Mission Control Project: 5 years on, what to do with the leftovers?

[Stub]

Wow who doesn't have twins? Is it something I can catch from this forum?!?!

 

[Pixelhugger]

Man, the damn autonotify still isn't autonotifying me. I missed a particularly rousing post from Zakk for over a week. Yikes.

Since this is a new page I'll quote before continuing....

I gotta tell you guys, here is a guy that could build pretty much anything he put his mind to, but the "mission control" cab will likely never see the light of day.

Heh. Do not underestimate me.  Look back over the thread er.. years. Every thing I've hoped or planned for the project has eventually been built. I have hundreds of coffee stained sheets in sketchbooks detailing the parts and building procedures for things that seemed impossible to me. One of the greatest motivators for me when I'm feeling overwhelmed by some part or stage of construction is to thumb through my schematics and realize the crude pencil sketches from my over caffienated imagination are all, ALL sitting in my garage. There isn't a single ambition for the design that hasn't been realized. They take a while. A long while. But they get eventually do get built... just as I imagine them. 

For a perfectionist like pixel, this cab could never be "good enough"

True enough.  There is a wall I hit where I realize I can't do any better. At that wall I call it good enough and move on happy with the result. But yes, if I make a mistake and think I can do better I start over. That has definitely set me back along the way but it has been worth it.

There are three likely outcomes:  Either he loses complete interest (and I mean really, if he was truly interested he'd have it completed by now), or he does a hack job on the rest of it, just to "git er done", or it will stay in a semi-finished pile of expensive rubble.

Wrong, wrong and wrong.

Lessee.. the interest. My obsession does slow me down. And I admit there have been a number of weekends I've spent doodling changes and additions at Starbucks when I could have been cutting wood. But the slow pace and constant, constant thinking is the only thing that has allowed me to get where I am on such an unusual second woodworking project. I just haven't made many things before so I rely on the slow pace and continual replanning to catch my errors before I make the worst of them. I probably shouldn't admit this, but I have no fewer than 6 CD's in my car with various labels like Mission Control website sound track ideas.. Mission Control QuickTime trailer music edits... etc. I spend at least an hour of my two hour round trip commute thinking about the project daily. The posts here only come after dozens and dozens of hours of work and development. Do not assume that by not posting I have made no progress... or even more mistakenly, that my interest has waned.

I had hopes for this ultimate tribute to yesteryear being the high watermark in a mame-build world, but as it is, it's just a waste of everyone's time and thought.

I'll take that back handed compliment. I realize it's frustrating to see such slow progress and if you follow this thread for instant gratification you're bound to be let down. If that makes it a waste of time then I'm sorry. Nearly every idea planned for the cabinet is now complete and displayed here with a breakdown of the design and building process. So the groundbreaking things are there to... err... break ground. Want a DVD slot or a nav panel or inlaid plexi or solid wood sides or a three sided marquee or metal side art or direct emulator selection or multilayered bezel or bullnosed plastic or any of the other ideas.. they are all here and will be not be any more groundbreaking or relevant once the cab is done. If you follow this to see a finished cab email me and I'll let you know when it's done months down the line. Most people here follow for inspiration or ideas. Those have been posted and don't depend on the finished box. So in that regard I don't understand the "waste of everyone's time and thought." None of what I have proposed has been vaporware. None of it.

Sorry Pixel, no offense intended.

 

None taken. I appreciate the motivation. And I was actually moved by the high water mark comment. I'm not offended because I don't blame you. I can't expect anyone to believe me when I say it's coming together soon. But it's thrilling to read that and secretly know whats in store. Thrilling and frustrating.

I just think your vision exceeded the reality here.

Why? Because I have't glued it into one piece?

Vision  /  Reality

Solid hardwood sides /  Finished and exceeded

(Twice the planned thickness at 2.5X cost, 10X the pain, and many times the  impact when you run your hands along their beefy thickness.)

NavPanel / Finished to spec

Slot loading DVD / Finished to spec

Dimensional 3-sided marquee / Finished to spec

Marquee "box" and fastenter free plexi sandwich design / Finished to spec

Side art / duh

Inlaid minimarquee / Finished to spec

CP / Finished to spec

Bezel / Finished to spec (far beyond original plan)

So what part of the vision other than the glue up has exceeded reality?

You probably spent more time thinking about the nav panel than most of us would have thought of the whole damn project.

Absolutely. Did I mention the CD's? 

How can you live up to the hype?

I plan on pulling out all the stops for the unveiling. Just. You. Wait.  Again, if following the thread itself is boring you, don't bother. You'll know it's close when you see the HD trailer on the front page.  Hehe.  Remember.. that kind of crap is my day job.

Probably impossible.

Every step of it has been from the beginning. It's what has made it all worth while! 

[Pixelhugger]

PHEW....

All that said... I have been making progress on the sides. More on that when I have more to show in pics. I still feel I should leave the substantive updates until I have more interesting things to show beyond trimming, sanding, building a jig to evenly sand specially rounded edges 

[Zakk]

If my jabs did anything to inspire you to get off yer ass and get something done, then I think I did my part.  Remember, pissing people off is *my* day job! 


Hehe, I guess I DO get a bit impatient. As the one fellow pointed out, this build is older than MY boy, and he's 4!  I consider myself an A-type personality with an attention to detail, but I go in and renovate an entire 2-bedroom 2-bath condo, and I mean completely renovate...walls, floors, plumbing, crown, trim, showers, etc etc etc and with the help of only one guy do it in 3 weeks.  So when we get nearer to the decade mark on this, it gets a bit "silly" (and brother, you DO have to get that I am NOT insulting you and your work!! ).

For example, I had to build a breakfast bar for this one condo.  I have never built one, and when I sat down to auotcad, I just had an idea of what it would look like.  In 2 hours I had a breakfast bar with rounded corners, bow front, custom counter, archway, pendant lights, cabinetry and electrical...all laid out and modeled.  I printed the plan out, went to Home depot and grabbed the drywall, hardboard, bullnose bits, etc etc and brought it to the unit.  In 2 days I had it framed in, drywalled (if not mudded and sanded), and wired.  So 2.5 days from idea to completion, on something I had never tried before.  I just go like hell to get it done, and keep working until it looks right. 

That's my viewpoint... I do not discount the innovative stuff you have done, at all.  I just know that you are one of the most talented, creative people I have ever seen, and I KNOW that if you went full tilt, you could have a project like this done in a month, oh, lets give you TWELVE months.  But 4-5 years??  C'mon, nobody can afford that many starbucks coffees.  That's a LOT of downtime.  Don't even get me started on real life... I have 4 kids, work as a realtor, run a rental company, am starting a new business...and I STILL do the renos on my properties basically myself.  Am I a superman?  Hardly, I still spend time drunk in the hot tub almost every night

Still, this still could just be a ploy to set the fire under your feet.  I mean, I really think I misspoke when I said this was  a waste of time.  I can't figure how I meant to say it, but that definitely came out wrong. 

[jcoleman]

So how are the twins?

[ryantheleach]

in mother russia cab slows twins down.

but anyways you should introduce the twins to it as early as possible, this is daddys you dont puke on the hazelwood.

[Zakk]

Maybe the twins will be the ones to finish this project?

[AmericanDemon]

PH!  Wherefore art thou PixelHugger?  The gods have forsaken us of even one glimpse of the amazing Mission Control idol in many moons!  What (Who?) do I need to sacrifice for an update?

[BobbyG66]

Just to put something in perspective.

This thread started 11/08/2003.
The average price of gas in the US was $1.43 a gallon!

BG66

[Todd H]

Jeez. I disappear for a few years, come back, and he STILL hasn't finished this thing? 

[nipsmg]

And people get mad how long I'm taking to develop my jukebox software.  Sheesh! 

[kizer]

You guys do know that hes going to complete it in 2013 as part of the 10year anniversary for starting it. 

Or its going to be finished as their High School graduation gift.

[dmsuchy]

But we're all going to dye in 2012 though.

[nipsmg]

You guys do know that hes going to complete it in 2013 as part of the 10year anniversary for starting it. 

Or its going to be finished as their High School graduation gift.

Oh my god, I didn't even notice, it's almost 5 years.
Wow.

[HoopstarsGarage]

I think you meant to say.. "it's ONLY been 5 years"..   


Hoops

[HaRuMaN]

I think Pixel's twins killed him and ate him, Lord of the Flies style... 

[Todd H]

Apparently the experiments run using the Large Hadron Collider opened up a rip in time. When the portal opened a visitor walked through and told the scientists that he was from 10 years into the future and that the Mission Control Project cabinet still wasn't finished.

[Zakk]

But we're all going to dye in 2012 though.

What color?

[miles2912]

Actually I just wanted a post in this thread.  I figure it is going to go down in BYOAC history and I just want to be a part of it.

I remember looking at this thread before I started my cab over 2 years ago.  Some people just like to take their time...   

edit  3 years ago

[ryantheleach]

Actually I just wanted a post in this thread.  I figure it is going to go down in BYOAC history and I just want to be a part of it.

I remember looking at this thread before I started my cab over 2 years ago.  Some people just like to take their time...   

edit  3 years ago

you think this is bad,

im still THINKING about my cab, and started just before him.... i may only be 19 but ive been waiting for money to build the damn thing....

and since then my ideas that ive had just keep evolving, and a few of them ive had, then later seen them be done before i even set myself to do any woodworking, oh well, at least when im done it will seem to be a colaboration of ideas from everywhere intergrated into one awesome cab, rather like pixelhuggers...


EDIT: OVER 100k views...

 i swear this thread must have the most views of any thread!!!!

it even beats the stickys!

[shmokes]

Meh.  The Cheesecake thread's sitting comfortably at 125k.   

[kizer]

I'm alive. I figured others might want to know that.

[patrickl]

I'm alive. I figured others might want to know that.

You're not fooling me. You look like a skeleton in your picture.

[shmokes]

You're not fooling me. You look like a skeleton in your picture.

Looks more like a skelington to me.   

[Felsir]

Meh.  The Cheesecake thread's sitting comfortably at 125k.   

Probably because it is updated more frequently 

[markrvp]

I figure this thread needs one post a month.

[Pixelhugger]

Awright awright....

Update:  I've been measuring and cutting the interior "shelves" or panels that will hold the cabinet together. There are 3 horizontal interior panels each wider than the one below it to create an angle to the sides. There are also front and back vertical interior panels to give the cab stability and help square it up.

All these panels are cut from cabinet grade cherry plywood (since they won't be visible). It's been really difficult for me to square them up without a good table saw. My first attempt resulted in a panel that was about 1/16" out of square when measured along the diagonals. Since I have no idea what that means down the road for the glue up as far as stuff aligning, (and having been scared to death by a warning in a Fine Woodworking article about small deviations added up to big misalignments).... I've spent the last several weeks trying to edjumacate myself on what realistic tolerances should be. How exact is exact??? This started an obsession with 64th's of an inch I wasn't previously able to measure. I bought myself a ridiculously expensive 4R yardstick, a magnifying glass, and 3X power old man reading glasses from the drugstore. (I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have needed the glasses back when I started the project 5 years ago). I've got the first panel into square within a 64th and am unable to do any better. I'm guessing this is so far beyond what is necessary I won't have to worry about the squareness of the panels compromising the rest of the assembly.

Method for squaring plywood with only a router-

Following the 3-4-5 rule for a triangle with a 90 degree corner (a²+b²=c²) I measured multiples of 3 (21"), 4 (28" and 5 (35") to get 2 square sides.

Using a long metal straight edge cutting guide, I routed one side straight. I bought a cool cutting guide I wish I had gotten at the start of the project. Lets me clamp it from beneath to the workpiece and provides a super rigid straight edge to rout against.





Marking in about an inch from the corner I measured 21" to a 64th with my magic yardstick and old man reading glasses. Marked with an exacto knife, since my pencil marks were too inaccurate.

Then I laid out a line 28" parallel to the clean edge. I used a cheapo square to keep the ruler relatively straight which was enough to mark the 28" accurately. The square itself however is out about 1/32 over it's puny length. So is my carpenters square. Everyone online recommends a machinist square, but I still haven't been able to buy one.



Using my non flexible magic yardstick I measured a 35" diagonal off the far end of the 21" line, marking the intersection along the 28" line.

A straight line down to the starting point of my first 21" line gave me a very accurate 90 degrees.

I trimmed that 90 deg line and measured off it for the opposite edge. Then measured off the first clean edge for the final parallel side.

Time consuming and likely overkill but I'm pretty nervous about the alignment of all 5 panels, plus the marquee box, minimarquee, and navpanel fitting into their respective dados all at once when gluing up.

[DrewKaree]

Awright awright....

Update:  I've been measuring and cutting the interior "shelves" or panels that will hold the cabinet together.

You DO know they sell rulers.....you don't have to make your own out of shmooleyhide and strongtanium.  There's SOME level of detail you can simply just...oh, I dunno.... leave out

[Barry Barcrest]

I heard that some people actually recieved their panels from Christian while waiting for this to be finished... Although that is only a rumour.

[Kaytrim]

I heard that some people actually recieved their panels from Christian while waiting for this to be finished... Although that is only a rumour.

Now that is going a little too far.   I agree that this project is going along at a snails pace but at lest we get to see the progress.

Michael

[mpm32]

Meh.  The Cheesecake thread's sitting comfortably at 125k.   Grin

That's right.

[Griffin]

At least he's been working on it and giving everyone some serious inspiration. I've been following this since 2006. And I've always had some excuse why I can't start my own project. Seriously, Mission Control takes MAME cabs to a HNL. It's not even done and it still makes me feel inadequate.

Keep up the great work Pix

[Zakk]

I heard that some people actually recieved their panels from Christian while waiting for this to be finished... Although that is only a rumour.

Now that is going a little too far.   I agree that this project is going along at a snails pace but at lest we get to see the progress.

Michael

Snail's pace?  Do snails live that long? 

[csa3d]

Using a long metal straight edge cutting guide, I routed one side straight. I bought a cool cutting guide I wish I had gotten at the start of the project. Lets me clamp it from beneath to the workpiece and provides a super rigid straight edge to rout against.

As a router newb, I'm intrigued by this yellow thinger.  Can someone explain what bit you'd use with this (flush trim?), where the router sits (on top of the yellow bar?), and is there a bearing that rides along the edge of the yellow thing?  Lastly, were can one buy these and are they specific to your brand of router.

*neat*

-csa

[Pixelhugger]

They are not brand specific. I ran the router's base plate along the edge of the bar since I was afraid running the bearing along it might cut the bar, especially over repeated use.

I used a 1" straight bit. To make setup easier I first cut a piece and then measured exactly how far off the bar the router had cut (2 31/64" for my Porter Cable router). That made all future positioning of the bar super easy since I just moved it back that distance from the line to cut. Accurate to within 1/64"  

The bar can be extended by joining two together with a cleat in the track the clamp rides on the underside. This extends capacity to over 100"  I will say however that the bar has a tendency to bow against pressure when used like this since it can only be clamped at the ends (unless the piece you are trimming allows for a clamp in the middle, which most 8' sheets would not.

Festool makes a tool guide like this for their circular saws/routers/jigsaws, and I've seen others online as well. I really liked the positionable clamp system this one uses.     Product info

[Kaytrim]

Good to see you back and active Pixelhugger.  Looking forward to more progress updates on this project.

Michael

[Zakk]

Good to see you back and active Pixelhugger.  Looking forward to more progress updates on this project.

Michael

you're making assumptions...

[Kaytrim]

Good to see you back and active Pixelhugger.  Looking forward to more progress updates on this project.

Michael

you're making assumptions...

He may be moving slower than molasses in January but any progress is progress.  Heck look at the juke I am 'building' for my wife.  I haven't gotten out of the planing stage yet though I am accumulating parts and materials.

Michael

[R0UNDEYEZ]

So I just found this thread a few hrs ago and read it all... pretty epic. I am seriously super impressed with your attention to detail.I can't wait to see it done (not to give you even more ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- about how long its taking,but when i saw it was over 30 pages it made me keep reading expecting it done at the end haha) keep up the great work man

[Pixelhugger]

 
Heh, I actually find the opposite happening to me. I'll start reading a thread, not knowing how old it is, and find my jaw hitting the floor when I see page after page of progress- expecting nothing to be done. That happened to me with OND's Retro Futuristic cab . I saw the rendering at the start of the thread and thought BWAH..... Right! Good luck on that one. Then scrolled down to see he had already nailed everything just like the render.