Chadwyk's Ghostbuster's Cabinet

[chadwyk]

Well that was way faster than I expected! Nice little package waiting for me when I got home from work. Coin doors are here! The first real arcade hardware for it. No turning back now! 

[javeryh]

Awesome!  Those look like a good size too...  Nothing beats the coin door.  I have coin buttons on my cabs but I also keep quarters in a dish downstairs.  Almost everyone uses the quarters. 

[chadwyk]

I haven’t been making much progress lately because it was found out that my mom needed open heart surgery, so it’s been a stressful month but she is is now on the road to recovery! It has also been way too hot to work in my garage! Finally some relief came today.

This weekend I picked up some Logitech z625 speakers and an open box Samsung UJ59 32” 4K monitor from Best Buy. It might be overkill for this project but I debated getting a cheaper 1080p one but in the end I decided to go 4K so I hopefully have more options for scanline filters. But now I need to upgrade my pc to run 4K at 60hz lol. For now I’m limited to 2k at 60hz or 4K at 30hz. That upgrade will come later.

So today I went to test mount the screen and ran into a few problems.

I knew the board was glued in a little crooked, but I figured that wouldn’t matter because it would be hidden behind the screen - I just had to make sure to mount the screen level. So after mounting the screen, the board stuck out the bottom a couple inches and looked bad because it was not square. I debated sanding it down level but I wanted the screen to look like it was floating.

I decided to do it the better way and I sacrificed the board and ripped it out which was actually easier than I thought it would be since it was glued in. I recut a shorter board and glued it in. Much better now, but the supports on the sides stick further down where there isn’t a board anymore. Before glueing the new board in I tried to pry the supports off to cut shorter ones but was unable to do so and I didn’t want to damage the sides. I don’t think it will be that horrible though once painted black and behind tinted plexi.

[chadwyk]

I really need to stop procrastinating! I have a party in October that I would like this done for! I will try to finish cutting all the boards for the cabinet this week so I can move onto building the CP.   

I just placed my order at ultimarc for all my control panel parts.  I hope that's all I need anyway... jeesh... goodbye savings! haha... Still need to get light guns, but I'm going to wait on that a bit. I want to research that a bit yet.

I settled on the following:
Goldleaf RGB buttons
servostiks with the RGB add-on
2 I-PAC Ultimate I/O's to handle all the buttons I have.
U-Track trackball and Spintrak spinner with flyweight

[chadwyk]

Tonight I cut the coin door holes. I was worried about that because I’m not so good with the jigsaw, but slow and steady worked perfectly. I glued the board in and started to sand it flush with the shelf, but I over did it in a spot on the left  You can see it isn’t flush with the board above it for the hidden door. Ah well, wood filler is set and waiting for the to dry. I’ll need to use it along the borders of the sides anyway where my cuts were not totally straight and there are small gaps. (Coin doors in picture are not bolted in, so they may not be totally square)

Now that I got that done, I’ll focus on cutting the rest of the boards this week and glueing them in and mounting the doors.

Progress! It may be slow, but it’s something!

[sealcouch]

Construction looks hella clean. Excited to see this finished.

[chadwyk]

Thanks! I’ve never done any wood working before, but I like to think I am fairly artistic and crafty. I have made a few mistakes, but so far they all seem to have been fairly minor and repairable. It definitely has been a learning experience!

[chadwyk]

Well I spent the day in the garage cutting wood.  I almost got all the boards fit and cut for the cab. I still need to mount the back doors with the hinges. It's finally starting to look like a cabinet! Then I can move on to the CP. 

I also mounted the front drawer door with the European hinges. I'm using Besta hinges from Ikea.  However, due to me mounting the door inside of the sides (if that makes sense?), instead of flush, I had to put the hinges on blocks raised up a bit.  I'm unsure how Chance was able to do it without raising them up. I thought I got very similar ones to his.  Also the "push to open" mechanism doesn't really work at all.  I think it's because the door is only about 6 inches tall and it might not have enough work to open the door.  The hinges are pretty stiff.  I'm wondering if using WD40 on them would help loosen them up a bit. I'm unsure how to handle that, I might just get different basic hinges.  I'm hoping the hinges work better on the rear doors as those are larger doors.

What wood filler do people like?  I have been using DAP, and I have not been happy with it.  After it dries, it just crumbles away while sanding it, often times making me have to re-apply some more.  I'd like something more solid! 

Also kind of funny, it seems making diagonal cuts with this wood is really hard on my circular saw! I blew the breaker on the power a few times! 

[chadwyk]

Got a little more work done tonight. I got all the last of the boards for the cabinet cut. Some of them are gluing now. I’ll finish the rest tomorrow. Basically I ripped the bottom marquee board out lastnight before the glue was fully set because I screwed up and the front face of the board was at a 45 degree angle, and I decided I wanted that flush so I could use a bracket to mount the marquee  and then I changed how the speaker board would sit against it flush.

Also tomorrow I need to rip out the top marquee board. It was probably the first board I cut, and man is it crooked.  I didn’t realize how bad until I noticed parts weren’t matching up quite right. So that’s being replaced. Should be easy to cut out. Depending if I get everything glued tomorrow I’ll work on mounting the back doors, then I’m done with the cab - not counting sanding and prepping for paint.  I’ll then move onto the CP.

I’m trying to decide the wood for the CP. I wanted to keep it the same plywood as the rest, 3/4” pine. But now I think i’m going to go with 5/8” mdf and 1/8” Plexi to make it the same thickness of 3/4”. I’m hoping with the cp art, it won’t really make a difference what kind of wood it is. I can’t find 5/8” pine plywood around me in a size I can easily pickup, so mdf it is!

[pbj]

Looking good, man.  For wood filler I just sweep up some clean MDF saw dust and mix it with some wood glue into a paste.  Dries hard as a rock.

[Arroyo]

not counting sanding and prepping for paint.

Have you considered laminating as an alternative to painting?  Plywood is tough to get a smooth finish and judging from the boards in your pics I’d bet that you won’t be happy with the finish as it will show all of those grain lines.  Just a thought.  Course if you’ve already glued things this wouldn’t be an option.

[chadwyk]

I didn’t even know that was an option! But nah, I’m fine sanding it. It’s just going to take forever, and like you said I might not get the grain out with this quality of wood I picked, but honestly I kind of like it!

[gingecko]

Looking good, man.  For wood filler I just sweep up some clean MDF saw dust and mix it with some wood glue into a paste.  Dries hard as a rock.

Can you use that in place of Bondo?

The fumes from Bondo are crazy and I wish there was a decent alternative.

Looking good Chadwyk, progress is moving right along!

[pbj]

I've never actually used bondo.   

[gingecko]

I've never actually used bondo.   

Guess I'll have to give it a try and see how they compare. Bondo can be nice when you have a serious gap to fill or cut a corner or something off. Not sure how the wood filler would do in those cases. But since I'm gearing up for the gap-filling, sanding bits...this will be the time to test (and start saving MDF dust!).

[Arroyo]

I didn’t even know that was an option! But nah, I’m fine sanding it. It’s just going to take forever, and like you said I might not get the grain out with this quality of wood I picked, but honestly I kind of like it!

Maybe take a scrap piece and test it on the side before you commit to a process for the whole cab?

[Vincefaro]

Its looking great  so far. I would second using laminate . After my painting my cabinet , The next one i do will be laminate . ITs so much easier , and the result is awesome.

not counting sanding and prepping for paint.

Have you considered laminating as an alternative to painting?  Plywood is tough to get a smooth finish and judging from the boards in your pics I’d bet that you won’t be happy with the finish as it will show all of those grain lines.  Just a thought.  Course if you’ve already glued things this wouldn’t be an option.

[pbj]

Laminate is best left to your kitchen counter.

[gingecko]

I didn’t even know that was an option! But nah, I’m fine sanding it. It’s just going to take forever, and like you said I might not get the grain out with this quality of wood I picked, but honestly I kind of like it!

Maybe take a scrap piece and test it on the side before you commit to a process for the whole cab?

Oh, definitely. If it's one thing I've learned, it's testing on scrap might take additional time, but will save you even more time and less headaches in the long run.

[chadwyk]

I worked a bit this past Sunday again on it.  I finished up and repaired the Marquee, and I got everything glued on, and doors mounted on the hinges.  Last things left on the cabinet before paint prep, is to cut holes for speakers, vents, and locks.  I accidentally bought cam locks too short.  Luckily they are cheap.  I also have to notch out part of the bottom door like Chance did, to place a power outlet. 

I'm not super happy with the back doors.  They sag a bit, so to close them properly, you kind of need to lift up on them a bit.  I know I can play with adjustments on the hinges, and I might have to sand down the bottom of the doors a bit more.  At least they *shouldn't* be needed to be accessed very often, so I hope it doesn't turn into a big deal. 

Overall though, I'm fairly happy with how it's coming!

[chadwyk]

This past week I did a bit of research on plexi.  I could not find it in the size I need for my control panel, so I ended up ordering a giant sheet from Menards.  At least I'll have extra in case I mess up! Will also use some for the marquee. I have to wait a few weeks before it arrives though.

I also ordered a smoked sheet cut to size, online for the screen which already arrived.  I was debating how much tint to get.  I saw people suggesting 13% - 30% light transmission with the lower number being best.  I opted for 13%. I hope it won't be too dark.

I cut out a test control panel for just player one and trackball so I can start to learn how to wire the controls and play with the software.  I played with LEDBlinky a bit this week and was surprised how simple it is once you understand how to use it.  I was under the impression I would need to configure each game in my library.  Instead I just have to do the ones that it doesn't recognize, and you can do default configurations for entire emulators which is nice too.

Sunday I spent all day trying to figure out the best method to finish the wood and get the deep saw mill marks out.  I started just with low grit sand paper.  I soon realized that was a losing battle.  I don't know if it is a good or "proper" method, but I ended up covering the top and sides in a layer of wood filler.  I proceeded to sand it back down to the wood level leaving only the filler that was in the saw mill gouges.  There are some patches I may need to go over again where I didn't use enough filler, but overall it seems to have worked fairly well, and I'm happy with the results! 

I also had a lot of neighbors stop as they walked by asking me what I was building, lol... Everyone seemed to think it was pretty cool!

Pictures - before sanding, during sanding, after sanding.

[chadwyk]

I've been looking to source a "stretched" or "cut" LCD for the marquee for a while now.  They seem to be really hard to get especially in the sizes I want, due to the fact that they actually cut an LCD to make them.  For some reason, China seems to be the only place where they are made.  I reached out to a few suppliers in the US but even they seem really shady and after some initial back and forth, never got back to me.  I tried contacting people on Alibaba, and also no responses.  I think maybe everyone wants to sell more than 1 unit and just ignores me.

Today I bit the bullet and bought one on eBay. It should fit perfectly in my Marquee assuming they send me the correct one, will only need to black out about 1.5 inches on each side of it in the marquee box.  Unfortunately I'm still nervous about it this purchase, but at least it has eBay backing it vs some random Chinese company taking my credit card info. 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/28-32inch-1-3-stretched-bar-lcd-module/303185036089?hash=item46973c8339:g:N4EAAOSwI6lc71EI

It doesn't have too many details, and doesn't have the driver and power boards built into the bezel like others I've seen, but that shouldn't matter since it will all be housed in the marquee box and not visible anyway. One image does show the boards and power adapter connected. I reached out to the seller and they said everything in the picture is included so I hope he's right or I'm going to have to look into those too!  At least they don't look that expensive to get.   

Here's hoping it gets here in one piece!

[JDFan]

Probably too late if you already ordered - but there is a forum member that has some 19" stretched lcds for sale for $200 shipped ( http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,159888.0.html ) - Not quite the size you wanted but he might have some contact for getting a larger one for less than the $540 that vendor wants 

[chadwyk]

Probably too late if you already ordered - but there is a forum member that has some 19" stretched lcds for sale for $200 shipped ( http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,159888.0.html ) - Not quite the size you wanted but he might have some contact for getting a larger one for less than the $540 that vendor wants 

Yeah, I know it's a big chunk of money, but I've been resigned to that fact since I decided to go with an LCD marquee. Luckily I don't have much debt, no kids, and no wife to tell me no!  

The few other people that did get back to me all quoted me higher than this for smaller sizes around 24".  Most 28" were a few hundred more than what I'm paying. So I feel like I'm getting an OK deal.

[JDFan]

Yeah, I know it's a big chunk of money, but I've been resigned to that fact since I decided to go with an LCD marquee. Luckily I don't have much debt, no kids, and no wife to tell me no!  

The few other people that did get back to me all quoted me higher than this for smaller sizes around 24".  Most 28" were a few hundred more than what I'm paying. So I feel like I'm getting an OK deal.

Yeah they are definitely not an inexpensive addition but is a very nice touch on the cab when finished - and for a 28" model that is a decent price considering how hard they are to source - Look forward to seeing the progress on the build.

[chadwyk]

Found the specs on the LCD.

http://www.panelook.com/VLT320-SBL-FHD-131_Vitrolight_28.0_LCM_overview_29735.html

[chadwyk]

There is always more work to be done than I think when working on this project.  I had wanted to start priming the cab this weekend but that didn’t really happen. I did finish sanding it, drilling holes for cables, and removing the hardware for paint prep. I need to sand the back doors yet but it’s been raining so much and I need to do it outside.  I did start priming the backs of the doors which will be unsanded.

I also killed my drill when using the hole saw. It wasn’t a very powerful one. It now smokes and smells horrible if I run it for more than a few seconds. So a trip to Home Depot and I’m back in action. Ended up buying way more tools than I need in a bundle  but I kind of wish I had some of these earlier in the build!

Tomorrow the LCD for the marquee is scheduled to arrive. I’m excited to play with that. My goal is to get the cab painted this week. Then this next weekend build the control panel box. Then paint that next week and start assembly of the electronics. I’m having a party 2 weeks from now and it would be nice if I could get it playable, though not finished with the art or 3d printed guns.

[gingecko]

Rain vs sanding outside. I hear ya. Never paid this much attention to the weather lately. It's like a race against time.

I killed a drill, a mouse sander, and a new orbital sander. The last one was inexpensive so probably just not a good quality. The other two were over a decade old, so not too surprising.

I'm rooting for you to pull this off in 2 weeks!

[chadwyk]

Rain vs sanding outside. I hear ya. Never paid this much attention to the weather lately. It's like a race against time.

I killed a drill, a mouse sander, and a new orbital sander. The last one was inexpensive so probably just not a good quality. The other two were over a decade old, so not too surprising.

I'm rooting for you to pull this off in 2 weeks!

Thanks, I think I'll need a bit of luck! I have a lot to go and it seems daunting to get it done in 2 weeks. I think I can do it if no big hiccups arise when building the CP box. The weather is going to be nice after work tonight so I'm going to try to get those doors sanded and primed when I get home. It would be nice if I could get the cab primed with a layer too, but with the sun going down earlier and earlier that may not get done. I may need to invest in some good shop lights!

[chadwyk]

Started priming the cab last night. I totally under estimated the number of cans I need and ran out. I should probably buy more of black and clear too after work tonight. 🤣 DHL did not deliver the marquee yet. Booo... hope it gets here today. Tracking said it went back to Illinois for some reason. I’m confused.

[newmanfamilyvlogs]

...  DHL .. I’m confused.

I've had a package make it to our local distribution hub 40 minutes away, then magically end up on a truck and move two states north before eventually getting re-routed back to the proper destination. Madness.

[chadwyk]

Well it came... small problem... I must have either messed up the conversion of mm to inches or mis-measured the size opening when ordering. I thought it would fit. It does not. I have a 6 inch tall hole in my marquee box. The lcd is 6.5”. I just recalculated everything and yeah.. sadly it was my screw up.

It could be worse. I think if I carve out a notch on the top and bottom board it would fit in perfect and would give me an easy way to mount it.  The problem is how do I cut the 1/4” both on the inside of each board? I could use a rabbeting bit and route it.. but I don’t think my router will fit in the marquee box to allow me to cut it.  I might need to get creative. I think the router kit for my Dremel might work... yet another tool/bit to buy!

First thing... power it up and make sure it works.

[chadwyk]

Works flawlessly!  Though It would be nice if the monitor detected the new “cut” size rather than the original native resolution size, I found out that’s how most work, and there are ways around it. Basically I think each marquee image needs to be the native resolution size and you just place what you want shown in the upper third. I have to do more reading on it but that seemed to work with the wallpaper. I quickly threw together an image in photoshop to test, seen here. EDIT: It looks like Hyper Marquee may run in a window so there may be no need to have those larger marquee images. I'll test that out once I get it installed in the cab.

At least I can calm those fears of spending that much on a monitor that won’t work.

[gingecko]

Wow, that looks beautiful. Will you run an animation on it or maybe just use it to switch out game marquees? I think I would have it running a Ghostbuster logo with animations the whole time.

[chadwyk]

Yeah it looks real nice. I’m happy. I’m planning on using it to swap out marquees. Tho I’m really unsure what I can do with hyper marquee. Overlay high scores? Flash controls before a game? Eventually I’d like to make or find some ghostbuster animations as well. So much other work to worry about before I get to that point! I haven’t been making much progress this week with the rain. Looks like sunny days ahead tho!

[chadwyk]

Ok... priming resumes tomorrow! 

Tonight I got a router bit for my dremel... and 2.5 long hours later I now can fit the LCD in place for the marquee. The carving isn’t pretty but it holds it in place and I’ll have brackets holding the LCD and Plexi in place to prevent it from falling out... which will also hide the ugly carving where I messed up in a few spots.

Not sure if it’s good or not, but the top board bows up a bit, so it made my life a little easier so I didn’t have to carve out as much wood in the center of the top board lol.

I will need to make a couple black spacers 1.25” wide on each side of the LCD. I’ll probably just 3d print those.

[Kingcade]

That marquee looks amazing - all kinds of possibilities there. I like the idea of showing the controls for the game.

[chadwyk]

In between coats of paint today I ran to Home Depot for more cans of spray paint... and I got into a fender bender in the parking lot..  My poor Audi TT... Luckily it looks pretty minor and is mostly paint scratches on my bumper. Damage done to other vehicle looks minor as well, hopefully.  This will be the most expensive cans of spray paint I’ll have bought!   

Anyways... still waiting for paint to dry. Tonight I will sand and apply 3rd layer of black paint. Tomorrow will be clear coat and building the control panel.

I 3d printed marquee spacers, cut Plexi for marquee and cut the brackets for the marquee. I fit it and took a picture. I’m torn on to keep brackets silver or paint black. I kind of like the contrast of the aluminum color. This picture doesn’t show Plexi as I didn’t take off it’s protective layers yet. 3d printed spacers turned out better than I thought they’d look.

[gingecko]

I think I would go black so they match the spacers. Also, you probably want more attention on the marquee than the shiny retainers. Did you use aluminum L-brackets for the retainers?

Sorry to hear about the fender bender, parking lots suck!

[chadwyk]

I think I would go black so they match the spacers. Also, you probably want more attention on the marquee than the shiny retainers. Did you use aluminum L-brackets for the retainers?

Sorry to hear about the fender bender, parking lots suck!

After lots of searching and asking multiple people at Home Depot, finally someone understood what I was talking about! I originally found stair edging but that had grooves and had a side that was rounded.. then I found the wall bracket for suspended ceilings but it was 12 feet long and wouldn’t fit in my vehicle, so I finally found someone that showed me where they had aluminum L brackets that will work great which were 3 feet long. Sadly I walked by them a million times without seeing them!

Today was a long day but I cut my CP and built the CP box. I have some sanding to do but it’s coming along. The cabinet is now painted and clear coated. I still have to paint the rear doors and the CP box I just built. Also need to cut the Plexi for the cp and drill the holes for the buttons which kind of scares me... that Plexi was not cheap for the odd size sheet I needed.

Even if I get it all built by my party this next weekend I think I’m going to hold off on bringing it inside. I don’t think it’s going to be enough time for the paint to cure on all the parts. I really hate a room smelling like spray paint. Oh well... it will just be another excuse for another party when it’s all done!