Box'd In Bartop Arcade - 100% done

[tomstewdevine]

Hello,

So I'm on to my second build, and I have two stand up cabs in my brain that I want to get done..... but my wife isn't always keen on tapping into the budget for my projects. So I figure I will do another Bartop and try to only use things I already have. I ordered a joystick for cheap, I got the PC I'm going to use for free from a buddy who was throwing it away, I will use the paint that I already have and left over plexi from my 1st arcade.  I have plenty of screws, glue and sandpaper.  Our city has a project that each year a different neighborhood can set all their crap they don't want on the edge of their lawn and the city will haul it to the dump for them, so I drove through the neighborhood and found all the wood I needed for this cab, so that was free too (I also got 2 retro bar stools, wood flooring and an ice auger!).  So I think I will only need to pay for the artwork, controls and t molding.

This build is going to be small and simple.  It will have a one player set up with a 4 way joystick, three action buttons, a player 1 and player 2 button, and one button for coining up, one for escaping to the menu. I'm going to paint it green and use artwork similar to Twist's POWcade, which is Mario Bros themed. I'm thinking white t molding, and setting it up with all the 4 way joystick games.

The Damage:
Arcade Controls ..............................................................$28.42
Wood............................................................................$ Free (side of the road)
Glue.............................................................................$Already had
Paint ............................................................................$Already had
Sandpaper......................................................................$Already had
PC................................................................................$Free
2x metal brackets for monitor mount .....................................$1.36
wood screws ..................................................................$3.99
Replacement Fan from Dell ..................................................$5.65
Full page shipping labels......................................................$4.44
Triple Thick Spray Glaze ......................................................$Already had
Acrylic Sheet ...................................................................$Already had
t-molding .......................................................................$13.90

So I looks like I will be completing this Bartop for $53.77, just using stuff I already had from the previous build. It's been fun to do, and the point was to make it for as little as possible. I would like to sell it to a buddy and save for full size cab for myself.

[camperman73]

Looking forward to seeing this. Love a well planned build. 

[reptileink]

Don't see any info on a monitor choice?

[tomstewdevine]

So far I have cut out the sides and glued the top and bottom to them. I have the rest of the pieces cut, except for the plexi bezel.

Things I need to do:
-glue remaining piece to cab
-fill any holes with wood putty
-sand, prime and paint
-cut t molding slot
-paint again
-set up PC
-Tare apart the pc
-Mount Monitor
-Find speakers
-Install pc parts to cab
-install speakers
-Make CP
-Make CPO and side art
-Cut Plexi
-Paint Plexi with a Black Bezel
-Instal Bezel
-Cut hole and Install Fan for back of unit

Here are some pics with my progress so far:

[tomstewdevine]

Monitor choice...... Well I didn't really choose it, I'm just using the monitor the PC came with since it was free.  Its a dell lcd monitor that is really small, 11"x13" with the casing. I did a Crt Bartop for my last build, which I think is way cooler, but this is supposed to be an easy project that I can complete quickly for next to nothing, and hopefully sell to one of my buddies to fund a stand up arcade. Also I would like to have two done before I build one that I want to keep forever work out the bugs in my wood working skills.

[reptileink]

Gotcha! For some reason, I can't see the pics in your thread (probably work blocking it) 

I am looking into making a bar top soon, so I love bar top build threads! I am thinking about an all wrestling bar top with as many wrestling games as I can get on it.

[tomstewdevine]

Oh man a wrestling Bartop is a great idea man, something I have never seen.   

[reptileink]

Sadly (and happily), me either...lol.

I am a BIG time old school wrestling fan (80s, early 90s), so I love Wrestlefest, Wrestlemania, Pro Wrestling, WCW vs NWO, etc.

Still stuck on making it either Hogan or Macho Man colors, or just going with a montage of different wrestling graphics (but not kitchen fridge)....lol

[tomstewdevine]

[sc23]

Hey man, I am guessing you are in Auckland? As we are currently chucking crap on the side of the road for pick up. If you are I have several 17'' 4:3 LCD monitors I scored when work upgraded, if you want one let me know.

[tomstewdevine]

Hey man, I am guessing you are in ? As we are currently chucking crap on the side of the road for pick up. If you are I have several 17'' 4:3 LCD monitors I scored when work upgraded, if you want one let me know.

New Zealand?

No I live in Sioux Falls (pronunciation: Sue Falls), a place no one has ever heard of....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sioux_Falls,_South_Dakota

Thank you so much for the offer though, if it was possible I would totally grab a monitor from you.

[tomstewdevine]

Glued on the front and fit the back last night.



Also started working on the pc portion, I wiped the old computer and reloaded xp.  Took the files off my other arcade and put them on a portable hard drive, since I hadn't kept them in a certain spot up until last night.  I got a new layout for atomic fe, to match the Mario Bros theme. Replaced the cursor of the pc with a arcade cursor.

Tonight I would like to sand it down and use some wood filler.  And for the PC I would like to work on getting all the signs of windows removed like sounds and start up and closing screens. Install Mame & Atomic Fe, and come up with a list of all the games that are best used with a two way or four way joystick.

I probably won't get all that done tonight, but I would like to.....

[BorgDog]

New Zealand?

No I live in Sioux Falls (pronunciation: Sue Falls), a place no one has ever heard of....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sioux_Falls,_South_Dakota

Thank you so much for the offer though, if it was possible I would totally grab a monitor from you.

bah, not only have I heard of Sioux Falls, I've been there many times.. years ago.  I grew up 2 hours due north of there, really in the middle of nowhere, in a town way way smaller than that (Ortonville, MN)

[tomstewdevine]

bah, not only have I heard of Sioux Falls, I've been there many times.. years ago.  I grew up 2 hours due north of there, really in the middle of nowhere, in a town way way smaller than that (Ortonville, MN)

Nice, I have been to Ortonville, there is a big lake on the border of MN and SD and I stayed at cabin there for a bachelor party one time.

[tomstewdevine]

Got the PC working nicely, much easier the second time around, I still need to spend some time in Atomic Layout to see if I can get the Wheel art going that Yot's gave me. But I also used some wood putty on the cab and prepared the monitor for mounting. Here are my progress pics, all done with my crappy phone in low light, but better than nothing.

[tomstewdevine]

I painted the inside of the cab with primer...... but the surface of the side panels were way to smooth and the primer wouldn't hold at all. I had to peel off all that paint and sand the ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- out of the whole thing, then I painted the whole thing with primer again. Next step sanding then priming again, then sanding and painting, then sanding and painting again..... (this is my least favorite part of the process.

 

[get2daachoppaaaa]

I'd love to see an nWo arcade! lol

[tomstewdevine]

Well you better make one.......I think any Wrestling Bartop would be really cool.  I have like 3 projects lined up already but maybe a wrestling bartop is in my future after those.

[tomstewdevine]

It's Green. The sides turned out great, extremely smooth which is great. I would have liked to cut my t molding slots before painting but I have to borrow the router because I don't own one yet and the guy I'm borrowing it from isn't in any rush, but I want to get this thing done.

[tomstewdevine]

This weekend I got a little more done, here is the work I did.

Opened up the old Dell my buddy Zach gave me, and tore that sucker apart, got what I needed, discarded the rest.


Mounted the monitor, and tested everything before securing it in place.





This is the power button, which sucks because it would be way easier to change if it wasn't connected to a 15 pin cable that dell won't release the pin out on.


Secured the pc parts down, but f'd up my fan, so I hacked up an new one using the old connector from the broken fan and an fan I had laying around. Even though I got the new fan to run, Dell still promps at startup that the fan isn't connected and I have to press f1 to continue, since that is not an option long term, guess I need to buy a dell replacement fan.



Size comparison to my last build


So next I figured out my power button, I used my multimeter to check what wire goes where, cut into the ones that ran the original power switch and added the button I wanted to use as the power button. I had never done this before but it wan't to hard to figure out.









Also did the t molding slot as well this weekend.

I actually spent a lot of time trying to figure out a way I can use some of the speakers I have in my garage in this build, none are pc speakers, but I would like to figure out a way to get them to be able to plug into a regular audio jack with out buying something. I had no luck, so I think I will have to buy some cheap pc speakers.

[tomstewdevine]

Got the speakers installed.


Mounted the fan.


But the fan didn't end up working, I paid 1.99 for it, so that could have something to do with it, but I ordered a Dell fan yesterday, and that should be here shortly.

The problem is Dell has some dumb proprietary fan and even if I get another fan working fine, an error still pops up when you turn on the PC.  I haven't found a way to get rid of the warning, and I can't have that warning come up every time I turn on the arcade.  This fan in the picture worked for one time, so I installed it but then the next time I tried to turn on the arcade still got the error.

To do list:
-CP
-Back door
-plexi bezel
-side art

[JDFan]

Check the Bios options and there should be a setting to not display that error so that you do not need to press the f1 button to continue.

HEre is a video that shows how to bypass the error if for some reason there is no BIOS option by wiring into the sensors on one of the other fans ( seems Dell uses a 4 pin connector with 2 sensor wires rather than just 1 so you could use a normal 3 pin connector and just splice the sensor wire to 2 of the pins to bypass the error) -

[tomstewdevine]

Hey JDFan, yeah I checked the bios and I could find a setting for this error.  Thanks a ton for the video, I will watch it tonight and see if I can get if figured out.

I did a little work on the back door last night,still need a little sanding and another coat of paint after the holes I made.

[tomstewdevine]

Drilled some holes last night, and did some painting. Mounted the power button.... not a bad night..... and replaced that stupid fan.  After ordering one from amazon, that didn't end up working, they gave me my money back and told me to keep the fan, I ordered a real replacement from dell's website and it was under six bucks shipped, so not too bad.

[tomstewdevine]

Printed the art myself with full page label paper, I know it's not the prettiest, but it works. I sprayed the CP with triple thick so it wouldn't be just a paper label.  Took some metal speaker covers off a broken stereo for the fan holes.

[tomstewdevine]

So I got the cp done, and it's playable....... so that mean i haven't really done much besides play it....

[tomstewdevine]

I'm having trouble selecting a game with a joystick button in Atomic FE, I got it to work on my last build but it doesn't seem to work with this one. :/

[JDFan]

Looking good ! 

One small suggestion - since you printed the artwork yourself might want to go back and adjust the placement of the Nintendo logo and the crab on the CPO - There is plenty of space to move it around so that they do not get cropped off by the button layout and would look better. 

IF you don't have Photoshop or similar to move it easily upload a full size pic either here or to dropbox or similar and post a link. and I'll move them for you (figure the nintendo logo just needs moved a bit to the right and the crab either down or to the right so he doesn't get covered up ( or if those 2 buttons are one and 2 player start buttons could make them a bit smaller and place 1 under the 1 player start and 2 under the 2 player start ( Just noticed the Mario Bros needs moved also !)

[tomstewdevine]

JD Fan, you are totally right I failed with the cpo placement 200%. But whatev's, I'm just trying to do it fast and cheap.  I finished this up a couple weeks back and am just getting around to posting photos now.  I think it turned out cool, not perfect, but cool.  I think it's a good look for a bartop and it plays great. I'm loving the 4 way joystick.

Well here are pics.













Love to here what you think, good or bad.

[opt2not]

I like it.
It's just the right size for me, and I love the overall cute look to it.

However, I would have done something else with the bezel, perhaps just paint it a colour that goes with the CP, or Sideart.  Perhaps the blue you have featured there. Right now the bezel makes the cabinet have a dull look, and it would definitely pop more if you put some colour on it.

Still, great job for quite a quick turnover. 

[spedinfargo]

Love it.  That looks like the perfect size for my daughter.  I better get to work.

Do you have the model number of that monitor that you used by any chance?  I know you posted the measurements but curious what it would be listed as (12"?  14"?)

[JDFan]

Love it.  That looks like the perfect size for my daughter.  I better get to work.

Do you have the model number of that monitor that you used by any chance?  I know you posted the measurements but curious what it would be listed as (12"?  14"?)

From one of the pics he posted earlier (enlarged) The one he used is a 15" Dell 2004FP  --

[tomstewdevine]

Love it.  That looks like the perfect size for my daughter.  I better get to work.

Do you have the model number of that monitor that you used by any chance?  I know you posted the measurements but curious what it would be listed as (12"?  14"?)

Thanks for checking it out.

[taxidriver6]

Beautiful machine, but I can't quite find how you did the bezel. Planning mine out and wanted a white one as well. Can you share how you did it and what you used please?

Thanks.

[tomstewdevine]

Beautiful machine, but I can't quite find how you did the bezel. Planning mine out and wanted a white one as well. Can you share how you did it and what you used please?

Thanks.

For the Bezel I went to my local hardware store and bought a piece of acrylic, something like this:
https://www.menards.com/main/p-1444441876561-c-7551.htm?tid=-6081985582413194064

Then I sandwiched the sheet in between two pieces of wood and cut it to the size of my cabs front area. I then measured my monitor and taped out a square on the back of the acrylic sheet and then painted the acrylic with white paint, I put 3 coats of paint on it. Then I peeled off my tape and had a square for my monitor. I'm no pro at it and when I peeled off the tape it made some imperfections (as you can see in the picture). On my other arcade I rounded the corners and I think it looks better if you do that as well.



After the I took the tape off and the paint was all dry I just used velcro to attach the sheet, I attached it strait to the monitor. I also have it kinda wedged in between the top behind the t-molding and the bottom where it rests on a wood blocks.

I'm sure if you looked around at other builds you would find better way to do it, but it works for this cab.

I also added stickers explaining the buttons:



And thanks for checking it out. I play this little guy almost everyday and love it. It's a really simple machine but it's only the second one I've ever made, and I had basically zero woodworking skills before trying to build arcades so know that my way could be improved by a pretty high margin.

[taxidriver6]

Thanks for sharing. Much appreciated. It really is a beautiful machine you have there.