5/8" versus 4/8" or 6/8"

[Vash]

I've hit a little bit of a wall.  I designed my entire cab in Sketchup using 5/8" MDF, but after a bit of calling and a lot of "No's", I found out that no one in my vicinity carries that size of MDF.  I might be able to order some from one supplier on Monday, but that isn't a definite.  Now, aside from having to redo the whole design, is there any large reason to use a specific size of MDF for a cabinet?  Does the T-molding fit one size better than the rest?  Are there any issues with paint, weight, or feel?  If I went with another size, it would be the 3/4" MDF, but I just wanted to hear some other opinions.

Also, is Soul Calibur 2 supported in MAME, and does Soul Calibur 1 run well on anyone's machine?

[Paul Olson]

I think 3/4 is used most often, maybe because 5/8 is not available everywhere. I use 3/4 for everything, but if you are going to use plexi on your cp, you would want 5/8 for the top at least. That would give you 3/4 total with the plexi so you could use 3/4 t-molding.

[Franco B]

You really do like your 1/8"s don't you  (Should be 5/8* versus 1/2" or 3/4", sorry I'm a stickler for these things)

Anywho's, is there any reason you with to use 5/8" for everything?

The 'general' thing to do is to use 3/4" board and 3/4" t-moulding for the cabinet sides. You can however use and board thickness you wish. A quick look a t-moulding.com shows that they stock 1/2", 9/16", 5/8", 11/16", 3/4", 13/16", 1", 1.25" and 1.5" t-moulding. (That's if you wish to use t-moulding)

You could, if you wish, use 1/2" MDF for the other panels on your cabinet. This would help keep the weight down slightly  (although you Will still have a heavy cab, its suprising how heavy a few sheets of MDF can add up to).

As pcolson said, if you want to use plexi on your CP the ideal thing is to use 5/8" MDF with 1/8" plexi (6/8" ) and then use 3/4" t-moulding. You could however use any combination of board and plexi etc thickness to match and of the t-moulding thicknesses.

Paint wont be an issue, all the board thicknesses will paint the same. (you could also use vinyl or laminate, I'm going for vinyl on mine.)

'Feel' wont really be an issue either apart from the sturdiness of the cab but as long as you build the cab properly you can make it sturdy using any of the board thicknesses.

As for Soul Caliber, I couldn't tell you if it is supported in MAME (to be honest its a couple of years since I have used MAME ) but you could always put a Dreamcast i your cab and hack a couple of pads to your controls. That's what I'm going to do.

[Vash]

You really do like your 1/8"s don't you   (Should be 5/8* versus 1/2" or 3/4", sorry I'm a stickler for these things)

The only reason I'm using 10/16" MDF is because that's just how I started to plan the cabinet.  Redrawing it in 37/74" or 99/396" would entail a lot of work and time that I'm not sure I have at this point, but if I can't find any 5/8" in my area than I'm going to have to just bite the bullet. 

If get my artwork done through mamemarquees.com, should I account for another 1/8" of height, or is that only if I add plexi after whatever they put on over the panel?

[ArtsNFartsNCrafts]

someone should post a SketchUp tutorial that's worth a damn....i could REALLY benefit from that.

[Vash]

It's actually not too hard to pick up if you've ever used a map making system for a game before (like Forge for Marathon...and Halo I suppose).  Basically, you make shapes with the line tool, connecting lines to form a 2-dimensional plane of the correct size.  For example, you're designing a table with a face that's 12'x8'(a really, really big table), so you make that initial 2D plane 12'x8'.  Then you use the tool that looks like an arrow sticking out of a box to pull that 2d shape into the third dimension, assigning the correct depth to the table face.  Do that with every piece and face of the table (each side of the leg, every face of the chairs, etc.), and as you're going, connect them to each other as you want them.  There are probably more efficient ways to do it...maybe...but I'm happy with that.

[paulscade]

I decided to use 20/32" MDF for my first build... My thinking was that it would be a little lighter than using 24/32" MDF. 

[TOK]

I used 7/4. If you know how to convert it you can make two cabs from each piece.