4 Player TMNT Pedestal Cabinet - Complete

[severdhed]

I edited the first post to keep the most recent cabinet picture at the top, please look through the rest of the thread to view the build progress.

here is the cabinet as it stands now, ready for the PC to be installed and setup.



HERE is the original thread
V



I started building my new cabinet this weekend.  I sold my 4 player showcase cabinet because it took up too much space, however i really need a 4 player cabinet because by the end of September, i'll have 4 kids.  Right now, only my two oldest ones play the cabinet we have, but i'm sure the other two will join in once they are a little older.  I want to keep the functionality that i had with my other cabinet, but with less space required.  I plan on building a 4 player panel on a pedestal, which i will connect to a 42" LCD tv mounted on the wall.  I accidentally rendered all of the HDMI ports on my wife's tv useless a few weeks ago while doing some electrical work without turning off the breaker. (oops) So, i got her a new one and took the old one for my arcade project, since all of the other inputs still work, including component video and VGA.  I plan on doing this project in two phases...first is the free standing pedestal.  then once that is build and the TV is mounted, i want to build a box to attach to the back with some pipes mounted, to make it look like a complete unit.   Anyway...enough of the boring stuff, here are the pics.

first, here is the sketchup model i made of the pedestal. I never used sketchup before, i had alot of fun learning how to use it.  I may tweak the dimensions of the top of the panel slightly, but this is what i am going with as of right now...



here is what i want to end up looking like when it is done.



here is the 2x4 base i made




sketched out the shape of the cabinet on the MDF. (i bought precut 2ft x 4ft pieces of mdf..it was slightly more expensive than buying full sheets, but much easier to transport in my minivan, and since alot of the dimensions of this cabinet are 24", it makes for much less cutting on my part.




first side cut out




clamped sides together to run through the flush trim router bit




1/2 pine boards screwed and glued to the right side




both sides ready to go



T-Molding slot cut




side with base and top brace mounted




both sides mounted...it stands on it's own!





that is all i got done this weekend, had to dodge some rain, and deal with a sick child for a while.  hopefully I will get some more done shortly.

[a1pharm]

Wow, great job being productive over the weekend.  Build looks great, too!

Cheers!
 

[BadMouth]

Polling suggests this build will meet an 80% approval rating. (+/- 5% margin of error)

I don't see anything I would change. 

[yotsuya]

I like how you extended the base to the back of the wall. It looks more complete that way. 

[severdhed]

thanks.

family stuff to do tonight, so very little progress will be made this evening.  i did start working on the PC a little.  I had a pentium 4 desktop pretty much set up and ready to go, but then the other day a lady brought me a laptop to repair (i work at a pc repair shop).  as it turns out, her husband got drunk and beat the crap out of it.  shattered the screen, and severely bent up a large portion of it.  She decided just to buy a new one and told me to throw the old one out (once i got her data moved over of course).  Well, as it turns out, even though it looks ugly, it runs perfectly fine.  I plan on removing the LCD entirely and using this for my mame cabinet.  it has a phenom II dual core 2.8ghz processor with 4gb of ram, 500gb hd and radeon hd4250 graphics. it has VGA and HDMI outputs, which makes it much better than the p4 that i was going to use.  Plus it is small enough that it will fit in the control panel portion of the cabinet. I am considering mounting everything in the control panel box, so that i could detach it from the base and take it other places....like in the back yard connected to my DLP projector.  I'm not entirely sure on that though.

[Caparo8bit]

great will b watching you ..... i will love to build my own arcade but the only tools i have r a spoon and fork

[severdhed]

I am a bit nervous about how this will turn out, I have built control panels before for existing cabinets, but never a scratch built anything.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 4

[severdhed]

Made some progress today.  My two sons gave me a hand this time...they got me tools, carried some wood, drew some pencil lines, drilled a few holes, put in some screws, and glued a few joints.  it was so cool to have them help be build this.  We will be able to look back on this for many years as a father/son project. I'm so happy they can say they helped build it.

Here it is with the bottom shelf installed and the lower back panel with the hole for the cables.. I exhausted my budget for this thing, so i used some OSB that i had in the basement for the bottom., since nobody will see it but me.  I wish i would have went with MDF, since it is much nicer, but you do what you have to do. 



front panel glued and clamped in place. I did not use any screws on this panel, i'm hoping the glue will be enough.



here it is standing up, looking at it from the front.  I considered a coin door, but it is really not necessary, and i didn't want to spend the money on one...i can always add it later if i want.



here is a shot from the rear.  i cut the door just a little too small, i'm thinking of adding black T-molding to the top and bottom edges of the door to tighten it up a little, and also protect the edges during removal of the door. i didn't drill the hole for the lock yet, i ran out of time this afternoon.



here is a shot looking in the back door.  the 5 holes in the bottom are just for air intake.  I plan on having a fan mounted somewhere up high on the back...just not sure exactly where yet.



i started cutting the boards to build the control panel box, but didn't get very far on that.  hopefully i'll get a chance to work on it tomorrow, but that will depend greatly on my wife.  She already hates that i'm building this thing, so it all depends on her mood tomorrow. I learned that it is not in my best interest to piss off a pregnant woman.

[sabreerbasAlpha]

i started cutting the boards to build the control panel box, but She already hates that i'm building this thing, so it all depends on her mood tomorrow. I learned that it is not in my best interest to piss off a pregnant woman.

Damn I know that only to well. Keep going mate she's coming on nicely, But don't neglect the pregnant lady. 

[severdhed]

well, she was in a decent mood today, so i got some time to make a little more progress on the cabinet build.  The boys said they were going to help be, but after a few minutes, they decided to go do something else instead.  i had some extra 1x5 pine boards lying around, so i used those for building the control panel box.  i made the bottom from the OSB i had...once again, maybe not ideal, but i had the stuff on hand and didn't have to spend any money on them...this keeps my wife happy.

here are my boys helping to glue the sides of the control panel box together.



here is the control panel box sitting on the pedestal base



another shot of the control panel box.  I have since drilled a 2 in hole in the bottom for the wires to run through and screwed the box to the pedestal. i also put some wood filler in the cracks where the boards join together to fill in the tiny gaps.  i didn't take a picture of it since then though...



i still have a lot to do, but it is nice to at least make a little progress....next up, cut the top of the control panel and start drilling holes

[sabreerbasAlpha]

Ok so the up next part is were it gets interesting.

This is a 4 player CP. So here goes. for the love of god don't angle player 3 and 4 at 45 degrees or anything like that. Just keep all the player positions straight on to the screen.

Don't drill any holes until you have decided on the art work if any and its position on the CP. If its just going to be one solid colour then go ahead and drill.

Ignore any old Arcade machines you might have seen with 4/6 players and the sticks and buttons off at stupid angles, They got it wrong back then, Trust me..

[severdhed]

no plans to angle any joysticks.  i just got rid of a 4 player showcase cabinet a few months ago, so i pretty much know the button layout i want.  i'm not sure of the exact location of the player 3 and 4 sticks/buttons, but i will figure that out soon.  I do plan on installing a trackball in the center and i'm considering a 7th button.

I'm not sure on the artwork yet...i'd like to go with a TMNT theme, i started working on an overlay in photoshop, but i'm not sure if I'm going to use it or not.  Due to it's size, it is expensive to get printed....staples quoted me $45, which is more than i want to spend on this.  i do know a guy with a high end large format printer...i'm going to call him tomorrow to see what he would charge to print this for me.....here is what i came up with so far....work in progress.

[severdhed]

Got some work done on the cabinet finally today.  My wife was gone all afternoon, daughter was napping, so the boys and I got to work. 

Cut out the shape of the control panel top, which i had marked a few nights ago so it was ready when i had a chance to cut. i then drilled small pilot holes through all of the button locations, flipped it over and started drilling from the back, just a little to help prevent blowouts.  then i flipped it back over and proceeded to drill them out with a 1 1/8" forstner bit.






I wanted to keep the button holes as straight as possible, so i used a drill guide i picked up at harbor freight, which keeps the drill at a 90 degree angle, i highly recommend these if you don't have a drill press.



all buttons holes drilled, as well as the 3" hole for the trackball.



flipped it over, routed out about half the thickness of the panel for under mounting the JLW joysticks.



i then placed the plexiglass on and used the 3" hole in the mdf as a guide to cut the trackball hole in the plexi with a flush trim router bit.  i made sure there was an overlap of plexi on all sides of the panel.



i then removed the plexi, marked the location of the trackball plate and cutout area for the trackball.  I also used a 3/4" spade bit to counter sink an area for the T-nuts that I will use to attach the joysticks.



i cut out the hole for the trackball with a jigsaw, then used the router to recess an area for the mounting plate so it will sit flush with the surface of the panel.



i mounted the trackball mounting plate to make sure it fits, and also installed all of the t-nuts for the joysticks.  I used a large bolt as a punch and pounded them in with a hammer. (making sure to have a block of wood under the back to make sure it was supported during the pounding)



Here is a shot of the t-nuts which are recessed into the top of the panel



my 4 year old helping me attach the nuts for the trackball plate



i didn't bother making a guide for perfect routing...just free handed it....isn't that great of a job, but it works, and you wont see it.



then came time to start cutting button holes in the plexi.  i placed it back on the panel, lined up the trackball hole with the mounting plate, clamped it and then started. i placed the 3" hole saw in the hole to help keep it lined up while i clamped it.



 i have tried many methods over the years for drilling in plexi, but this is by far the best way i have found.  i used a V groove router bit in my trim router, and slowly lower it into the button hole for a pilot hole, then use a flush trim bit to make them nice.




i only got about 3 holes done until i had to quit...my wife came home and supper was ready.  i had to then pack up for the day.  I am hoping that tomorrow afternoon i'll get to finish doing the button holes, trim the plexi around the outside edge of the panel, and cut the slot for the t-molding....i guess time will tell.    I also did a test fit with the trackball installed, the edges of the plexi are a little sharp. I see some of you have used a 45degree chamfer bit to make this edge nice, but i do not have one of those.  I checked harbor freight, but they didn't seem to have any cheap ones.  The cheapest i have been able to locate one locally was about $18, which is more than i'd like to spend on this. i do have a roundover bit, do you think that would work?  i guess i could test it on a scrap tomorrow....i just told my wife i wouldn't spend any more money on this thing for a while. 

i brought it in and placed it on the pedestal to see how it looked...



I then proceeded to place the buttons in the holes, mainly just because i could.  i am on blue button short, but i can steal one from my other cabinet, i just used my coin button temporarily to fill the hole.



i'm pretty happy with the overall feel of the panel and the button layout.  i can't wait to get this thing working.

That is it for today.  i've just about finalized my overlay artwork, hopefully i'll be able to get that printed soon.  Once again I am at the mercy of my wife on that one.  I also need to pick up some black paint....i wanted to paint it dark green, i already have red t-molding for it, but she shot that idea down pretty quickly.  it would clash horribly with the walls in the room...i guess you win some, you lose some.

[severdhed]

also, here is my overlay artwork..i'm not sure if it is 100%, but it is close.

[Caparo8bit]

I like the match of the color of buttonsns with the TMNT and hey how you can use same button if for pause and exit..witch front end r u susing?

[severdhed]

I use MaLa for my front end, but that is not a built in function....I use an auto hotkey script to accomplish this. I wire the button as the p key, and the script is set up so that a regular press and release of the button sends the p keystroke, but if it is pressed and held down for 3 seconds, it sends the esc keystroke instead. It works very well. This way I only need one admin button, and you can't accidentally exit out of a game.

[pesto126]

Nice work and I learned quite a bit from reading your helpful tips!  Thx and will be following your progress!

[severdhed]

thanks.

got some more done today, i think the powertool portion is nearly complete.

i made pilot holes in the plexi using the v groove router bit. i used a couple buttons to hold the plexi to the wood.


all of the holes are cut out using a flush trim router bit.



i didn't take a pic of this, but i cut a 3" hole in a scrap and clamped it to the plexi, then used a roundover router bit to soften the edge around the trackball hole.

i cut the slot for the tmolding, ofset to account for plexi, and took a roundover bit to the bottom edge to help hide the fact that it is thicker than the tmolding.


mounted joysticks and buttons temporarily to see what it looked/felt like



player 3 and 1 controls


player 2 and 4 controls



all for now

[severdhed]

got a little bit more done after the kids went to bed last night...

took the back door off and drilled the hole for the lock


installed the back door


i also drilled holes for the coin buttons and temporarily installed them as well




i mounted another lock on the front of the cp box which will be used as the PC power switch..this will keep my 2 year old daughter from turning the cabinet on or off.


the clamp is in the way, but i mounted a switch to a small scrap of wood which i glued to the inside of the control panel box, you insert the key and turn it, the lever actuates the switch.  it is mounted so that the lever is in the downward position by default, so when you turn the key and let go, gravity will pull it back away from the switch.


and here it is as it stands now.  i have to pull the panel out and route out an area for the servo stick upgrade i plan on ordering, and then get ready for paint.  i found a quart of unopened killz 2 latex primer in the basement that i didn't know i had...hopefully i can start with that in the next day or so.



that is it for now

[Drnick]

OK what are the buttons on the sides for?   It looks too wide to use for pinball comfortably.  Nice job with the art you have planned.

[severdhed]

Thanks..I can't wait to get it printed.  The buttons on the sides are the coin buttons. I figure that placing them on the sides/front of the cp box keeps them easy to reach, but makes the control panel less cluttered looking. It also feels more like reaching down to put another coin in, like it would if it were an actual coin-op unit.

[severdhed]

i made a tiny bit of progress this evening. managed to cut the hole for the exhaust fan. i need to pick up a few small bolts to hold the fan in the next time i hit the home depot.





I also removed all of the controls from the panel, so that i can use the router to recess an area for the servo stik upgrade i plan on purchasing eventually...hopefully i'll get that done tomorrow...then i can start on painting!!!

[6of1]

also, here is my overlay artwork..i'm not sure if it is 100%, but it is close.

I like this overlay more then the first one, seems cleaner/less busy. I should try talking my brother into building a ped instead of a table top panel. Making it able to be pushed to the wall when not in use and pulled to the tv to play probably would help with wife approval..

Nice work 

[severdhed]

Thanks, I am much happier with the current overlay than I was the first one.  I'm going to get it printed early next week.

I like the pedestal format, it allows for a large functional panel with minimal floor space used.

[UFO]

Hey SH... I'm confused with the P3 and P4 layout... are those player going to be facing each other when they play?

[severdhed]

Not really facing each other, they will be standing at about a 45 degree angle. If you look at most 4 player arcade games, the side players are often oriented in this manor. I'd have to make the panel much wider in order to put the buttons beside the joysticks, and I just didn't want this thing to be that large. It is already 46 inches wide, which is plenty. This panel is very similar in size and button layout to the showcase cabinet I just sold, and it was quite comfortable for 4 adults to play.

[UFO]

Ok... I'll have to wait and see how this goes... I just cant work out where I would stand if I was on the left P3.. it seems like the buttons are in a diamond shape and I'd have to reach over the buttons if I was standing at 45degs...

Will watch with interest...

[severdhed]

here are how my hands fit when standing at a 45 degree angle at the panel, the joysticks are not installed right now, and since i had to use one hand to take the pic, i couldn't show me holding the joystick.

here is player 3


here is player 4


I also made some progress this weekend, not alot, but every little bit helps.

i took the control panel back off and recessed an area on the back just in case i decide to purchase the servostik upgrade for my JLWs.  i don't have the cash right now, but i have a feeling i'll end up with one of these eventually. isn't the cleanest router work but i did it pretty much in the dark, trying to get it done before 9pm (don't want to piss off the neighbors)





i also got to put 2 coats of primer on the cabinet.  I used Kilz 2 latex primer, because i had some lying around...although i stirred it up for several minutes, it was lumpy. it seems to go on ok though, so hopefully it will be fine.





i really like the way it looks in white, and if it weren't for the fact that i have several small children, i'd probably paint it white and leave it like that...i think it would look good with the red tmolding i bought.   however i'll probably end up painting it black.

i also drilled the holes to mount the hinge for the control panel, i didn't take any pics of this because i had to take the hinge back off to paint....i'm hoping by the end of the week to have the painting done, assuming my wife doesn't go into labor before that  

[UFO]

Its P3 that troubles me really... I see how your right hand sits on the buttons, but if that is a joystick above it looks like your left hand would reach over the buttons - it looks kind of awkward.

I'm sure you have all this planned well though... Looking forward to the rest of the build...

[severdhed]

It really isn't bad at all. I had this exact layout on my other 4 player cabinet and it was quite comfortable. Nobody else ever complained about it.

[UFO]

It really isn't bad at all. I had this exact layout on my other 4 player cabinet and it was quite comfortable. Nobody else ever complained about it.

Not complaining SH... You have a tonne more build experience than me fella...

I like it too - all coming along well.

BTW... Its always nice to see a bit of "brainwashing" going on with the kids - I've done it with mine too. Its great to get them involved. After all, they will be getting these things one day!!

[severdhed]

more progress.  I got the cabinet mostly painted black last night, i need to do a little light sanding this evening and then put on the final coat...i'm pretty pleased with how it is turning out so far. 





i am stopping by my friend's house this afternoon to drop off the photoshop file to be printed. This evening i will try to finish the painting and install the cp hinge, so hopefully tomorrow night install the control panel overlay.

I'm hoping by the weekend i can have the t,molding installed and have it all ready to start writing the controls.

[severdhed]

stopped by my photographer friend's house and he printed off my control panel overlay.  He printed it on a premium lustre photo paper on his epson stylus pro 9900 printer (which is awesome).  It came out better than i anticipated, i am very pleased with it. This photo doesn't do it justice, it looks fantastic in real life.  I can't wait to install it this evening.

[shponglefan]

Awesome!  Looking forward to seeing this one all wired up! 

[severdhed]

it took longer than i anticipated, but i got the control panel overlay cut and installed tonight. 

first of all, i installed the hinge for the control panel..




 i also installed a chain to keep it from opening too far


i laid out the overlay


cut out the holes with a razor knife




installed the plexiglass, buttons, joysticks



installed t molding around panel







tomorrow night i need to put another coat of paint on the bottom of the cabinet, then then install the tmolding on the rest of the cabinet.


i am so very happy with how this is turning out.

[severdhed]

tonight i put on another coat of paint on the cabinet, so tomorrow i can install the t-molding.  i also mounted the ipac4 to the control panel. i wanted to mount it vertically, but there just wasnt a good spot to do it. this will work.



i also installed a second chain on the left side to help support the lid, it feels much more stable now.  i started wiring up the controls, didn't get very far, but there is always tomorrow. I am trying to keep the wiring nice and neat, i'll zip tie the wires together once i am done.



i picked up a nice set of wire strippers ($4) and a set of ratcheting crimpers($10) from harbor freight.....man i wish i would have done this sooner.  If you don't have ratcheting crimpers, you are missing out on a wonderful crimping experience.  they make it so much easier, and your hand doesn't hurt from squeezing when you are done. go get a set now.  i'm sure you could spend alot more and get really nice ones, but the ones from harbor freight seem to work very well and they are cheap.

[severdhed]

good bit of progress this weekend. 

i got the control panel wired up, this took forever!


here is a pic of the mouse hack i did for the trackball interface



got the rest of the Tmolding installed





then moved on to mounting the TV to the wall.  The wall mount i have is narrow, and of course, it didn't line up with any studs in the wall. so i cut a piece of wood (actually two glued together) and painted them to match the wall.



i recessed some T-Nuts into the back side for attaching the mounting bracket to the wood



screwed it to the wall with 6 3" screws into the studs



attached the mounting bracket





the computer is not ready yet, but i stuck my laptop in there and fired up TMNT for a few pics








now i just need to work on getting the PC mounted and the software setup...hopefully before Wednesday when my wife is scheduled to be induced into labor.

[Locke141]

WOW!

You got a lot done and it looks really good.

What angle do you have your CP at?

Good luck with the baby.

[severdhed]

Thanks. I posted those Sunday night, then around 1 am my wife decides that it is time to go to the hospital. Baby came a little before 3pm on Monday...they will be coming home from the hospital this afternoon.

I don't know what angle it is at offs the top of my head...but it it's 18"deep and  it's about 2 inches higher at the back

[BadMouth]

Not sure why it took until seeing the finished product for me to notice, but I really really like the black player imprint plungers in the colored buttons.
If I ever build a four player cab, I'm stealing that idea.