Home made button inserts

[poppo]

I did a search but came up empty. I'm sure someone has already done this, but in case they haven't, I didn't want to spend money on new buttons for that Road Rally, and I have not seen anyone sell just the inserts. So I made my own. I photo-copied my existing ones, cleaned them up and printed them on glossy heavy paper. Then I used a frosted Tupperware top and cut two squares the same size as the insert to help diffuse the light. While not perfect, it sure beats the yellowed buttons. I've done the Play 3 Credits and the Spin Reels buttons. Here is a picture of the before and after of the spin button. If anyone is interested, I will post the template when I finish the other 3 buttons. In case someone has already done this, please point me to the thread so I don't waste time re-inventing the wheel.

[jay]

I think the official name for these are legends.

Personally I am a bit leary of using paper in the buttons with the coventinal lights. I could see myself trying to explain to the insurance company why my slots caught fire and burnt down my home. After all I am not zoned for a casino LOL
If I was going the home made route I would at least switch to low heat LEDs.

You can pick up new legends from most of the vendors - John with lots of numbers has them in his Rudy store, I am sure BlueRidge has them as well.... Get some fresh white legends and change out to LEDs to prevent future yellowing.

[poppo]

I think the official name for these are legends.

Personally I am a bit leary of using paper in the buttons with the coventinal lights.

Maybe the right name is what I was doing wrong when looking.

I don't think the heat would be an issue since there are two layers of that tuperware plastic between the light and the insert (legend).  My machines are rarely on more than a few hours anyway.

[StatFreak]

I think the official name for these are legends.

Personally I am a bit leary of using paper in the buttons with the coventinal lights. I could see myself trying to explain to the insurance company why my slots caught fire and burnt down my home. After all I am not zoned for a casino LOL
If I was going the home made route I would at least switch to low heat LEDs.

You can pick up new legends from most of the vendors - John with lots of numbers has them in his Rudy store, I am sure BlueRidge has them as well.... Get some fresh white legends and change out to LEDs to prevent future yellowing.

Okay, I put back a 555 bulb in one of my S-pluses and left it on and encased in the button for half an hour. The highest temperature recorded by my infrared thermometer directly on the bulb was 160°F and it wasn't really that hot since it never burnt my hand. Even given the inaccuracy of using such a device on a glowing bulb, there is no way that that bulb is getting anywhere near the temperature necessary to ignite paper. If the Tupperware is microwaveable, it has to withstand at least 250°F or more (steam at normal pressure would typically be slightly over 212° and there would have to be a margin of safety.)

Short answer: Poppo, as long as the Tupperware was microwaveable, don't worry about it.


Stat

[StatFreak]

P.S. The old standby that typical book paper burns at 451°F seems to be in dispute, and there are surprisingly few hits on Google that can be considered accurate sources. (Ask.whatever.com and other such nonsense need not apply.) I would consider a published scientific paper or technical specification sheet or other official document to be an accurate source.

One of the only documents I was able to find was this study using newspaper dust with and without ink and other contaminants. It basically indicates that newspaper material won't ignite on hot surfaces that are less than about 350°C (662°F). Of course, what we're really after is the ignition temperature of today's common printer papers.

http://www.wpi.edu/Pubs/ETD/Available/etd-050606-161839/unrestricted/haejunparkMSthesis.pdf

Posts on NLG often manage to get my curiosity up.     Jay and Poppo.

SF

[poppo]

I was really just trying to avoid burning the money in my wallet buying new ones.   

I think worse case, the paper may eventually discolor. But I can print a dozen sets or more on one sheet and just replace them as needed.

[stayouttadabunker]

Good job poppo.
I've made few legends myself and printed them on photographic glossy paper.
They come out pretty good.
I know for a fact that I've seen regular paper legends installed on S+'s
running 24/7 for years with the old regular incandescent bulbs.
I haven't seen one machine catch fire yet....lol

[poppo]

Ok, for anyone who may want this, here is the file. It's in .psd format and properly sized.  The black borders are just cutting guides (cut inside of the border). For best results use a heavy gloss paper that does not have watermarks on the back. Paper that says 'prints on both sides' works well. And as mentioned above, using a clear frosted Tupperware top cut to size will diffuse the light. I also added a Play Max Credits.

[stayouttadabunker]

Cool! Thanks a lot poppo! 
Kudo's + to you for shopping them out!

[StatFreak]

Poppo, when I open the file I get a message stating that some text layers need to be updated before they can be used for vector based output, and asking if I want to update them now.

Did you scan these in as vector graphics?

[poppo]

Poppo, when I open the file I get a message stating that some text layers need to be updated before they can be used for vector based output, and asking if I want to update them now.

Did you scan these in as vector graphics?

I created them with Photoshop Elements, so they should be in Photoshop format. Not sure about the layer message.  Here is a .PNG version. Just not sure if these will print to the proper scale. I know the other ones would.

[StatFreak]

Poppo, when I open the file I get a message stating that some text layers need to be updated before they can be used for vector based output, and asking if I want to update them now.

Did you scan these in as vector graphics?

I created them with Photoshop Elements, so they should be in Photoshop format. Not sure about the layer message.  Here is a .PNG version. Just not sure if these will print to the proper scale. I know the other ones would.

The .psd version is fine. I just wondered why I was getting that message.

<ADD> The png version might be helpful to those who can't open psd files, so kudos for uploading both formats.

[poppo]

The .psd version is fine. I just wondered why I was getting that message.

Probably because I did a combination of scanning (like the reel handle) and adding new text on the others since the scanned text did not look great.

[stayouttadabunker]

Anybody know of a fairly inexpensive vector drawing program?

[slot monkey]

Bunker, you can't beat FREE!

Here is an open source program: http://inkscape.org/

While I have not used this program, it was highly recommended by some screenprinters.

[stayouttadabunker]

Bunker, you can't beat FREE!

Here is an open source program: http://inkscape.org/

While I have not used this program, it was highly recommended by some screenprinters.

Oh man! Thank you very much for the link slot monkey!  

[StatFreak]

Bunker, you can't beat FREE!

Here is an open source program: http://inkscape.org/

While I have not used this program, it was highly recommended by some screenprinters.

Oh man! Thank you very much for the link slot monkey! 

 

[tacman]

Just a little tip, when you are done with your design in Photoshop, go to the layers menu and flatten the image. This will compress all working layers into one image. This will eliminate the possible layer update due to version conflict and allow the image to be saved in a wider variety of formats instead of just psd, png, tiff files or other multi-layer formats. I converted the file and added it here for those that have limited graphics capability.

 Dan (tacman)