Scratch Slim Cab - 1st cabinet attempt - Sonic the Hedgehog

[gilligan5000]

So after lurking for a bit I went a little nuts and started amassing parts to build a slim cabinet  

My main inspirations were:
Martijn Slim Cab: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,112721.0.html
a1pharm Slim Cab: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,129725.0.html

So far I am very pleased with my progress.  I was able to get a standing cabinet with the monitor mounted in under 8 hours!  I understand that finishing this will most likely be a VERY long process, but I wanted to build something that looked almost as nice as Martijn's just without all the OCD and soldering expert panache.  (I'm pretty good at getting to ~95% of my goal with the least amount of effort possible...that last 5% takes way too damn long!)

Parts:

• Monitor     - Philips 32" IPS 1080p TV
• Computer - Re-purposed my old HTPC - Athlon2 X2 @ 3.0GHZ - 3TB Seagate - 4GB RAM
• Speakers  - GX gaming 2.1 - I purchased these solely due to their remote amp with volume and bass knobs
• Power       - Zuni digital smart surge protector (turns monitor and speakers on/off with computer
• Controls    - Zippy joysticks, fake Happ buttons and one of those xin-mo usb boards...we'll see

I had most of the tools to get started, but holy cow those router pattern bits are AMAZING.  I realize all of this is worthless without pics...and I only snapped one this morning, more to follow as I continue.

I'll be working on this thing after work for 2-3 hours a night, plans permitting.  Again my goal is to have something presentable and playable for as little effort as possible

Crappy first pic...but you get the idea:

[gilligan5000]

Made some more progress tonight.

Here is a shot of the speakers I'll be using:


TV Mount:  (no idea why this 8 lb TV uses 200mm VESA mount instead of 100mm)


Side Shot:


Rough Sketch I used to start (based loosly off of the other two cabs I credit in the first post):


Tried doing this like Martijn...I'm not as skilled...gave up and did it on a table saw then and it looks pretty good:


Then decided to mount the speakers like all the kids seem to be doing now a days: (still needs some metal to finish it off)



There is about 1/4" of thickness left...I didn't feel comfortable going any deeper (twss):


Thats it for day two of the build

[Martijn]

Looking good there gilligan5000.

remember that there is not a alot of space between the cp and that front angle piece. But those joysticks seem to fit just fine.

Will you make a door in the back? the bottom piece will be very heavy if its 1 big mdf piece.

[gilligan5000]

Thanks Martijn, I really should call this project "More luck than skill"...I've been getting stupid lucky with some of my severe lack of planning.

I'm doing the back in three pieces...just haven't figured out how large yet.  It'll probably be up to the scraps I have left over to determine that for me


I got really lucky on my first cut for the control panel, a really nice and snug fit:






The speakers need some metal (again stolen from Martijn's brain):


Didn't get much of anything done last night as my wife and I decided to cut down a 40 ft cedar tree that was getting too big for being so close to the house...Its down but not out...I may be back to the cabinet this weekend if I'm lucky

[gilligan5000]

Little bit of work done on the control panel...

Templates finally printed in the correct size:



I'm using a six button layout, so I used the right six buttons, and the rightward "dot" for the jotsticks:


Which got me this:


Then I routed from underneath for the joysticks:




This first player friction fits in for now (player two is dangling there)...I'll mount them with some metal strapping from the bottom at some point:


I think its really looking good though so far:

[gilligan5000]

I was looking for a good place to put the audio controls. I really wanted them under the monitor, but that would mean I couldn't use a piece of glass like I want to...so I ended up putting them up in between the speakers:


I routed out so the control box fits and leaves enough of the knobs sticking out to turn them:


Then I finished up the control panel by making some support blocks because I'm mounting the joysticks underneath:



I tried some threaded inserts from the home depot...they sucked.  I'll update when I figure that part out.

Then I gave it two coats of oil based BRIGHT WHITE!

Also in that pic I cut a slot for the glass to rest in on the control panel.
And yes, I cut for the t-molding too...which was way easier than I thought (after making 10 test cuts on scraps to get the height perfect)

[monkeychunkuk]

Nice build

Snap ; )

[PL1]

I tried some threaded inserts from the home depot...they sucked.  I'll update when I figure that part out.

The FAQ shows the types of threaded inserts to use for MDF.


Scott

[gilligan5000]

Thanks for the heads up man.  I have the inserts in, and they are really in there! But when tightening the bolts in the inserts all "settled" up a 1/16"...I think I can make it work by just making the holes in the strapping bigger so that the bolt head contacts the insert directly...I just need to make the bolts shorter now

I'll see if I can throw two more coats of paint on tonight and order my glass...I'd love to have this thing at least somewhat operational by the weekend.

I spent a good amount of time last night learning how to set up hyperspin/hq/launch/hq/xml creator etc...steep learning curve, but once you get it it's really not that bad.

I was toying with the idea of adding jukebox functionality to it...but I spent almost 2 hours messing with Silverjuke and can't seem to figure out what I'm missing...(those install directions are terrible, and if they are right, they want you to just dump a bunch of media and xml files into your root directory...not clean...me no likey)

 

[PL1]

It might be easier to add a washer or carefully drill through the insert to make more room for the screw.


Scott

[gilligan5000]

I got more paint on it...man MDF is THIRSTY! It took 5 coats in total to get it looking acceptable with a decent sheen.  I spent more time configuring the PC last night, so far I've got NES, SNES, and genesis running flawlessly.  N64 is giving me some full screen and ROM loading issues...

and I decided to go with XBMC for my music player, its a plus that the wife is already familiar with the controls...plus I really like the Pandora widget (I wish I could find a way to launch straight into that actually).

Now I just have to decide if I'm going to wait until I design the side art to finish putting it all together...It'll be easier for sure, but I'm so impatient.

[gilligan5000]

My wife picked up some glass samples for me today, can't wait to get home and see whats up there...

In the mean time I've been messing with Hyperspin A LOT...and It seems like its trying really hard to grab attention at every second...then I set up Maximus Arcade and it seems to just sit there peacefully...

I'm torn because I like aspects of both...and I still can't believe there isn't more of a push for XBMC or PLEX development going on!?!?  They've got large screen GUI down to a science...oh well

I'll post pics of the glass options, but I think I'm leaning towards the smoked gray...it should look almost black when in the arcade with the monitor off.  I need to test to make sure I don't lose too much color through the glass, and it doesn't mess up the IR function in case I need to occasionally adjust brightness or whatnot.

I've got my semi amateur photoshop buddy coming over to help with the graphics...of which I'm really digging the newish logos for "Sonic Team" that I saw on one of the gamecube titles...can't remember at the moment.  I'd like to see this integrated somehow/somewhere on the cabinet.

[a1pharm]

Any updates?  This was looking great!  Finish the 5%!