Well I am marking this guy finished. It turned out way cooler than I ever thought and I want to thank all of the great comments and help over the last few months. Can't wait to get started on my next project, a 2-player stand up. More pics are located at the end of the thread.
***NEW ***
PDF plans are now available attached to this thread. They are all 1:1 so you can try to print them full scale for tracing, or use the plans to draw on the wood. They are dual dimensioned so that it includes both Inch and Millimeter. They are shown as in [mm]
I also exported a DWG file from my cad system which is the only format that is compatible with sketchup. It's in the zip file below. It works but it's not perfect.
*** Start original post ***[Insert generic intro here. Long time listener, first time caller]
I'm excited to finally put saw to wood here soon and thought I could announce what I have going on. The wife, who is currently 4 months pregnant,
put the stop to my man cave construction.
So basically my full-size will have to wait. BUT I realized that a bartop will be just as fun to build, and since it's slightly portable, I can move it around for parties and play around with jukebox software.
So here are my thoughts...
1. SEEEEEGAAAAA
There have been a few classic Nintendo builds with the iconic coloring and themes, see
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,133712.0.html . for an amazing example, but there has been little done with my beloved SEGA (sans the current outrun driver by johnrt !).
2.Primary Focus is 80's & 90's (Genesis, Master System, NES,SNES,TG16,MAME) Consoles & Arcade games (Shinobi, Rastan, Strider etc.) Not a fan of 2 player co-op on bartops. I'll save that for my full size.
3. System Specs
Motherboard: ASUS M4A785-M. Has onboard HD4200 graphcis card which has rocked anything i've thrown at it. (again, I'm not looking to play street fighter or any dreamcast or newer games)
Processor: AMD Athlon II X2 245 Dual-Core 2.9GHz (old NAS server looks to be perfect for my bartop)
Memory: NAS had 4 GB. Overkill but you know...
HDD: 1TB WD HDD
OS: Windows 7 x64
Speakers: Ripped apart an old gateway 2000
speaker set that had a built in amp and sounds pretty good. Not sure if i should spend the 25 bucks and upgrade this and/or get a small sub for some of those boomin soundtracks (golden axe titlescreen
)
4. Construction
planning to use 1/2 inch MDF for most of the cabinet construction. Was worried that this would be too thin or light, but seems like a lot of people build their bartops out of 1/2". I started with the weecade design, which it seems that everyone does now days, but I wasn't feeling the giant curve in the front. I have a 19" monitor and when adjusting for the size, it became too deep when the curve and speaker panel met up. I like the understated lines of this design, but am open for suggestions. The marquee area can possibly get shorter, but i'll have to mock it up out of cardboard and see how much room the speakers take up.
Mockup in my CAD system (I'm a cad admin, I used to do design work awhile back)
So I was wondering if the slanted back that is usually found on the weecade (on the left) made it difficult to flush mount the power supply on the rear? I made a perpendicular back (on the right) but don't like it as much. I could just use an adapter like this
http://www.amazon.com/Inlet-Module-Switch-Socket-IEC320/dp/B0050HH70E/ref=pd_cp_e_15. Artwork
The Sega Genesis is my inspiration for the artwork. I don't have any completed artwork, but I'm hoping that someone will throw some advice my way.
something along the lines of the classic controller for the cp graphics. (this one is very dark, i'll mock up a vector version in inkscape for the final)
a version of the genesis that is good for ideas on embellishments. (i'm not using this artwork as it is not mine, i'm just using it for examples)
6. Requirements to be met
1 player bartop with a clean CP,
needs to play most games from the SNES (4 buttons) and genesis era (3 and then 6 buttons). Since the 6 button controller was primarily for fighting games, i'm not sure that i need 6. I wish i could get away with the old genesis look of 3 buttons (see cp image above) but it won't due if i can't play 1/2 the SNES games. Also most arcade games form this time period rarely use more than 3 buttons. Jump, attack, magic or punch kick jump. I could marry the diamond shape of the SNES with the 3 button of the genesis, but I might just put 6 buttons on there in the curved street fighter style to give it the most flexibility. I'm really looking to make the theme as genesis as possible without frankenpaneling in nes/snes coloring or designs. The 6 player genesis controller isn't as sexy as the clean original, but I may try to merge the two.