Cabinet build out of one 4x8 sheet of plywood.

[paigeoliver]

So, I am out of work and twiddling my thumbs here at home, wanting to get a new project started to distract me. I have a lot of parts laying around but I don't have another cabinet laying around.

I was thinking about doing a plywood cabinet and staining it rather than painting it. Anybody have any links to any designs (preferably copies of original cabinets), that can me made with a single 4x8 sheet of plywood? I guess it would probably have to be a mini or cabaret cabinet.

[Unstupid]

A full size cab won't be possible...  You could probably do a bartop or a mini 1/2 scale

[DCsegaDH]

I think it takes three 4x8 sheets to make one cabinet, you could probably only build a bartop with one sheet. Maybe a mini cabinet might be possible.

[paigeoliver]

I was thinking mini. The back doesn't have to be plywood. I can just use cheaper wood there since no one can see that part.

[BadMouth]

I built a roughly 75% scale pacman style cab for my nephew out of a ping pong table using these dimensions and scaling them down:
http://www.retro.co.za/arcade/cabinet.html

If you have 96" to work with, you could make a 4ft tall cab that's 2ft deep and 2ft wide (front & back would set inside the side panels).
I used a $7 sheet of project board for the bezel area and back.


EDIT: project link http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=111821.0
         (lots of good cheapness)

[leapinlew]

Are you using a LCD? If so, how about a cabinet that's about 22" wide, 8" deep and designed to be hung on a wall? One member here did some concept art of a cabinet that looked like it was busting through the wall. Pretty clever.

[paigeoliver]

I was thinking something like this Centipede Cabaret.



Hmmm, if I just used plywood on the sides and used mdf for the rest of it....

I have a 21" CRT monitor I could use, or an LCD that is smaller than that. I would prefer the CRT.

[Donkey_Kong]

I don't think those two sides of that centipede would even fit on a single 4by8 sheet. I could be wrong though it's hard to judge the exact size of it.

[elkameleon]

I used 3 4x4 sheets of mdf building my mini mario bros... could of gotten away with using 2, but I messed up, so I had to cut into my third piece.

[Le Chuck]

I knocked out a mini pseudo Tempest and mini pseudo Donkey Kong out of one sheet of 4x8.

 

You could get two of those god awful Wee Cades out of a 4x8, too, I imagine.

True.  And have some useable scrap. 

[leapinlew]

Could build a lowboy

[ark_ader]

Could build a lowboy

Sorry to Hijack this thread:

Is it possible to build a 15.5 inch wide lowboy?

Does anyone have any plans for a lowboy, which I can make out of one 4x8?

Found it.

[eds1275]

I made Lime-Aid out of 1 piece of 4x8 MDF... it's pretty close to a taito cab on the mini size. I have the sketchup somewhere if you wannit

[mike_bike_kite]

This link will probably help you.

[Donkbaca]

I used 2 sheets to build my slim LCD cab.  if I would have opted for a narrower CP, I think I could have done it with one sheet, except for the back.
Something like this is what I am thinking, except more narrow:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=103430.0;topi

[ragnar]

I tried to do it but a miscut screwed me.  See my signature.

If you want a single sheet build, you need to maximize the hegih of the cab to be just less than 6' tall (and 2 feet deep) and then make it 2' wide.  You will then have a sheet of 2x4 plywood left to make the lower front facing pieces like the door.  Remember, you don't need wood for the monitor/bezel and marquee.

You will need a half sheet of luan for the back though but that is cheap comapred to oak plywood.

If you try this, measure twice and cut once.  I forget what my error was but I ended up needing a second sheet which sucked.

Things like top pieces for the cab can be made out of scrap and painted black.

You could always try to make a pedestal tpe cab ;-)

[alfonzotan]

One sheet might be enough for a slim LCD cab, especially if you have a narrow width (vertical monitor would be your friend here) and you aren't trying to get the back panel out of that one sheet.  You'll be cutting it close (no pun intended) with the control panel and front door, though.

[paigeoliver]

Ok, this is crude, but this is what I came up with. I wanted to use a 21" PC monitor I had. I wanted to use no more than one sheet of oak plywood. I wanted to sit down while playing. I wanted the machine to be vertical.

The design is for a machine that is 54" tall and 20" between the sides and is meant to be played while sitting. Children could play while standing.

Controls are going to be a single player layout. I would like to get trackball, spinner, 4-way and 8-way on there, but I haven't checked the feasibility of that at all yet, since I only have 20" to work with and the panel won't be deep enough for multiple layers of controls.

[Le Chuck]

Know you're cash tight on this one but if you get an Omni2 or a Magstik you can get a servo and controller for $30 more and have it autoswitching between 4way and 8way to save you the space of the second stick.  You just about break even in the deal unless you were getting $10 sticks.  Just a thought.   

[paigeoliver]

Actually, the piece of plywood, edge trim and the glass that will go over the screen were meant to be the only purchases. Might buy one of them coin door stickers eventually if I don't end up running into a real door any time soon.

I already have a Wico leaf 4-way and an E-Stik to choose from in the 4-way department. In the 8-way department I can choose between happ super, several variations of wico sticks, a really nice midway leaf stick (8-way version of the Pac-man one, came out of a Gorf cocktail), and that same E-stick. I probably have a few other joysticks laying around as well (there is another box of stuff out in the shed). I have an Oscar Vortex spinner, a 3" trackball (ps2), along with one or two keyboard encoders, several optical control interfaces, some black control panel overlay and about 90 buttons laying around.

Just wish I had a vertical game marquee to use. I have a City Connection one in poor shape (that I refuse to cut down because City Connection parts are rarer than Major Havoc ones) and an Omega Race one.

Know you're cash tight on this one but if you get an Omni2 or a Magstik you can get a servo and controller for $30 more and have it autoswitching between 4way and 8way to save you the space of the second stick.  You just about break even in the deal unless you were getting $10 sticks.  Just a thought.   

[leapinlew]

So what happened at the job? What kind of work do you do?

[paigeoliver]

I did property maintenance at a hotel (handyman stuff basically). A new management company took the place over, let me go for budget reasons on their first day.

[paigeoliver]

Yeah, the problem is that most property managers seem to prefer the alkys/meth heads as they will work for $9 or $10 an hour.

If you're still in St. Louis, my old apartment complex was in perpetual need of a non-retarded handyman.... drive around the apartment complexes around those pretend colleges like Maryville and Logan and toss your resume around.  If you don't have a meth habit, you're more qualified than anyone else I saw doing it.

[paigeoliver]

Ok, knocked together the basic cabinet this afternoon. Going good so far. Only used one sheet.

Going to put the marquee below the control panel, cabaret style.

[paigeoliver]

Recut the angle of the upper half of the machine.



Unfortunately there is no way I am going to be able to use all the controls I want in the space I have. There is no room left for buttons, so something HAS to go. Even if I went with a smaller base 8-way like a super I still don't think I would have room for a row of 3 buttons. I am going to go ahead and fork discussion of the controls to a different thread as that is far off the original topic.

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=118540.0

[DaveMMR]

Mama always said it's better to make $10/hr than $0/hr.


 

Depends on how much unemployment gives you.  I was unemployed for a short time a couple of years back and I couldn't take any retail jobs because it was barely more than half of what unemployment was per week.  But yeah, if that runs out - take what you can get I suppose.

[paigeoliver]

The unemployment indeed pays more than what I could expect to get folding shirts or flipping burgers.

[IG-88]

Hey Paige. what ever became of this project?

[medtech1]

I obtained this from off the net,  I think its a full size cabinet on two sheets

[vorghagen]

The Vigolix

http://www.instructables.com/id/A-Super-Easy-Arcade-Machine-from-1-Sheet-of-Plywoo/?ALLSTEPS

An arcade cabinet built with a single sheet of plywood/MDF.

[IG-88]

While I appreciate the link, I absolutely cannot stand those types of cabs!

[paigeoliver]

Hey Paige. what ever became of this project?

Finished it up as a 60 in 1, played it 4 times, put it in my attic and never touched it again.

[medtech1]

I did one bartop.. put it in my kitchen... every so often my room mate or I get the ambition to play a game or two.

If I packed it away, it would never get used.... and I'd just sell it.  They are conversation pieces too, so need to be out in the open somewhere