Hello-
I was thinking about obtaining mameroom's ultimate arcade II plans. I noticed (from looking at pictures from that site as well as others) that the base part of the cabinet that holds the CP in place is downward-sloping.
The shelf that's cut into the bottom piece is pretty close to parallel to the ground. The sloping comes from the CP support 'ring' sloping at a slight angle, like this:
" : , <-- top of the CP, where all the buttons screw into
" : , (though, not as extreme)
" : ,
|
|
|_________| <-- CP base 'support ring'
First question - how well does this setup work? If I wanted to make modifications in the CP design (it seems a bit small), does the angled base make it more difficult to do so?
The CP base was a pain in the ass to make, to be honest. If I were thinking of making a removeable CP, I would seriously consider just making the top of the CP removeable and not the whole thing. I think it's more of a rights of passage, though, if you get it right. It's something that's necessary for a good cab, and once you're done you have enough woodworking skills to play with the big boys.
It's not impossible, but a hassle.
Also, how well does the delieverd CP 'fit' within that enclosure? I assume that there is no angle in the CP, since it is on the base itself.
It fits alright. I don't know if my cuts were off or if it was intended to be like this, but I have a slight gap between the back of the 'shelf' on the bottom piece and my CP base. It seems the shelf part isn't a plain 90 degree angle. When I start attaching my CP to the base, I might end up sanding a little bit...
Second question - that extra piece on the back seems to make it difficult for the cab to be moved via hand-truck. Any advice on moving the thing? Would locking casters be the answer?
One of the main reasons for going with this design was that once it's done it will end up being 3 seperate pieces: A top, a bottom, and a control panel. The reason this is good for me is mobility: I'm building it at my buddy's house and I need to get it home eventually
.
So, to answer your question, if you take the pieces apart, a hand truck will easily be able to move both the top and bottom pieces.
Personally, I think locking casters don't offer enough surface area touching the ground, which will make the cabinet tend to move more when people are playing on it. However, if I were to move to a place with nice hardwood floors, I'd probably consider them.
We modified the original designs a little bit of both the cabinet and the CP from the original layouts. The main addition for the cabinet are added T-nuts for the 6 bolts on each side that connect the top to the bottom. This (hopefully) will allow me to detach and reattach the top and bottom sections without harming the stability of the wood.
The CP plans that go with the UAII were too small for us as well. We wanted 4 8-ways, 7 buttons each, a 4-way with 2 buttons, a trackball and a spinner. We ended up designing it similar to the
SlikStik Quad, and I think we'll be happy with it.
Personally, I liked the UAII plans and the cutouts. I think the cabinet is coming out awesome! The one gripe about them is the price. For the price, I would have hoped I got something better, especially when other people are offering very high quality designs for free.
Some of the measurements in the PDFs he emailed me were hard to read and not all the facts were there and required me to do more research on my own (which I absolutely no problem doing, and in fact I already had done it.. it's just for the money I paid I would have hoped I got more).
The cutouts were very handy to have, but mostly to use as a reference. It's hard to cut the straight line, then trace it back onto the wood, so I almost had to re-measure everything anyway. In addition, there were a couple spots where there were missing lines and ambigious cuts.
All-in-all though, I recommend both the plans and the cutouts if you've never touched a circular saw or you think a 'router' is only a cheap piece of networking equipment. Even if you're already thinking of modifying them.
/S
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Topic: Need some Ultimate Arcade II feedback (Read 1526 times)
