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Gamesomnia - inspired by Knievel's Woody Cab
ragnar:
After much help from forum members, things are under way. Everything is ordered and I have most of the parts. This is inspired by Knievel's Woody. Proof that a wood grain styled cab can look good. This cab is thinner profile. Not as thin as Knievel's Woody but still thin in my opinion. Back to front without the CP attached it will be 23.5 inches. With the CP installed I am estimating that it will be 27.5 inches deep. The following image is of the current state of progress (September 26, 2010).
The current working title is Gamesomnia which is a play on Insomnia. I figure there will be more than one night where I realize it is now 3 am so it is fitting. I went through alot of names when someone mentioned Gamesomniac in the "[url http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=105475.0]Having a heck of a time naming my arcade cabinet[/url] " thread. Thanks to forum member, Rick Elphinstone, for the idea! This is the working name.
So, I'll do several posts, starting with the sketches. I actually did things via a notebook. There is something about pen and paper. It is easy to deal with. And in the end, decisions were still being made as I prepped my wood template with everything. For example, the curves could only be done via a template because there is no grasp of what something full size will look like till you have it done. The big change was the marquee. It is much shallower than in the sketch because I had fears that it might partially obscure the monitor when in use by those 6 foot tall. That is something very important to think about that did not dawn on me till I was doing the template. Upon request, I can scale down the sketch images in a later post.
The purpose of the control panel sketch is simply see how big it will be and to plan out the box to an extent. The final shape will be determined via template. It is not going to be too fancy.
NOTE: Started construction on about August 28.
EDIT: I'll try to keep an up to date picture in the first post.
releasedtruth:
I love paper and pencil. Feels so much more mad scientist than a computer. We use napkins at work because it seems the best ideas are scribbled on them. Slim is definitely in. Good luck!
ragnar:
For now, two images of the sides that are cut out. They are stained with cleats installed. The cleats are screwed and glued. I bought some 2x2s and 2" screws. Worked out perfectly when attached into the 3/4" plywood (RED OAK).
The stain is called Sadona Red. I wanted it to be a bit darker, but it did not work out that way. On the cleat side, the stain at the bottom is for the area where the front door will be located. That is also going to be some stained Red Oak plywood. The top portion where the LCD is going is going to be painted a flat black.
I have the first coat of Polyurethane on. I went with the wipe on stuff and wow, that stuff is easy to work with. These pictures are without the Polyurethane on.
ragnar:
releasedtruth,
Thanks. So far, this has been alot of fun.
Onto the fans. I had some spare time today so I wired the exhaust fans up. There are two 140 mm fans ($16 shipped) that are ultraquiet. They make almost no noise. The transformer is from Wal-Mart online. it is a 120 volt AC to 12 volt DC converter. That was about $15 shipped also. Maybe $20 shipped. I forget. It is rated at 60 watts.
For the transformer, I simply cut the end off (a 12 volt cigarette lighter style attachment).
The fans had 3 wires connected to them which surprised me. Luckily, between the two attachments there were only two wires so it was easy to figure out what wires were needed. Also, the fans have some smarts (probably a diode or two). The fan only operates in one direction so I had to make sure that I connected them to the 12 volt supply properly.
Got everything connected up and working. There is a 6 foot long speaker wire connecting the two fans since fan placement is still TBD. I am thinking one at the bottom of the cab near the PC and another near the monitor.
andrewbean90:
I just bought an ac to dc molex connector did i not need to do this