Forgotten ROMs - First Build -

[not_so_handy]

Hello all,

I like so many before me have lurked on this site for many years jealously reading about these amazing builds you all have under taken.  I have always wanted my own MAME cabinet but was either not allowed because my folks didn't want it in the house or when I moved out didn't have the time because I was renoing my house.  Sooooooo now that those obstacles are out of the way I am finally free to start my first build.

Like I said I have been reading the project builds on this site for years and have really enjoyed them all.  But two that really stuck out for me were Martijn's Scratch Build Custom Street Fighter Arcade Cabinet and Epyx Alien Themed Cab.

My plan at this moment is to basically use the top half of Martijn's design and the bottom half of Epyx design.  So far I have bought the 3/4 mdf and a 27 inch crt tv so I guess I am committed to this build at this point 

The plan is to do laminate just like the two builds I am following.  There will be full panel side art.  The CP will consist of two joysticks with probably 7 buttons each as well as a trackball.  I still ha vent decided on what admin buttons I will be using.  Also I will be decasing the tv  as I want this to be under 30 inches wide so that it fits through most doorways.  The theme for the cabinet will be Medieval as the subject states so most of the art will be pulled from games like Dragons Lair, ghouls and ghosts and gauntlet.  I will not be doing the artwork myself as I have no imagination nor can I draw    So I have a friend that does online comics that will be helping me out with this 

So since I also have no skills with sketchup or any other design program my gf went out at get me some foam board and cement glue and I did some arts and crafts.

Attached is what I came up with.

Any comments will be appreciated.  This will definitely be a learning process as my skills with tools are severely lacking. 
 

[Le Chuck]

Sweet mockup, throw a GBA in that badboy and you're done.   

Welcome, looks like you've got a clear direction of where you want to get so best of luck and start making some sawdust!  Can't wait to see that theme. 

[wp34]

That's a nice mock up.  You picked two cabinets that inspired me as well.  I'm anxious to follow your build.

[not_so_handy]

Thanks guys,

I had thought about putting a gba in there and I actually have a spare one to do that    Might have to try that after this build

Ok so now for my update.

The first thing I bought for this project was the tv.  I was able to find it on Kijiji Easter weekend for 20 bucks.  The other day I final built up the courage to decase it.  After 10 minutes and a few nerves I managed to end up with the following.





With the tv dismantled and the mdf purchases I needed to start picking up the rest of the supplies.  I spent alot of time trying to find matte black laminate.  The only way to get it here is by special order from Home Depot or from a cabinet store that wants to sell it for $90 a sheet.  After some more research I found a Wilsonart distributor in the Toronto area that had matte black for 0.65 cents a square foot.  Now here is the catch.  I needed to buy min 5 sheets to get that price otherwise its $2.34 a square sheet.  So either I buy the 3 sheets that i need at $75 a sheet or I buy 5 sheets even though I dont need them and pay $21 a sheet.  Well it seems like a simple answer.  So i jumped in the car to drive the 2hrs to get 5 sheets of laminate.  I got there and they rolled it up but broke the corner on one of the sheets so I ended up actually with 6 sheets for 20 bucks a sheet.  Amazing price considering the alternatives and now I have enough for two cabs 




So over the weekend I decided to start cutting the mdf.



 I cut the first sheet and here is the result



So things were going well and I managed to sand it down but the annoying part is that my blade on my jigsaw was cutting on a slight angle.  I am praying that the t-molding will cover this up  Otherwise I may be cutting another piece.  So I traced out the second panel and rough cut this with the intent to router it to size based off the first piece.  This is where I hit a snag    turns out that the router bits I borrowed only had a half inch flush trim bit so now I dont have a bit to do the trim work on the 3/4 inch mdf    After looking at canadian tire Home depot  and Rona I couldnt find a bit that was that size .  also i am having a problem finding a slot cutter but I may just have to purchase that with the t molding from t-molding.com

So this is where I am at now

[wp34]

Looking great so far.   

I had a similar dilemma and ended up with 5 sheets of laminate as well. Never hurts to have a little extra.

[not_so_handy]

and the way things are going I think I will be glad for the extra just in case of mistakes.

[Sparkolicious]

Nice looking design! 

[not_so_handy]

just a small update.  I was having a tough time figuring out what to do since I didnt have a 3/4 inch flush trim bit for my router, just a half inch.  So I managed to make what I had work.  Just meant i had to do two passes to cut the bottom half and then the top half of the edge.  After cutting out the second panel I kept looking at the first panel and wasnt happy with my cut work on the back curve as the jigsaw ended up cutting on an angle    So I used the second panel as the template now and moved it over a 1/4 of an inche and trimmed off enough to clean up my initial poor cut.  Then of course I had to do the same again to the second panel to even things up. phhheewww thank god cause that would have annoyed me to no end 

heres the results.

[mavsprophecy]

Looking good so far!  The theme sounds intriguing.  I also like how the top of the cut MDF look like shark fins...

[Seith]

Some good progress so far (although that sucks about the router bit  )

A fellow canadian build is always a welcome addition to the pantheon.

[not_so_handy]

Thanks guys, yeah the router bit issue really was annoying  but thankfully i was able to work around it 

Just ordered my buttons trackball and j-sticks from ultimarc and my slot cutter is on the way    Hopefully i can put together the base tonight.  Just have to stop by rona and pickup a countersink bit and some screws.

[not_so_handy]

Well I was hoping to have this update done a couple days ago but I ran into a few speed bumps that really slowed down progress.  But I finally managed to get everything cut and assembled and I now have a standing cabinet. 
Tomorrow night with some help I will be test mounting the monitor and putting the back panel together.

So here are the pics

[not_so_handy]

i dont know if you can make it out very well but the second last photo in my last post has a marking on the inside of the cab where the angle of the tv will be.  Does that look to be to steep?  Its at a 35 degree angle, not sure if thats going to be to much or not.

[not_so_handy]

small update here.  Last night I was able to get the supports in the right place for the monitor and test fitted it.  Here is the result.  I think its looking pretty good so far



up next is finishing off the supports for the speakers and the back panels then on to laminating

[kahlid74]

Looking great.  The design is great.

[not_so_handy]

Thanks Kahlid.  I am having a tonne of fun building this thing. 

Ok question for everyone who may be reading this thread.  I ran into a bit of a color problem.  I got my stash of goodies delivered yesterday from Ultrimarc but the balltop I ordered didnt match the color of the buttons   Any chance anyone knows where I can find a ball top that will match these buttons?  They are the classic push buttons from happs controls off Ultimarcs site.

[Uncle Monkey]

Thanks Kahlid.  I am having a tonne of fun building this thing. 

Ok question for everyone who may be reading this thread.  I ran into a bit of a color problem.  I got my stash of goodies delivered yesterday from Ultrimarc but the balltop I ordered didnt match the color of the buttons   Any chance anyone knows where I can find a ball top that will match these buttons?  They are the classic push buttons from happs controls off Ultimarcs site.

I recommend these bad boys, the Deep Blue.....

[not_so_handy]

Uncle Monkey thanks a tonne!!  I think that should be a pretty close match up color wise.  Just hope that it fits the J-stick I bought.....

[SteveR]

I recommend these bad boys, the Deep Blue.....

I have one of those. It's not exactly the same color as the Happs button, but close enough that I'm going to go with it on my project. It's certainly a better match than that light blue he has now. In a nice bright light the Deep Blue looks pretty close to the Happs blue, but in dimmer light you can see the balltop is definitely more purplish.

And yes, it should fit the J-stick fine.

[Uncle Monkey]

Uncle Monkey thanks a tonne!!  I think that should be a pretty close match up color wise.  Just hope that it fits the J-stick I bought.....

They should, they're the standard 6mm thread size, and I have them on my U360s. The Ultimarc site says that the U360 accessories will fit the J-stik, so...

[not_so_handy]

great that sounds like my way to go then.  Maybe I will also see if they have buttons through GGG that match that ball as well.  I really would like it all to match up.

[not_so_handy]

ok so it may not look like I have progressed much further but it really was alot of work getting the back done.  I have been trying to do this build so that there are absolutely no exposed screws anywhere on the cabinet.  I thought about ways to do the back panels of the cabinet this way and have decided to use velcro to hold it into place along with 1/8 inche oak board.  Its pretty light and I was still able to counter sink the screws so they are flush for putting on the laminate.  I will be adding a handle on the top and bottom panel so that I can access it.  So with some supports built and velcro hot glued to the supports we have this



As you can see this doesnt go all the way to the bottom.  This is because I will be finishing that up with mdf so that I can put a switch and an outlet for a power cord.  I thought it would be easier to attach that to thicker woood and I also dont want to be able to remove that part.

and from the front



if the wife lets me tonight I will be finishing off the admin panel below the cp, the power section in the back and the speaker area as well as cutting the slot for the t-molding.  This should finish off all the wood working I need to do before I completely dismantle it and laminate the side panels inside and out.

[not_so_handy]

So  apparently i didnt take a picture of my cab while it was still together but i have completed the rough work for the cab.  So everything has been put together and is now ready to be laminated.  So now I have taken it all apart again, drew a diagram so I know where everything goes when time to put it back together.

So now that this is done time to laminate



This turned out really well and I am super pumped with the results    Only crappy part is that it took almost a full thing of contact cement to do one side so now I am out    but the local market has it on sale for $30 bucks which is $18 cheaper then HD and Rona    So tomorrow night I will do the second side of the inside part of the cabinet.  Then drill the holes in the cab so that I can put the supports back in and then laminate the outside   Its a bit of a pain but totally worth it after seeing the results

[not_so_handy]

so my original idea was to have red buttons on one side and blue on the other.  I was hoping to have matching ball tops to the buttons as well.  But I think I have to call defeat on this one as I cant for the life of me find a proper blue balltop 

What do you guys thing of keeping the red and blue buttons and then just going with black balltops for both controllers?

[Uncle Monkey]

so my original idea was to have red buttons on one side and blue on the other.  I was hoping to have matching ball tops to the buttons as well.  But I think I have to call defeat on this one as I cant for the life of me find a proper blue balltop 

What do you guys thing of keeping the red and blue buttons and then just going with black balltops for both controllers?

I think you check these out before you give up on your dreams man.....
 

[not_so_handy]

ok time for an update 

[not_so_handy]

Well i havent posted an updates in a while but I have been working on the cab. Just very slowely

Here are the pics of me finishing up the side panels.



Here is a pic of both the side panels laminated



And I was able to get the coin door mounted.  I think its about the right height.

[not_so_handy]

After getting the coin hole cut and laminated i was able to brind everything into the basement and finally have some of it reassembled.  Here we go



And here we have the coin door in and the front panel in its spot.  Though there will be admin buttons on there later.

[harveybirdman]

looking bad ass man
 

[not_so_handy]

thanks man

its coming along slowely

here is a couple pics of the CP layout.

[AlienInferno]

Nice build.  Looks great so far.

[not_so_handy]

next up are the holes for the speakers and the two fans I will be putting on the top panel.

I am thinking about using drywall sandsheets for the grills.  Give it a coating with the mat black spray paint and cut them to size.  I have a few left  overs from the basement reno.  Thoughts?

It looks kind of like this but not used lol.

[not_so_handy]

got the tv in as well as the bezel cut.  Heres the result

[Le Chuck]

That's really coming together very nicely.  Nice clean lines.

What are the dimensions of the speaker covers you're looking to make.  I have a few different old speaker covers that I could send you if they fit, you can cut them down to size very easily with some snips and a bench grinder.  I don't thing the drywall sanding pads will look quite right.  If I don't have the right size they are always up for grabs on KLOV.  Let me know, you pay shipping and they are gratis.  How's the art coming, you going with black t-molding or are you gonna mix it up?

[not_so_handy]

The art work unforatunately is going slow.  I havent actually seen any of it yet.  My friend thats working on it is also in the middle of a kitchen reno    Though I am hoping to see some mock ups this week.

The speaker grills I was hoping would look similar to the pic below with the drywall sand pads.  I am just not sure if I can accomplish that with the pads.  I am looking for a speaker hole thats probably about 3inch by 5 inch.  Do you have a pic of your grills?

[Le Chuck]

Same material that was used on the Micro SW, which looks to be the same as in that pic.  I'll look and see if I have that much spare, you need a 5x6" sheet?

[not_so_handy]

probably 6x8 inch just to be safe.  If you have that much.

[Le Chuck]

probably 6x8 inch just to be safe.  If you have that much.

I have an 8x8 sheet with your name on it.  PM me your details. 

[not_so_handy]

perfect! 

pm sent

[not_so_handy]

As for the T-Molding I got black but I may change it out depending on the artwork.  Since I am not designing it myself I am not sure what color it will be    Its an easy piece to change out though.