My second build : Pinup. Finished. Now with plans.

[yotsuya]

Btw, take note: that's why Yam is a homeboy - takes feedback in stride.

[yamatetsu]

Btw, take note: that's why Yam is a homeboy - takes feedback in stride.

Officially, I take it in stride. At home, though ...



                                                           

[yotsuya]

[yamatetsu]

Blast it, I'm not even able to hit the bullseye. On a more serious note :

Now that the cab is seemingly done, let's see under the hood!

That will have to wait a bit, I still have to clearcoat one panel and then wait 3 days for it to cure. In the meantime I'll amuse myself with the monitor bezel and maybe I'll even do the CP, which undoubtedly will give me a new opportunity to take some negative feedback in stride 

[yamatetsu]

The control panel : A mockup.

I put the buttons and the joystick into the CP. I'm not in the mood for wiring the thing right now, so that will have to wait.

[rtkiii]

I like the look of the CP.  Nice Work!

[leapinlew]

What do you think of those buttons? I wanted to use them on my last cabinet, but decided I had to have concave.

You are a hyperspace and Reverse button away from a pretty accurate defender layout.

[yamatetsu]

What do you think of those buttons? I wanted to use them on my last cabinet, but decided I had to have concave.

I have no idea, to be honest. I haven't tested them yet. I originally wanted to use them in my first build, but then I changed the design and changed it again until I had a black & white cab that naturally had to have black & white buttons. So these buttons have been lying around for two years or so until I finally decided to build a cab around them. Just from laying my fingers on them and tapping around a bit, I think that concave buttons feel more natural because they sorta guide your fingertip to the center of the button, whereas you hit the UltraLux buttons wherever your fingertip happens to be. But they certainly seem to be playable.

You are a hyperspace and Reverse button away from a pretty accurate defender layout.

Heh. Funny coincidence. I just placed my fingers on the CP, marked the fingertip positions and drilled the holes. The start/coin buttons I just randomly placed on a line to the highest game button.

[yamatetsu]

Control panel wiring.

If you want to see neat wiring, go away. There is nothing here for you. You have been warned.



The left controller is a PacDrive, the right one is an I-Pac 2.

I'm surprised that wiring that thing went without a hitch. I hever never used lit buttons before and I also never have crimped a cable before. The hardest part actually was getting the LED holders into the buttons. You have to insert and then twist them until they snap into place. Unfortunately by twisting them you unscrew the button, so it's a bit tricky.

Some pics of the CP lit up. The pics do look nothing like it looks in reality, the buttons have a sort of warm orange glow. The camera disagrees.

This one was taken with flash on,



this one without flash.

[yamatetsu]

Fixed the bezel.

Since the bezel got slightly too big, I took a kind of weather strip and taped it to the bezel's inner edge. The bezel is still too big by about 1 mm, but that's good enough for me.



Edge-banding.

This was the part I was most scared of, since it's really easy to mess it up and ruin the work of weeks. From the videos I watched, it seems to me that using a chisel to trimm off the excess is the way to go. So I bought one and started practising, as I never have used a chisel before. I went through about 6-7 meters of edge-banding, using it on practically every board of scrap wood I could find. The results were lousy. The people in the vids make it look really easy, but if you never have used a chisel before, forget it.
So though everyone will tell you not to use a knife for this, I did. Boy, that made a huge difference. I didn't cut into the wood, most of the cuts I had to do only once, the result looks really good.

       

[yamatetsu]

Power.

Found out that the psu is a tad big.

"Look at the size of that sucker !" Famous last words.



I originally planned to screw the mainboard directly onto the cab floor, but since I need to hide that bunch of cables, the board now goes on a platform.

Speakers.

The speakers are installed.



The front.

I doubletaped the front piece to the front panel and used six screws going from the back to the front to secure it. The contrast between the acrylic and the wood is really awesome. As usual, the ####ing camera does not do it justice. Every time I don't want them, I get reflections. Now that I want to show them, I don't get them. Go figure.

[DaredevilDave]

Much coolness! Keeping an eye on your project!

[yamatetsu]

Much coolness! Keeping an eye on your project!

 

The computer.

Today I mounted the computer. The cutout from the bezel board had the right size to put the mobo and a hdd side by side on it, so I used that. The top layer is black acrylic, so it looks cool, too.
The 'chair' in the lower right will hold the psu.



Shininess.





I have to wait for some paint to dry, then I can mount the psu. After that, the software part has to be taken care of. I hope that I'm in the mood for that tomorrow.

[yamatetsu]

The psu went kaboom while I was installing the OS, so I had to order a new one. Luckily everything else is intact, the new psu has arrived since then and the computer is working again.

The monitor.

To place the monitor perfectly under the bezel board, I put the bezel board on top of it, adjusted it until it fit and doubletaped battens to each monitor side from underneath. Then I flipped the bezel board upside down and put the monitor in. To hold it in place, I glued two sets of 3 battens together, glued those to the bezel board and screwed a piece of scrap wood onto them. Then I screwed the monitor to the scrap wood.



The bezel board is 50 cm wide, the screen only uses 30 cm, so that left 10 cm space on each side. Too much. I took two strips of wood, 4cm wide with a rounded edge on one side, stained them, waited 8 days for the stain to cure, clearcoated them, waited 3 days for that to cure and doubletaped them onto the bezel board.



This is how the monitor will go into the cab, there will be no plexi or glass cover. The screen has an anti-reflective coating, I don't want to negate that by putting something reflective over it.

[yamatetsu]

Assembly is under way. Some pics of the innards.







My highly professional method of glueing the right side to the cab.

[yamatetsu]

Finished ! Some pics.

[yamatetsu]

[yamatetsu]

A family pic.

[wp34]

That turned out very nice. I really like the look of the front of your cabinet.

[yotsuya]

I can't help but think with the curves on the sides,  a rounded over control panel might have tied it together nicely. Just a thought.

[yamatetsu]

I can't help but think with the curves on the sides,  a rounded over control panel might have tied it together nicely. Just a thought.

Rounded edges probably would have looked better, but I wanted to avoid doing them as much as possible. Since I used plywood, I couldn't just round the CP edge itself, the rounded part would have had a striped pattern and not looked like wood at all. It does not look bad, but it would have looked out of place.

So basically every rounded edge had to be done as a separate strip of real birch wood that had to be glued on. I wasn't that confident in my ability to glue them seamlessly together, so I only did the ones that were absolutely necessary.
Of course, later on it turned out that I didn't have to do them at all, because the carpenter who cut the boards for me thought that he could do a better job of it than me and glued them together without asking me 

Glad that he did.

That turned out very nice. I really like the look of the front of your cabinet.

Yep, that contrast between wood and black acrylic turned out really nice. It does look even better in person, the pics don't do it justice. Of course, now I probably will spend more time dusting that thing off than playing it 

[JudgeRob]

Congrats.  Nice job dude.  I wish I worked as fast as you!

[yamatetsu]

Congrats.  Nice job dude.

Thanks !

I wish I worked as fast as you!

No need for that. Trust me, finishing your first build after months or possibly more than a year will give you an incredible feeling. Building the thing is a big part of the fun. You'll probably miss that once your cab is done. Then you'll go like me 'I won't build another one', wait a bit, get some cool ideas and start the next build 

[BigCurtis]

Very very nice. Great look.

You've convinced me that some how, some way, I need to make a cabinet in this style.

[yamatetsu]

Very very nice. Great look.

 

You've convinced me that some how, some way, I need to make a cabinet in this style.

Let me help you along, then.



See the attachments for a bigger version of this pic and a lifesize template of the cab's side panel. You just need a program that can print posters or do tiled prints, print it, transfer it to the wood and you are ready to go.
Keep in mind that this cab is somewhat top heavy, so if your are using casters, using leg levellers at the front is a good idea. The cab is stable on the casters without the levellers, but you will be able to topple it if you are determined to do so.

Edit : Apparently I have used an older version of the cab's design to make the plans. These have the curve going from the bottom panel to the marquee wrong. I have corrected the plans and swapped the wrong ones with the corrected versions.
These plans are safe to use now.

[thomas_surles]

This turned out really well. Congrats.

[yamatetsu]

Thanks !

Yesterday a friend of mine came over, we played some games on the cab and found a totally unintended but totally nifty feature. The CP is not a box, it's just a piece of wood that is velcroed to some battens. The car speakers I used are mounted about 40 cm underneath it. So if you play a game that has loud explosions, the CP vibrates from the bass. Pretty cool.

[thomas_surles]

That's pretty cool. Force feedback

[yamatetsu]

                                                                                                                                                                     

I ---fouled up beyond all recognition---. Apparently I have used an older version of the cab's design to make the plans. These have the curve going from the bottom panel to the marquee wrong. I have corrected the plans and swapped the wrong ones with the corrected versions.

If you have downloaded the plans prior to August 31, DO NOT USE THEM.

Apologies for that.

[Ian]

Love it! Great Job!

[yamatetsu]

Thanks ! It's always nice to see that there are people out there who actually like the things I do 

[tapule]

Great job Yamatetsu!!

My cab was also based on the same cabinet:

I think this is a great design to have in a house

[n3wt0n]

Congrats on another really cool cabinet build Yamatetsu! 

[yamatetsu]

Congrats on another really cool cabinet build Yamatetsu! 

Thanks !

Great job Yamatetsu!!

My cab was also based on the same cabinet:

A little bit different from the one I took the design from, but it looks good

I think this is a great design to have in a house

I agree. Though it actually uses more floor space than my upright, it somehow does look smaller. Also, the shape is simply cool 

[jordancbr]

My vertical arcade!!! Good job.

[yamatetsu]

   Thanks ! It's a really cool design to start with.

[jordancbr]

 

[danny_galaga]

Wow, just noticed this. This is wonderful! It's a 1950's surfboard stuffed full of retro gaming goodness (",)

 

[yamatetsu]

 

Praise from the maker of Meet the Jetsons^TM! I am honored.