1st Bartop Build! COMPLETED 16/10/11

[vast]

So, I've been lurking around for some time trying to fill my tiny mind with information and bookmarking resources to assist with my bartop build.

I have NEVER done any serious woodworking in my life, nor have i ever built a PC.  Hopefully I'm not setting myself up for a huge fall here…

Past couple of days I've finalised my modified Weecade plans.  The reason for the modified plans is due to the viewing angle of the 20" LCD I'm using in the cab.  Basically the height has been extended and the marquee has been brought forward so the angle of the LCD can be steeper.



Here is the kind of spec PC I'm hoping to use;

http://www.aria.co.uk/Systems/Bundles/Intel+Overclocked+Bundles/Gladiator+Core+i3+540+Pre-Built+Overclocked+Bundle+?productId=43812

In case the link dies it's;

Core™ i3-540 Processor 3.06Ghz
4GB DDR3 1333MHz
Gigabyte GA-H55M-UD2H Intel H55 Micro ATX

I'm going to be running MAME (obviously) and a couple of console emulators (DC, PS2) and Streetfighter 4.  I do need some suggestions on a GPU for SF4...

I'm guessing this will be OK?

With the extra space I have gained modifying the Weecade plans I'm sure that I can fit the cooler inside (fingers crossed).

I'm yet to begin purchasing my items for the build - I'm flying out to Japan in a little under 2 weeks and am planning to purchase my sticks and buttons while over there and begin work on the build when I get back.

I've still got a bunch of questions kicking around - mainly around speakers and power for the cab.  I guess I'll get to asking these closer to the time.

Not got a name for the cab at the moment - I am sticking with a white / grey / blue colour scheme though.

Massively excited!

[Termin8tor]

Hi and welcome to BYOAC. The weecade is a brilliant design to base your first build on as so many can now testify. I also built my first cab to play SF4 but didn't factor in the size of the video card and could only fit in a low profile card (nvidia engt220 with 1gb DDR3) which isn't a very powerful card but works fine with SF4 although a little jumpy with some intro vids. My new cab has a 9500GT with 1GB and runs a lot better especially some of the more hungry Emu's i.e Dolphin. Anyway good luck with your build and remember to post lots of pictures.  
Also just noticed your just down the road from me so any questions or advice on suppliers just ask.

[vast]

Cheers Termin8tor, I'm currently making a spreadsheet with all the parts that I need.  A lot of the bits I've got on the list are from Ultimarc.  Anyone else you can recommend?

I'm kind of tempted to buy the PC next week...

[Termin8tor]

I use gremlin solutions (Morecambe) for my arcade parts, fast delivery and excellent after sales. B&Q and Wilkes for marquee retainers, just google FFA Concept PVC Corner Black. Amps off ebay, do a search for bike amps you will probably get one for under £10. Speakers, 4" car speakers can usually be picked up for around £10. Also you will be surprised what you can pick up at pound shops, Wilkinsons etc. On the computer parts I work in the trade and get stuff really cheap (i.e free) but if I didn't would probably use Scan or Overclockers. This seems similar:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-035-OB
Worth the extra £30 in my opinion.

[vast]

Wow! thanks dude! 

That marquee retainer tip looks like a winner!

The Bike amps you mentioned, I see you're using one in your neo geo bartop.  Do you power the amp from the PSU? if so, do you hear the HD etc?

It's looking shifty for my Japan trip at the moment - called the airline today and they're taking it one day at a time in terms of flights...

[vast]

Finally got around to cutting my wood up yesterday, considering it was my first time using a router I think I did OK;

Click for large view - Uploaded with Skitch

Click for large view - Uploaded with Skitch

Click for large view - Uploaded with Skitch

The only downer is that I forgot to cut the curves in on the front and top of the side pieces...  I'll clamp them together and sand the curves in and rout the fresh edge today.  Then if the lure of the pub isn't to strong I'll sand and get the first coat of primer on.

I did get over to Japan and visited Mak! Japan http://www.mak-jp.com/ where I got 2 Sanwa JLF with harness and 12 x OBSF-30.  Whilst I was away I also ordered  minipac and some illuminated and admin buttons from Ultimarc.

I grabbed this for the marquee illumination http://www.scan.co.uk/products/akasa-ak-188-wh-12-ultra-white-cold-cathoes-lights-on-off-switch-psu-connector-dual-pack which is stupidly bright!

And this http://www.scan.co.uk/products/silverstone-sst-fp32s-35-front-i-o-module-in-silver to mount into the back panel.

I found an Xbox 360 wireless adapter that I'm going to mount inside the cab for console emulators so I can use the 360 wireless pad.

[TopJimmyCooks]

I like your scooter.  I didn't realize that they still made Vespa's but that looks contemporary, so obviously they do.     Welcome to the forum.

[vast]

Thanks man, it's a little banged up due to an incident with some black ice over the winter, which hurt a fair bit...

[vast]

So yesterday I got all of my supports attached and monitor mount built.



So I did this



This morning I was double checking my supports and found that one was out by quite a bit...

I tried to get it off but this happened



So I just went out and bought some wood filler, I hope that I can repair it. Felt like everything was going swimmingly up until this morning.

[TopJimmyCooks]

you'll be able to repair that.  just use a stiff, flat backer like a piece of wood as a sanding block, which will keep it from being wavy after painting.

[The Evil Collector]

Thats what happens when you drink that 

[vast]

So I went shopping today for some pc.

Here's what I got;

Click for large view - Uploaded with Skitch

Gigabyte H55M-2SV
Core i3-550
4gb corsair xms3
600 watt Cit PSU

This is my first pc build after being a mac guy for 15 years;


Click for large view - Uploaded with Skitch

I had to pull the DVD drive out of my Mac Pro to install windows 7.

I'm waiting on a few bits to come through in the mail before I test fit everything inside the cab. Then it's a case of getting the CP fabricated.

[vast]

So I got a bunch of stuff done in the past week or so thanks to all the national holidays we've had.

I got to get most of the cab put together





After some advice from RandyT here http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=111325.msg1181554#msg1181554 I soldered in a power feed from my PSU to get some power for my monitor





Doing it this way means that I'm still neat and I maintain a single power cable into the cab.  I did the back panel a second time as I wasn't happy with the fit around my I/O panel.

Test fitting the motherboard, PSU & display





Speakers fitted



Got my 2nd coat of primer on this evening, I plan on leaving this to harden out until the weekend then sand ready for the 1st coat of grey paint!



Apologies for the crappy pics from the iPhone...

[elkameleon]

I'm diggin the pink flip flops!
On a more serious note, thats some awesome work you've done there!

[vast]

I'm diggin the pink flip flops!
On a more serious note, thats some awesome work you've done there!

The pink flip flops belong to mrs vast!  I'll be sure to let her know you're a fan!

Thanks for the kind words sir 

[ubermick]

We need to get you some decent beer, tho. That's probably why you had the issue with one of your battens was off - you need more hops, man!!

[LeedsFan]

Really liking the look of this build. Getting power from the PSU for the monitor is a neat trick. I really should do that on my bartops but I wouldn't be sure which wires to use from the PSU. I don't like poking around in there when I'm unsure. 

By the way I see you are in Manchester.... you must be a City fan then. 

[Vigo]

I dig the style of your bartop. Reminds me of the old Taito Cabs. 

[vast]

Apologies for the lack of updates, a combination of real life, weather and a back panel accident slowed me up. I've managed to put a bunch of work in the past week and I'm up to the control panel and bezel phase...

Marquee fitted with motherboard and psu mounted





Had to reposition the marquee lights for an even spread




Maruee lights lit up



Back panel mounted with i/o panel





Just got to find a metal fabricators this week to make the cp up for me and order some plexi for the marquee / bezel.

[SNAAKE]

looks amazing

what kind of light are you using for the marquee? I need something like that for my slim cab. there is like to room for a huge light there lol..

[vast]

looks amazing

what kind of light are you using for the marquee? I need something like that for my slim cab. there is like to room for a huge light there lol..

Thanks sir, the marquee lights are cold cathode tubes for pc modding http://www.scan.co.uk/products/akasa-ak-188-wh-12-ultra-white-cold-cathoes-lights-on-off-switch-psu-connector-dual-pack The run straight off a molex and come with a power switch. They take up very little room and are super bright.

[IG-88]

That light is sweet!!    I see that they have them at Amazon in a few colors for reasonable prices:


http://tinyurl.com/69j6u9v


Cab is looking great vast!!

[TopJimmyCooks]

Kudos on the very nice looking painted finish. 

[emphatic]

The paint looks stunning! 

[vast]

Thanks for all the kind words guys, it means a lot coming from such a great community 

I found the painting to be the hardest and most frustrating part of the build if I'm honest, I always thought that it would be the easiest!  I haven't made much of a deal out of the graphics for the cab, this is because I'm still waiting to see what a friend of mine has come up with.  He works here http://ilovedust.com/ and is designing the side art control panel overlay and marquee.

I'm really struggling at finding a fabricator for the control panel - lots of the companies aren't interested in making a one off 

[ccmathome]

If you have any sheetmetal shop near by you could try there or get a sheetmetal break and do it yourself, any way nice bar top.

[Yvan256]

I'm really struggling at finding a fabricator for the control panel - lots of the companies aren't interested in making a one off.

I don't know if their prices are going to be in your range, but Protocase can do a single unit of something.

[vast]

Hopefully a guy at work has a good friend who works at a large fabricators, so hopefully i'll get something made there.

Also saw some work in progress for the graphics tonight, looks good!

[Jigenjuke]

Vast, It looks AWESOME!  keep up the great work

Jigenjuke

[DaOld Man]

I agree with the others. This is a very good job, and I too love that paint job!

[LeedsFan]

Those marquee lights look really good and bright. So much so that I ordered the exact same ones from your link and they arrive today. I'm hoping they will be bright enough to penetrate the vinyl marquee I have (it's not made of standard plexi type material).

[vast]

Not had much to do lately as I'm currently waiting on the delivery of the plexi for the bezel and marquee. 

Managed to get a fabricator to agree on making up the CP for me, the only downer is that he is unable to bend a curve into the front without tooling which will inflate the cost.  This means that i'll have a sharp bend, I'll experiment with the plexi for the CP and try to round the edge there so it's not as sharp.

This came through today, which is looking sick in my opinion.  Very happy with the work being done - the graphics for the CP are going to incorporate some of the shards interacting with the buttons so I've been told...

[emphatic]

Very nice generic sideart. Minimalism is awesome, especially for a mini-cab. 

[DirtyDachshunds]

Where did you get that external mount of the USB/firwire/mic ports?  I'm looking to make a bartop soon and that part would come in handy.

Looks pro man.  Keep it up.

[vast]

I know it must seem like this has been abandoned but I've been stuck waiting on my CP to be made up.  I got an email today saying that it is complete and will be with me tomorrow!

Good thing is I'm getting 2, not sure why though...

Where did you get that external mount of the USB/firwire/mic ports?  I'm looking to make a bartop soon and that part would come in handy.

Looks pro man.  Keep it up.

It's one of these buddy; http://www.scan.co.uk/products/silverstone-fp32b-aluminium-black-front-i-o-35-4xusb-audio-firewire

I just removed most of the outer casing, leaving enough to attach it to the side of the cab.

[Nephasth]

Metal CPs... mmm... 

[vast]

So yesterday morning I was at this stage



Which I was super happy about.  I got stuck into some street fighter III / IV and managed to pull a stick from it's mounts... I used JB Weld to secure the studs just like kyoke did in his r-cade build http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=101184.0 

Maybe I'm a vigorous street fighter player, maybe my JB Weld application was poor, maybe JB Weld just isn't up to the job 

My neighbour has some welding kit so I tapped him to weld on some studs for mounting.  i used the spare CP that I was given.  8 studs welded later it became apparent that the panel had twisted during the weld obviously through too much heat.  This panel is now unable to fit onto the cab and i'm guessing wil have to be trashed...

So I returned to the original panel, stripped it out, ground off the remaining JB Weld and drilled mounting holes which I also countersunk.  Popped all the buttons and sticks in and also wired in the power for my 2 illuminated buttons, and played some street fighter for an hour.  Zero movement from the sticks 

I then decided to drill my holes in the CP overlay.  I had a sheet of 4mm perspex cut to size for this.  Basically I messed up a couple of holes and they didn't marry with the metal.  The good thing is that my sanwa snap in buttons didn't have the necessary steps to click in anyway.  I didn't feel as bad a bout my mistake after that.

I had some spare 2mm perspex from the bezel and marquee, so I got stuck into that.

1st attempt; made a massive scratch across the piece as I was scoring for the cut.  Great.  It's ok though as I can get another piece out of what I have.  Super slowly, managed to get the cut made, then the holes drilled, and it all fit!  Sweet, so I just need to drill the 4 mounting holes for the 4mm bolts to go through.  1st one, no probs, 2nd one CRACK!!!!  The perspex shattered.   

Only things left to do are;

Adhere vinyl to CP.
Get more perspex and mount it to CP.
Insert Marquee art.
Bit more software configuration.

Hopefully, next weekend it will be completed...

[emphatic]

Looking good right now. Sorry to hear about your trouble. 

[Martijn]

Dont forget to glue the marquee lights, that 2 sided stickytape isnt working 

[vast]

Looking good right now. Sorry to hear about your trouble. 

Thanks man, yesterday was just a bad day i think!

Dont forget to glue the marquee lights, that 2 sided stickytape isnt working 

I know martijn, the thing is that the tape i used is supposed to be super strong!  Hot glue wont cut it I don't think due to the heat...