I think I'm finally to a point where I can start posting this bad boy.
My plan is to start cutting over the New Year's holiday. (2/5/15: Nope. Maybe someday when it finally thaws outside.) Might as well post now so somebody can kick me before I do something stupid, since I'm new at this and all.
My cab is going to be a 6ft tall stand up with a 23" LCD monitor. I've thrown together a Sketchup drawing, and I think I'm happy with the design now. The large front panel under the CP box will have inset hinges and will open to give me access to the PC
and a shelf to hold things like keyboard, mouse, controllers, etc. (2/5/15: Nixed the shelf. I'll actually store stuff in the box under the CP. Directly below the CP box there will be a fixed panel with a USB hub integrated into it for USB console controllers. Below that the door to access the PC from the front.)The CP will be detachable, and can be interchanged with a flat panel attached to the top of the cabinet (inspired by markc74's Blip cab). My intention is to swap in the flat panel when I want to play non-arcadey KB/Mouse games on the PC.
The CP is 5/8" pine overlaid with 1/8" plexiglass; and the flat panel will be painted 3/4" MDF. (2/5/15: CP will be 3/4" MDF overlaid with printed polycarbonate from GameOnGraphix)Underneath the main monitor, I'm including an admin panel with a secondary 7" LCD that'll display the instruction card for the game being played. The admin panel will be overlaid in plexiglass.
My first step will be to build a frame. It's made up of 1x4 boards with a 1/2" MDF base. The base is 24" wide and 20" deep. I honestly don't think the frame will provide a
ton of structural support; the 3/4" MDF making up the sides and much of the front/back will probably do most of the work. That being said, I think I may still make a couple tweaks to make it a little more structurally sound, like making those side boards on the underside extend all the way to the front of the base, and adding some cross-braces to the vertical boards. It'll all sit on 3" casters (fixed wheels in the back, swivel casters with brakes on the front). The door in the front will also make it easier to reach the brakes on the swivel casters.
Still haven't designed the CP, but I think I still have a couple months before I really need to get to that part. Kind of waiting to see what Andy has in store for the I-Pac boards in late January. I'm thinking I'll take advantage of the X-Input adapters, which I assume might make the cabinet a little more Steam Game Library-friendly.
Anyhow, I've been playing a lot of Borderlands lately, and I've taken a liking to the comic book / cel-shaded look. I think my design will be similar to that, but not based on any specific game. Honestly, I don't think I want to give it a name. Just some kind of cool, very minimalist graphics on the marquee, sides, etc..