Cabinet Construction Complete... GUNCON2 Interface Circuit Assembly...

[tivogre]

Back from Memorial Day travels!

Time to get back to work.

I decided the coin door needed something a bit "more" than the flat panel, and I had some ideas about what while I was away:



Yes, I decided to add an "extension" to the panel to bring out the coin door, and give that big flat panel some character.

Full update here:

http://www.ogredog.com/mame_construction_home.htm#Day%2022

[tivogre]

Today was a day of dust.

I sanded the S-Curve smooth on my coin door panel assembly:



I also got around to installing the correctly colored reject buttons in my coin door:



This turned out to be a long and tedious job... I ended up removing ALL  of the coin mechs to get the reject buttons out.  That's like 32 TINY screws and a bunch of other stuff to take loose.  The plungers are easy - just remove a c-clip.  It's the "body" of the reject button that was a pain.

If I "went the long way around" on this, and there was an easier way, someone please let me know.  I may need to do it again some day.

Tomorrow, I'm going to try to laminate this assembly.  I'm nervous about the curvy shape.

Any laminate experts out there got any tips for dealing with the S-Curve shape of this thing?

Daily update:

http://www.ogredog.com/mame_construction_home.htm#Day%2023

[tivogre]

The firsts attempt at laminating this assembly went from this:



to this:



in a hurry!  And I picked up quite a few cuts on my hands along the way.

The week-end's painful journey can be found in my update here:

http://www.ogredog.com/mame_construction_home.htm#Day%2024%20&%2025

The story will (at least I think it will) have a happy ending though!

[maxxonline]

Today was a day of dust.

I sanded the S-Curve smooth on my coin door panel assembly:



I also got around to installing the correctly colored reject buttons in my coin door:



This turned out to be a long and tedious job... I ended up removing ALL

[M3talhead]

This thing is going to be bulletproof.

[tivogre]

Where did you get the colored coin reject buttons from?  I think those look great and add a little style to the bottom of the cab.

The reject buttons are from HAPPs here:

http://www.happcontrols.com/cc/420517xx.htm

And the Inserts (Player 1 - Player 4):

http://www.happcontrols.com/cc/42008400.htm

[tivogre]

This thing is going to be bulletproof.

I hope to never find out!

 

[tivogre]

Last night, I finished the coin door panel assembly, and was able to get the coin door mounted this afternoon after work:



For all the work / effort it was, I'm glad I did it!

Full update here:

http://www.ogredog.com/mame_construction_home.htm#Day%2026

[markrvp]

Holy Sh!t, that's beautiful!

[NinjaEpisode]

This thing is going to be bulletproof.

I vote that's what you name this cab: "Bulletproof".

[Soliton_Radar]

WOW

[mllkat]

I am really impressed with everything you've accomplished so far....and your web site documentation is excellent. Following along with your progress proves conclusively there are many different ways to achieve GREAT results. Keep it up and keep us informed...and the work on the coin door is stellar.

[Timstuff]

It's looking awesome. I can't wait to see more.

[tivogre]

Today, I made the trim piece that goes underneath the keyboard drawer and closes in the space back to the coin door panel:





The goal with the keyboard drawer is to make it seem as if there IS no keyboard drawer to guests.  The drawer will secure using a latch that is only accessible INSIDE the cabinet through the coin door.

I'm trying to decide if I want to put a strip of aluminum angle across the bottom of the keyboard drawer, or if that would be over doing it with the aluminum.  Sometimes less is more.

Opinions, anyone?

Full update for today here:

http://www.ogredog.com/mame_construction_home.htm#Day%2027

[KenToad]

My opinion is that you are an awesome woodworker.

Cheers,
KenToad

[markrvp]

What if you put the aluminum angle pieces along the vertical edges of the drawer so it looks like an extension of the aluminum angle strips running vertically on either side of the cabinet front?

[tivogre]

My opinion is that you are an awesome woodworker.

Thanks for the compliment... but I meant coments to the aluminum idea 

Besides an AWESOME woodworker wouldn't need to use Bondo so much!

 

[tivogre]

I had to clean up the shop yesterday... Too dirty / messy to work.

Since I had a clean environment to work in again, I switched gears today and did some laminate work.

I installed the laminate and buttons for the admin panel:



I also installed the laminate on the removable top light panel, along with the fans and light:



As always, much more detail in today's update:

http://www.ogredog.com/mame_construction_home.htm#Day%2028

[SNAAKE]

Looks great !! I really like the laminated coin door piece !

Please...PLEASE tell me you will be doing something with your foil covered panel.That thing is killing me over here

[armax]

The bondo you're using looks like fiberglass bondo, great idea!

[tivogre]

The Bondo you're using looks like fiberglass Bondo, great idea!

Yes.  It is fiberglass reinforced Bondo.  This stuff is tough as nails, and very easy to work with (if slightly messy).  I used to do custom install work for car stereos;  that's where I discovered the power that is Bondo!

My only cautions with this stuff for those who haven't used it: wear rubber gloves and long sleeves / pants... the stuff BURNS if it gets on you.  ABOVE ALL, wear a MASK when sanding.  The dust from this stuff is worse than MDF, and has fiberglass in it to boot.   

[tivogre]

Looks great !! I really like the laminated coin door piece !

Please...PLEASE tell me you will be doing something with your foil covered panel.That thing is killing me over here

I assume you are talking about the foil on the control panel body.

At this point, I have no plans to change it.  It actually looks pretty good in person (I don't see an issue in the photos).  I'm not sure what I would replace it with.

As I discussed on my CP building page, I don't think I could get laminate on it in a way that I would be happy with.  I would have two seams somewhere.  I also feel certain I couldn't get the laminate on there without a lot of voids... the shape of the CP is complex, and certainly not perfectly "square" everywhere.

I guess I could do the epoxy fill thing...  or I thought about (once, briefly) applying "real" aluminum with epoxy and sanding it to 320 grit for the same brushed look that the rest of the aluminum on the cabinet has.

I will likely build some other control panels for this at some time in the future.  I may try something else with them, including building them so that they can support an overlay.

[SNAAKE]

[Dire Radiant]

Parts Express vinyl would work well too. Otherwise this is looking incredible. No shortcuts or "Good enough" stuff here. This is cabinet building done RIGHT!

[tivogre]

I took a few days off.

Today, I got a few tedious things done, not the least of which was re-making the trim piece that goes from the bottom of the keyboard drawer back to the coin door.

I realized that the Bondo edge was too brittle, and wouldn't be durable enough over time (or even durable enough to finish the lamination).

It's all wood now, and the difficult lamination is complete.



It's MUCH harder to laminate things that don't have a square edge for the trimmer bearing to ride on.

Besides this piece,  I laminated the back door today, and applied Bondo to all of the screw holes / imperfections on the keyboard drawer.

Full update here:

http://www.ogredog.com/mame_construction_home.htm#Day%2029

[AceTKK]

I agree with Snaake re: the aluminum foil on the CP.  The rest of your cab looks so polished and clean, the foil looks tacky as hell.  If you want the aluminum look then get some sheet stock, hit it with some sandpaper or a wire wheel for the nice brushed look, and make a nice veneer.  Right now your cab is like a supermodel with a huge gold-plated front tooth.   

[tivogre]

After a few days off, I finished the laminate / paint / aluminum trim on the keyboard drawer and got it re-installed on the cabinet:





All in all, I think it blends in pretty well.  Hopefully it doesn't look too drawer-like.

I still have to cut the opening for the wire pass through in the back of the drawer and install the "locking" hardware.

Gory details:

http://www.ogredog.com/mame_construction_home.htm#Day%2030

[tivogre]

Since the positioning of the hardware to "lock" the keyboard drawer will require tight tolerance, I decided that I needed to make and install the hardware to secure the coin door panel in final position first.

Here's what I came up with:



The 4 knobs can be tightend down so that the bolts go into holes on the cabinet frame.  This prevents the coin doow panel from being removed unless the knobs (accessible through the locked coin door) are loosened.

Full update:

http://www.ogredog.com/mame_construction_home.htm#Day%2031

[tivogre]

Well, it's been a busy week at work.  I have found an hour here and there to work on the cabinet... but haven't gotten the web site updated until today.  There are three new updates on the web site now.

1st Update:

I managed to get the hardware made / mounted for securing the keyboard drawer on Tuesday:



Full story is here:

http://www.ogredog.com/mame_construction_home.htm#Day%2032

2nd update:

On Thursday, I did some "patch work" to the marquee panel and Bondo'd the "damage" from the jigs used to mount the drawer locking hardware:



Full story is here:

http://www.ogredog.com/mame_construction_home.htm#Day%2033

3rd update:

Finally, on Friday, I stripped the cabinet down - hopefully for the last time, to the frame:



This was in preparation for applying laminate to the attached skin panels...



...including the expected difficult to laminate "hood" on the top back of the cabinet:



Full story here:

http://www.ogredog.com/mame_construction_home.htm#Days%2034%20to%2036

[pathdoc2]

Wow is all I can say.  I thought I was a good woodworker.  Great job.

[tivogre]

I've now reinforced why I HATE applying laminate to curves!

On my FOURTH try, after wasting 3/4 of a sheet of 4' x 8' black laminate and quite a bit of epoxy, I FINALLY got that damn "hood" laminated!



Currently working on installing the back door of the cabinet.

Read the saga of many failures and one final triumph here:

http://www.ogredog.com/mame_construction_home.htm#Day%2037

So... what do you guys think... was it worth 3 days and ~$50 to get this ONE part done?

 

[CJK]

You have WAY too many Bessey clamps. You should give some of the unnecessary ones (basically, all you need is one) to other woodworkers in need. I will be happy to assist you with this charitable endeavor -- go ahead and send them to me, and I'll be sure they find a good home. Errr, homes.

-- Chris

[tivogre]

One can NEVER have too many Bessey K-Body clamps.

<Non-Paid Endorsement>

If you don't own some Besseys, and you do wood working, run to the store now and get at least a pair.  You'll never look back!

</Non-Paid Endorsement>

I built my collection over a couple of years of x-mas and birthdays.  I told every aunt, uncle, grandparent, and anyone else who buys $30-$40 presents for holidays that I wanted to build a set of good clamps.  Each holiday, I listed the number and sizes I still "needed" and e-mailed out links to them on amazon.com

They thought I was odd.

They were right.

I got my collection of clamps.

I would still like to have a few more of the 60"ers... but I can't justify buying them, as I rarely need anything that big.

[rchadd]

wow how heavy is that cab?

like the coin door

[nostrebor]

You have WAY too many Bessey clamps.   <snip>

-- Chris

blasphemy.


It is humanly impossible to have too many Bessey clamps.

[tivogre]

wow how heavy is that cab?

like the coin door

Actually... and I'm quite surprised...  it isn't very heavy.  At least without the monitor and the other "guts" in it.

As discussed earlier in this thread, I don't think the frame and ply-wood panels will end up weighing MUCH more than a "traditional" MDF cabinet with 2 x 4 bracing / monitor supports.

Even if it is a bit heavier, I think my "piece of mind" that the cabinet will be around for quite a while is worth it.  I am confident that this cabinet could stand up in the "outside world" if necessary.

Now, granted, I haven't added the side panels (which will be 3/4" Ply wood) yet.  When It's all together, I'll take some weights.  In fact. I might do a few weighings as I add components in.  That could be fun.

[tivogre]

I got that last strip of wood laminated, and am ready to re-mount the back door and lock sets.

Here's a sexy back shot...  ready for the door:



Once I get the back door back on, I'll work on the power and network ports on the back panel.

This week-end's goal is to get the sides at LEAST measured and marked...   but I've got a lot of little things to work on that might distract me.

I can see light at the end of the tunnel though!

Daily update here:

http://www.ogredog.com/mame_construction_home.htm#Day%2038

[CJK]

I would still like to have a few more of the 60"ers... but I can't justify buying them, as I rarely need anything that big.

My longest Besseys are 40" -- I have pipe clamps for really big items (full-height carcases, for instance), but those 60" K-bodies would be a nice in-between size.

Hmmm, too bad Father's Day just passed us...

-- Chris

[tivogre]

I can't believe it's been a week without working or updating!  Life is busy.

Anyway, I got the back door and lock sets re-installed, including the cam lock anchor plated from Bob Roberts.

I also implemented what is (I think) a fairly original method of getting power and network wires into the cabinet cleanly:



Someone's probably done something similar before.. but I haven't seen it.

In addition, I checked off a few more "punch list" items today:

Drilled holes and recesses for mounting the control panel to the frame.

Sanded Bondo on top of coin door panel.

Sanded Bondo on bottom of keyboard drawer.

Cut cord pass through on back of keyboard drawer.

All the gory details and pictures for all of this are here:

http://www.ogredog.com/mame_construction_home.htm#Day%2039

[armax]

tivogre, where did you get the plate and what exactly is it called?