My version of the Knievel "Woody" slim LCD...

[Hockeyboy]

Well, I have been on this forum for years, waiting for the day to arrive when I could say that I've built my cabinet. Okay, to be honest...*started* my cabinet.  That day has come.   

First off, how in the hell do some of you woodworkers out there do it? I've got a table saw, a table router, a handheld router, palm sander, scrolling jigsaw, and power saw, but when I start cutting my first pieces everything looks like crap and I have to re-do some cuts or even some pieces.  And I thought I had some skills...

Right, enough crying and ranting  - on with some build pics! These first four are showing the pieces of 3/4" birch plywood cut for the CP box. Much like Knievel's Woody clone, the box is 14"x33" (wood cut to 12.5" x 31.5"), with the sides rising from 4.5" to 5.5" to get a slope for the CP top.  I also built the base from standard 2x4 pieces with a 1/2" square of MDF screwed into the top (no picture of that).

[Hockeyboy]

These next four pics show the CP box cut, dry fit, and held together with a pair of strap clamps. I went to both Home Depot and Lowe's but couldn't find the ones that are about 3" wide that I've seen others here on this forum use. I am thinking that these two 1" wide strap clamps will hold the CP box together just fine as I glue (and screw from the inside only).

Question: the cut pieces are around the bottom board for the CP box - can I just run beads of glue along the bottom board edge where it meets the side pieces, bead some glue along the corner seams, and use those angled pieces of wood with screws to effectively hold everything together, or am I going to have to release the straps, put glue along each and every mitered edge, and glue along the edges where the sides meet the bottom board, and then re-tighten the straps?  Yeah, the answer is obvious: I need to glue the edges of the boards and re-clamp everything and hope that I can still do fine alignments with the clamps and hands before the glue dries and sets.

[Hockeyboy]

I've got a scrap piece of the birch plywood and picked up two small cans of stain. Here's what the color looks like with just one coat of the Minwax Poly Shades (thank you again "Master" Knievel for the great idea).

[Hockeyboy]

How does the saying go: 1 step forward, 2 steps back??  Today I went out and bought the 4' x 8' sheets of birch plywood I will need for the sides of the cabinet, plus some furring strips that I will use to hold the front and back pieces to the sides. I also glued the CP box together and then...disaster... I removed my strap clamps about 4 hrs after gluing to check on things and found out I must not have used enough glue because 2 of the CP side pieces just fell over, and one of those pieces fell onto the garage floor, damaging the corner.  Looks like I'll need to measure and cut another piece...   Well, maybe it was just 1 step back with 2 steps forward because when I was looking at the bottom of my CP box I had just glued together, I suddenly realized why Knievel mitered not only the edges of his CP box all those years ago, but the bottom piece was angled/mitered on every side as well. Why? Because otherwise you have edges of your CP box showing from underneath, and since I am staining this cabinet, I can't have any cut edges showing. If you look at these 2 pics (from Knievel's build), you'll see what I mean. Unless, someone who has built a Woody-style cabinet has a great alternative idea to this??

Anyway, I've got one 4' x 8' plywood sheet laid out on a table, and have started sketching up dimensions and transferring those onto the sheet. Hopefully tomorrow I can do at least a rough cut on one side of the cabinet.

[Hockeyboy]

No replies? Comments? Questions?

A little more work today - I followed up from my little mishap last week and re-cut my CP box piece that got damaged, and re-did another piece. I can see why so many people just paint their cabs, or put laminate on, or do anything besides use furniture-grade plywood and stain because everything has to be perfect or all the flaws in your workmanship will show. The CP box is now glued on the four sides with some blocks screwed in at the corners to give added support. Also, I mentioned in my last post that the edges of the plywood were going to show, but I think I found my workaround/fix/solution: veneer edging, and it's even birch to match my plywood!

[Hockeyboy]

Also, the base dimensions were wrong...I don't know what I was thinking, but now it is cut to be 18" deep by 23 1/2" wide (inside dimension) so that when the plywood sides are attached, for a total of another 1 1/2", the width of the cabinet will be 25" (not counting the control panel) and the depth will be right around 20" deep at the bottom. I really like the slim style of Knievel's Woody, but I also think I am going to add 2-3" -- it shouldn't hurt anything and might even be more stable. [face-praying] I also cut down the piece of 1/2" MDF base to match (it had already been attached), and re-attached it. The last two pics are the scrap piece with 2 coats of the Minwax Polyshades, and a pic showing the colors. Of the two I picked out, I think I really like the one on the left: American Chestnut Satin.

I have rough dimensions sketched out on the huge piece of 4' x 8' plywood, but I need to cut that sheet in half, then start cutting out one side. Hopefully all goes well because these are expensive sheets: $52 each at Home Depot.

[dfmaverick]

Knievel made his Evolution cab 6" deeper than the Woody, so adding depth should look fine. I actually like the profile of his Evolution over the Woody.

I also recall reading that Knievel would rather have laminated than stained after he found a matching laminate once he was already done.

Looking good so far. I like the darker color also.

[Sig00]

Not many comments yet. o.o Looking good, glad you haven't let the mishaps hold you up too much! I'll be watching your thread and hopefully pick up a few things I didn't think of (just started my own 32" LCD build about a week ago as well) already. Lookin' good, keep it rolling!

[Player 3]

Don't act like another Woody-like is bad. It's a nice cab if you ask me.

[Brian74]

I know how you feel when you screw something up and have to redo it. My woodworking skills suck  Thats why I reuse cabinets. I can handle making a new cp, thats about it. Looks good so far, keep going. 

[Hockeyboy]

Knievel made his Evolution cab 6" deeper than the Woody, so adding depth should look fine. I actually like the profile of his Evolution over the Woody.

I also recall reading that Knievel would rather have laminated than stained after he found a matching laminate once he was already done.

Looking good so far. I like the darker color also.

He did state that, and while I thought about it for a while, after doing some research I found that buying 5/8" MDF and 1/8" laminate together would have really made my materials costs much higher.

Not many comments yet. o.o Looking good, glad you haven't let the mishaps hold you up too much! I'll be watching your thread and hopefully pick up a few things I didn't think of (just started my own 32" LCD build about a week ago as well) already. Lookin' good, keep it rolling!

Nope, if I've got one thing going for me, I'm stubborn, lol!    I've learned a few things over the years, and that is definitely helping.

Don't act like another Woody-like is bad. It's a nice cab if you ask me.

Yeah, true, and after some searching on these forums, I haven't seen many others try the natural wood with stain, so I am really hoping it all comes together.

I know how you feel when you screw something up and have to redo it. My woodworking skills suck  Thats why I reuse cabinets. I can handle making a new cp, thats about it. Looks good so far, keep going. 

I'm finding it's not really my skills that are lacking, but the precision of my power tools. The table saw I bought *years* ago cost right around $200 - it's a Delta, and while I can tilt the blades up to 45 degrees to get angled cuts, the fence that came with the table saw is not great, causing me to re-cut some of my pieces.

Thanks for the support!! Updates tomorrow, with new pictures.

[Hockeyboy]

Today was spent doing the "mirror image" - where you take your first side that you've cut out and make an exact mirror image. I know it's been discussed in the past, but this is how I did it:

1) Take the side that's already cut out and lay it "upside-down" onto your blank sheet of material.
2) Trace your piece you have already cut using a pencil.
3) Remove cut side and temporarily store.
4) Take a jigsaw and cut close to the pencil lines, giving yourself no more than 1/4" of extra material.
5) Place your newly cut side down, and your first side on top, carefully lining everything up around the perimeter and clamp around the edges.
6) Carefully flip both pieces over, so that your first side is now on the bottom, and your piece to be final cut is on top.
7) Run your router with the flush trim bit with bearing around the entire perimeter, going back as needed to trim away excess.

There was TONS of sawdust when I did this, even though I trimmed down to about 1/4". It got all over the driveway, me, my wife's car... ...uh-oh...I offered to run it through the car wash but she said it will just get more sawdust on it so don't worry about it now. I did take my leaf blower and blow most of it off for her.  I can easily see why people who make their cabs from MDF talk about the wearing of a dust mask -- there's gobs of sawdust and because you have to bend down to carefully watch your router as it's running, you get a constant stream of sawdust blowing right towards your face. Good thing I was wearing safety glasses.

The 3rd pic is a close-up of the cloning process where I had to stop and move the clamp so I could continue with the router.
The 4th pic - success!! The two pieces look identical! I am glad I added in an extra 2" - I like the way this looks.

[Hockeyboy]

I also cut out the t-molding slots after I finished both pieces. Measuring the depth isn't that hard - just get the middle of the 3-wing slot cutter to 3/8" and you are set. I also made sure the nut on the bottom of the bit was on very tight as I remember reading on someone's project how their slot cutter almost got away from them, or was loose, or something just like that. The last thing I need right now is to have my slot cutting wing fly off the shaft and catch me in the flesh.    Anyway, the test cut on the scrap looked to be perfect to me, so away I went. Just have to remember to slow down when hitting your corner or your edge and you'll be fine. Also, do NOT try to pull your router out of the slot when you finish a side or corner because you'll unavoidably tilt your router and screw things up. I found that out during the test cut. Anyway, 2 sides, with slots!! 

I also cut out some other pieces, but haven't taken pictures of those: the speaker plate/shelf, the admin panel, the toe kick plate, the monitor cut-out plate (made from 1/2" MDF), the monitor mount (4 holes drilled so screws will go through it into the holes in the back of the monitor), and a couple supports that will stretch across the cab in the back. If you go back and look at Knievel's Woody, http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=06da047e48b2b66c8b8820ed5c4bb21f&topic=55789.0;all you'll notice in his first pic he posted, the side of his cabinet has some slots along that one edge (I included the pic below, #4). Knievel used biscuits to join up the large back piece to his 2 sides and made his door at the bottom front of the cabinet. I, on the other hand, am going to use a 2'x4' sheet of the birch plywood (that was picked up in another section at Home Depot and it will be trimmed down to 23 1/4") as my door in the back, so I won't have the same strength he had by using biscuits to join things together. So, I'm going to glue and screw supports on both the front and back to help hold the front, back, and side together.

(Edits for typos)

[Hockeyboy]

A couple days ago it was my birthday, but I decided to do some cabinet work anyway (I took the day off from work).    I mentioned before that I used the Minwax Polyshades...well, the first coat looked great on two of the small pieces, but when I tried coating a couple larger pieces...  ... it's not easy to work with, it "blotches" easily, and you can't go back and touch up any areas because the polyurethane is mixed in and it will just smear. So, 4 pieces, including my big back piece of 23.5"x48" - ruined.    There's also 3 trips to Home Depot to get the right color of stain, more hardware, more wood (I grabbed another 2'x4' "project panel" to use as the large back piece), and just more planning and thinking.

I think I've got all the pieces cut out now - at least, the pieces of the 3/4" birch plywood. They are all sitting in the garage, with a fresh coat of pre-stain wood conditioner, and I'm about to sand them smooth once they are fully dry. There's also a tall picture of the two sides stacked against each other, and you can see all the furring strips are in place. I think I'm about ready to start assembling!

I'm going to go with 3/16" tinted/smoked tempered glass, with some holes pre-drilled in the corners so I can mount it to my bezel cut-out.  Question: Is there another way to mount glass to the front of the cab?

[Hockeyboy]

After trying to unsuccessfully take the stand and make it completely square, I decided to try something different. I mitered the 4 pieces to have 45 degree corners and used metal brackets to hold everything together. It was more work, but in my mind, it was worth it because now it's square and doesn't wobble at all...I grabbed another stud from Home Depot to build this, just in case the 2x4s I had were slightly warped. It's upside-down so you can see the brackets in the corners.

[talkgeek]

  I'm keen to see how you progress - I think the "Woody" is a classy build (and possibly one my wife would allow in the house) .. but my cabinet making skills are far to basic at this stage to attempt - will just have to experience it vicariously through your posts 

[Hockeyboy]

I'm keen to see how you progress - I think the "Woody" is a classy build (and possibly one my wife would allow in the house) .. but my cabinet making skills are far to basic at this stage to attempt - will just have to experience it vicariously through your posts 

Oh, hey, I'm quickly finding out my cabinet "skills" are far less than I thought they were.    Thank you, though.

Seriously, this build has been fun for me, even though I'm progressing at a slow speed vs Knievel's original Woody (that he put together in...what...3 days?  ).  I've been on this forum for years, reading, researching, and wishing...and now that I've finally started, I'm finding that careful planning can only go so far. And, I just haven't seen that many actual Woody cabinets - meaning ones that are made with actual cabinet-grade plywood. There's another person here, Ambush, who put together a similar build (about two years ago now?), but even he went the primer-and-paint route.

[mcseforsale]

Looks great.  Subscribed

AJ

[AGarv]

I have always liked the appearance of natural wood cabs - looking forward to seeing this one after it is stained!

[Drnick]

I'm going to go with 3/16" tinted/smoked tempered glass, with some holes pre-drilled in the corners so I can mount it to my bezel cut-out.  Question: Is there another way to mount glass to the front of the cab?

There are many ways of dealing with this.  In my bartop I have a support piece under the bottom of the glass with a groove cut into it. The glass slots into this groove The rest of the glass sits up against the monitor bezel which is supported from behind.  Once the control panel goes into place the glass cannot go anywhere. On Kneivels design it looks like he has a gap between the bezel and the front admin panel I can only assume that he has a support bar of piece of channelling for the glass to sit in just above the buttons. Unfortunately I couldn't see an image of the admin panel from the back.
It doesn't look like it makes for a quick and simple removal of the glass but it does look clean and neat. I would not get Holes drilled unless absolutely required. I can see it required for a pedestal style unit with a completely flat face, but not on a cab with an angle. 

[mcseforsale]

Yep.  I did this on both my woody clone and my fullsize:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,117977.msg1259958.html#msg1259958

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,117977.msg1281430.html#msg1281430

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,122362.msg1310053.html#msg1310053

Closeup of how the monitor is mounted to the bezel:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,122362.msg1318514.html#msg1318514

AJ

[Hockeyboy]

Well, the last couple of days have been spent doing last cuts, sanding, and prepping for stain. Prepping = applying Minwax Pre-Stain Wood Conditioner to everything. This is a plywood product and the actual birch veneer is thin so I don't want the stain to color any large swirls or spots darker than others - an even finish is what I am shooting for.  I had several of my pieces laid out and forgot to take a picture of them before and after staining -- I set them aside to do the large pieces (specifically, the large pieces entail the back door and the 2 sides). The stain color is Minwax Gunstock #231.

Pic #1 is one of the sides, interior shown, with stain around the edges. When this is all put together, in some of the areas, the other pieces will be recessed and I wanted to make sure you still see stain everywhere you are supposed to.

Pic #2 is the back door - 23 1/2" x 48" - all stained. Yes, I'm doing my door in the back, not the front. I'm hoping that doesn't turn out to be a bad decision from a structural standpoint, but I've also got a couple braces that I am going to put in the back to help hold everything together.

Pic #3 is one of the side pieces, laid out, ready for staining. The birch plywood is very light in color. Makes me wonder if I should have gone with the Red Oak in the first place?? 

Pic #4 is fresh coat of stain, still wet. Damn, I sure wish it looked like this after wiping. I love this rich color.

Pic #5 is both side pieces, stained and wiped, very close to each other to see the color comparison. Both of these were cut from the same large sheet of 4' x 8' birch ply, but sometimes there are swirls or wood patterns that are more prominent on one side than the other.

I'm hoping that when I finish these with urethane, the color will deepen just a little.

[Hockeyboy]

Earlier, I forgot to mention that some ordered parts had arrived. The threaded wood inserts for mounting the motherboard, amplifier (and other computer parts), the Y-splitter cable that goes from 3mm headphone jack to 2-RCA plugs (because that's what the auto amplifier uses as inputs), the 20W auto amplifier for the speakers, the 12VDC adapter to power that amplifier, and 40 ft of textured leather t-molding from gamemolding.com. The website wasn't taking payments last week, but on the home page, the site owner, Preston, had put a message saying just shoot him an e-mail. Well, in less than 2 days of e-mailing my order and getting an invoice, my order was shipped, and arrived in just 2 business days! And, while I'm not going to say one site is better than the other, gamemolding.com charged me about half of what I was going to pay over at t-molding.com -- I just wanted to give Preston a big thank you for being so quick with the order. I put a small piece on one of the smaller boards and it looks great!

[mcseforsale]

Earlier, I forgot to mention that some ordered parts had arrived. The threaded wood inserts for mounting the motherboard, amplifier (and other computer parts), the Y-splitter cable that goes from 3mm headphone jack to 2-RCA plugs (because that's what the auto amplifier uses as inputs), the 20W auto amplifier for the speakers, the 12VDC adapter to power that amplifier, and 40 ft of textured leather t-molding from gamemolding.com. The website wasn't taking payments last week, but on the home page, the site owner, Preston, had put a message saying just shoot him an e-mail. Well, in less than 2 days of e-mailing my order and getting an invoice, my order was shipped, and arrived in just 2 business days! And, while I'm not going to say one site is better than the other, gamemolding.com charged me about half of what I was going to pay over at t-molding.com -- I just wanted to give Preston a big thank you for being so quick with the order. I put a small piece on one of the smaller boards and it looks great!

+1 for Preston.  He helped me out on my woody/revolution as well.

AJ

[Hockeyboy]

I'm going to go with 3/16" tinted/smoked tempered glass, with some holes pre-drilled in the corners so I can mount it to my bezel cut-out.  Question: Is there another way to mount glass to the front of the cab?

There are many ways of dealing with this.  In my bartop I have a support piece under the bottom of the glass with a groove cut into it. The glass slots into this groove The rest of the glass sits up against the monitor bezel which is supported from behind.  Once the control panel goes into place the glass cannot go anywhere. On Kneivels design it looks like he has a gap between the bezel and the front admin panel I can only assume that he has a support bar of piece of channelling for the glass to sit in just above the buttons. Unfortunately I couldn't see an image of the admin panel from the back.
It doesn't look like it makes for a quick and simple removal of the glass but it does look clean and neat. I would not get Holes drilled unless absolutely required. I can see it required for a pedestal style unit with a completely flat face, but not on a cab with an angle.

I'm gonna have to do some more looking to see what you guys mean -- if I understand correctly, the glass will sit behind the small admin panel (that will be sitting just above the control panel) in a little groove and the CP box + the admin panel will hold the glass in place?  Sometimes it's a pain to be a very visual-oriented person.    I don't want to have to drill holes in the glass, but the glass shop said they will do it, no problem, and I'd use black painted screws and black neoprene washers on both sides of the glass to keep it from cracking. I can get 3/16" glass, about 2'x2', for about $60, and for abour $90, they will temper it. Either way, they can also tint it as well for those prices.

[dfmaverick]

Knievel tries to show how he did it in the Evolution thread:

The glass slides up behind the speaker panel and then the bottom drops into a slot routed in the top of the admin panel. I use 1/4" thick glass so it's heavy and won't go anywhere. 

Here's a pic, different machine but the same idea..

[Hockeyboy]

Ah, thank you!!  I had seen that thread before, but didn't pay close enough attention to that detail. Perfect -- now I don't have to have holes drilled!

Okay, another question: what percentage of smoke/tint am I supposed to ask for on this piece of glass? The bezel area around the monitor is going to be painted flat black.

Thanks again to all who are helping me out on this -- this isn't supposed to be rocket science, right? 

[mcseforsale]

I got the transparent solar grey from Tap.  I just sent them an email asking for the gradient of the plexy.  We'll see if they respond.  But, it's nice and smokey and not too dark.  I only had to up the brightness on my NEC Multisync 19" by a couple of quick pushes of the button.

http://www.tapplastics.com/product/plastics/cut_to_size_plastic/acrylic_sheets_transparent_colors/519

AJ

Ah, thank you!!  I had seen that thread before, but didn't pay close enough attention to that detail. Perfect -- now I don't have to have holes drilled!

Okay, another question: what percentage of smoke/tint am I supposed to ask for on this piece of glass? The bezel area around the monitor is going to be painted flat black.

Thanks again to all who are helping me out on this -- this isn't supposed to be rocket science, right? 

[mcseforsale]

OK,
Dave over at Tap just emailed me back and said that the solar grey is 27% light transmission.  Good to know.

AJ

[Hockeyboy]

I got the transparent solar grey from Tap.  I just sent them an email asking for the gradient of the plexy.  We'll see if they respond.  But, it's nice and smokey and not too dark.  I only had to up the brightness on my NEC Multisync 19" by a couple of quick pushes of the button.

http://www.tapplastics.com/product/plastics/cut_to_size_plastic/acrylic_sheets_transparent_colors/519

AJ

Thanks again. Now I've got another decision to make - glass or the TAP plastic (acrylic)?? It's not the cost - a quick calculation showed the TAP order would only be ~$40 - but which is the better way to go. 

Also, I've been thinking of various ideas and names for this cab...my wife came up with In The Doghouse...   I get it, honey...   I'm leaning towards Rainy Day Games because I live in the greater Portland, OR area, and it rains a lot here.  Around the text I'd have several of the video game characters, and maybe some sort of rain-streaked background.  We'll see...

[mcseforsale]

I'd say with the relative humidity of your area, you should be fine with Tap.  In drier climes, I'd recommend glass since it is less static prone.  The only problem with plexi is you can't, and I MEAN YOU CANNOT use windex on it.  I use a light carnuba on mine after I clean it with soapy rag...oh, and no paper towels.  Paper towels have fibers in them that are harder than even glass, so eventually it'll haze.

I have nothing but good to say about Tap and my plexi.  It came cut to EXACT measurements and fit the first time.  It also came FAST. 

As for glass, you'll need tempered if you have kids, or rowdy buds.  I simply couldn't find a glass shop in my area that would take my order for less than $120, so I went with Tap. 

AJ

I got the transparent solar grey from Tap.  I just sent them an email asking for the gradient of the plexy.  We'll see if they respond.  But, it's nice and smokey and not too dark.  I only had to up the brightness on my NEC Multisync 19" by a couple of quick pushes of the button.

http://www.tapplastics.com/product/plastics/cut_to_size_plastic/acrylic_sheets_transparent_colors/519

AJ

Thanks again. Now I've got another decision to make - glass or the TAP plastic (acrylic)?? It's not the cost - a quick calculation showed the TAP order would only be ~$40 - but which is the better way to go. 

Also, I've been thinking of various ideas and names for this cab...my wife came up with In The Doghouse...   I get it, honey...   I'm leaning towards Rainy Day Games because I live in the greater Portland, OR area, and it rains a lot here.  Around the text I'd have several of the video game characters, and maybe some sort of rain-streaked background.  We'll see...

[Hockeyboy]

Okay, I've been having some fun, and some tedious time this past week. Mostly, I've been finishing up staining, then applying coats of urethane, sanding, and applying another coat of urethane. Most pieces now have 3 or 4 coats except for the 2 big side pieces that don't have any urethane yet.

Following the direction and advice of mcseforsale, I ordered my sheet of acrylic from TAP plastics. Solar grey, 3/16" thick. Then I thought: how am I going to insert the acrylic? He pointed to the way in a picture, and I figured I better cut a slot in my admin panel...but how? Aha, I've got it! Turn my table saw into a dado cutter -- set the blade depth by turning the blade depth crank to 1/4", set the fence to 1/4" wide, and make a pass. Perfect! One narrow slot, 1/4" deep. Now, adjust the fence, make another pass, and nibble away some more. One more adjustment, one last pass, and now I've got a little square groove/slot that is 1/4" x 1/4" at the top of my admin panel. My acrylic is 3/16" so it should fit just fine.

I've been going back and forth on what to do with the actual computer. I really don't want to just keep it in a case, especially since I got one of those tall CoolerMaster Hyper212 heat sink/fan units -- those things won't fit in just any case. I want to mount all the computer parts onto a board, and I've got the threaded inserts, nylon stand-offs, and long screws to mount the motherboard, so that part is easy. But, how and where do you mount the hard drive? Do you mount a DVD drive, or do you even need one in there after you've got everything loaded and installed? What about the power supply?? Lastly, the video card tips back and forth because it's not mounted or screwed down like you would do in a case - how do you keep that from moving?   Yeah, a lot to think about...also, is Windows XP a good OS to install all this with for a MAME PC? I've got copies and licenses for XP, but I've also got the Windows 7 install DVD and I could just install that into the PC and not do any updates or registration? (Also, the Windows 7 install DVD is a 64-bit install...of course I want that for my gaming computer, but I really don't think I'd need all that extra horsepower and speed for a MAME PC.)

I had a small mishap tonight. After staining and applying 3 coats of urethane, and after cutting my slot for the acrylic, and even after gluing on some of that birch veneer edging and staining that, I decided to drill the holes for the admin buttons...man...as the 1 1/8" spade bit was rotating, the drill jumped in my hands and popped out and made a scratch in the wood just beneath the button hole.    I dabbed some stain in the gash, but since it's through the veneer, the coloring doesn't look right, even with a button in place. And, my wife was quick to point out that I would know it was there...all...the...time...and it would just drive me crazy. Yeah, she's right, it would. Well, luckily, now that I knew how to build this piece, doing another one took all of 15 minutes to re-cut. Lesson to be learned? Do all your cuts and drilling before you spend a bunch of time doing the finishing work.

I also ordered 2 Logisys CCL front light bars. http://www.outletpc.com/c7918.html  I may need only one, but I ordered 2 just because I don't know how much light they put out.

Okay, the pics!


#1 is the square slot I cut out using my table saw. Look at the bottom.

#2 is the CP box, flipped over. You can see the bottom board and the plywood boards that form the box - they have the birch veneer glue-on strips and are stained as well. Not many people are going to get on their hands and knees to look at the bottom of a control panel, so I think it will look fine.

#3 is my mishap piece and the new board, already cut and 'slotted' with the square slot. I put the Minwax Pre-Stain Wood Conditioner on and wiped off the excess, but I won't apply the first coat of stain until tomorrow when it has a chance to dry fully.

#4 both speakers mounted in the plywood piece. The open style grilles were painted flat black by me - the original color was a silvery grey. The silver that you see is part of the actual speaker.

[Hockeyboy]

Okay, more updates...everything is now stained and protected with urethane, 3 coats everywhere. I've been doing that the past several days after coming home from work, light sanding and then a coat of urethane, that is. I've also been in touch with SlammedNiss who sent me a sheet of the button stickers (those arrived in the mail -- thanks Slammed!) and mcseforsale who got me the CP layout in a file - many thanks to mcse as well!

I mounted the CCFL fixtures onto an old piece of melanine-coated shelving that I had lying around. (Pic #1) 
 
You can see they have simple connection points for 12VDC so I took a Molex connector used for hard drives and spliced it (it's the connector at the bottom of the picture). I'll just plug it into a HDD connector and since each light only uses a few millamps, I shouldn't overload the 12V rail on the power supply. The wires aren't actually connected yet - I'll do that when the power supply and the lights are installed in the cabinet so I know how long to make them. The front side is white so it will help to reflect the light forward - I actually don't think I'll need that because the CCFL is a frontal light bar, but they are mounted on it anyway. I also angled the back of the piece so it "nestles" nicely in the 2 pieces that are at the top of the cabinet and the speaker plate. (Pic #2)
 
This next picture shows the base glued, screwed, and clamped in place to one of the cabinet sides. The screws are 2" so they can go through the 1.5" of 2x4 and 1/2" into the 3/4" plywood, from the inside, so you don't see any screws or connection points on the outside of the cabinet. (Pic #3)
 
Next is the CP box, fully stained and protected with urethane. I have not made the top yet, so it's still just the box. (Pic #4)
 
Both cabinet sides, plus a couple braces, now attached! This almost looks like an arcade cabinet!! (Pic #5)
 
These next 2 are the incoming power outlet I've rigged up. The output terminals are going to be directly connected to the Smart Strip outlet - this way, I won't have to cut some weird hold into the cabinet. Well, I will, but it will be to mount this outlet switch into the back of the cabinet - probably through my door in a lower corner. ;-) (Pic #6 & 7)
 

[Hockeyboy]

A couple other updates:

The lower portion of the front of the cabinet. That's not a door, but an actual panel. I set it back 1/2" from the edge, and it's on an angle from the bottom up to the point where it goes underneath the control panel. You can see at the left-hand side the "admin" panel in place. (Pic #1)

The very bottom of the arcade cabinet where my angled front panel meets my kick plate piece. A close-up view and a view with all of the cabinet. (Pic #2 & 3)

I'm ready to stand this sucker up and see how vertical looks!

[mcseforsale]

Looks real good!!!

AJ

[Hockeyboy]

Didn't get a ton of time today - real life has a terrible way of creeping into this hobby sometimes. Most of the threads I've read you guys are on your second cabinet by this time.    I did, however, get to smoke/roast up some chicken pieces today on the Traeger -- my wife brined up the leg quarters and breasts and drumsticks last night and they cooked on the Traeger for about 1 hour and they were golden brown and oh-my-god-DELICIOUS!!

Anyway, back to the cabinet. Today, I actually got it set on the ground and had it standing. My god, it's a thing of beauty when you finally stand your arcade up for the first time. I brought the CP layout file over to Kinko's and the guy at Kinko's asked what I was printing out and when I told him he was sooooo jealous. "A real arcade machine? In your house?!?" Sometimes, you can't get a a big enough smug smile going. 

Pic #1 is the back of the cabinet with the monitor mounted and the t-molding applied to all the edges. You can see a couple of cross pieces to help hold things together since I'm not gluing/screwing/biscuiting in the back. Also, it pays to do your research about applying t-molding. My son was watching me clip off spots of the spline so I could go around and into corners and said I was a genius for thinking of that. I could have run with that but I deferred to the experts here on BYOAC and said I read how to do that here. I've got two small spots where the router blade bit a little (I mentioned previously that you don't pull the router from your slot while it's still running) and the slot won't effectively hold the spline but a teeny bit of super glue fixed that. Also, there were a couple of areas along the plywood veneer where portions of a specific ply popped loose and it left some holes/gaps. I filled those areas with some epoxy resin last night to give them some strength when I tapped in the t-molding.

Pic #2 is the side, showing off the stain and urethane. The CP box is just placed on the arms and not attached yet. I wasn't really sure if I'd like that Min-Wax Gunstock color as it's a little more orange than I would have liked, but I think it looks VERY nice on this cabinet.

Pic #3 is the front with CP box. You can see I've got a front panel and a kick plate piece along the bottom. I'm still debating on whether or not to add some lighting or tiny molding to the bottom front, just to give it a little more "look" or not -- my wife actually suggested some small LED lighting running along both sides and I had to admit the lighting examples she showed me looked very nice indeed. Question is do I want to trying to bling up the cabinet??  Opinions?

So, if you look at #3, specifically at the bezel and frame, my wife had a couple of questions. Should I have a bigger monitor? It's a 19", which matches what others have done, and matches Knievel's Woody (where I got my inspiration). There's already close to 3" of frame all around the monitor and I would hate to have more frame "real estate" but she asked why I didn't mount the monitor fully behind the frame with only the actual screen showing and not the bezel of the monitor (not my painted black wood frame). I also pointed out that I need to have the frame go around the monitor so I can adjust the buttons on the monitor if needed, but that brings up another question: how do you guys turn off and on your monitor if the power button is blocked by the wood frame around your monitor? Do you drill a small finger-sized hole? Do you buy a monitor that has a remote control?

Thanks for reading through. I welcome any thoughts and opinions, and any questions.

[TopJimmyCooks]

looks tasty.  on the monitor power, my power button is concealed.  I use a smart power strip (the good ones are $33 from newegg).  However, my display is actually not controlled by the smart strip.  the smart strip handles the marquee light and some other stuff.  many displays turn them selves off when they lose signal, ie. when you turn the pc off.  newer displays even have this as a menu option.  If you don't have that option you need a smart strip.

[AGarv]

Looking good buddy.  For #3, I think that your current monitor size is fine.  If your monitor has a sleep function, then I don't see any issue with removing the glass/bezel for those infrequent occasions that you need to make adjustments (i.e. don't drill a hole or hack your monitor).

For the kick-plate, what about adding something to make its function more apparent and create some contrast, e.g. metals studs?  A coin door would add a lot IMO also.

[monkeychunkuk]

Nice work I love these woodwork builds

[PL1]

Some monitors automatically switch back on when power is restored after an interruption like unplugging it or the smart strip switching off.

Turn your monitor on, unplug it and plug it back in to test this -- you may need to change a menu setting, too.   


Scott

[mcseforsale]

Knievel said in my build thread that on his Woody/Evolution, he has the monitor time out in 30 min and the PC sleep after 30 min.  That way, it's basically off until you give it input (wiggle joystick, button, etc).

Answers from the master himself:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,122362.msg1302705.html#msg1302705

AJ

[Hockeyboy]

I didn't get time this past weekend to do much work on my cabinet as last Thursday there was a mishap at my work -- someone was cleaning a tile hallway, complete with caution signs, and I slipped in a puddle of water, both feet up, and landed hard on my arse.    I ended up going to an Urgent Care clinic where they took x-rays and said my spine looks fine, but a follow-up inspection by the radiologist said I might have an L1 vertebrae fracture. I went to an Occupational Health doctor, that works with workman's comp cases (since I hurt myself at work), who sent me over for a CT scan, and confirmed that I do indeed have an L1 vertabrae fracture - it's only a small chip, about 2mm long, but there's nothing to be done to repair or fix it except time and let it heal itself. Of course, in the meantime, I'm suffering from constant low back pain and I can't bend over or lift more than a couple of pounds...

...anyway, I did get some time to do a couple small things. I had ordered a black acrylic test bench to mount my computer parts on: http://www.amazon.com/DIYPC-Alpha-DB6-Acrylic-Computer-motherboard/dp/B00D3Y7P44  I was able to assemble it but trying to make the motherboard line up with the stand-off holes proved to be impossible as I couldn't get more than 2 holes anywhere to line up. I ended up drilling carefully through the acrylic and installed the stand-offs and the motherboard, but I don't have any pictures of that assembly yet.

I am still trying to decide on what theme or name I want for this cabinet. I've got a good sense of humor, so I am intrigued by a couple ideas: Rainy Day Games and In the Doghouse. My daughter hand-drew a picture of a woman's arm and hand, with the index finger shaking back and forth, on the left-hand side of the picture, and there is a stake in the grass, a long chain that travels from left to right, and a doghouse with a man crouched in the doorway with the chain attached to a collar around his neck. The words In the Doghouse run across the middle. I saw that and immedately  . My wife says it gives off the wrong idea...yeah...you fellow married guys can understand and appreciate this humor, right?

The other idea is Rainy Day Games. A buddy whipped up some background and lettering (see the pictures below). I think if I went this route I'd like to add some arcade characters along the bottom so you would know it's arcade-based and not just one game. Thoughts? Ideas?

This weekend, if my back feels better, I want to put the computer mount into the cabinet and wire up the 12VDC lights to a HDD plug (that I already modified), wire up the speakers & amplifier, and work on the computer a little more, but I'm still trying to decide which front end I want to go with?  I've heard great things about both Mala and Hyperspin, and even Mamewah, but since I'm not going with a top-of-the-line CPU (I am running an Intel Q9450 Quad Core with 3G of RAM on a Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3L motherboard with a nVidia GTX9800 video card) I'm betting I'll have to take a more careful look at my front end options. I'm not going to run several different emulators, just MAME and Daphne, so I think I'll have plenty of horsepower to run, and I'm only planning on putting Windows XP (I don't have any extra copies of Windows 7 32-bit). Anyone have any inputs on which front end will work fine for my needs?

I still need to rought cut the CP top pieces - in my case, this means my 1/2" MDF, 1/4" birch plywood, and 1/8" plexiglass top pieces that I have waiting. Much like Knievel in his Woody, I'd route a bevel or round the bottom piece so the thickness measures 3/4" total to allow for the slot for the t-molding. Man, did I cut it close...I ordered 40 feet, and I have just enough to go around the CP top plus a couple extra feet. I also need to cut out the holes for buttons, joysticks, spinner, and trackball, glue it all together, and wire everything up. So I've still got a long ways to go it seems.

Again, check out the sample pics, and I'm open to suggestions.

[TopJimmyCooks]

Suggestion: Adjust the kerning (space between the letters) so the I doesn't disappear into the N and so the text takes up a little more of the open area.  It will be more readable. 

Sorry to hear about your back, that's a drag.  take it easy and recover quickly. 

[Hockeyboy]

Well, it's been a month, but I've finally been able to do more work. Little things here and there, mostly. The doctor is telling me I can use my back again, but don't overdo.

The computer is put together and I loaded Windows XP onto it, but I found out very recently that Microsoft has stopped XP support all together but the computer is saying I have to register/validate the software or it won't boot up. Well, damn. Maybe I need to go with Windows 7? I put the computer parts onto an acrylic test bench instead of mounting them directly onto the wood.

I installed the CCL panel and fired it up and it has a nice cool glow to it - not overly harsh and bright. I like it.

The amplifier for the speakers was mounted into the side of the cabinet.

The control panel top is now in progress. I used the template provided to me (thanks mcse!), and cut it out, painted the back black, and even installed the trackball mounting plate. Then when I set it down onto the control panel box I found out I shouldn't have rounded all the corners because it didn't sit right and didn't fully cover the box. Okay...well, damn, now what?    So, I cut out another piece of MDF, no rounding of corners, set it down, and...dammit! It's too short! I check my dimensions and realized that the CP template shouldn't have gone from outside edge to outside edge, but rather inside edge to inside edge of the paper outline. So, I cut out one more, and it's too short! By about half an inch! What the --??    Thankfully I had a huge piece of 1/2" MDF so I could cut out one final CP top. I added 3/4" and cut one last piece. Marked where all the holes would be, drew the area where the trackball mounts, drilled holes, routed out 1/16" for the plate...etc. Place it on the control panel box and the trackball sits just 1/2" too low - the holes for the trackball mounting plate are sitting on the edge of the control panel box. Man...am I ever going to make this work? Luckily, I just extended the trackball mounting area, re-routed, re-drilled, and stuck the mounting plate in and it all fits. So, despite the fact I measured more than once, I made 3 mistakes. Now that everything looks okay, I cut out my 1/4" birch panel to match the 1/2" MDF, clamped it to the MDF and clone routed, then stained. 

Okay, so some pic updates...

#1 - is a close-up of the 1/4" birch sitting on top of the 1/2" MDF, cloned and stained.
#2 - another shot, this time of the corners.
#3 - top view of the 1/4" birch panel, stained.
#4 - 1/2" MDF panel, marked and ready to be drilled for all the controls.

Big question: I know the holes for the buttons are supposed to be 1 1/8" and I have my spade drill bit for those, but what size do I drill the holes for the joystick shafts? Obviously I'm going to be doing an under-mount setup, but I'm not sure what size to drill for these. 3/4"?  1"? 1 1/8", to match the button holes?

[mcseforsale]

I'd use 1 1/8 for those too.  1" in mine seem to  be just a skosh too small...using bat tops.  Just remember the sequence for trackball mounting plate, plexi, etc.

AJ

[Hockeyboy]

And, some other pics:

#1 - CCL light panel installed. I am glad I bought two as these aren't super bright. Just one would have been very dim.

#2 - computer parts installed on the acrylic test bench - I did this to keep the components out in the open so they can have airflow. I was going to mount them to a wood plate but I like this better. Plus, I can take out the computer anytime to move components around, change them out, etc. Yes, it looks like a jumble of cords and wires as I haven't done cable management yet. The red box on the right side is the speaker amplifier. I actually hooked up an iPod to the amplifier and powered it up -- good sound without overdriving the speakers. Decent bass. I could have gone with computer speakers and an included subwoofer, but, honestly, this is an arcade and I don't recall that many games needing, or using, subwoofers.

#3 - wire routing for the CCL lighting. It's tapped into the 12VDC line on the computer power supply using a spare Molex connector.

#4 - the acrylic/Plexi from tapplastics.com. I used the camera flash so you could see through it and see the transparent grey. I'm not sure if I'll add a paper bezel to close off all but the screen itself because I can see the silver trim of the monitor...we'll see once I get things up and running. The Plexi is easily removed if needed.


I still need the iPac2 -- I don't think I'll go KeyWiz. I also need a spinner, but I'm not sure which one to go with - both Ultimarc and GGG have spinners. Opinions? Is there one that feels better than the other? Also, I want just a normal black knob on top - no bright colors. I read in some other threads that you can't interchange knobs and spinners so I better choose wisely.

Oh, and going back to the control panel top...now that I have some, err, ahem, *examples*, I can try drilling from both the front and back and see how things turn out. I'm a little leery about drilling through both the MDF and birch panel separately because if I don't line them up perfectly, well, you know. Have some of you glued the pieces together and drilled as one piece?

[mcseforsale]

That's purdy, right there.

My woody/evolution has a 2.1 PC speaker system and the bass add a lot of fun to things like World Class Bowling and GoldenTee. 

AJ

[EvilNuff]

Nice progress, I love what I see so far!

[Hockeyboy]

Thanks for the encouragement guys!!   

Okay, so 1 1/8" for the joystick shaft holes...good to know. I had already bought an extra set of 3 spade bits: 1/2", 3/4", and 1", just in case, but it looks like I'll be okay. And, yes, I'm using the Happ bat-topped joysticks so I am hoping this will all work out with the under-mount that I will be doing. I'm planning on using #8-32 threaded inserts screwed into the bottom of the control panel piece of MDF and screw the joystick mounts right into those so they should be very sturdy and not want to rip out. Since I've got so many "test pieces" (translation: mistakes), maybe I should drill a hole through and mount a joystick to see if the shafts are long enough. I'd hate to get this thing together and then find that out. I did do test drills through both the MDF and the MDF/1/4" panel pieces glued together and found that the spade bit doesn't rip huge chunks of MDF out when it finally breaks through so that's one concern I no longer have.

I spray painted the bottom of the MDF piece in a satin black because some of that will hang over the edges of the control panel box and I want it to have a 'finished' look. I'm pretty sure I've got the order correct, but, just in case...  on the very bottom I've got my 1/2" thick MDF. I mount the trackball plate to that and then glue the 1/4" birch panel on top, giving me a total of 3/4". I have a 1/"8 thick piece of plexiglass that I'll put on top and I'll wrap the entire control panel top in the 3/4" textured leather t-molding, just like I did to the edges of the cabinet. I believe Knievel said many years ago that he beveled the bottom piece of his control panel top assembly to keep the thickness right at 3/4" -- I'm hoping to do the same thing because I don't want to catch anything on the edges of the Plexi.  I haven't thought exactly how this will all work out...yet...hints or advice would be greatly appreciated. 

So, not much of an update today, but some. And I really do appreciate the kind words. 

[mcseforsale]

Yeah, you'll want to chamfer the bottom edge of the CP so that the mean dimension is 3/4". 

I also routed out about 1/4" from the bottom of my joy mounts.  You probably can't do this because of your sandwich:



Here's a pic of the 1/8" chamfer that I routed around the bottom of my CP to make the dimension 3/4 for the t-molding.  It's hard to see, but that's 1/8" off the bottom edge and 1/8" plexi on top.:



You can't notice it's like that even a foot away from the arcade because the edge matches the t-molding.  Also, it feels good in the hand.

AJ

Thanks for the encouragement guys!!   

Okay, so 1 1/8" for the joystick shaft holes...good to know. I had already bought an extra set of 3 spade bits: 1/2", 3/4", and 1", just in case, but it looks like I'll be okay. And, yes, I'm using the Happ bat-topped joysticks so I am hoping this will all work out with the under-mount that I will be doing. I'm planning on using #8-32 threaded inserts screwed into the bottom of the control panel piece of MDF and screw the joystick mounts right into those so they should be very sturdy and not want to rip out. Since I've got so many "test pieces" (translation: mistakes), maybe I should drill a hole through and mount a joystick to see if the shafts are long enough. I'd hate to get this thing together and then find that out. I did do test drills through both the MDF and the MDF/1/4" panel pieces glued together and found that the spade bit doesn't rip huge chunks of MDF out when it finally breaks through so that's one concern I no longer have.

I spray painted the bottom of the MDF piece in a satin black because some of that will hang over the edges of the control panel box and I want it to have a 'finished' look. I'm pretty sure I've got the order correct, but, just in case...  on the very bottom I've got my 1/2" thick MDF. I mount the trackball plate to that and then glue the 1/4" birch panel on top, giving me a total of 3/4". I have a 1/"8 thick piece of plexiglass that I'll put on top and I'll wrap the entire control panel top in the 3/4" textured leather t-molding, just like I did to the edges of the cabinet. I believe Knievel said many years ago that he beveled the bottom piece of his control panel top assembly to keep the thickness right at 3/4" -- I'm hoping to do the same thing because I don't want to catch anything on the edges of the Plexi.  I haven't thought exactly how this will all work out...yet...hints or advice would be greatly appreciated. 

So, not much of an update today, but some. And I really do appreciate the kind words. 

[Hockeyboy]

Yeah, you'll want to chamfer the bottom edge of the CP so that the mean dimension is 3/4". 

1. I also routed out about 1/4" from the bottom of my joy mounts.  You probably can't do this because of your sandwich.

2. Here's a pic of the 1/8" chamfer that I routed around the bottom of my CP to make the dimension 3/4 for the t-molding.  It's hard to see, but that's 1/8" off the bottom edge and 1/8" plexi on top.:

You can't notice it's like that even a foot away from the arcade because the edge matches the t-molding.  Also, it feels good in the hand.

AJ

1. If I'm planning on using the threaded inserts, they have to have a certain amount of material still available so they can "hold". With you routing out 1/4" of material, what did you use to hold your joysticks in place? I'm wondering now if I can route off 1/8" and still use the inserts??

2. Okay, I'm missing something obvious here...I quickly looked up chamfer bits and am not seeing how you would run the router to shave off the 1/8" of material you were referring to. What type/style of chamfer bit did you use and how did you run it? It looks like you are basically making a little bevel so the edge of the control panel pieces all total 3/4" to allow the t-molding to cover everything, including that plexi. Sorry if this all sounds confusing...I'm at work and trying to get my head wrapped around this concept.

[mcseforsale]

1.) My joys are bolted through with carriage bolts.  Then, art, then plexi. 

2.) it's just one of these:

http://www.amazon.com/Kempston-98006-Miniature-Chamfer-Diameter/dp/B001A0Y9HE/ref=sr_1_55?ie=UTF8&qid=1381423829&sr=8-55&keywords=router+chamfer

So, it's just a 45 degree chamfer that's 1/8" thick. 



AJ

Yeah, you'll want to chamfer the bottom edge of the CP so that the mean dimension is 3/4". 

1. I also routed out about 1/4" from the bottom of my joy mounts.  You probably can't do this because of your sandwich.

2. Here's a pic of the 1/8" chamfer that I routed around the bottom of my CP to make the dimension 3/4 for the t-molding.  It's hard to see, but that's 1/8" off the bottom edge and 1/8" plexi on top.:

You can't notice it's like that even a foot away from the arcade because the edge matches the t-molding.  Also, it feels good in the hand.

AJ

1. If I'm planning on using the threaded inserts, they have to have a certain amount of material still available so they can "hold". With you routing out 1/4" of material, what did you use to hold your joysticks in place? I'm wondering now if I can route off 1/8" and still use the inserts??

2. Okay, I'm missing something obvious here...I quickly looked up chamfer bits and am not seeing how you would run the router to shave off the 1/8" of material you were referring to. What type/style of chamfer bit did you use and how did you run it? It looks like you are basically making a little bevel so the edge of the control panel pieces all total 3/4" to allow the t-molding to cover everything, including that plexi. Sorry if this all sounds confusing...I'm at work and trying to get my head wrapped around this concept.

[Hockeyboy]

I see it now...wow...what was I on at work last night?      I stared at that picture and those bits for a while wondering how you did it? Now I see a small bevel on the very bottom of your CP top. Whew...I feel better.

Yeah, I can't do carriage bolts - the "sandwiching" you mentioned for my pieces won't allow for it. I bet I could still take away 1/"8 on the underside and still use my threaded inserts. I still have test pieces - I'll give it a try.

The 1/4" birch panel now has three coats of urethane - man, it sure looks nice! I don't have a pic to share as I still had to head in to work tonight. Can't wait to glue it onto the MDF piece and start drilling holes for joysticks, buttons, the spinner, and the trackball. We got a small bonus at work ($1000 for meeting certain production goals, a little over $600 after taxes) and I'm getting my spinner and iPac2. That should finish up everything I need to buy at this point. Well, unless I decide I need to go with Windows 7 as my OS -- I'm spending hundreds of dollars on hardware and such but don't want to shell out $100 for a copy of Windows 7. I mean, I have 2 copies at the house, but if I install them on the MAME computer it's going to ask me to validate/verify the product key and those are being used by the desktops my wife and I use. We'll see.

[Hockeyboy]

It's been a while since I've been able to do some work on my cabinet, but things have been getting better so I've been able to do some work. Lots of stuff in the background, little things here and there. I've also gone through 3 separate control panel tops -- yes, 3!!  The first one I cut my 1/4" birch plywood panel, stained and varnished it, then cut my 1/2" MDF and drilled all the holes and the cut-out area for the trackball. I lay it on top of the control panel box and find out it's just too short. So I start over on my second one - cut everything out, NO staining or drilling yet, round off the corners on the bottom edge, lay it on top of the control panel box...and you can see the corners of the box underneath my rounded corners. Third one - make it longer by an inch, NO rounding of corners on the bottom edge, cut, drill, glue together, stain, varnish...everything is looking great...and then I try to install a joystick and realize they won't fit! Wow...so much work...wasted. How did I not see that? The only thing I can figure is that the control panel top dimensions I got were not the exact same dimensions as the control panel box that I made based on Knievel's plans. I'm not upset with anyone but myself because some double- and triple-checks would have caught these before I spent extra time and money buying new pieces of 1/4" birch ply. They are only $10 at Home Depot, but it's the time spent staining and varnishing and waiting for each layer to dry...   There's some lessons to be learned here...

Well, I now have a control panel top that fits, it's stained, varnished, drilled...and it is ready. I had my Plexi ready and used my router cloning bit to copy the curves and straight edges of the wood sandwich. Gotta say, that router bit goes through that plexi so easily, but it does throw plastic shavings everywhere. So I started drilling holes, and, I don't know what I was thinking, but I still had a spade bit in my drill and started with that. Big mistake. Spade bits crack Plexi. I ran to Home Depot, picked up another sheet ($25!) and a Forstner bit ($7). I just had to keep switching out between drilling holes through the plexi sheet and taking the router cloning bit to make the holes match up and everything went fine. I got into a little routine and all went well. I had a flat-tip screwdriver handy to chip the melted plastic off the tip of the Forstner bit and break off the melted stuff from the edges of the drill hole so the router bit could fit in and then widen out the hole.

Pic updates!!

#1: Bottom side of the control panel top, spray painted satin black, holes drilled, and joysticks mounted.
#2: Close-up of the dedicated 4-way joystick mounted above the trackball area.
#3: Close-up of joystick mounted on left side of control panel top.
#4: Holes drilled and ready for the threaded screw inserts to mount 3rd joystick.
#5: Two inserts threaded into the MDF - they screw in flush to the MDF...perfect!
#6: All 3 joystick mounts in place!
#7: Top side of control panel top with Plexiglass in place, all holes drilled for buttons, joysticks, and trackball.
#8: Close-up of edge showing 1/2" MDF, 1/4" birch plywood, .093" Plexi sandwich. If you look close you can see the slot for the t-molding (not installed yet).

[Hockeyboy]

More updates! After getting the plexi cut and drilled, I cleaned up the plexi using a micro-fiber towel and some water and then did a quick assembly of the control panel top.  I had also picked up a 1/8" roundover bit (with bearing) and ran it around all the edges, the trackball hole, and the three joystick holes. I no longer have an edge to have worry about scraping fingers and hands on and it sure looks nice. I placed it on top of the control panel box and it fits all around. I'm loving it...excuse me for a second as I think I have a tear or two forming in my eye...

Pic #1: Overhead shot of the control panel with 3 joysticks, spinner, trackball, and all buttons mounted.
Pic #2: Another shot, zoomed in. If you look you can see the edge of the trackball area is rounded. I also put a circle of the Happ pica vinyl around it to dress it up a little. If you recall when Knievel did his "Woody" he put large and long ovals around his controls but I am going "minimalist" for right now. I can always take it apart and slip some vinyl in there...Ideas/thoughts/opinions on leaving it as it or putting vinyl 'rings' around some (or all) of the controls?
Pic #3: Angled shot so you can see the rounding of the edges around the edges, joysticks, and trackball. And yes, that trackball does have a slight recess to it. It does stick above the metal mounting plate, but not above, or flush, with the surface of the 1/4" ply. I think I wanted it to sit flush with the wood surface when I first dry-fit things, but it doesn't, so I must have figured it's not enough to worry about. You can still easily put 2-4 fingers or your palm on the trackball and have plenty of surface to grip so I am hoping it won't become a problem. If I remember, on games such as Golden Tee you want to have a lot of ball action to drive the golf ball really far, but...yeah...again, we'll see.
Pic #4: Side view to show the t-molding in place and the height of the joysticks above the surface. I tried grabbing the sticks and working them a little to see if they would be too short (yeah, yeah, insert several "...that's what SHE said!..." jokes in here  ) and everything seems to be fine for me. Again, I'll have to play some games and then decide, but for now, that's what they look like and that's where they sit (not to mention that I can't re-mount them so that's definitely where they will sit!   ).

[Slippyblade]

Knievel mentioned that the reason he did the ovals on his Woody CP was to ground the controls.  Without the ovals, the controls seemed kind of floaty visually.  I agree with him, there needs to be something there to visually solidify the controls.

[mcseforsale]

Agreed.  On his woody, he used some textured black vinyl just under the plexi that he cut with some sharp shears....I bet they were them HUGE upholstery shears.

I don't think any of us believed that he actually cut them with scissors. 

Otherwise, this build is par excellence!  MON DIEU! 

AJ

[Hockeyboy]

Knievel mentioned that the reason he did the ovals on his Woody CP was to ground the controls.  Without the ovals, the controls seemed kind of floaty visually.  I agree with him, there needs to be something there to visually solidify the controls.

Agreed.  On his woody, he used some textured black vinyl just under the plexi that he cut with some sharp shears....I bet they were them HUGE upholstery shears.

I don't think any of us believed that he actually cut them with scissors. 

Otherwise, this build is par excellence!  MON DIEU! 

AJ

I've still got plenty of the Happ pica vinyl...I ordered something like 3 or 4 ft and it comes 40" or 48" wide. I'm just not sure how easy it would be to undo all of the plastic nuts underneath the control panel so I can get to the wood. I do appreciate the feedback and thoughts -- I'll have to see how easy this will be. Cutting that vinyl with some sharp scissors isn't exactly easy, but my wife does have this cutting board thing with a roller-style cutter...hmmm...

I'm so close, too...I got the computer loaded up with Windows XP, MAME, and even got MaLa loaded and running. I need to wire up the admin buttons to the control panel, mount the control panel box to the cabinet, and get a marquee, and that should be about it.

[Hockeyboy]

UPDATE: I am so close to being done...I've got the control panel mounted onto the cabinet, an LED strip of lights mounted to the underside of the control panel (they are side-emitting LEDs that shine onto the angled piece that runs from the bottom of the control panel to the bottom of the cabinet), the back door is mounted, and I have a temporary marquee sign that I am creating using opaque window film until I get the real sign printed and mounted.

My youngest daughter and her friends have played with it - I still have some work to do when it comes to software tweaking and I can't get some controls figured out in some games (Xenophobe for one, but I did get Robotron to work with P1 & P2 joysticks - yay!!). I played some Joust, Bubble Bobble, Robotron, Smash TV, and Tempest, just to get an idea of some gameplay. All the friends think it's super cool to be able to play old school arcade games on a real arcade-style cabinet, so it's a hit so far! The only downside is that I haven't created a smaller playlist so the 5,993 games that I are loaded take far too long to scroll through...I am going to use ROMLister to create a playlist or two.

I am including some recent pics - they are pretty much just the front of the cabinet with the control panel mounted. There's a button missing on the admin panel (that is now in place) in the pictures, and the marquee is still waiting for some help, but it's really looking very nice.

[mcseforsale]

Wow!  THAT is nice ^^

AJ

[Hockeyboy]

Well, I was able to get a few more little things taken care of. Because I don't have the actual marquee print that I want installed yet, my wife suggested that I get something that will work temporarily. I went to Home Depot and got some of their opaque "stained glass" film, cut it to size and put it in front of the CCL lights that I installed before. Well, those 2 CCL bars were just far too bright -- too bright to the point that you could plainly see them right behind the film. After some thought and messing around, I finally went back to the flourescent fixture and put it behind the monitor board. Now I could see the shadows of the speakers. Hmmm...I finally was struck with an idea that I could cut another piece of plexiglass, just big enough to go right where the CCL's were mounted, and put some translucent "white rice paper" film onto that. Put my marquee piece in front of that and everything lights up, nice and soft, and you can't see any shadows.

The back door is mounted via a piano hinge. The pass-thru socket/switch has been wired up and I didn't blow a breaker or anything! Yay! To keep everyone protected from the electricity, I put some RTV silicone all over the exposed terminals.

Lastly, the cabinet is in the house! The wife said now that it's all put together, and is looking good, she found a spot where we can put it in the house. Sure looks better inside rather than in the garage! I still need to do some more software work, but other than that, it's pretty much done. Not sure what else I need to do.

Pic 1: Back of the cabinet, with back door attached. Still need to do some wire management, but everything is hooked up. The power cord is hooked up and has the RTV silicone on the terminals of the socket switch.
Pic 2: Back door piano hinge
Pic 3: Smart Power Strip, plus a whole bunch of wires.
Pic 4: Lights out, marquee light on - if you look carefully, you can see the shadows of the speakers, but you really have to look. This is the stained glass film that is temporary.
Pic 5: Cabinet sitting in the room, with the bar stool, and marquee light on.

[TopJimmyCooks]

The stained glass and wood finish gives it an ecclesiastical feel.  You should drop it off in the lobby of a church and see who plays it.  Probably get some kids to want to get out of bed on sunday for a change.

Looks nice and anything's better than being blinded by your exposed marquee light while trying to play. 

[yotsuya]

Good point, TJC. That reminds me of the rectory of the Catholic school I went to as a kid. Throw Satan's Hollow on it and you are set!

[Hockeyboy]

Uhhh...thanks guys...I think...