Hmmm...

[javeryh]

OK... I made a thing.



I've been so lazy this year so I'm posting a premature project thread to keep me motivated. I have the shell cut for the most part and a pretty good idea how I want the finished cabinet to look (kind of weird) but I'm going to need help with the artwork. This time, I'm going to try and build the cabinet with a few screws and double sided tape and then disassemble and paint before putting it all back together again with glue while using the screws as a guide.

The front panel is going to need a lot of attention and this project is going to test my painting skills. I don't have a computer set aside and I'm not sure yet what I want to run on it yet. I have plenty of MAME cabs but they all run 80s nonsense - maybe this one will be a little more modern? It's single player though so I don't know what new-ish games are out there that work well with arcade controls.

Seems dead around here so maybe a new project will spice things up. 

[yamatetsu]

OK... I made a thing.


Seems dead around here so maybe a new project will spice things up.

                                              Riiise!

[Ond]

Seems dead around here so maybe a new project will spice things up. 

True, but yeah, whoever is building and posting here, rules as far as I'm concerned.  I'll be watching, just like you're keeping an eye on my stuff  a javeryh project always cheers me up! Don't worry I'll be returning to my builds, it's just too darn chilly here at the moment.  I'm thinking of posting an "Ond's other projects" post in the Everything Else sub forum. I have a ton of non-arcade projects but I don't want to create a new thread for each. Unsure if I want to post them at all, but then I think ...more things to look at for others 

Anyway, as long as Saint keeps it alive I have plenty to share for the foreseeable future. I don't care if it's 2 dudes or a 1000 dudes watching - I gotta archive my projects SOMEWHERE.   

Happy to talk painting with ya all you like when the time comes.  I'm getting a new spray gun for my birthday, it's gonna be an awesome one! 

[pbj]

My only project around here lately is breaking apart cement blocks from fence posts and cutting down wood from a destroyed shed and putting it into trash cans 50lbs at a time.  And I’ve retreated to the cheap highs of console collecting.  We’re gonna have a very funny sega master system thread around here… some day…

What the hell are you building?

[Ond]

That's yard clean-up ... which I guess is a project of sorts.  I'm building various parts to a new home entertainment system as well as helping my daughter finish off her little home. Wife and I will be looking to buy a new place in the next 6 months so all the media stuff I'm working on will go into that home. Those are my non-arcade related projects. The Pac-Man cocktail and the VPIN will get some attention again when It warms up here. Our new place won't have a dedicated home theater in it, just a lounge room setup how I like it. It will be a small place but hopefully with a good sized block.

I've been watching your Sega Genesis cartridge stuff with interest. I'm not of the console generation, it was only when I got into the arcade building hobby that I started to learn what I could about them.

[jeremymtc]

Looks cool, javeryh. Getting kind of an 'environmental' cab vibe from what we see so far!

[javeryh]

I'm going for simple (again) but unique, I hope. This is going to be another single player cabinet but I'm hoping the overall design/theme will make it stand out. The older I get the less I like the gigantic all-in-one cabinets although I am definitely going to be building a 2P cab after this one.

Here's a shot of the routed out marquee area:



I wanted an odd shape instead of a plain rectangle - it will not be dynamic this time, obviously. I didn't even worry about cutting straight lines - all freehand here.

Panel assembly has started:







Screws only for now... although I am saying that as I wait for glue to dry on one of the 1x2s.  Once I get it all assembled I'll take it apart and paint and then glue it all up and screw it back together using the existing holes.  I should have a free standing cabinet pretty soon...

[Mike A]

Glad to see you building.

[javeryh]

Glad to see you building.

Feels good to be sort of excited about a project again even though I won't be reinventing the wheel or doing anything that hasn't been done a million times already.

[Ond]

Glad to see you building.

Feels good to be sort of excited about a project again even though I won't be reinventing the wheel or doing anything that hasn't been done a million times already.

That fresh new project feel is addictive, I'm intrigued by the odd shape.

[bobbyb13]

I'm happy to see someone fun do something fun!
I've been too busy with crap for any fun lately.

Watch this I will.

[Zebidee]

This is like watching Mr Squiggle - Art materialising in front of my eyes, you never know what will come next.

Hopefully someone knows what I'm talking about.

[DaveMMR]

I'm very excited to how this will turn out. I love the cut-out. The idea of "freehand cutting" gives me night terrors, but you made it look effortless.

[javeryh]

Thanks guys - I am intrigued by how this will turn out as well! This weekend I got the cabinet mostly assembled with screws and plan to take it apart and paint the panels this week (on the inside). Then I'll put it all back together with glue to make things permanent. Then the fun can begin... 

[DeKay]

I keep checking in hoping to see an update on this because the suspense is killing me! Your builds are always top notch so I hope that you are making good progress behind the scenes 

[javeryh]

I keep checking in hoping to see an update on this because the suspense is killing me! Your builds are always top notch so I hope that you are making good progress behind the scenes 

Thanks - only progress is the cabinet is assembled with glue and the interior is painted. My son is currently applying for colleges so there is a lot of stress in the house plus all the sports stuff has started up, which kills the weekends... I'm hoping to find time over the next few weeks. 

I am also trying to do the marquee art myself but I am terrible at getting the idea out of my head and into Inkscape...

[bobbyb13]

I'll need to envy you the skill to do any graphic work- at all.
As long as you are making progress of any sort then you beating the rest of us currently.

Although...
Pics or it didn't happen!
 

[javeryh]

So... do you guys think it's OK to use spray paint in the house if I have a huge drop cloth to protect everything? I've been messing around with paints but it's getting too cold to spray outside. I would be spraying small parts - not the whole cab.

Been making very very very slow progress but thinking about it almost every day. I have a pretty clear image in my head but just need to get there. Also, I need to figure out what kinds of games I want to play on it. I started this as more of an art project than an arcade cabinet so I didn't think that part though...

 

[pbj]

Put a box fan in your window blowing the fumes outside.  You’ll live.

[javeryh]

Put a box fan in your window blowing the fumes outside.  You’ll live.

I'm more concerned with getting paint everywhere than the fumes 

So over the weekend I finally found a few hours to do some... stuff. I am still not sure what I'm doing or what this is going to look like when I am finished but I've got a fuzzy image in my head that I'm trying to bring into the real world.

I am currently working on the front panel of the cabinet.  I added some 1/4" strips around the marquee opening (sort of) in a pattern I thought was visually appealing. I'll have to bondo the seams and do some sanding before I paint - I'm also going to knock off the corners on the trim all the way around.

The area I am working on is the "coin return". I can add up to 3 buttons in this area - one will definitely be coin and one will probably be power for the whole cabinet. Not sure about the third one yet or if I'll even put a button there.

I drilled three 2" holes to the right of the marquee.





My hole saw is so dead it smelled like I was trying to start a fire. Took forever!  Next, I made a "metal" panel out of 1/8" hardboard. This will frame the holes I just drilled out. I need to do a lot or work on this to get the right look but I hit it with some silver spray paint and then sanded it back - I want it to look very worn and dirty when it's finished.



Once I got this all lined up and drilled out the holes for some bolts, I needed to make a panel to install behind the cutout so I could actually mount the buttons. I just held a scrap piece of MDF in place, traced the circles and then drilled out a 1-1/8" hole in the center of each for the buttons.





Here is what it looks like installed in the front panel.  I'm using M5 bolts to hold it all together.  The "metal" panel" is thinner than the strips around the panel - I'm trying to introduce some different levels to add interest to the overall thing.





I also bought some 2" desk grommets - I'm undecided if I'm going to use them because they are a bit "clean" but if I can figure out how to make them look beat up during the paint process I'll leave them in. I'm really putting a lot of faith in my non-existent painting skills... after swearing I'd laminate every cabinet I ever built going forward. Ugh.



Next, I got some juice lids to surround the buttons with - I've seen a lot of sci-fi prop builders use these things and I think it will help with getting the look I'm going for with this project. I drilled a 1-1/8" hole in the center to thread the buttons through them.



I'm using illuminated buttons that I bought years ago and never used. There is a nice bezel around the button that makes the button inset so when you press it the button sinks below the plane of the bezel. Hard to hit by mistake.  Anyway, here is the "finished" shot of this area with everything installed and obviously not painted. 



The third spot without the button is TBD. I might just add a backlit piece of acrylic instead of another button since I think 2 is enough but I'm open to other ideas. I'm also planning to add LEDs in several areas all over this thing (tastefully, I hope) so I'll need to figure all that out as well.

Anyway, things are slow moving but I'm having fun trying to make something a little weird that might look ridiculous when it's all said and done. Be kind. 

[jeremymtc]

I still don't know what you're going for, but I approve! Great work so far.

Your attempt at an aged metal finish works - at first glance those trim panels looked like head gaskets for an ancient V6 engine. Great use of 'found' materials for the button surrounds too. Maybe some hammertone paint with some physical distressing of the edges might work on the surrounds?

[Zebidee]

You could easily get a real metal panel made from steel (or aluminum if you prefer) by a local metalwork shop. Should not be very expensive.

Just bring the piece you've already done as a template. It would be super-easy for them to do as it is a single flat piece to cut out, then they just punch the holes.

[eds1275]

Necrobump! I am excited to see what's come of this, that shape has me wondering what it's going to look like.

[javeryh]

Necrobump! I am excited to see what's come of this, that shape has me wondering what it's going to look like.

You and me both! It's just starting to warm up so I'm planning on working on this thing soon. It's completely finished in my head though. I currently have a short somewhere on the power line to my detached garage where my workbench is, which is super annoying as you can imagine. I had an electrician out and he couldn't figure it out and said I need to pull a new underground line from the basement... I have sprinklers in my yard so those lines will definitely get cut when they dig a new trench... ugh.

One thing I'm trying to figure out is how to route out about 3/8" of material over a large area. Imagine having a 3/4" piece of MDF like a side panel or something and wanting to leave a border around the edge but remove 3/8" deep of material in the middle. There will be places that the router lip cannot rest on once the material is removed so I can work from the inside out but how do you make the edges perfectly straight or follow a design in the middle? I really wish I had access to a CNC!

[PL1]

One thing I'm trying to figure out is how to route out about 3/8" of material over a large area. Imagine having a 3/4" piece of MDF like a side panel or something and wanting to leave a border around the edge but remove 3/8" deep of material in the middle. There will be places that the router lip cannot rest on once the material is removed so I can work from the inside out but how do you make the edges perfectly straight or follow a design in the middle? I really wish I had access to a CNC!

How about making a router sled?


Scott