My "Tied To The 90's" Cab or: How I Learned to Stop Planning and Love the Router

[push2reject]

So this marks the official start of my cabinet.  The working title of which is "Tied To The 90's".  My plan is to create a cabinet inspired by the early 90's cabinets for Konami and Midway games that got me into arcade games as a kid (NBA Jam, The Simpsons, Mortal Kombat, and X-men).  I'll be playing mostly games of this generation on it.  One small departure from the basic design of that period is that the cabinet sides will not support the control panel on my cabinet.  Instead the cabinet will have a Neo-Geo MVS style pedestal/kickpanel for support of the control panel and placement of credit buttons.  I want less girth on my cabinet than the generic early 90 cabs had.  I think that a slimmer profile below the control panel also brings back the balanced good looks of the 80's cabs.  I'll be giving more details about the design as I post photos.

On to the (huge) photos:


My material of choice is melamine particleboard/chipboard.  (Henceforth to be referred to as MPB).  I cut a 3/4"x4'x8' (actually 49"x97") sheet down to 29"x97".


Next I trimmed the sheet down to 1/4" - 1/2" shy of a full size plywood template I created earlier.  Making a full size template was a bit of extra labor.  It is required for a good finish on MPB which can be hard to work with due to the finish chipping easily with most saws.


I clamped the template down and used a pattern bit on my router to give a finish trim to the MPB sheet.


I moved the finished sides into my workshop to get some better light.  I took a couple of close up shots below.  I have a total of about 5 or 6 minor nicks in the edges between the two panels, which is to be expected.  I really like how the panels came out.  They look like they have been CNC routed.





Finally a preview of my T-molding choice.

[yotsuya]

Looks good so far, man! 

[Rick]

Looking good!  Love the simplicity.  Can't wait to see more!

[clickaus]

Nice work looking forward to seeing more progress

[DCsegaDH]

Looks professional, can't wait for more progress pics

[BobA]

Looks like a nice clean design.  Your use of a template and router made very prof looking side panels. 

[push2reject]

Thanks guys.  I trying to take my time with this project. 

Tonight I installed the T-molding.  Normally you would wait till the end to install molding on a cabinet.  I'm doing it now to protect the edges of the MPB from damage.

And now onto the photos:


The "supplies".


First thing I did was hit the T-molding with some heat from a space heater to soften it up.  It is under 40 degrees in my garage and this will make it easier to work with.


This is the slot cutter and arbor before I installed it.


Here it is installed.  This thing is gruesome looking kids.  Remember to keep your arms and legs inside the ride at all times.  Tuck in your shirt, roll up your sleeves, and put your safety glasses on.


I clamped down a test piece of white MDF to set the depth of the slot cutter.  Notice how my template doubles as a table.


It took me longer to set the depth of the router then it did to route a grove in each of the panels.



The finished product.

[emphatic]

That's a very nice profile. Primo choice of t-mold color as well. 

[skinz]

I dig the matte black smooth paint with the electric blue T-molding.  Looks super sharp so far!!!

[push2reject]

The weather has finally gotten warm!  It was a long winter for me.  I've recently been able to put the major pieces of my cabinet together.  The monitor is a 1080i HD tube with HDMI input (best 75 bucks I've ever spent!).  What do you guys think?

[eds1275]

Lookin' good! Is that 2 buttons under the control panel on the pedestal? I can't quite make it out, all I see are 2 shiny spots.

[Donkbaca]

are you going to have a coin door?

[push2reject]

Two birds...

Lookin' good! Is that 2 buttons under the control panel on the pedestal? I can't quite make it out, all I see are 2 shiny spots.

are you going to have a coin door?

One stone...

No coin door.  Those are poker machine buttons as DIY NovaGemCDR's.
http://groovygamegear.com/webstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=295&zenid=e39db7e4ddee901dc1ff6c7e0d9d7997
I'm making custom legends for them.  One will be orange and one will be blue.

[yotsuya]

I really like the look of that cab. Good job!

[drventure]

Nice. It's hard to go wrong with a black and blue trimmed cab. I like the bump out in the front too.

[mgb]

I like the lines of the cabinet. The bump out adds a very nice style to it.
Great work so far.

[push2reject]

Just when I thought I was out...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&_trksid=p4340.l2557&rt=nc&nma=true&item=170611513009&si=QlfJY%252B60%252B6J2F6uVVzgx61EetiM%253D&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWNX%3AIT#ht_500wt_1156

They pull me back in....

I'm really trying to stay on a tight budget for this build.  I was going to just have just a 2 player panel with iL comp sticks and buttons.  I figured I'd buy a trackball down the line and remake a new control panel.  After having the winter to think it over I figured once I get this puppy built I'm not going to want to pull it apart again.  Off to evilBay I went...  I found what I think is a smoking deal on a 3" trackball!  I was going to buy a X-Arcade unit at first.  This looks to be the same quality, if not a little bit better, if it turns out to be a Wico NOS.  I'll be here tomorrow.     I think the seller poached some photos from here - looks like mwong168's showcase panel in one.  It includes a mounting plate.  Should be a no-brainer install.

My panel is 36" wide x 14" deep.  I worked up a plan for it.  I need to make some art for it once I settle on a final layout.



I moved the trackball an inch to the left and an inch down from being dead center for room to use it.  I'm trying to avoid hitting the P2 stick.  Is there an established spacing for trackballs?  I'll admit I haven't given this aspect a whole lot of thought yet.

Pretty spacious I'm thinking.  Any suggestions?

[Donkbaca]

looks good.  My only advice is to get some CP overlay to hide the mounting plate.  I think mounting plates are ugly as sin.

[push2reject]

DRAT!



So this is the style of mounting plate the TB came with... and no bolts with it...
The picture on the listing showed the new style plate.  I'm not upset.  Just disappointed.  For the price the plate was basically a freebie.

Now the trackball itself is an Imperial unit.  It was new in the plastic and functions perfect.  I'm really happy with it.  It needs to be mounted very shallow to be used.

Should I scrap or sell the plate and buy a new style one?  I just don't see how this is going to work well.  Do the exposed bolts restrict any play?  Am I just being too vain?

[VanillaGorilla]

First: I normally HATE 90's cabinets, but I LOVE yours  

Second, the new style mount appropriate for the Betson/Imperial trackball is WAAAAAAY better than that plate. Firstly, it has welded studs that are flush on top (no protruding bolt heads! WINNING!). Second, it has a nice lower 'carrier' that ever so gently cradles the trackball housing, and has a nice grommet opening for routing your wires, so they are not hanging off of the plastic trackball housing.

LINK FIXED!
http://www.happcontrols.com/trackballs/55032100.htm



Its only $12, which is the opposite of what Happ usually charges for things. Usually they want ridiculously too much money; Here, it seems like they are asking too little? I would think some of the vendors on this site would have them too...

Im making the assumption that you are going to cover the panel top in plexi/graphics? If you are trying to under-mount everything and not have plexi on top , well I just wasted a lot of hot air. The mount disappears under plexi/graphics. I just routed a slight recess in my panel, so that it was about a millimeter sunken, the plexiglass bridged right over it.

I would only have 1 critique: Put in a coin door, even if it doesn't function! A cabinet without the coin door is akin to a face without a nose, something just looks 'missing' otherwise.

But i'm splitting hairs, great work so far! I enjoyed you color commentary as much as the pics, I look forward to seeing this project progress.

[Bender]

wow, they took it down?? maybe someone mentioned they were selling them too cheap?!?

[Rick]

wow, they took it down?? maybe someone mentioned they were selling them too cheap?!?

For those who don't know, the link above was badly formatted.  Here ya go.

[push2reject]

WINNING!

Wow, thanks for all the responses guys!

Now thats one serious piece of CP hardware.  I've never seen that part before.  Its surprising that its cheaper than the simpler looking trackball plates.  Unfortunately Happ has a $25 minimum order.
I have a drill press so I'm gonna try to create some countersunk bolt holes in the existing plate.  The trackball excepts flathead screws already.  Worse thing that can happen is I have to buy the uber plate from Happ if I trash this one.  I just have to find bolts now.

[dfmaverick]

I believe divemaster127 can get almost anything from Happ's catalog. His thread is in the B/S/T forum

[push2reject]

So I've just ordered and received the Super High Trackball Install Kit from GGG.  It was cheaper than any other mounting method out there.  From the way it looks it's pretty high quality.  Between that and a TrackBall Booster Kit from them as well I think I've given this trackball as much function as possible.  I'm pretty stoked.  The CP is going to be crafted tomorrow.

One idea I had:

I was thinking about trying to install a Fushigi Ball in place of a standard trackball.  They have both glow-in-the dark and acrylic-over-metal balls.  They are 3" big per the website.  20 dollars @ Wally World and no shipping.  What do you think?  Has anyone tried this?

[Nephasth]

One idea I had:

I was thinking about trying to install a Fushigi Ball in place of a standard trackball.  They have both glow-in-the dark and acrylic-over-metal balls.  They are 3" big per the website.  20 dollars @ Wally World and no shipping.  What do you think?  Has anyone tried this?

Interesting idea. I wonder what the acrylic over metal would look like LED lit from underneath...

[BobA]

To quote the faq "Each FUSHIGI is hand made and polished therefore making every FUSHIGI ever so slightly unique to itself. "  If this is the case it might not have the tolerance required to give you constant contact with the rollers in a trackball.  I guess the only way to see how it rolls is to try one. It would look great if it works

[push2reject]

To quote the faq "Each FUSHIGI is hand made and polished therefore making every FUSHIGI ever so slightly unique to itself. "  If this is the case it might not have the tolerance required to give you constant contact with the rollers in a trackball.

Sorta...  I just got back from Walmart.  I pulled one out of the box in the aisle and I'm glad I did.  It is a metal ball in cloudy plastic with what were clearly casting marks.  The ball had a molding seam all around the circumference with additional seam on one side from what I assume is a secondary casting (the metal ball inside would need to be suctioned in place on an arm while the first pour took place)  I looked at it for about 20 minutes figuring out how it was made.  I figured it would need to be sanded and polished.  On top of that it didn't have a clean or smooth feel to it like my ball has.  It was almost a bit tacky.  It's not "hand polished" its wiped down and stuck in the box in.  I'll pass until I see it in the 5 dollar bin.

I was so hopeful it would be cooler looking.  I'll likely order a black ball from Bob Roberts.  Anyone have the correct link to his site?  There appears to be a couple of versions.  I keep finding older ones.

[mgb]

http://www.therealbobroberts.net/

[SNAAKE]

lol awesome thread title. reminds me I still need to watch drstrangelove on blu ray.

cabinet looks good. what kind of hdtv is that anyway?? looks like those "samsung slim crt".