Starter (learning project) bartop cabinet

[J_K_M_A_N]

Well, I have finally made something after being on this site since 2002. I made a bartop cabinet from scratch. I had to buy a bunch of tools (thanks for letting me know about harbor freight) and I do not have a lot of space to work since we live in a small town-home with no basement. I was able to get it together though and it is not too bad for a first try (IMO). I learned a lot of stuff and I already want to make a new one. I will post what pictures I have. I didn't take a ton of pictures mostly because it was quite a hack job. Especially when compared to some of the things you guys have made. The talent here is outstanding. I wish I had more space and someone to teach me to be that good. I do enjoy it. I took woods class in high school and that was one of the only classes I was decent at. Anyway, I don't think I will be doing much else to this one other than maybe some new plexiglass for the monitor. The piece I had was really old and scratched up. I have had it so long, I have no idea where it came from. All I remember is that I got it for my arcade cabinet.

Here are some pictures. Thanks for looking. Any feed back would be welcome. Especially things that could be done better. A list of some of those things I have already noticed are:

Round the corners
Keep the control panel inside the side walls and do not use two pieces of wood together
   (I did that because I have a Ms Pac Man Galaga joystick that is normally used on a metal panel. I did not have a router at the time. I now do)
More angle on the monitor for less glare
I will probably make the next one horizontal instead of vertical
Paint the wood WAY better so you do not see the grain
Hide all of the screws - they look pretty bad

I used a Raspberry PI and only put games on that I like and that are 1 or 2 player with one control panel. I have about 100 games or so. The monitor is an old 19" LCD that is pretty heavy. I bought a cheap encoder from Amazon but ended up using the IPac from my other control panel. I wanted one more button for the speed up. That is about all I can think of. Let me know if you want to know anything else.

Thanks for looking.

J_K_M_A_N

[J_K_M_A_N]

More pics

[J_K_M_A_N]

More...Painted bezel and volume control

[J_K_M_A_N]

Last few

[J_K_M_A_N]

Had to get the Donkey Kong scores in there.

[Richie_jones]

Nice first effort I like it. Congrats

[jimmyfloyd]

Great to see a Beginner/First attempt post.

I myself have not attempted one yet, but would like to. Watching the Large scale builds are great, and make me think "I could do that" but this build is excellent to show you have to start somewhere.

[rablack97]

yep start with a bartop and learn the concept, if you make a mistake its not as costly as a full size build.

[J_K_M_A_N]

Great to see a Beginner/First attempt post.

I myself have not attempted one yet, but would like to. Watching the Large scale builds are great, and make me think "I could do that" but this build is excellent to show you have to start somewhere.

Thanks. I have to admit, I thought about not posting it but it is good to start with something and go from there. Hopefully people will see this and give it a shot. I definitely learned a lot on this one and will be making another. Hopefully much better.

J_K_M_A_N