Wife- / Living-Room-Friendly Cocktail Cab

[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!