Floriske.nl's "evo XR cade" xbox bartop (DONE, FINISHED, FINITO!)

[dextercf]

Actually, i would like to see a cab made of this type of wood without decals.
Just stained wood. That might be a twist AND more retro than ever..

Thumbs up on your build man, got My attention!

[Eldritch1969]

Following this with attention. Hope for you the pinewood holds itself together, because I had a very nesty experience from this before : this type of boards are just pieces of pinewood glue one to the other (plank I bought must have been poorly assembled and it just fell to bits and pieces..)

Anyway keept it up ! Looks real nice ! 

[floriske.nl]

Did you order your plexi online or from a local store?

This is getting awesome!!!

I ordered the plexi at an online store www.bouwplastics.nl

Thx!

Actually, i would like to see a cab made of this type of wood without decals.
Just stained wood. That might be a twist AND more retro than ever..

Thumbs up on your build man, got My attention!

I have thought about that, but I think some simple artwork just gives it an "extra touch"

Thx as well 

Following this with attention. Hope for you the pinewood holds itself together, because I had a very nesty experience from this before : this type of boards are just pieces of pinewood glue one to the other (plank I bought must have been poorly assembled and it just fell to bits and pieces..)

Anyway keept it up ! Looks real nice ! 

First of all it's not pinewood but french oak

I've done a test on a leftover piece and it took me a lot of force to break it apart. Also the monitor panel has very small edges after routing the screen, but it still seems/feels very solid.

And yet again Thx 

[rablack97]

Pics are coming soon, I just got a new 7 ft. work table....

[floriske.nl]

Since my speakers didn't arrive yet I decided to do some other work and mounted my monitor today.

Made 4 simple brackets to mount the monitor to the panel:



Next I mounted 4 aluminum brackets for mounting the monitor panel to the cabinet. Found some nice brackets with slot holes which look better than simple steel ones and the slotted holes give me some room to position it precisely.


And here it is assembled in the cab:

[Eldritch1969]

Just a question : why not avoiding the monitor screen  recessing by routing the insides of the edges of  the monitor panel ? This solution would be really more elegant, because you'd have the screen coming just level to the wood and not mounted behind.

I say that because you're going to get reflexions on the eges of the wood. And painting them black is not cool (I did that myself and went back to the solution I mentioned)

Only problem : your monitor seems to be rather a bit too wide to do that. Anyway, this solution might be good...

[rablack97]

 

[floriske.nl]

Just a question : why not avoiding the monitor screen  recessing by routing the insides of the edges of  the monitor panel ? This solution would be really more elegant, because you'd have the screen coming just level to the wood and not mounted behind.

I say that because you're going to get reflexions on the eges of the wood. And painting them black is not cool (I did that myself and went back to the solution I mentioned)

Only problem : your monitor seems to be rather a bit too wide to do that. Anyway, this solution might be good...

I'm not sure if I get what you mean with this?

If I mount the monitor in such way that it's level with the panel you will see the metal edges of the monitor, which would look bad imho.

To minimize the reflections I've already flush mounted the monitor and round the edges around the screen.

[Eldritch1969]

Okay, it's your call
Quote :

To minimize the reflections I've already flush mounted the monitor and round the edges around the screen.

Ok,  you'll see for yourself 

Your monitor is not well-suited for the solution I suggested (not being perfectly straight around the screen) and which you can find here :

http://bartopmania.com/index.php?t=msg&th=84&start=0&

Just a little thing more : On your last photo, the panel has burst open one of the sides..., you must have driven the screw with,  I quote you : "A lot of force to break it apart"

 

[floriske.nl]

 :cheers:Ermm, not to be a spoil, but as far as i can see that's exactly how I mounted the monitor. I didn't mount it behind the panel but routed out the entire panel so it's closer to the front.  The remaining edges are rounded.

And yes I slightly cracked the panel, not because the wood isn't strong enough but most likely because I pre drilled with a drill that was too small for the screws. Next to that the screws are quite close to the edge which increases the risk of cracks as well.  It's just a slight crack and easily fixable (which I'll do when I start prepping for paint).

Thx for being so positive 

P.s. since you seem to be a real pro compared to us amateurs I'd love to see some of your own flawless and perfect work instead of rough theoretical sketches

[Almighty]

looks great!

keep up the good work

[kuchta]

Your monitor is not well-suited for the solution I suggested (not being perfectly straight around the screen) and which you can find here :

http://bartopmania.com/index.php?t=msg&th=84&start=0&

I don't understand how your suggestion is any different than how it was done here or in the other projects where the LCD is attached by routing out a wooden bezel. Could you take a couple pictures to explain what you are saying for further clarification?

[rablack97]

Man, stop all the negativity, this is why people don't bother sharing their work, cause people try to push their own ideas on someone elses project.

I'm sure if he just posted pics of the finished build you wouldn't have much to say about it.  He's taking the time to post photos during the build so we can learn new techniques and admire his work, if you keep it up, he's gonna stop posting, and then the rest of us and you lose out.

It's his build and he kindly posted the plans, if you don't like what he's doing grab the plans and top this thread and post so we can bask in your greatness.

Floriske, keep up the good work and do what you think is best, finish your build and i'm sure folks with stop bashing your techniques....

Some folks don't get your showing build process and not a soul on this forum has a perfect build from scratch, most people steal other folks designs you started from scratch.....

Comments and opinions are fine but let's not piss on this fine attempt to build greatness....

[sharpfork]

I'm really enjoying this project.  Please keep the updated coming!
I agree that the general tone from folks here needs to be more supportive as well...  I too challenged some design decisions and asked questions but kept the tone positive.

SIII + Cyanogen + Tapatalk 2

[floriske.nl]

Not really an update, but more of a teaser of a routing template I've been working on and I hope will work out (need to get myself a new router bit first because the current one is quite blunt and good enough for routing the template, but not for the actual work):

[GameTech]

Love this bartop... I'm actually going to take his blueprints and make one (or two)... good stuff guy, thanks for sharing!


Anyway to incorporate a rotating LCD in this???   

[floriske.nl]

Love this bartop... I'm actually going to take his blueprints and make one (or two)... good stuff guy, thanks for sharing!


Anyway to incorporate a rotating LCD in this???   

Thx! And your welcome for sharing.

Looking forward to seeing others build it, I'm very curious about different styles.

Reckon a rotating monitor should be possible with a smaller screen size, but I'll leave figuring that out up to you

[floriske.nl]

Curious what the router template was for? Here's the answer.

First of all it was sort of an experiment to see if this type of work could easily be done with a plunge router.

But most important it was for my ventilation- and speaker slots in the back- and top panels:



The XR in the center was just a little extra. Since it's the back it won't be really visible, but it was fun to do and ads some extra ventilation to the cabinet

Here they are placed back in the cab:



And a last pic of my cheap #55 speakers.

[kuchta]

This looks great! Any "lessons learned" in case we try something similar?

[rablack97]

That is too cool...............very unique......

So your speakers will be firing to the top....with magnets facing the monitor

Are your speakers shielded?

Also with so many openings at the back do you think you will have issues with fan noise?

I'm also noticing you don't have any burn marks in your router work, what are you doing to prevent this?

[griffindodd]

Beautiful work, i really like the wood you are using and those vents look fantastic!! Now get some surface mounted colored LEDs back there and create some vegas style magic 

[Automark]

That is too cool...............very unique......

So your speakers will be firing to the top....with magnets facing the monitor

Are your speakers shielded?...

Shouldn't be a problem with a lcd

[griffindodd]

Oh and by the way, I hardly ever listen to anyone yapping on in my builds about what I 'should' be doing and my cabs seem to turn out ok. At least 50% of my Revolution build was me trying out new ideas and basically winging it and I learned a tonne doing it that way.

Keep shaking your groove thang baby with a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip, you've got this. 

[Unstupid]

Nice work... Lines nice and straight as if you used a cnc router!   

[CoryBee]

Keep shaking your groove thang baby with a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip, you've got this. 

 

[floriske.nl]

First of all thanks for all the compliments  one of the best motivations to keep on working and posting updates

@kuchta: the most important lesson learned is to tripple check all measurements and to take your time to make the template as accurate as possible.

@rablack97: the speakers won't cause any problems with an LCD monitor (as automark mentioned as well).
Regarding the clean router work, a sharp bit, the right speed (too high rpm will increase the chance in burn marks because the bit can't get rid of the excess saw dust properly which will cause extra friction and thus heat, too low rpm can increase the chance at chipping) and taking your time give the best result. One of the advantages of using a template and a guide ring is that you don't have to plunge through the entire material at once but can do it in steps of a few mm which reduces the risk of burns as well.

@griffindodd: no leds just yet want to try and make the cab blend in with our furniture as much as possible so maybe ... just maybe ... the wife will allow it to have a permanent place downstairs
And no worries about me listening to other people's comments (except for the good ones ofcourse those will be taken into consideration ) I have my own ideas and will do it my own way  Next to that I have no problem with remarks as long as they are placed in a positive tone instead of just plainly pessimistic.

P.s. sorry for the "unquoted" reply but that makes typing on a phone a lot easier

[floriske.nl]

It's been a while since I posted an update, mainly due to the holidays and being busy with all kind of other stuff. Amongst which "Selling my motion sim".

But picked this up again today and started with making my cp hinge points.

At first I wanted to use standard hinges for this, but thought of a method of creating something my self (which is more fun of course ).

Instead of the panel that was cut for this purpose I took a leftover piece with the same length as the original one. It's still a bit too wide but I will cut this to the right size later.

First of all I drilled a hole with my dowel drill on each side of the panel at the point I want the panel to turn:



Next I routed little slots with my bench top drill which has a cross table for simple routing work.



Took a couple of dowels, drilled a 2,5mm hole in them and fitted an m3 hex bolt:



Putting the parts together results in my own "sliding" hinges which makes the cp easily removable when needed.



To drill the holes inside the side panels of the cabinet I used a few simple dowel center points.

[SpaceHedgehog]

Nice simple solution to a problem. Looks neat. 

[floriske.nl]

Thx!

Just cut the panel to size, mounted it and glued the cp onto it.

Glue needs to dry, so will post some pics tomorrow.

[emphatic]

Very clever solution!

[robe_uk]

Great looking build, looking forward to seeing the hardware/xbox install as my next project wll use a xbox to drive it.

 

[floriske.nl]

Thx both of you!!



Yesterday I mounted the hinge panel and glued the cp to it:



Unfortunately I did a slight miscalculation on the hinge point, not a major problem, but I wanted the cp to open up just a bit further than it does now, but yet again not too much because else the joysticks would/could hit the screen.

Still it opens up more than enough to reach the xbox etc. inside the cabinet without having to open the back panel.

The cp will be fit with a gas strut or something similar so it stays open, for now a screw driver will do

[floriske.nl]

  And here's another "cracked cp plexi" victim.

In a moment of not paying enough attention I cracked my cp plexi whilst drilling.

Ok, s4! T happens but ......... it was the second to last hole of the 31 in total  (one of the admin buttons)

...... bummer ..... but already ordered a new panel and will pay more attention next time

Luckily nothing is wrong with the wood so drilling the new plexi should be done in no time once it arrives. And am going to start with the most tricky holes this time

[SNAAKE]

 :laugh2:get lexan

[floriske.nl]

Nahh. Plexi is just fine and about half the price.

Just bad luck, never happened to me before and made quite complicated stuff with it.

[Jigenjuke]

Awesome project mate! 

[floriske.nl]

Awesome project mate! 

Thx! 

Guess what happened last night  ...... cracked my new panel as well 

• Had it propperly clamped in between my cp and another wood panel for drilling
• on one of the center admin buttons my drill got through the plexi and slightly started pulling itself through
• the panel behind it (which normally should prevent the drill from rappidly pulling itself through the material) broke
• the broken panel caused one of my clamps to release
• due to this the whole slightly tilted ....................... CRACK (only a small crack but still visible after inserting the button.

Almost seems like there's a curse on this panel

First i thought about cuttin out the part with the center 3 admin buttons and make a wood inlay for them, but think I will pick up a piece of lexan instead and use endmills for the normal (non arcade button) holes. A lot more work but don't really feel like messing up another piece of material 

[Sjaak]

Try a step bit to drill the plexi and then use a router bit to finish the hole. I've tried this and it works like a charm.

[floriske.nl]

Thx for the tip. But I'll be using my 2 flute end mill bits for the smaller holes next time, some more work but that way I'm sure I can't crack the panel again 

[jmike]

 

That used to happen to be before, usually while cutting the last hole.

Even though it's more time consuming I now use my palm router with a small straight router bit and clear out enough room until I can fit my flush trim bit, then it's smooth sailing.
It works for me and the plexi never cracks.