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Bartop project from Emdkay's bartop kit.
Stobe:
Back in March, I had just found my way back to this fine website after a period of absence (life got in the way - won't let that happen again!). And along with my "catching up" on all the great projects going on, I happened to re-visit Emdkay's website. I like to check his outlet section every now and then just in case he has another pack of misprint marquees. I've always wanted to snag a big pack of them and hang them around the basement. But on this occasion, I noticed a bartop kit in the outlet section of his store. The description of the bartop said it was cut 2" taller than the usual size. I PM'd Emdkay about the kit, and he was quick to reply. I asked about the height difference, whether it was in the base, at the top, or just spread all about. He sent me this nice photo to explain:
After Emdkay quickly answered a couple more questions, I made the purchase.
This thread will document my build of the bartop. And I also plan to post a review of the product/vendor in the review sections when time permits. But for those who cannot wait for said review, I can sum it up easily by saying: "I am very happy with the product, and would order another one".
Stobe:
After ordering and supplying the artwork I wanted Brent to print for the marquee and CPO (very basic artwork I threw together from the "Pacmaze" design), I came home one night to find a big box on the front porch. Wonder what that could be...
I brought it inside, knowing that I wasn't going to be able to start it right away. Sidenote: before I even received the box, Brent emailed me to let me know he forgot to include the screws. He sent them in a separate envelope and they arrived a few days later.
Fast forward a few months to when I actually got around to starting the project (July 22nd, to be exact). I opened the box to inspect my new project:
After laying out all the panels, I was very happily surprised by the pocket holes and biscuit joints pre-done. I remember reading that the kit would be "Easy to assemble with just s screwdriver" and I read that with a grain of salt (I've assembled enough furniture to know the truth!). But honestly, I'm sure this kit would assemble very nicely and securely with just the included screws. It didn't stop me from using glue and other braces, but that's just because I'm used to doing that with other projects.
Also, I knew the CP was going to be pre-drilled, but having the joystick area routed underneath was another nice surprise.
One of the panels had a chip in it. This didn't upset me too much, since it was an outlet item, and Brent offered me a very fair price for everything. The chip didn't look like it was a shipping issue, since everything was packed very nicely. I might just blot it with a sharpie and see if thats good enough.
Stobe:
It took me about 2 minutes (literally) to dry fit everything and start to visualize how it was going to look.
Then I put my monitor in to see how well it was going to fit. (A 17" Dell LCD I picked up on Craigslist).
The stand on the LCD was not the perfect height, and it would not "recline" to the angle I wanted. But that wasn't a big deal, since I had figured I was going to be mounting the LCD using the VESA holes on the back, anyhow.
There were no written instructions included on the box, but after asking Brent about it, he gave me a link to his Picassa site, which had a pictorial explanation of how to assemble everything. (Not that it was hard to figure out, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't overlooking something in the design).
Stobe:
I started mounting the panels to one side. I knew that I would have to plan out the order which I did this carefully, so I could be able to mount everything I needed to inside and still be able to reach.
One thing I noticed with my kit (and it could be my mistake, or the fact that this was different size panel than what is usually used for the kit), was that the control panel was missing biscuits, and by using the pre-drilled pocket holes, the biscuit wouldn't have fit if it were there. Again, not a big problem, and it was easily remedied (as noted later in this writeup).
I then continued to glue and screw some more side panels (not the CP - it was set in place for fitting, but not glued down. Still have to wire it up!). I was again impressed by the accuracy of the pocket holes. Where there was a critical fit involved (where the sides were routed for the plexi, the marqee, and the back "door") the pocket holes always alighted the joint perfectly. This made it easy to run a bead of glue, start the screws into the pockets, and use the points of the screws to line up the joint.
Next Step: Control Panel...
Stobe:
I've wired up enough control panels to know what I'm doing. But this time when I was compiling my parts, I decided to do things a little differently. Instead of using hookup wire (which I was running low on, and would have had to pay the overpriced Radio Shack price for), and instead of using the standard daisy chain for the ground loop, I decided to pick up a spool of speaker wire at RS instead. By using 2 lead speaker wire, I decided to run a wire to each switch, and I combined all the grounds together afterwards. While I was at RS, I also picked up some screw terminals to hook up everything. I used a GPWiz Eco "Solderless" encoder I had in my box of parts. It uses an IDE cable for the inputs. I always hate hooking the IDE leads right to the controls, so I used these screw terminals as a breakout point. (Sorry for the blurry pictures)
I soldered the needed wires from the IDE cable to the perf-board, and soldered down the screw terminals to a common solder pad. (Note: I did not use the IC boards from the first picture above, I had to use a bigger one that would fit all the needed screw terminals.)
I installed my buttons and joystick, and started wiring up my "spaghetti factory". Don't worry, I cleaned it all up with some tie wraps!
Then I mounted my GPWiz, and my breakout board to a scrap piece of wood that I could later velcro into the cabinet. PCB standoffs? Nope! I small piece of the cardboard box would do the trick!
Here comes my first big mistake. When I was putting the CP top together (mounting the sticks and buttons and mounting the included plexi overlay), I quickly drilled a couple holes though the plexi and the wood in the corners to hold the plexi down with some carriage bolts. After hammering the carriage bolts in through the plexi (if you've done it, you know what I'm talking about!), I still didn't notice my potential mistake. It wouldn't be until the CP was wired up, and I did another dry fit that I noticed my mistake (and sorry again for the painfully blurry picture). The bolts that are holding the plexi down were in the way of the other mating panel!!! DARNIT!!!
After a couple choice words at myself, (and probably a trip to the cookie jar to drown away my sorrows), I decided I had two choices.
1. Remove the bolts, and drill new holes that would not be in the way. (this would mean getting a new CPO and Plexi overlay, since the mistaken holes would be an eye-sore.
2. Cut the bolts down, so they wouldn't hit the other board. (which meant recessing the nuts also).
I went with option 2, of course!
I knew I bought that nice set of forester bits on sale for a good reason!