A Clone is Begun

[GoYouSalukis]

I have completed 3 fullsize cabs (2 scratch built and one retrofit), and helped a friend build a bartop arcade. What have I learned? I have no talent for design! I will be away from the family for a year, so I want to build a barcade for myself. I looked around and the design that interests me the most is OND's Xenolix: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,128362.0.html . I fired off a PM to him and he graciously said he doesn't mind me trying to make a clone. I didn't ask him for the CAD files (I have a little pride!), so I used my digital protractor up against my screen to guess the angles. I then adjusted the design to fit my components. Any resulting degradation in design is wholly my fault.

Tonight I cut the sides, bezel, and VESA mount on my CNC. Unfortunately, I assumed the VESA mount on the monitor is both horizontally and vertically centered, but I was wrong (as evidenced by my photo). I'll have to remake that part.

As far as components go, I have a Dell 15" touchscreen, an old laptop running XP, and I ordered a U360 with the top restrictor plate and gold leaf buttons. I haven't found speakers yet.

Here are some photos. If anyone has suggestions for a name/theme, please post!

Thanks for looking.

[UFO]

I dont think it looks too bad... if you compare yourself to OND though, you're on to a looser! He is a very skilled designer and craftsman.

Keep at it buddy, its a decent start.

[TheDude]

Nothing bad with clones.
This one is difficult as it is an Ond design...

Keep at it !
 

[GoYouSalukis]

Fixed the monitor mount so that it is centered. I also cut my first version of the control panel. Why black buttons? I'm not sure. We'll see how it goes.

Sorry, phone won't let me fix rotation on the photo.

[Rick]

Forgive me, but the angle on the bezel looks a bit rough from the pics. Are you using a pattern bit to achieve the beveled angle? (To me, it looks like the stock may have shifted a bit during the cut.)

[ark_ader]

Looks great well done! 

[GoYouSalukis]

Yes, the bezel is rough. I'm gonna need a bunch of bondo to fix it. I had some issues with the bearing on top of my 45 degree bit.

I left the base taller than I wanted, because I was unsure if I was going to completely uncase the laptop or not. I did uncase it and decided to trim the base. The case is already glued, but a track saw made quick work of trimming it. If you do a lot of cutting of sheet goods, these track saws are great.

It is now a little closer to the base height of the original.

Sorry about the photos. I'll fix them when I get back to a desk top.

[GoYouSalukis]

Hmmm, the thumbnails are rotated, but when you click on the photo, it shows them in the correct orientation...

[Unstupid]

Oooohhhhh  Festool Porn! 

[GoYouSalukis]

Oooohhhhh  Festool Porn! 

Yeah, I couldn't resist. The Festool TS 55 will change the way you work with sheet goods. I only have the saw, and the smallest dust extractor, but they sure work great!

Also, for some reason, I couldn't find any 1/2" MDF, so I bought a 5'x5' sheet of baltic birch. It ran me $34. I am glad I got it, it is much nicer to work with than MDF, with less dust and it also holds screws very well.

[GoYouSalukis]

I finished all the case parts. I believe OND is only going to have access through the bottom panel but I don't trust myself enough to do that, so I am going to attempt to glue up the back panel into one piece and hinge it at the bottom so that it will pull back to allow access.

Here are this afternoon's pics.

[Unstupid]

That is a lot of buttons for a vertical screen... 

[GoYouSalukis]

Yeah, I know. I am blatantly copying OND's design.
Also, it should be fun to play MK on a 9" wide screen.

[GoYouSalukis]

I got a little bit done tonight. I routed out the fan panel on the CNC. I dug up a nice pair of fans from an entertainment PC case (quiet!). I've gone back and forth regarding the fan placement, but in the end I went ahead and made it close to the original. Due to the thickness of the fans, I was pretty much limited to this location. The MB has two fans on the bottom that will bring in fresh air through holes on the bottom of the case and these two fans will exhaust the air. I may play around with a baffle to try and force more air past the display. We'll see.

[GoYouSalukis]

Yesterday, I routed out the fan openings on the bottom panel. I had some tearout on the top side of the panel because I used an upspiral bit , but the bottom side is the one that is exposed. It worked best to angle the MB. These barcades are pretty tight. I also got the back panel glued up. I was going to hinge it, but in the end, I will probably just use screws on the corners of the panel.

[GoYouSalukis]

I have the cabinet prettty much done(besides the marquee). I wired up the CP and tried it out. I really like the U360 so far although it is taking some getting used to. I have a question though: is it true that I can't use one of the U360 buttons as a start button? That will mess me up if it is true. In the last photo, you'll see a bunch of wires hanging out the back. I will be shortening some and I haven't worked out the cable management.

Another question: for those of you who have built barcades wit laptops, did you put the powersupply inside or outside the case? My preference is inside for a cleaner look, but my gut tells me it is better off outside since it is a heat source. I plan on using a relay controlled surge protector inside the case to power the display and a 12V wallwart for the fans.

I still haven't decided on a name. The best I have come up with is "DonkeyLix" or "Aerolix". I don't want to design/cut the side decorations until I decide on a name. I am thinking about putting a couple small buttons on the side for pinball.

For the marquee, I have a blue plasma tube that I will mount inside and see how it turns out. It is a little long, but I think I can trim the plastic ends a bit to fit. I wil also fit some USB powered speakers up there.

[emphatic]

Looks really great! 

[GoYouSalukis]

Thanks for the feedback! I've disassembled it to start the bondo process. I also recut the CP. I decided to move the controls up 1/2". I felt I could use the extra wrist space. That also gave me the opportunity to fix a couple of mistakes and sink the admin buttons down into the CP. I picked up some cheap logitech speakers so I can get started on the marquee.

[GoYouSalukis]

Well, I've spent the last few days putting on bondo and primer and taking it off with sandpaper. I am getting closer, but still have a lot of work to do. I still don't have a theme, but I am leaning towards a Time Pilot '84 theme, since I played that a lot in my youth, and it kinda fits the design. I  tried for a few days to come up with a different design for the side panels, but everything I came up with sucked, so I went back to the original.

I also bought speakers that will go in the marquee.

[GoYouSalukis]

Some more progress. I built the marquee. I tried about 6 or seven times to bend MDF after kerfing it, but my radius was just too tight, so I rough cut blocks of wood and shaped them to fit. I decided to go with a cutout for the marquee since I don't have a name yet. I am continuing on the priming, sanding, bondoing, sanding... ad nauseum path.

[Rick]

Some more progress. I built the marquee. I tried about 6 or seven times to bend MDF after kerfing it, but my radius was just too tight, so I rough cut blocks of wood and shaped them to fit.

You did AMAZING work here. I can't imagine how wide and deep the kerf cuts would have had to have been to make that corner, but I'm sure you would have had to fill a tonne of it. You definitely went the right way.

[GoYouSalukis]

Thanks Rick!

I forgot to mention that I am planning on making a marquee insert with an LED matrix, so that I can have scrolling text and animations. I'm heading off to Korea in a few months for a year away from the family, so I plan to drill the insert on my CNC before I leave, and then do the rest in Korea. I'll wire it using this LED cube
http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10001_10001_2168940_-1
as a starting point and interface it with an Arduino. Should be fun.

[mes83]

Such a cool little cab, design reminds me a bit of something Star Trek-esque. Could look cool if painted grey, red and maybe some blue...

[GoYouSalukis]

Thanks, mes83. The design is my bastardized version of OND's Xenolix. Right now I plan to paint most of it Sonic Blue, with a metallic green for contrast. My daughter picked out the colors since I am halfway colorblind.

[GoYouSalukis]

Here are some pics in it's current state. I finally slapped some paint on it. It wasn't really ready, but I am facing a time crunch. I have learned quite a few things during this build:

1. I have no future as an autobody specialist.
2. When gluing and screwing panels together that will be eventually be bonded/painted, take the time to get the panels perfectly aligned and clamped tightly before screwing. Some of my seams slipped just a hair, maybe 1/32" at the most, during the screwing, and this adds up to a lot of bondo and sanding.
3. I should have made sure I had a good skim coat of bondo over every seam. Some of them looked great in primer, but once I got the paint on, the seams telegraphed through.
4. I probably should have cut some sort of design as a speaker cover i.e. holes, or slots vs. cutting the entire hole out. I am now worried that someday I will jack up a speaker.

The marquee is just a placeholder until I get going on a scrolling LED matrix.

Edit... Sorry for the crappy photos. I'll try to get it out in the sun tomorrow. It actually looks better than the photos imply (yeah, I know, you've heard that before!)