried about the back, if it looks a little splotchy it's because it is. I vinyl colored the duct to the PSU black and screwed it onto the now ready for install back panel.

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    Front panel unmasked and ready to install.

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    I am putting the back box together first, get those pieces together and out of the way so I can focus on the table part of the build... not far now.

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