New member, first project

[jonfl1]

Hello everyone,

I've trawled these forums for some time as a visitor, and have done a ton of research before finally deciding to register and start my first project. I'm planning on a pretty ambitious project for someone that has little in the way of tools and even less carpentry/building experience. But I pick things up quick and I figure that this will ultimately be a good learning experience for future (possible) projects. And since my wife and I have a 6-month-old baby, I'm planning on keeping a slow, steady, pace with this project and even if it takes me 3+ months to finish, I'm ultimately fine with that.

As for the cab, a little background: When I was growing up in the early-mid 80s, my grandfather and uncle both owned arcades in Daytona Beach, FL. Most of the arcade 'action' was at the boardwalk, but my family's arcades were both several miles further south of the pier. (one of them is still in use, but my uncle sold it years ago) I spent a lot of time in those arcades growing up, and I want this first cab to be a tribute to my grandfather & uncle, and to those fantastic arcades they owned. On another note, my day job involves web programming and I am also a fine artist & graphic designer, so I'm REALLY looking forward to flexing my creative muscles in the cab design and graphics. While I may be using some source files for the graphics, I plan on doing as much as possible from scratch.

The plan:

Although I'm still currently working on the specific layout of the cab, I've settled on a slim upright configuration based in part on Knievel's Neon MAME and Lusid's Arcade Flashback. I plan on naming the cabinet 'Smitty's Space Station' after my uncle's arcade. (grandpa's place didn't have a catchy name bayond 'ARCADE') Some of the basic features I plan on incorporating in this project are:

-Custom Happ-based controls for two players, in addition to a dedicated spinner and 4-way
-Hinged CP top for ease of access/maintenance, in addition to two large rear locking doors for access to the CPU, power equipment and TV
-LED backlit CP
-Two 80mm rear-mounted led-lit PC case fans for heat management
-Side cut windows for signage illuminated by neon speaker lighting
-Coin door
-27" or 32" TV
-PC running MAME and DAPHNE, with possibly other EMUs to be added later
-Frontend is still up in the air, but it's coming down to either Maximus or HyperSpin. I plan on customizing the FE as much as possible, so this is a huge factor in FE choice

So far, as far as supplies and equipment go I have a MAME-capable PC ready to install a stripped down Windows installation on, 27" and 32" TVs (I need to figure out which size is better before moving forward...), and a few tools.
Once I get the first draft of the plans done in the next day or so, I'll post them on here to get some feedback before buying the MDF and beginning my first cuts!

Throughout this, any feedback or advice you all can give will be much appreciated...  

[Dafu]

Welcome!

Now I'll have to rename my thread, as you've hijacked my super-unique post subject;)

I too approached this project with little woodworking experience, and it's been a fantastic way to pick up a few new skills, building one of these cabinet is half the fun (if not more!). In the end you'll end up with lots of nice power tools to apply to a different project

Some comments on your display pick. I picked a 27" CRT TV, and I find that its plenty big, remember you'll be pretty darn close to it, also a 27" already leaves little room for bezel art (if you're interested in that), I can barely squeeze it into my cabinet (with case still on).

I assume you mean a CRT TV, as LCDs are usually widescreen, if you do mean CRT you might find it difficult to fit it in a slim cabinet! Also this may or may not apply to you, but some people can hear a high pitch sound of a CRT when its on, this is the sound the flyback transformer makes (from what I understand), its the same sound you hear when you first turn on the TV, except some people hear it to some degree as long as the TV is on. I'm one of those victims and I forgot about this bit of nuisance since I've been using LCD panels for a while. I'll just have to live with it for now

I haven't tried my CRT behind a plexiglass panel yet, I hear the static of a CRT might cause excessive dust build up, I hope thats not the case.

Finally, regardless of what display you pick there are two nice to have (I consider them crucial) features. First off, you want to make sure the TV will turn itself back on after a power outage, without you needing to power it on. With this feature you can plug the TV into a Smart Strip Powerbar along with the computer, and have it turn on automatically when the powerbar senses the computer turning on. Secondly, make sure that the TV remembers its last input method when its turned back on, that way you don't have to set it back to S-Video every time you turn it on. With these two features you can throw away the remote, you will never have to even touch the TV once you've got it all setup.

[jonfl1]

Thanks for the great input, Dafu!

I think you're right about the TV, because it is a 27" CRT and the more I think about it, 32" is probably overkill for my purposes.

And yes, I'm also looking at this build as an opportunity to accumilate some much-needed power tools...

[jonfl1]

So my only stumbling block so far is in using Visio to actually get my initial plans from paper to PC. Although I have a lot of experience with art apps liek Photoshop and Illustrator, Visio is proving to be a bit of a pain for me. Does anyone know of any good tutorials that relate specifically to arcade cab design in Visio?

I've downloaded the Arcade Paradise Visio plans and found a few Visio panel-related templates, but what I really need is a good tutorial to get me acquainted with what I need to know for designing a cab.

Any help is appreciated!

[Dafu]

You mean for designing the art? Or for the cad design?

art bitmap = gimp
art vector = inkscape
cad = google sketchup

All free tools.

[jonfl1]

You mean for designing the art? Or for the cad design?

art bitmap = gimp
art vector = inkscape
cad = google sketchup

All free tools.

I'm talking about the plans for the cab itself. I own licensed copies of the Adobe apps (through my job), so I've got the graphics side down. I also have Visio installed on my PC, which is what I wanted to put together the CAD-style plans together in because I thought it would be easier than using a dedicated CAD program.

[Dafu]

I've never used Visio for CAD design, but Google Sketchup is recognized as one of the more intuitive and easy CAD design apps out there. You will also find that many people on this forum post their design files for Sketchup. Highly recommended, just watch a few video tutorials to get started.

[jonfl1]

Thanks again Dafu, I'll give Sketchup a try later tonight if I can't get through my current Visio issues...

[Yvan256]

+1 for Google Sketchup.