NES bartop with stand [done]

[edekoning]

2015 UCA Bartop of the Year





Finished pics: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,133712.msg1506761.html#msg1506761
Web album: https://photos.app.goo.gl/ukW3E3EaLzN1Zi5h8
Build plans: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,133712.msg1507198.html#msg1507198



Seeing as my Magneto cab is almost done, its time to start up a new project This time its going to be a bartop that I will build for my 6 year old son, though he will probably be 7 or 8 when its done As he is a huge Mario fan I'm going for a Super Mario theme, with white as the primary color and red as the secondary color.

The bartop will be based around a 17" lcd, and an old AMD computer (uATX). It will have an U360 joystick, 6 action buttons and 2 start/coin/select buttons. As this bartop wil target the 8bit/16bit consoles I grew up with, I added to USB ports on the front for connecting proper gamepads. Note that there is no marquee, but there is back art I will use 18mm (3/4") MDF for the sides and 12mm (1/2") MDF for the rest. I also plan on using red t-molding for the sides, and for the speaker cutouts, and the big ventilation cutout on the back.

Designing a bartop is hard! I kept having to make it bigger to fit the screen and then even bigger for the computer parts. I plan on ordering all the parts first, and not start on the actual build until my Magneto cab is fully done.

I eager to hear your suggestions/remarks/questions/whatever, so please let me know what you think.

[Le Chuck]

Looks nice, seems a bit plain with the art.  I like the white space and would frankly like to see more of it - mabye go with line art renderings of the Mario stuff.  Just on the white it can feel a bit clip-artish.  That doesn't read right, it's clearly not clip-art, it's just not anchored I guess

[jdbailey1206]

The Mario Brothers do seem to be thrown on.  The other thing that throws me off is having artwork on the back.  If it is on a table where it is up against or close to the wall you defeat the point of having art on the back.  If you are going to have it against a wall it would save you the time of creating the artwork and save you from spending the money of having it printed.  I'm just wondering if you are going to be able to see the back if you could completely wrap the back and two sides as a mural completely covering all sides.  I don't think I have seen that done.  Artists like Le Chuck seem to enjoy using all of the canvas.  Stuff like this really gets their goat.  Otherwise good solid build. Don't get discouraged and welcome to the forums.

[EMDB]

I really like the t-molding on the speaker cut outs 

I'm not sure the artwork is final yet. I hope it is not. It not really stands out. I agree Artwork on the back side seems useless.

If it's use is Nintendo focused I would use the button layout and coloring of a SNES gamepad. It's not handy to play consoles on an arcade button layout.

If you make the back straight you get more space for the components and you still won't need more room to put it against a wall.

[jmike]

 
       Looks like a fun project. Kind of reminds me of this one. You may want to add a 2-player set up for when his friends come over.



this is the link:

http://www.hadouken-shop.com/arcade-bartop-mario

[edekoning]

I like the white space and would frankly like to see more of it - mabye go with line art renderings of the Mario stuff.

When you say more white, does that mean that you feel the CPO and back are to cluttered?

The Mario Brothers do seem to be thrown on.  The other thing that throws me off is having artwork on the back. ... Otherwise good solid build. Don't get discouraged and welcome to the forums.

Yep, the side art is just two images slapped on there, as I am unsure what to with those areas yet. I kinda like the idea of art on the back. On my Magneto cab I also spend considerable effort in making the back look good. So to me it is not wasted effort/money. Oh and I'am not that new anymore here

I really like the t-molding on the speaker cut outs 
If it's use is Nintendo focused I would use the button layout and coloring of a SNES gamepad.

The bartop is focused mainly at SNES/Genesis, but my son really wants Mario art. Thanks for the gamepad tip. I'll see what I can do with it, although I vastly prefer the 6-button Sega layout over the SNES layout

You may want to add a 2-player set up for when his friends come over.

That's why I have USB ports on the front for plugging in gamepads. The bartop will be 40cm wide, which I feel is not wide enough for a 2P setup.

[jdbailey1206]

I would like to see, if it's possible, to incorporate speaker grills onto your speakers and put an image of either a Chain chomp, Red Shell, Bob-omb, or a Boo.  Putting the speakers out there just seems to get in the way.  I also noticed that you have a lot of room on your control panel.  It would behoove  you to throw a spinner in there.  I wanted to put one on mine but the two player got a bit too busy. 

Sorry my ideas sort of fly out when I see a new cab.  I feel like I got a case of the Busey's.  (Where my brain won't shut down my mouth.   )

Keep it coming. 

[edekoning]

Finally have the time to pick up this project again. First thing I did was redo all of the artwork. Seeing as its all inspired by a NES, I rename the project to NES bartop. This time I really do like the artwork and feel that it is cohesive.

Note that these were created / copy-pasted in paint, the final ones will be made in Inkscape. Also, the mini buttons and USB ports are not grey, but black. I just colored them grey to make them stand out from the black background.

[Louis Tully]

.

[JDFan]

The rework is MUCH better !! 

One thing you might consider is take a page from Louis Tully's recent work (Mario Pedestal) and actually route out the black portion of the grill graphic on the sides to give some extra 3d look.

[johnrt]

That is a beauty! 

[leapinlew]

The art rework looks great.

I've put speakers on the bottom of my bartops and they sound just fine, if that's an option for you.

[edekoning]

Thanks guys!

Holy ---steaming pile of meadow muffin---!

No man its holy ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- to your Mario Pedestal

I've put speakers on the bottom of my bartops and they sound just fine, if that's an option for you.

I kind of like the speakers there, but i'm not 100% sure yet. Though that's mainly because of the issues it will cause when applying the nintendo logo art.

[emphatic]

Love the artwork, but I don't understand the controller ports on the sides?

[Speed Racer]

Great design  Love that classic NES look artwork.

[stuzza]

Love the revised NES artwork!  Looks fantastic.  Exactly what I was going to do for a future bartop. 

[edekoning]

Pictures:

1- Bought some sheets of 12mm and 18mm MDF. Time to draw the outline of the side panel. I basically just take the x and y coordinate of every corner. Then I trace vertical and horizon lines through them. Now I just connect the correct intersections and use a compass to get proper arcs.

2- I made a rough cut using a Jigsaw. Here you can also see all those vertical and horizontal lines I was talking about.

3- One side done! For all the straight sections I used a router with a top-bearing flush trim bit. The bit just runs along a spare piece of wood that I lineup with the line I want to cut. All the corners were cut with a jigsaw and sanded smooth.

4- I traced the completed side on the MDF. Time for another rough cut using the jigsaw, about 5mm to 10mm from the actual outline.

5- Ready to copy the completed side using my favorite tool: the router. You can see the flush trim bit laying on top of the wood. I used this bit for the first side as well, but felt like I was continuously fighting the router. I remembered it cutting through MDF like a hot knife through butter. Apparently it was no longer sharp. Luckily I still had a similar bit (bottom bearing) which was still sharp.

6- Two exact copies.

7- Looking good 

[edekoning]

8- Time to cut the T-molding slots. Setting the router to the correct depth is always such a chore. I always wish I would have spend an additional 30 bucks and bought the more expensive version where you can easily fine tune the depth just by turning a knob.

9- That looks pretty much dead center to me

Know if it would only stop raining then I could continue

[johnrt]

I'm really looking forward to see more of this build. Great job so far! 

[edekoning]

I'm really looking forward to see more of this build. Great job so far! 

Well if my previous build is anything to go by, then I work really slow. Sorry 

[SavannahLion]

Holy ---steaming pile of meadow muffin---!





 

This got my attention.

[firedance]

Looks like a great start to a excellent build

[Malenko]

love the art, but gotta agree that the controller ports on the sides need to be covered in black

[edekoning]

love the art, but gotta agree that the controller ports on the sides need to be covered in black

Updated, and thanks for the suggestions.


I was also thinking about the front speaker panel. I can go with 12mm red t-molding or add a small bevel and just paint it grey. Not sure which one I prefer yet.

After looking some more at Louis Tully's Mario Pedestal, I thought it might do something similar as he did with the small 'warp zone' letters. So instead of a Nintendo logo sticker, create the actual logo from wood. I think it looks awesome, but it will be really hard to get right. Some letter parts are really thin, and they need to all be properly aligned or it will drive me nuts.

[Vigo]

 

A couple thoughts.

1 - That "Arcade series" logo should be tweaked slightly so that the line angle is completely parallel to the direction of the rest of the lines going up the side art. It is like 5 degress off, and that might be noticable on a print.

2 - I think the front would feel cooler with actual Rectangle NES power buttons instead of round buttons. If you are interested, I should have some that I can get you if you pay the shipping. However, since original rectangle buttons are gray, the artwork might need to be tweaked to make it look better.

3 - What is going to be plugged into the USB ports? I would think that if it is NES controllers and stuff, it would looks a bit cooler with actual NES ports. I would consider hacking a usb hub into a nes port, or just simply mounting something like this into it:

[edekoning]

A couple thoughts.

1 - That "Arcade series" logo should be tweaked slightly so that the line angle is completely parallel to the direction of the rest of the lines going up the side art. It is like 5 degress off, and that might be noticable on a print.

2 - I think the front would feel cooler with actual Rectangle NES power buttons instead of round buttons. If you are interested, I should have some that I can get you if you pay the shipping. However, since original rectangle buttons are gray, the artwork might need to be tweaked to make it look better.

3 - What is going to be plugged into the USB ports? I would think that if it is NES controllers and stuff, it would looks a bit cooler with actual NES ports. I would consider hacking a usb hub into a nes port, or just simply mounting something like this into it:

1- I agree and I plan on doing that, but remember this is just some paint copy-paste art  The final art will be made in Inkscape when I know the exact measurements of my control panel.

2- Interesting, could you measure them for me, so I can get feel for how they might impact the artwork. Also, how easy are they to mount/wire?

3- Those would indeed look awesome. However, even though the theme is based on the NES, it will run the 8bit/16bit console emulators. That's also the reason that I have start + select + 6 action buttons on the control panel. So the usb ports are there for plugging in controllers, whether that be generic controllers, authentic nes/snes/genesis controllers modded to usb, or just some usb knockoffs, I don't know yet.
Maybe its an option to add the controller ports as graphics to the cpo. Then instead of using the bulky Neutrik usb ports, take the usb ports from a cheap usb-hub (or extension cable) and use those. They would have a very small footprint, so they would not really obscure the controller port graphics.

Lots of stuff to contemplate

[Vigo]

Yep! Lots of things to consider.

I figured you had a lot of work with the art still. I just wanted to point it out the graphic to make sure there was no oversight. Even incomplete, the art is awesome and I love how you stuck with a very classic theme.

Here is a photo of the buttons. I can dig out my buttons tonight and measure, but they are standard NES button measurements. They are not gonna be an easy mount on wood, so you would probably need to cut something into a sheet of metal or plastic as a face plate. They do come with a led lens for having a power light. 




What you can do is maybe have a couple NES ports for plugging in real NES controllers, and obscured underneath have your usb ports for plugging in other things. It is extra work, so suppose you just need to weight the benefit vs effort. I think they also make all in one adaptors for genesis, atari, NES and SNES to USB. Keep one of those handy and you can probably plug in whatever controller you want into your usb slots.

[edekoning]

I finally glue+screw'ed on the battons. The resulting sides are not really identical, but overall close enough. Only the bottom batton is noticeably off on the front side by about a mm.

[edekoning]

I also received some packages:

• bright red t-molding
• red Gold Leaf bush buttons
• Seimitsu LS-58-01 black joystick with an additional red balltop
• KADE encoder; this thing is tiny!
• Neutrik NAUSB-W B
• various mini buttons; I'm really liking the square one
• power socket
• new CMT router bits

[Louis Tully]

.

[jdbailey1206]

Im not sure what your plans are for the power and reset for the computer but I had planned to make my weecade a Nintendo based bartop.  Long story short I picked up 5 sets of buttons like Vigo mentioned and I have no future plans for them.  If you want a couple sets let me know.

[DaOld Man]

...the bottom batton is noticeably off on the front side by about a mm.

A whole mm? Unacceptable! You're gonna have to start again.

If my projects were that far off, why I'd probably pat myself on the back!

Good job so far, I like this bartop.
Don't forget to post it over at bartopmania.com, if you haven't already.

[edekoning]

A whole mm? Unacceptable! You're gonna have to start again.

Long story short I picked up 5 sets of buttons like Vigo mentioned and I have no future plans for them.  If you want a couple sets let me know.

I was actually planning on using a pair of square mini buttons (see my previous post), as those Nintendo buttons just look way too hard to mount neatly in wood. Thanks for the offer though!

Don't forget to post it over at bartopmania.com, if you haven't already.

Ah forgot about that site. Will post there as well.

[Slippyblade]

Got the Nintendo logo laser cut, sorry it took so long.  Looks fantastic.  It's white acrylic so should be easy enough to paint.  I'd just spray with red Rustoleum then attach with an adhesive.  Still has the paper backing on it, you'll need to peel that.

PM me the address to ship it to.

Grrrr....  Server won't accept the attachment.  Will keep trying.

[edekoning]

PM sent 

[Slippyblade]

Ok, here's the laser cut for the marquee.  Just mailed it out today.  International postage sucks!

[grippie]

Can't wait to see this one come together.   

[edekoning]

Ok, here's the laser cut for the marquee.  Just mailed it out today.  International postage sucks!

Holy ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- that looks fantastic

[edekoning]

Yesterday I worked on the lower back panel, which will be fixed to the bartop. This was the most involved panel I have done to date. First I used a jigsaw to cut the power socket hole and cut a rough hole for the ventilation. Then I used a router with a flush-trim bit to cut a clean ventilation hole. A chamfer router bit was used to finish the ventilation hole. To get the curve on the bottom edge I used my new roundover router bit. Finally a spade bit was used to drill the button hole. I'll use an aluminum grill to cover the ventilation hole, which I will spray paint to match the grey color of the bartop.

I also cut out the bottom panel, and the monitor panel. So I guess its time to start assembling the sides, bottom, monitor panels. However, I am not sure what the easiest way is to do that. Any suggestions?

[leapinlew]

quality work