First Bartop Cabinet Build, Looking for Advice

[bluelight]

Hi everyone!

So I am building my first bartop arcade cabinet and am almost done with cutting the MDF (only 2 pieces left to cut.) Although it's a pretty standard design, I created the design myself in 3DS Max and printed out a template for cutting. I used the paper template to cut the side pieces but the rest I am mainly just measuring and drawing lines since everything is straight.

I am making it out of 1/2 inch MDF, I plan to use black t-molding and paint the cabinet black with vinyl sticker side art covering the entirety of both sides. Going with IL eurosticks (2 player) along with most likely IL concave buttons and an LCD screen behind plexi. Will most likely go with a mini-pac control board also. Will probably try to use white LED light strips to light the marquee and I have 2, 4 inch boss audio 2 way speakers powered by one of the popular Lepai 2020a amps.  The PC is an older PC that I built years ago... I haven't got to the phase of getting that setup yet but it likely will be running windows 7 home 64-bit and booting straight into hyperspin 1.4. It is a core 2 duo with 4 gb of ram.. I can't remember the exact processor but hopefully a core 2 duo will be more than enough as I currently am not running any CHD's. I will also try to put a Nvidia 9800 GT in there just cause I have 2 lying around.

So.. having said all that.. I had a few questions and really just want to get opinions from you guys on a few areas to start.

1. Do you guys think that it is better to put speakers hidden inside the marquee, facing down, with a bunch of holes drilled in the MDF to let the sound out. Or is it better to just cut to circles and mount the speakers from the bottom of the marquee and cover them with speaker grills? The only difference I can think of besides the look, is whether or not being inside of the marquee will increase the sound of the bass slightly more than the other way.

2. Another speaker question... I am using shielded speakers and I don't believe they have any effect on my LCD monitor but I know they "could" have an effect on my HDD. The thing is my HDD will be mounted on the bottom of the cabinet on the inside which is something like 1 1/2 or 2 feet from the speakers. Should I bother trying to shield the speakers with a steel pipe cap or do you guys think that is far enough to not worry about it.

3. The paint... currently I am thinking about using KILZ oil based paint, 2 coats sanding between, followed by 2-3 coats of rustoleum oil based flat black paint. Only question is about the flat black... I was thinking satin might be more accurate for 80s or 90s based cabinets which is what I was going for but I haven't seen any oil based paint other than glossy black or flat black at Lowes so far.

4. Vinyl art for sides, is there any popular (not too expensive) choice for having your own self adhesive art printed? I have seen posts here with several sites I just want to know maybe what people have had the best luck with quality wise. I was thinking of using www.souldraw.com which I saw someone listed I believe on here. Price seemed ok, dunno about quality.

5. Since I am covering the sides completely with vinyl, should I even bother painting or priming those sides? Someone said the paint would likely come off if I ever took the stickers off so not sure if there would be a point, plus the vinyl I am looking at with souldraw.com has black adhesive backing which they said keeps any color (like the MDF color) from affecting the graphics on the other side.


Sorry if this is too much for one post... this stuff has just been running through my mind since starting so I wanted to put it out there as I am sure I may have more questions later.

Thanks everyone and glad to be here. 

Bluelight

[bobmoo79]

Sounds like you've made a good start but this is a long process and there's lots to learn - building the cabinet is the quick bit, setting up the software seems to take much longer! I've only made 1 bartop myself so I'm not an expert but I'll try to offer some advice which might be useful...

1) I placed my speakers in the marquee area with holes drilled through the MDF and I found using the Lepai amp with 2 way car speakers produces adequate sound. It's not audiophile quality - it's roughly what you would expect to hear if  you had mounted those same speakers in a car door. As for bass response, I don't think mounting the speakers below the marquee area would improve it unless you understood the principles of speaker design and so could introduce some sort of bass tube or something to amplify the low frequencies. That is beyond my current understanding and I didn't have an interest in learning it at the time, and in any case my design didn't allow me to adequately partition off the marquee area from the rest of the cab. This would need to be sealed off (air tight) to allow the proper formation of bass frequencies. Unless you've already thought of this it could also be too late for you to tackle it in your cab.

2) I have secured my HDD on the same piece of MDF as my monitor, about half way down the bartop (maybe around 30cm below the speakers) and I haven't noticed any issues. I wouldn't worry about shielding the speakers but of course if you have the material to hand it won't cost anything, won't take long and could be beneficial.


3) My cab isn't linked to any specific arcade era and so I painted it gloss white using water based paint. I think you can get satin black sprays if you're prepared to give that a try.

4) As you're talking about Lowes I guess you're in the states. I got my artwork done through an Ebay.co.uk seller. The prices was reasonable and the quality was adequate for my needs - I didn't need arcade quality prints because I wasn't trying to recreate that authentic arcade look, I just needed some that look good for the home. It would probably be cheaper for you to source yours from the states, so again I can't really help here.

5) If you paint your cab and you peel off the vinyl some of the paint WILL come off with it. When I stuck on my first piece of vinyl it was crooked and so I needed to peel it off again to correct it (by the way that ruined the vinyl and I had to order another piece). The paint came off the cab in places and so I ended up having to sand that side of the cab  back and repainting. Unfortunately the unevenness is still slightly visible through the artwork, made more obvious because my artwork is glossy. Matt or satin artwork would be more forgiving. I painted my cab before sticking on the artwork because I thought it would improve the adhesion but if your artwork was as sticky as mine then it won't be a problem. just make sure you get rid of ALL dust before you start sticking that stuff down!

[bluelight]

Thanks for all the advice! I am thinking I want to maybe avoid spray paint just from lack of experience getting even coats with it. I was thinking of using a 1/4 inch short matte roller to do the paint and primer or maybe a foam roller not sure. I also haven't decided if I want to paint it before assembling it or not as it may be easier that way. What do you suggest on that? I have seen people mostly doing it after it is partially assembled.

I think I am going to try for matte artwork and it sounds like NOT painting it might be a better choice like you mentioned. Especially if I go with the black adhesive vinyl since that is supposed to not let the color come through. I am wondering though if a coat of primer would be good before the sticker though just to smooth out the surface.

I also have been seeing this stuff online about MDF causing cancer or giving off formaldahyde gas or something. My MDF is supposed to be more safe than regular stuff but it probably still isn't great for you. I heard that sealing it in primer makes it safer. Since my 4 year old will be playing this alot, I am not wondering if I should seal the whole thing in primer, even the inside which I originally planned on just leaving alone completely.

I am probably over thinking it.. any thoughts on that?