Started my cabinet build yesterday. It is heavily inspired by jikkjack's Golden Tee pedestal build. I am replacing a GT 2005 machine that I converted to a pedestal. I thought it would be cool to have the other games available and still be able to play GT on it as well. So, my 1st goal was to reproduce the GT experience, but I am struggling with the x-arcade controls reproducing the same experience. I bought the kit from x-arcade. Mainly due to the price compared to buying the pieces individually from anywhere else. I am regretting the trackball purchase, but other than that it has worked out pretty well. I will probably end up replacing the trackball with something else. I am still playing around with the layout for the panel, but I think I will end up with 6 buttons per joystick, P1, P2 and a couple coin buttons.
It is built out of 3/4 MDO (sides and front) and 1/2 mdf (back). I ended up using the template provided by jikkjack and riggimg up a projector out of a shoebox, magnifying glass, and my phone to trace the pattern on the mdf. Then I used a trim router bit to cut the MDO to match.
I also have some diamond plate that I plan on using for the kick plate. I plan on painting it black and keeping the rest black and white themed. I have some black and white gloss latex paint that I plan on using after a good coat of primer. I also ordered some t-molding for the edges.
I have asked my teenage daughter to help me design the control panel art and she agreed. I am anxious to see what she comes up with as she is an excellent artist, and even though she agreed, she doesn't seem as interested in the project as I am. I guess she will get to it sometime. Hopefully by the time I finish the rest or I am not sure what I will do.
I bought an i5-4690k processor, motherboard and ram for the computer. It seems to run just about anything I have thrown at it, up to n64 games. It starts to struggle with n64 games.
Anyways, more pics to come as I progress. I welcome any feedback.