a few questions re: cabinet

[alnyden]

Hi,

I just finished putting an arcade cabinet kit together. It looks great. Now, I have a few questions regarding final touches.

I purchased a 27" bezel from happs, and I need to cut it to size. What tools should I use to cut it?

I am going to purchase some plexiglass to cover the bezel & monitor. How should I attach it?

I also purchased a marquee light from happs. It comes with wires at the end. How do I convert the wires to some kind of power source I can plug into an outlet?

Finally, does anyone have an opinion on painting vs. laminate? Painting sounds a lot easier, but will it look okay?

Thanks in advance,

Al

[elvis]

If you do go the paint option, take your time.  Use proper undercoats to seal the wood first, and make sure you do a light sand between coats.  If you can borrow/rent a compressor to spray-paint with, that helps keep things nice and neat too.  If you rush a paint job, it'll stick out like a sore thumb.  The advantages are that painting really does help to cover up poor carpentry skills, if you've built the cab yourself from scratch and things don't quite line up.

Laminating is harder, and you need to think about t-moulding and edge-routing for that.  The end result is much more uniform than paint, and a little more resistant to wear and tear.

[ras2a]

I am going to purchase some plexiglass to cover the bezel & monitor. How should I attach it?

I'm going to be simply resting mine against some MDF battons (strips of wood) that are attached to the inside front of the cabinet.  As they are on an angle I don't think I'll need anything (other than gravity) to keep everything in place...

[mjrsting]

To cut down the bezel, I would use a table saw with the rail in place or a circular saw with a straightedge clamped to the bezel for a perfectly straight cut.   Because they both cut on the down rotation, put the good side up.  If you use a jig saw, put the good side down.  I would also recommend using a fine tooth blade (plywood) to do the cutting.

As far as attaching it, as ras2 said, there sould be some strips on the inside to attach it to.  I would pre-drill through the plexiglass and the bezel while it's off the machine to make sure you have them lined up perfectly and then simply use some nice pan head screws to attach everything to the strips.  If you wanted to, you could paint the screw heads before putting them in so they aren't as noticable.

For the light, I would get a lamp cord and just use wire nuts to attach the cord to the light's wires.

sting

[warreng]

We went back and forth on whether to paint or use laminate. In the end we chose laminate and I, personally, could not be happier. It might cost a little more up front, but I think is ultimately less work. You don't have to be as worried about prepping the wood as you do with paint and while paint takes at least two coats of paint plus clearcoat, laminate is done in one easy step. I also think that laminate will hold up better over time. The laminating process was waaaay easier than I thought it would be.

There are some really nice cabs here on BYOAC that are painted and I am sure someone will get on here and say how easy they think painting is. Everyone has their preference. Laminate is mine. In my opinion, after having done laminate, I will never consider paint for any future cabs. Again, just my opinion...Take it for what it is worth.

-warreng

[alnyden]

Thanks for the advice, everyone!

Warren, how did you cut the laminate, and how did you apply it?

Thanks,

Al