My First Bartop

[thedarkknight228]

So this is my first attempt at making a Bartop arcade machine.
I have purchased the timber, ordered the buttons and started the Vinyl graphics.

I just wanted to share with you my concepts I made up.

Sorry about the mess of the images, they were just thrown together to get an idea of what I would like to see.

If you could give me your opinion on which ones I should go for it would be great help.

I will be continuing to post on this forum the more progress I make.

I will be cutting the timber tomorrow so expect more pictures tomorrow.

[thedarkknight228]

More Images...

[thedarkknight228]

Last few for today

[mafiafan123]

Seems to mainly be a lot of snes graphics have you considered using a snes system with  one of the SD carts?

Or maybe retroarch and have both sega and snes




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[firedance]

Looking good so far 

[Titchgamer]

Whats the theme for this bartop as you are using multiple themes from different consoles.

If its a multi cade as suggested by your  sega/nintendo sides I would mix them up a bit, dont use box art as its to blocky.
Use a collage of different characters in a neutral setting.

If you are going for a dedicated game theme any of your others look fine. I rather like the Mario Kart one personally.

As for the CP's far to noisy.

[JohanT]

Hello Mr Wayne,

I'm in the starting phase of building my first arcade ever and I'm going for a bartop as well.
Are you basing your build on a design you would be able to share?

What type of buttons will you be using?

Mvh
Johan

[thedarkknight228]

Seems to mainly be a lot of snes graphics have you considered using a snes system with  one of the SD carts?

Or maybe retroarch and have both sega and snes




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Whats the theme for this bartop as you are using multiple themes from different consoles.

If its a multi cade as suggested by your  sega/nintendo sides I would mix them up a bit, dont use box art as its to blocky.
Use a collage of different characters in a neutral setting.

If you are going for a dedicated game theme any of your others look fine. I rather like the Mario Kart one personally.

As for the CP's far to noisy.

I will be having multiple consoles on my machine.

I grew up playing Megadrive and Snes the most so I wanted to do a theme where I incorporate them both.

I wanted to do one side Sega and other side Nintendo.

[thedarkknight228]

Hello Mr Wayne,

I'm in the starting phase of building my first arcade ever and I'm going for a bartop as well.
Are you basing your build on a design you would be able to share?

What type of buttons will you be using?

Mvh
Johan

I am basing my design on a combination of multiple designs I found online.
Loads of templates can be found by just typing Bartop Arcade machine templates into google.

For the buttons I will be using ones I bought off Ultracabs. They have not arrived yet so I will post up when they arrive.
I got 2 joysticks with 6 buttons for each player. Along with 2 player buttons and 4 spare buttons to do what I want with them.

[thedarkknight228]

Progress done so far.

First 2 Images are me tracing out my template onto the MDF.

Next 2 images are the result of the cut. I got as close to the line as possible when cutting

Then the last image is the sanding work being done.

Once sanding is complete I will be cutting all the rest of the timber I need up.

The width I am going with for this arcade machine is 20".

[thedarkknight228]

If my side panels are 12mm thick.
Is it feasable to cut a slot in it for T-Moulding?
Or will it be too weak then?

The image of the T-Moulding I think I need is below.
I presume I need a half inch T-Moulding.
It says 1/16 slot needs to be cut.
So do I need to get a 1.5mm slot cutter bit for my router?
 

[thedarkknight228]

Buttons and speakers arrived today.

[thedarkknight228]

Last of the wood is cut.

All that needs to be done now is finish of small bit of sanding and assemble.

[a1pharm]

If my side panels are 12mm thick.
Is it feasable to cut a slot in it for T-Moulding?
Or will it be too weak then?

The image of the T-Moulding I think I need is below.
I presume I need a half inch T-Moulding.
It says 1/16 slot needs to be cut.
So do I need to get a 1.5mm slot cutter bit for my router?

12mm is too thin for T molding.  The channel you create will weaken the edges of your panels.  Consider using "stick on" T molding if you absolutely want the molding.  If you spend some time cleaning up your edges (sand and apply the wood glue/water mixture), I would just paint them instead of messing w/ molding.

[thedarkknight228]

12mm is too thin for T molding.  The channel you create will weaken the edges of your panels.  Consider using "stick on" T molding if you absolutely want the molding.  If you spend some time cleaning up your edges (sand and apply the wood glue/water mixture), I would just paint them instead of messing w/ molding.

Thanks for your reply.
I can't get my hands on a router so can't do any T-Moulding in the end.
I will do a nice paint job on the edges instead as you mentioned thanks.

[firedance]

Could look into using 12mm chrome car trim like I did on my last bartop, link in my signature

[thedarkknight228]

Could look into using 12mm chrome car trim like I did on my last bartop, link in my signature

Cheers for that I'll look into it

[firedance]

np

this build may help as well - http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,152676.msg1598247.html#msg1598247

[thedarkknight228]

New update on my progress,

1) The panel for my monitor is marked out and just needs to be cut out to size

2) The front panel on the top of my cabinet where I will have perspex and LED lights behind, also needs to be cut out.

3) This is where my 2 speakers will be going. I will be drilling a 5cm radius hole for both.

4) This panel is for the top of my cabinet where I will be placing 2 air vents.

5) This is the back of the cabinet where a door will be cut out along with an air vent and the socket for the power supply.

6) The last image is the 2 side panels where I have it all lined out with support.

Once all the pieces are cut out assemble will begin

[ugleymatt]

Are you going to have enough depth to mount the monitor? Those side panels seem very shallow

[thedarkknight228]

Are you going to have enough depth to mount the monitor? Those side panels seem very shallow

d

It will just be a frame for around the monitor. There will be support timber behind monitor supporting it which is not yet done.

[ugleymatt]

Are you going to have enough depth to mount the monitor? Those side panels seem very shallow

d

It will just be a frame for around the monitor. There will be support timber behind monitor supporting it which is not yet done.

I mean the overal depth of the cabinet itself.

Great job so far itching to get ststed on mine


Sent from mTalk

[thedarkknight228]

Are you going to have enough depth to mount the monitor? Those side panels seem very shallow

d

It will just be a frame for around the monitor. There will be support timber behind monitor supporting it which is not yet done.

I mean the overal depth of the cabinet itself.

Great job so far itching to get ststed on mine


Sent from mTalk

There will be plenty of depth in it. 12mm is plenty, depending on the weight of your monitor that is.

Once all the pieces are put together it will be very strong. Screwing all the pieces into the supporting wood will make it very robust.

The support on the side panels are held in my wood glue and nails so plenty of support

[thedarkknight228]

The assembling has begun.
Sides held in place by the Base and back.

Starting to take shape now

[thedarkknight228]

Speakers ready to go in

[thedarkknight228]

Everything drilled out and cut except monitor piece and door at back of cabinet.

[thedarkknight228]

Final design of my vinyl artwork that will be going on the cabinet
1) this will be the button control panel

[thedarkknight228]

Graphics have arrived.

Next step is:
To assemble the whole cabinet.
Apply the graphics
Install the buttons.

[ugleymatt]

Vinyl looks fantastic, does it wrap over the top of the CP and down the front?

Are you putting plexi over the top of it?

[thedarkknight228]

Vinyl looks fantastic, does it wrap over the top of the CP and down the front?

Are you putting plexi over the top of it?

Yes It will be doing that, hopefully it will all match up when I apply it.

I'm not sure whether to just apply the graphics to the wood or to put some primmer paint on it first.

I will not be putting plexi over the top of it, the vinyl is of good quality so hopefully I won't need to.

[a1pharm]

You don't need to prime in order for the vinyl to stick.  However, you may want to paint the areas not covered by vinyl prior to applying.