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| Lexiq:
Ventilation Another consideration when building an arcade cabinet is airflow. PCs in particular generate quite a lot of heat, which needs to have somewhere to go. Currently, with the exception of the gap under the drawer, the cabinet is a nearly completely sealed box, so some ventilation is required. Size and Location Both the PC and the monitor generate heat, and the upper and lower compartments are fairly isolated from each other, so I decided that I'd need two sets of vents, which is also consistent with many other builds. For the lower compartment, a vent directly behind the PC exhaust fan is ideal, and for the upper compartment, a vent on the angled rear top panel allows rising heat to escape. Additionally, neither of these locations are visible from the front of the cabinet. Instead of a single large opening for each vent, or a series of slots, I chose square openings which provide good airflow without compromising the strength of the panel too much. The square openings are sized so that they can accomodate a standard 120mm fan if the passive airflow isn't sufficient. I haven't needed to do this so far, but it's nice to have the option. Cutting the Vents Cutting the vent openings was done using the same technique as the coin door - cut the four corners for each vent with a small hole saw, then cut between the holes with the jig saw and tidy with the router. On the interior side of the panel, I routed an extra 4mm around the edge to a depth of 10mm, and chiseled out the corners so they are square (not shown in the photos). The 120mm fan fits inside the interior opening and sits against the 4mm ledge. Grills As a finishing touch, I wanted to add some grills or mesh to the vents so they're not just empty holes. I found some perforated steel that I cut to size with side cutters and installed using small countersunk wood screws, screwed in at an angle into the corners. I primed and painted the grills black to match the rest of the cabinet. Dust protectors can also be fitted. |
| Zebidee:
Being in a tropical climate, I like to put some mosquito screen/mesh to put over fan/vent holes. This mostly prevents things like geckos from getting inside and causing havok. It is cheap, even free because I mostly just keep some offcuts from when the tradie does other stuff at the house. |
| Lexiq:
USB and Power Button I wanted to have external USB ports for peripherals such as light guns, controllers, or flash drives, and also an externally mounted power button. This way, once everything's working, I shouldn't need to access the PC during normal use. USB Ports These should be conveniently located, but discreet enough that they're not too noticeable. I decided to position them in the center of the front panel located above the cupboard door and below the drawer. I used two surface mounted USB sockets for a total of 4 ports. They also came with black rubber caps which can be closed when not in use. The sockets are designed to be mounted to thinner material that the 18mm plywood used for the cabinet, so it was necessary to route a small surrounding area to a depth of around 12mm. This leave enough thread for the plastic nuts on the back of the sockets. The sockets are connected to the PC USB ports. The cable length wasn't quite long enough to stretch to the back of the PC case, so I opted to plug them in to the case mounted ports at the front. On the case I ended up using, I only had one USB-A and one USB-C port available, so I used a hub to extend the Type A, and an adapter to connect to the Type C. I could have connected them all to the single Type A port, but some peripherals, in particular, the Sinden light guns, require each device to be connected to a separate USB controller, so this gives more flexibility. Power Button The power button is used to turn the cabinet on and off. I wanted it to be easy to reach, but not visible. Mounting it on the back of the cabinet makes sense, positioned within a finger span of the edge. There weren't too many options for this and the rear panel above the upper removable panel was the most suitable. The button is one of the gold leaf buttons used for the rest of the controls, in black to match the cabinet. It is connected to the PC motherboard power header using a length of wire and a two pin DuPont connector to match the pins on the motherboard. I also added an extra connector to allow the PC case power button to be plugged in at the same time. |
| Zebidee:
The main trick with external USB ports on cabs, is to make sure that cables won't get broken off, or USB ports ripped out, by knees etc. <3 wireless controllers |
| EvilNuff:
Appreciate you sharing the build process, it is fun to follow along. Reminds me of the old Knievel cabs on here. :) |
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