Project Update (4/3/06)

I've made a lot of progress on many of my projects. Since I don't have a proper site update feature created yet, I decided to post a blog entry to summarize my accomplishments. MAME Arcade: I finally finished assembling my 4-player control panel for the MAME arcade. I was up till 4am on Sat 3/25 trying to get it finished in time for our March B-Day Party. Since then it's been thoroughly enjoyed by all, especially the kids. I need to buy a new soldering iron as my old one is crap. Then I need to solder up the El-wire, LED's for the pushbuttons, and the trackball. Lots left to do, track my progress on this here. Bumper Pool: I found an awesome deal on an old Bumper Pool table off craigslist. Heath and I went to pick it up on Saturday afternoon. We tied it down pretty good in the back of his truck, however once we got on the Glenn Jackson Bridge we found out otherwise. Right after we passed Government Island the high winds caught the lip of the table and flipped it over. Fortunately we routed one of the tie downs through the legs, that held it until Heath was able to pull over. It scared the crud out of me as I was following right behind. If it had fallen out, it would have hit me and likely caused a nasty accident on the bridge that would have closed it down for a while. Phew! Eventually we got it home and had to remodel the basement bar to make room for it. We played a few games after getting it all setup. It is a lot of fun to play. However it does need some TLC and a few modifications. Follow my work on this here. Blazer: I've been scouring the web for new parts and mods for my Blazer. On Saturday I met up with a guy in Gresham to get some 2nd gen seats. On arrival it turns out the Blazer was only a 1st gen. However I was able to find a rear window with defog & rear window wiper and some really nice lighted sun visors. Sunday I decided it was time to paint my dash components so they all match. Took me about an hour to remove them all, and I found a couple more components were need of repair. Eventually I got them all sanded, cleaned, and applied a first coat of dark grey Krylon Fusion Textured spray paint. I'm letting them cure for 24 hrs before I re-install them, however that meant driving into work this morning with my dash all ripped up. This week I'm going to remove the headliner and run wiring for all the new components: overhead console, power sun visors, rear window defrost, rear window wiper motor & spray pump, and cargo area accessory power port. For pics and a full write-up on the modifications check here.