Wife- / Living-Room-Friendly Cocktail Cab

[piecesof8]

Disclaimer - Let's just get this out of the way right up front: I'm a cheater. I'm building a cocktail cab from an Arcade Depot kit. You won’t be seeing any amazing feats of woodworking here. But I figure there must be others out there who, like me, don’t have the tools or space to do a complete from-scratch build, so maybe they’ll be able to garner something helpful from my experience. We’ll see.

I decided on a cocktail for a few reasons. First, I have fond memories of cocktails from back in the day when every pizza joint had one so you could enjoy a few rounds of Galaga or Ms Pac while you waited for your order. Second is space: unless we eventually build another room onto our house, this is realistically the only cab I’m going to have room for. A cocktail with a third control panel seemed like the best option to be able to play both vertical and horizontal games. And finally, a cocktail with a nice stained finish just seems more “living room friendly” than an upright cab. My plan was to go for a more modern wood finish than the “80’s oak” of the classic cocktails, with all black controls. Classy. 

I received the kit from Arcade Depot on Friday and got a good bit of the assembly done over the holiday weekend. Pics to come later.

[piecesof8]

First, a quick review of Arcade Depot.

Scott at Arcade Depot was great to work with. I liked their base cabinet design, but I wanted to make a few customizations. Scott was very willing to accommodate my customizations, and his pricing for the custom cuts was more than reasonable. The quality of the end product that I received is top-notch. There are a couple small iffy places in the finish, but still much better than I could have done by hand. The assembly instructions were a little sketchy in places (I’ll get into more detail once I get to the pics), but anyone who has worked with any type of kit furniture should be able to figure it out without too many headaches.

Overall, I’m very pleased with the product I received from Arcade Depot. There’s only one area that somewhat soured my experience with them, and that is...

Communication. Sorry Scott, but I’ve gotta ding you on this one. I first started working with Scott way back in mid-January. Everything was going along fine, until in early February Scott suddenly stopped replying to my emails.

About two months went by with me sending an occasional “Hello, anyone there?” message. Even tried sending from multiple email accounts. I was convinced that Arcade Depot was no more, until I saw a forum post somewhere that made me think someone had received a recent response from Scott. I tried once more from yet another email address, and finally got a response.

Turns out that Arcade Depot is using some kind of whacky message routing that uses the value of the From: field to route messages, and messages with my name in the From: field were ending up in a black hole, or maybe somewhere in Neverland. I was able to get back in touch with Scott when I used an account with a different From: value. Now normally I would say this was just a fluke and I was the one person with the bad luck to experience it, but if you do a search for Arcade Depot you’ll see that I’m not the only one this has happened to.

Arcade Depot offers no means of contact other than email. If you’re going to run an Internet-only business with email as the sole means for your customers to contact you, then in my opinion that email had better be reliable.

Once I finally got back in touch with him, Scott was extremely responsive right up until the end, when I had some difficulty finding out the shipping status of my order. Apparently Scott had been dealing with a family emergency, which I can hardly blame him for. Once they finally did ship it out, they did so via overnight air (not necessary, but appreciated nonetheless), so I can’t really complain about that.

So to sum it up: I’m very satisfied with the product I received, it’s just that I’ve never had to work quite so hard to give someone my money before. Had this been a more mainstream vendor, I would have run far away after about the second unanswered email. Moral of the story: if you decide to order from Arcade Depot, you’re going to receive a very nice product - just be forewarned that you very well could encounter some communication issues and delays along the way.

[Edwards80]

Don't feel bad about not building from scratch. You are 1up on me, as if it was even a contest, as I have had a shell built for me - Just waiting for delivery now

I wanted the cab soon and had no inclination to build it myself, despite the extra cost of having it made. Looking forward to wiring the controls etc. up though! I'm going to scratch build my next project but that's a much smaller affair

Looking forward to seeing how your build goes.

[BurningBeard]

So you gonna find a way to sneak some kinda Clutch theme into it?

 

[piecesof8]

You can tell just from the packing job that the Arcade Depot guys have been at this for a while. I was actually quite surprised at how small the package I received was. Everything was very securely wrapped and well-protected.


First thought: All that came out of there?
Second thought: What have I gotten myself into?


My Pilot, looking a little pissed that I've taken over its spot in the garage to work on this project. Also notice that I really should be mowing the yard instead of building an arcade cabinet.


First step, glue up and screw up the bottom of the third control panel:


The third CP itself is in two parts that attach with dowels and glue. Word to the wise: don't buy those "set of 6 new" ratchet clamps that pop up all over ebay when you search for ratchet clamps. You get what you pay for.


Third CP on:


Via piano hinge:


Third CP side panels. Note that I strayed from Arcade Depot's directions here, as their directions said to glue on the side panels before installing the piano hinge. But then when you got to the step of installing the piano hinge, the directions said to adjust the side panels for proper clearance (which would have already been glued in place at that point had I followed the directions step-by-step).


Gluing the P1/P2 sides (front and back? ends? I'm not sure what to call them in this case) to the bottom panel:


Attaching the rear bottom panel:


Attaching the front panel w/ third CP installed:


Attaching the P2 control panel housing:


Attaching the P1 control panel housing. Notice the growing pile of broken ratchet clamps in the background. These things should have come with a warning sticker: "WARNING: this item is for decorative purposes only. Any attempt to actually tighten the clamp onto wood will result in the cheap plastic housing flying apart and the trigger falling off."


A test fit to see what the finished P1/P2 control panels will look like. I don't want to mount these just yet since I don't have my controls yet.


Installed corner brackets for added support:


Piano hinge for the rear panel:


And now for the biggest pain of the assembly: attaching the hinged portion of the back panel to the piano hinge. It was a ---smurfette--- figuring out how to get it lined up just right. What I did was fed masking tape through the slots in the piano hinge, then closed the hinge and set the panel into place in the closed position, then tightened up the tape. This allowed me to open it with the tape holding it just enough that I could then install the screws.



And finally, a preview of the finished product. The top is just resting in place in these pics - I don't want to actually attach it until I figure out how I'm going to secure the monitor to it. Arcade Depot custom-routed it for my LCD monitor (an HP LP2065), so now I just need to figure out how to hold it in place.



And that's where it stands for now. (Well, actually it stands in the back corner for now - had to get my truck back in the garage before it disowned me, after all.)

[syph007]

That's for sure one of the nicer kits I've seen.  It looks like it's actually make of real wood?  The other kits I've seen are particle board covered in black melamine, and they look terrible IMO.

[meany]

Looks good so far.  Did the kit come with the glass?

[piecesof8]

So you gonna find a way to sneak some kinda Clutch theme into it?

 

Ha! Good question, and I haven't figured out the answer yet.

For those who might not have seen BurningBeard's project thread: My original plan was to go with the all stained wood and black controls look. Then somebody brought up the idea of a Clutch theme in BurningBeard's thread and that got me to thinking... I've been a huge Clutch fan for a very long time (going on 20 years at this point ), and a Clutch-themed cocktail underlay would add a nice personal touch to my project. I've even got a good start on the design concept.

But then I actually received the kit and I'm kinda digging the stained wood top, so I'm waffling back and forth on whether I should cover that up with an underlay... What do you guys think? Artwork or no artwork?

[piecesof8]

That's for sure one of the nicer kits I've seen.  It looks like it's actually make of real wood?  The other kits I've seen are particle board covered in black melamine, and they look terrible IMO.

Yes, it's birch ply. Arcade Depot definitely seems to offer a one-of-a-kind product (believe me, I looked for alternatives when I couldn't get a response from them).

[piecesof8]

Looks good so far.  Did the kit come with the glass?

No, the glass is sold separately. Arcade Depot has it, but you can find it elsewhere cheaper (which is what I'm going to do).

[Silas (son of Silas)]

Interesting to see one of these being built. I had considered building from a kit when I first decided to take the plunge, but I couldn't justify the up front spend so opted to build myself gradually over time as funds allowed.

It certainly looks a LOT less effort/time than building from scratch, and you end up with a pretty nice looking cab too. Thanks for posting this 

[MameMaster!]

I used the same kit about 5 years ago. Really nice wood and overall really nice quality.

The one weak link in my opinion is that piano hinge side. Once you secure the top it feel really fragile when you have to open the cab.

But-- despite that, I've never had a problem.

Here's my old project thread--- http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,28555.0.html

Since these old photos were taken I've made a custom control panel for it as well.

[piecesof8]

The one weak link in my opinion is that piano hinge side. Once you secure the top it feel really fragile when you have to open the cab.

Yeah, I can see how that would feel like a weak point. Since my LCD is going to be secured to the top panel, I'm thinking I may have to add some reinforcement between the top panel and the hinged panel in addition to what they provided with the kit.

How do you secure yours in the closed position? I'm thinking of adding some small latches at the front if I can find some that wouldn't be too noticeable above the third CP.

[opt2not]

If you want to really make it wife/living room friendly, invest in some micro-leaf switches from groovygamegear ( or: jasonbar still has a bunch for sale for cheaper) These are great, they're silent running and feel pretty good to play with, or you can get yourself actual leaf buttons.

Believe me, minimizing the amount of clicking would minimize the amount of nagging from the missus.

Oh, and get yourself some silent fans too. Nothing is more annoying than watching the tube while there's buzzing and clicking going on in the background.

[piecesof8]

Nothing is more annoying than watching the tube while there's buzzing and clicking going on in the background.

Yup, micro-leafs and silent fans are definitely part of the plan. Still got lots of stuff left to order.

My wife was giving me "those looks" when I first started talking about this project, but she really came around once she actually saw it coming together. She was even helping out with my "hold here while I screw this on" requests. And my daughter keeps trying to rush me to finish it - I keep having to explain to her that it's gonna be a while before we can play it.

[opt2not]

What are you planning for audio?  Got plans for a Volume control? That can also help with keeping it friendly.
I was just thinking about installing a volume control pot hidden below the 1st player CP on my cocktail...

[BurningBeard]

But then I actually received the kit and I'm kinda digging the stained wood top, so I'm waffling back and forth on whether I should cover that up with an underlay... What do you guys think? Artwork or no artwork?

The kit looks real nice, if it were me I would stick with the wood top.  Not to mention if you want to go with the "classy"/"wife friendly" I'm sure the wood would match it's surroundings better.  Just my .02

 

[piecesof8]

What are you planning for audio?  Got plans for a Volume control? That can also help with keeping it friendly.
I was just thinking about installing a volume control pot hidden below the 1st player CP on my cocktail...

I have a Logitech S220 speaker system that I'm going to stick in there, with the satellite speakers mounted behind those "grills" you can see in the photos. Not sure yet if I'm going to try to have an accessible hardware volume control, or maybe just use a software solution for that.

[piecesof8]

The kit looks real nice, if it were me I would stick with the wood top.  Not to mention if you want to go with the "classy"/"wife friendly" I'm sure the wood would match it's surroundings better.  Just my .02

One vote for no artwork - any other opinions? MameMaster's looks pretty cool with that Galaxian underlay.... 

[drventure]

What are you planning for audio?  Got plans for a Volume control? That can also help with keeping it friendly.
I was just thinking about installing a volume control pot hidden below the 1st player CP on my cocktail...

A vol knob definitely, but I'd suggest a headphone jack as well, then just tuck a pair in a draw or cabinet opening on the side.

I also vote for no, or very little artwork.

Instead, I'd head over to lowes or home depot, and pick up some hardwood trim molding, stain it and nail it on. Trim that base kit out and I'll bet it'll be a vast improvement. My daughter and I took a 5$ toybox I picked up from a garage sale, sanded and stained it then trimmed it out with some baseboard and crown molding I had left over. My wife actually +asked+ to put it in the living room! Plus, if you're decorating is in the theme, there's all sorts of carved and embossed wood "elements" you might use too.

Stuff like this



or this



You stain it to match, then nail it on, then clear coat it all.

[piecesof8]

Cool idea, but that might be straying a little farther away from that classic cocktail look than I want to go... Hmm, something else to think about.

[drventure]

Cool idea, but that might be straying a little farther away from that classic cocktail look than I want to go... Hmm, something else to think about.

True

I'm just thinking more of "blending in more with your other furniture" that "looking like and arcade machine"...

My cab's way over the top in that area, so my view is admittedly a little warped. 

I guess what I'm imagining is a cocktail cab, positioned in kind of a corner of the room, with a couple chairs around it, and maybe a lamp or two, like a small seating area. To that end, when I walk into the room, I'd rather at first glance see a nice sitting area around a smoked glass table, and only later realize that it's something much more 

BTW I do like the proportions of that kit. Looks really good!

[gryhnd]

I'm just thinking more of "blending in more with your other furniture" that "looking like and arcade machine"...

That's how I got it past my wife too 

(I really need a better name for it though)

[piecesof8]

You two are way outta my league. 

[piecesof8]

Not much progress this weekend (too many other things going on), but I did get started on my monitor mount.

I took a spare piece of plywood and clamped the plate from the back of the monitor to it as a guide for my drill:


And ta-da! A wooden VESA mount. Thrilling, I know.



I placed the monitor into its routed recess on the top panel with my new mount in place to measure the gap between the mount and the surface of the top panel. Then I cut some strips of scrap plywood and glued them up to the right size:




The plan is to glue-n-screw one of these spacers to the underside of the top panel on either side of the monitor recess, and then use wood screws to attach my monitor mount to the spacers. I'm totally making this up as I go along... Do the experts think this sounds like a sturdy mount to hold an LCD in place on the underside of the top panel?

[emphatic]

I have a Logitech S220 speaker system that I'm going to stick in there, with the satellite speakers mounted behind those "grills" you can see in the photos. Not sure yet if I'm going to try to have an accessible hardware volume control, or maybe just use a software solution for that.

I have this in both of my cabinets, very neat little system with just the right amount of bass to make the games "come alive". It comes with a small remote with volume control and a speaker muting headphone jack that should be really easy to hide under one of the edges of the "table".

[piecesof8]

I have this in both of my cabinets, very neat little system with just the right amount of bass to make the games "come alive". It comes with a small remote with volume control and a speaker muting headphone jack that should be really easy to hide under one of the edges of the "table".

That's good to know - I actually haven't even taken that out of its box yet. Now that I think about it, I think it may have been one of your posts that made me buy that. 

[MameMaster!]

Sorry I just noticed your question around how I fastened the top-- actually I used the industrial velcro. It isn't the best solution-- but it works like a charm.

[piecesof8]

Wow, my progress really slowed to a halt after that first post, huh? I need another holiday weekend! I did finally get the top panel on.

Attaching the piece that Arcade Depot provided to connect the rear hinged panel to the top panel. I used glue here in addition to the provided screws.


Just a little extra room to add some extra reinforcement:


Attached each of my monitor spacers with glue and three big wood screws.



A preview of what the monitor will look like when mounted. Don't worry, it's still got a sheet of plastic on it for protection - it doesn't really look all hazy like that. 



Flipped it over, lined it up, and pre-drilled the screw holes to attach the monitor mount to the spacers.



Lined up the top panel just right, clamped it down, and screwed it in place.




Used that little bit of extra space to add some small shelf brackets for some extra support when opening it up.





Don't think I'm gonna stick the monitor in there just yet - I have a feeling that gaping hole in the top may come in handy for some of the things I have yet to do. 

[piecesof8]

Slow and not-so-steady progress here, but I'm getting there in spurts... Received my order from Groovy Game Gear this week, so I couldn't resist playing with my shiny new toys!

Attached the supports for the vertical CPs - I think this was my final bit of gluing left to be done! (With the exception of some hot glue here and there, I'm sure.)




Started filling all those holes with my new buttons and spinners from GGG, then applied my vinyl labels from Pongo to the coin, player, and admin buttons.







Hmm, something's conspicuously missing from those pics... Gonna have to send some funds divemaster's way and see if we can't remedy that. 

I got micro-leaf switches for all the action buttons, and the standard "soft touch" switches for the coin, player, and admin buttons. I must say, the standard switches that GGG offers live up to their name - I really don't notice that much of a difference in feel between those and the micro-leafs. The micro-leafs are noticeably quieter, though.

[Roo]

It's looking really good! I like the finish and all black accents.

[piecesof8]

Thanks! It's really starting to look like the picture I had in my head, now.

[ChurchOfSolipsism]

Very nice. I'd love to build a cocktail one day, and I'm envisioning one exactly like yours. The black controls look classy.

[mjthompson]

piecesof8,

I'm in the middle of down-sizing a full size cabinet (Lucid's design) to a cocktail.  I've looked at the trade-offs between pre-assembled (mikesarcade.com), kit (arcadedepot.com) and scratch built (me).  Based on your pictures, I think the arcadedepot.com is the way to go (although I'm a bit worried about communications).  Can you tell me what color stain you went with and how much shipping was?  I don't think you mentioned either above.

I really like the look of your table, very nice!

[piecesof8]

Sure, the stain color is red mahogany, and the shipping was around $50.

[mjthompson]

Awesome, thanks! I just sent Scott a note, we'll see what kind of turn-around I get...

[piecesof8]

Awesome, thanks! I just sent Scott a note, we'll see what kind of turn-around I get...

Get started now, and you might have it in time for New Year's. 

Just kidding... I don't mean to keep knocking Scott - seems like a great guy and they make a great product, but they definitely have some ongoing issues they need to iron out. At the rate I'm going, you might get yours finished before I do.

[mjthompson]

Well, I placed an order today.  Scott seems like a very nice guy.  We'll see how long it takes to get the kit.

[piecesof8]

Well, I placed an order today.  Scott seems like a very nice guy.  We'll see how long it takes to get the kit.

Things went very quickly for me once I got the order in - it was getting to that point that was the problem. So it sounds like you should be in good shape.

I got my U360's from divemaster, but one of them suffered some shipping damage, so I'm waiting on some replacement parts at this point. Once I get those I should be ready to start wiring this thing up!

[piecesof8]

Okay, I'm scratching my head a bit here, so I've come to beg for ideas.

I added some heavy duty magnetic catches to hold the top panel in the closed position:




Now I'd like to do something similar for the third control panel... A non-permanent solution to hold it in the closed position, just enough to keep it from opening during play or when a cat jumps on it.   The problem is that space on that panel is very limited, and my controls take up almost the entire panel. I've basically got this one small area where I could squeeze something in:


But problem 2 is that that spot lands in the area where the front panel is cut out to allow cables to feed through:


So I'd probably have to add some wood back in there in order to use any type of latch or catch. I considered using velcro, but when the panel is folded up the back edge of it rests flush against the front of the cab, and adding velcro there would cause a gap. Not sure if it would be enough of one to worry about, though.

So... Ideas, suggestions? Please? 

[drventure]

I'm having a hard time getting my bearings from the pics.

Not sure if it'd work for you but I've had pretty good results using those powerful rare earth magnets for catches.

The thick 1/2" dia ones will hold a +LOT+, and they sell them in various sizes all the way up to smash-your-hand strong.

I'd think a 1" dia unit would be more than enough. and you can counter sink them into the wood, then epoxy in place for a very clean finish.

[piecesof8]

Sorry, I should've taken the pics from farther back. Some of the earlier pics show how the third CP folds open.

Thanks for the tip! I'm not sure I've seen those before... Where might I find them?

Edit: Nevermind, I see them on Amazon. I assume I wouldn't want to use something like that in close proximity to the U360's since they use magnets to function... Do you think that would be a problem?

[drventure]

Maybe if they were +really+ close, but from what I've seen the magnetic field drops off so quickly, the beyond a few inches, there's not much of a residual effect at all.

[gryhnd]

Agree with D.V.  Was actually starting to type up a reply last night when I got distracted by Haven and Eureka.

I use rare earth magnets in lots of places around the house: in my cocktail cab to hold the front access panel on, to hold the dog run leads up against the patio doors, to hold some heavy s.s. baffles I attach to the undersides of my kitchen cabinets when the indoor grill is running. 

Google for them. I usually use the 1/2" round ones simply because of fit, and get them from Parts Express.  There's also a web site called something like Gauss Boys that sells a wide range of shapes and sizes.

[jimmy2x2x]

Quite a selection here: http://www.dealextreme.com/products.dx/category.1105~search.earth%20magnets

about 10 days delivery for the me in the UK

[piecesof8]

Thanks, guys. Learn something new every day!

[piecesof8]

Last post in August, huh? Wow, slow is me.

I figured nobody really wanted to see a "mounted my fans" post followed several weeks later by a "wired up a joystick" post, so I've been saving up my progress until I could post a more significant update. Yeah, let's go with that explanation - nothing to do with me being too lazy to gather up all the photos and resize them.

Hang on, this next update's gonna be a doozy!

[piecesof8]

Okay, time to wire up and install the vertical control panels. I used button head screws with nylon lock nuts to mount all my joys. Maybe not quite as clean looking as carriage bolts, but they definitely made for easy installation. They seem to catch a lot of the camera flash for some reason - they're actually much blacker in real life than they appear in the photos.

[piecesof8]

Fans! Of the silent variety!

I used the same type of button head screws to mount these. I wasn't crazy about the Yin Yang theme of the fan guards, but they were black and cheap and I figured nobody would be looking at them up close anyway.

[piecesof8]

Time to finish up that third control panel. I found that the circular recesses under the joysticks weren't quite adequate for the diamond-shaped bottoms of the U360's, so I had to get creative with the RTX:





After everything was closing properly, it was on to installing the joys (button head screws again) and wiring up all the buttons. I used bat tops over here, because I thought they would feel more authentic for the type of games I'll be playing on this side.

[piecesof8]

Needs more power! I went with the common Smart Strip hack to power the cab. I wired it up to a power entry module for a clean look from the outside.


SNIP!!








I used insulated disconnects, then shrink-wrapped them, then wrapped the whole shebang in some electrical tape for good measure. Overkill? Maybe. I have no idea. I figured better safe than sorry.



Ta-da! I probably should have used black screws to please the perfectionist in me, but I figured I'd be able to avoid those looks from my wife if I didn't have to tell her that I needed go to the hardware store yet again.

[piecesof8]

Here's my solution for my third CP latching conundrum. I cut a small piece of spare ply and glued it into the opening in the front panel. Then I picked up a heavy-duty magnetic catch and used that tiny bit of free real estate on the underside of the CP to install it. It holds pretty well - should prevent the CP from opening during normal use (no cats have caused it to open yet  ), but still easy enough to pop it open if I need to.

[piecesof8]

Time to give this thing some guts!

My old Lian Li case, which sacrificed itself for the cause:



The great thing about this case is that it was so modular, so I could swipe its removable motherboard tray, hd cage, etc, to provide easy ways of mounting the hardware inside the cab. Once I pillaged the poor old dragon case, it was just a matter of finding an arrangement for everything to fit comfortably and then securing it all in place. How you guys ever fit arcade monitors in cocktail cabs is beyond me!







The Logitech S220 speaker system I'm using has a nice volume control that I was able to velcro away under a corner of the top panel for easy volume adjustments:

[piecesof8]

The monitor goes in! My only complaint about the HP LP2065 is that damn silver bezel - you can see just a tiny bit of it around the edge of the routed opening (not as noticeable in real life as it looks in the pictures - the flash reflects off of it and makes it stand out more in the pics). I guess I could've taken a sharpie to it or something before install, but too late now. Other than that, the thing is gorgeous!

[piecesof8]

And for the last step (really? it's finally done??), the glass goes on. I can highly recommend xtremegameroom as a great place to pick up your cocktail glass at a great price.






And finally, this is what it's all about, right here:



I just finished the monitor/glass last night, and then my daughter and I had a blast playing this thing together. Now I just need to find some nice stools to use with it - my daughter can play at standing height, but playing on my knees is killing me! 

[pmowry]

Congratulations on completing the cab!!  It looks very nice. If I decide to build a cocktail unit I thunk I'll follow your route with the kit.

My daughter is a little older (12 when I completed it) so she gave me some strange looks for building such a thing, now she plays any time I turn it on. One of her favorites is Monster Farm Jump. She plays it with her little cousins. I think it would work 2 player with your 3rd panel.

[piecesof8]

One of her favorites is Monster Farm Jump. She plays it with her little cousins. I think it would work 2 player with your 3rd panel.

Thanks, I hadn't heard of that one. We'll have to check it out. 

[DaOld Man]

Great job! Very nice work, I like the wiring job too.
You can "paint" the heads of the screws on the power entry with a black sharpie. It works wonders, and if you are very careful (or use masking or painters tape), you could probably use the sharpie to darken the silver monitor bezel.
But I think it looks great the way it is.

[BobA]

Black electrical tape on the bezel will make it look good if you do not want to paint it.   Nice cocktail cable 

[piecesof8]

Thanks for the compliments, guys. 

I've made peace with the silver bezel at this point. It's really not as noticeable as the photos make it out to be - certainly not enough to make it worth pulling it back out again!

[Creeper]

You did a fantastic job. I want to make a cocktail cabinet and this is very inspiring. I love how tidy your cables, wiring and computer components are. 

[piecesof8]

It's funny, I kind of thought I was rushing some of the wiring job as I did it. 

[yotsuya]

I agree, it looks great. I love the power strip hack you did.

[piecesof8]

I agree, it looks great. I love the power strip hack you did.

The only issue I found with the Smart Strip is that there seems to be about a 1mm "sweet spot" in its adjustment where it actually works like it's supposed to (turns the switched outlets on when the computer is turned on, turns them off when the computer goes off). I guess my computer just isn't drawing much power, so it's not so easy for the strip to sense when it's on or off. Also, it sometimes takes a minute or so to turn off the switched outlets, which threw off the process of trying to get it adjusted right until I figured that out - I was expecting them to turn off as soon as the computer shut down. Thought that might be useful info for anyone who's going through that process now.

Hey look, Santa brought me two stools. 

[newmanfamilyvlogs]

Clearly if your pc isn't drawing enough power to flip the smart switch then you need a more powerful cpu and video card so it pulls more

[jipp]

looking good.   

chris.

[piecesof8]

Clearly if your pc isn't drawing enough power to flip the smart switch then you need a more powerful cpu and video card so it pulls more

Well yeah, obviously. 

It's working fine now, but it was kind of a pain to get it adjusted just right. I actually did pick up all new components to build the PC for this (ASUS M4A785-M mobo, AMD Athlon II X2 250, 2GB PC2 8500, Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 hd). So it's not top of the line, but it's got enough spunk to run everything I care to play.

[Rick]

This is amazingly beautiful.  My Wife would love it as well.

[melvinbates]

Congrats it's gorgeous. 

[piecesof8]

Thanks, guys. It's now taken its rightful place near one of the windows in the living room, and I'm having almost as much fun playing it as I did tinkering with the construction of it. Golden Axe (and sequel), Rampage, and good old Pac-Man seem to get the most play around here so far. My daughter and I were playing Rampage last night, and hearing her gut laugh when she figured out that you can eat the other player after they turn back into a human was priceless.

She tends to be drawn to the more violent games... Should I be worried? 

[Jefferson]

Hey pieces,  I'm working on the same kit (arcadedepot) and I'm wondering if you screwed the metal cocktail CP into the 'bare' wood underneath the wooden CP boxes... the directions don't say to and I dont think any screws were provided for that step, but there are holes in the CP metal and they seem to invite screwin... could you let me know what steps you took after installing all the joys and buttons into the metal?

your build has been very helpful.  I'm cutting pieces for a very similar monitor mount this afternoon.

[piecesof8]

No, I didn't use any screws on the outside of the cab for the metal CPs. Once I secured the brackets that go under the lip at the back of the CP (on the inside of the cab) and inserted the thin cover pieces of wood that rest above the controls they seemed very secure, so I left it at that. I haven't had any issues with them moving during several months of regular play now, so I think it's probably not necessary.

Glad the thread's been helpful!

[lastrega]

wow you did a beautiful job:) I was going to buy a kit, and arcade depos kit is the best I have seen, the issue for me in the states was shipping:( the cost to have it shipped would have made it over 650$ , I made hand made bluprints, had a dude do my core cuts. I drilled all my own holes , built it in my loft, even the painting:)   I really like you cab, however I had so much fun with my build and going my route, enabled me to make it  with a 32 inch screen, and my horizontal games run in dual screens........ Love that finish too!!

PS wife loves our cocktail machine as well..........

[piecesof8]

Thanks! You did a great job too. That 32-inch screen is insane!