I started my first build a little over 5 yrs ago. After many modifications it ended up looking like this:
Sorry for the crappy cell phone pics.
When I first built it, it was a mess. I really didnt know what I was doing. Exposed screw heads everywhere, 20in tv for the monitor, full-sized keyboard flushed into the cp...but it was really fun to both build and play. In the end I really just wasnt happy with the overall quality of the cabinet.
About a year ago I discovered the awesomeness that is Visual Pinball. Then a few months later, I started falling in love with peoples pinball table builds. I really wanted one but the price tag was to hefty for me. After some thought, a cocktail table seemed like the best of both worlds. I'd still able to play mame but i could also play FS VP tables. And then there's the fact that I've always thought cocktail cabinets just look nice.
I'm still no master carpenter, but I'm really happy with how my build has come along.
For the top, I just modified the Ms. Pacman shape so that my monitor would fit. I printed it off at full size and taped it down with clear packing tape then cut it out.
Then I built the main box. Just glue, clamps and screws here. I realize that my T-molding slots should have been cut at this point but I was waiting on my slot cutter to arrive.
I got a pocket hole jig to hide all my screws this time.
Casters:
Getting good
The back. The hole in the upper left is for some usb ports.
Monitor mount. The monitor just lays in here with some L brackets to hold it in position.
ohhhh purdy
CPs going on. The bottom of the CPs are removable if I need to replace button, fix wiring, etc.
USB ports:
Top on, t-molding on, glass in place. Just some wiring and finish work at this point. I'm using U360's, an IPAC and a TurboTwist 2 spinner.
And here we are today.
The underlay is just temporary. Its just printed on some flimsy paper. I ordered a underlay from game on graphics on monday and it shipped yesterday so it should be here soon enough. Here's what it looks like:
And here's my mala layouts.
So far, most everything has worked out great. The main thing I've screwed up on is the spinner is too close to the joystick. I'm not sure where else it can go though. I'm considering swapping the joystick and the spinner, putting the joystick on the outside and spinner where the joystick is now. Not sure if this will be good or not but its easy enough to do and try it out. I also forgot fans to vent the cabinet. Thats an easy fix though.
I'm using irotate to rotate the screen if need be via ipac macros for the hot keys which works great in mame but it messes up the graphics in VP. It would have been nice to be able to play 2 player pinball from either end of the table but isn't a big deal.
I'm using a smart strip to power the lights and speaker amp on when i turn the computer on. They all turn on at the same time but when I power down, the lights and amp stay on for a long time after (an hour or so). Is this normal? I've adjusted the sensitivity almost to the point where the aux outlets wont come on when the computer turns on.