1/2" MDF

[Nightmare03]

Hey,

I just got a quote for my MDF and it wasnt pretty for 3/4"  

Seeing as i dont have money to burn like i wish i did, i can save like half the amount of money by buying 1/2", would this be ok for the arcade cabinet or not ?

[menace]

1/2" is cutting it pretty thin--If you braced the crap out of it, it would be stable but I bet your costs would end up being the same.  I guess you are going to have to save your pennies.

of course the smaller the cabinet, the thinner the material--I just built a bartop out of 1/2" ply and its rock solid.

[unclet]

You checking at Home Depot for the MDF.  I thought I remembered that a piece of 4x8 3/4" MDF board was around $16 and a piece of 1/2" MDF board of the same dimensions was not half the price.

[Pete Harcoff]

When I bought the MDF for my controller, it cost me $11 a sheet for 3/4" and $10 a sheet for 1/2".  So, I doubt you'll save much money using 1/2".

[Vectoraster]

Like was said earlier, go to Home Depot.  Don't use 1/2"  The wood is one of the cheapest components to your cab.  Cost me about $80 for everything (4 sheets of 3/4" MDF) on my last project.

[slicer_d]

Dude how much can it really cost?  I wouldn't see it anywhere over 80 bucks most likely 60-70 and thats for like 4 sheets I think if you really tried hard you could get it down to 3 sheets.

I accidentally bought 5/8" mdf for my cocktail cab and I wish I had the 3/4"  I dont really think there will be any big deal with a cocktail but a full arcade cab is much bigger and I could see some problems especially with attaching the monitor.  I had to buy a sheet of 1/2" to create a piece of 1" for my cocktail top and it is really skinny stuff.  It would end up looking pretty goofy with t-molding on it and everything.  Also if you wanted a different color t-molding they only have black for 1/2" and 5/8"

In the end you might save 10-20 bucks with 1/2" or 5/8" but I think you would be much happier with the 3/4"

[Nightmare03]

Im in the UK so i cant goto "home depot" Also, i can save just under half the amount of money by getting 1/2" MDF

[patrickl]

If the added cost of the better MDF is a problem then I guess you better not get started with this hobby (sorry, probably should say ... "way of live") at all. I've noticed just about everything costs a lot of money. The wood is probably the cheapest thing (category) of the cabinet for me too.

[fredster]

I used 3/4" for everything.  1/2 I tried on a control panel that was pretty braced on the bottom and it seemed to work okay.  

but you'll run into a lot of problems with screws going thru it.  It is weaker and MDF breaks pretty easily anyway.

If you have a few pieces of 1/2 for like the back and the top, that may be okay, but MDF needs support.  It can't handle too much direct pressure without good bracing anyway.

The price isn't much different either.  I only needed 3 pieces of MDF for a Midway MK or GT type cab.  

It think it was 18.50 per sheet at Lowes (including tax) for 3/4.