The mini upright that was formerly a bar-top - update.

[captainpotato]

Hi all,

Having hinted at it from time to time, it's time to announce my (almost?) finished project.... Pac-Pir, my bartop cab. I'm sick of waiting for longer, and I feel that it's time to share it with you guys.

Unfortunately, as I am moving house very soon, I've only got a couple of photos handy, and the cab is in storage at present.

As can be seen from the images below, it's a bartop with a rotating monitor. Even better is that the monitor is an NEC 3D, which I've had since my Amiga days. What this means is that it can do 15.5kHz screenmodes, as well as anything up to around 40kHz from memory. Anybody looking for a 14" monitor should not go past one of these - this one was going to go into a cocktail cabinet (Australian/Japanese style), but as we didn't have the space for one at home, the bartop was born instead. However, now as the project is nearing completion, we're moving to a larger place

There are a couple of features that cannot be seen in the images below, but once I have access to my archived photos and the cab itself, I'll upload images of them. Until then, you'll have to make do with the images below. There's also some artwork to go with it, which isn't quite finished, so that will wait as well.

The shape is Pac-Man inspired (as is the name, let's be honest here), but with a few differences in curves. Up the top, which doesn't show up very well, is a slot for a marquee with fluoro light behind it. From memory, it's about 60cm high, 46cm wide, and about 48cm deep. It's getting a J-Stik with a few buttons.

The machine in it will be a K6-2 500, which is quick enough for the era in which I'm interested in, so I'm happy.

Anyway, here's a preview of the images of construction that will be added in the coming weeks. Enjoy - I know I shall be.

[Tahnok]

A bartop with a rotating monitor, that must be a first.

Looking forward to seeing this when it's done.

[danny_galaga]

that will be really cool! the more rotating monitors the better, i say! just curious about the first photo- it looks like its really worn from lots of use. is this the case or just funny reflections from the photo?

[captainpotato]

A bartop with a rotating monitor, that must be a first.

Looking forward to seeing this when it's done.

Dunno whether it is or not. In any case, there are a few tricks that have gone into getting it to do this and keep the size reasonable. All shall be revealed.

[captainpotato]

that will be really cool! the more rotating monitors the better, i say! just curious about the first photo- it looks like its really worn from lots of use. is this the case or just funny reflections from the photo?

It's not really worn - it had just been sanded back between coats of paint when I took that picture. I haven't finished the painting as not only did I run out of time before the moving preparation started, I also anticipate that it could get knocked a bit during the move. This way, the final coat won't be damaged.

[KenToad]

Awesome bartop, Captainpotato, I can't wait to see the "finished" pics.

Cheers,
KenToad

[captainpotato]

Awesome bartop, Captainpotato, I can't wait to see the "finished" pics.

Cheers I cannot wait either. It's been a long process - probably nine months since I started. Not having a garage hasn't helped, plus having too many work commitments has eaten up time. Once we move tomorrow and then settle in a bit, I should have some time to put the final coats of paint on and do the other bits and pieces. The remaining rtwork may well take a bit longer to finish

[IG-88]

Bump

Hows this coming along?

[captainpotato]

Bump

Hows this coming along?

As it was when I last posted Having moved house a couple of months ago, I'm now busy building my workshop/games room/office, plus doing outdoor stuff that needs to be done first.

With a bit of luck, in a few weeks, I should be able to get around to finishing off the painting of it. I'll even try to find the sideart that I created last year - and show it off here Once that's done, there's only the bezel, marquee and CPO to go

[Minwah]

Cool looking project.  Does your monitor require degausing after rotating?

I have an old 14" Amstrad rgb (15khz) monitor but when I turn it on it's side most of the picture goes purple...

[captainpotato]

Cool looking project.  Does your monitor require degausing after rotating?

I have an old 14" Amstrad rgb (15khz) monitor but when I turn it on it's side most of the picture goes purple...

I turn it off for a few minutes before I rotate it. If I turn it on too early, one corner goes strange - otherwise it's not too bad.

Once I had the colours really bad, and it wouldn't clear, so I used a fridge magnet to fix them - that was fun

[captainpotato]

Okay, it's been a while, but now it's time for an update. For the last three(!) years, life has got in the way of completing this project. My room is usable (it's not finished, but it's usable, at least...), the garden is done (including a brick oven and fishpond), the vegetable patch is thriving, and I've since changed job twice. I've built shelves, planter boxes, a wall that has a fountain mounted on it and built in a barbecue. I'm sure that there's other stuff, but that's a few of the highlights.

I've also hardly visited this site in the last three years.

Upshot is that it's time to finish my cabinet. It's been staring at me for the last three years, occasionally in a usable state, but completely unfinished (ie - PC in the tower case outside of the cabinet, no artwork or bezel).

Now that I have more space (not to mention other projects), the bartop is now going to become a mini-cab. Fortunately t-molding.com sells t-molding in 20' lengths, which means that I had far too much for a bartop - but just enough for a mini-cab. I'm also dumping the rotating monitor for simplicity's sake and mounting it vertically. Sure, I've got some woodworking to build the base and attach it to the top (and then blend it in), but I now have space for a cabinet that sits on the ground. It will also give me a bit more room under the CP, as it's currently very tight.

Another reason for the change is that once this cabinet is finished, I have an old Sprint 2 cabinet (minus monitor and game boards, but with all optics and volcano buttons intact) to restore and convert into a 360-degree upright cabinet

Anyway, started working on the cabinet tonight by stripping out the fixings that I'd stuck in it.

It's nice to be back here

[glonq]

Welcome back!  Can't wait to see the finished product.

[IG-88]

Wow! Almost 3 yrs to the day. Glad to see that you haven't given up! I had forgotten all about this sucker.

[captainpotato]

I hadn't forgotten - it's hard to when there's a bright yellow box sitting in the corner taking up space and collecting dust (not to mention the Sprint 2 cabinet behind my desk waiting for restoration)

[captainpotato]

Okay, been working on it today a little. All up, dumping it and starting again from scratch probably would have been much easier, but as I'm hardly a master craftsman, I treating the conversion project as a further series of lessons in woodworking.

Progress today involved stripping out all of the rotating monitor framework and replacing the side door into the side of the cabinet.

Also discovered that the plywood that I bought last week is warped, so I'm working on flattening it. First run through hasn't gone too badly, and after the second attempt, it ought to be pretty good (at least, good enough to secure flat).

If the weather holds tomorrow, then most of the woodworking for the basic shape ought to be done, plus then working on the supports.

Choosing to refashion it means that I can now get rid of some of the features that weren't ideally planned in the original design, such as the control panel being a little too narrow, meaning that the underside was almost too small to fit in the joystick base and cabling.

[captainpotato]

Didn't get as much done as I wanted to this weekend, but it's well and truly happening again. Just one photo from today - the bartop balancing on its new base (seconds before a wind gust came and blew it onto the floor tiles below, breaking all but one...).

The extension is being added by overlaying the top and bottom pieces, having routed out half of the wood's depth.

The rest of the base won't be too hard - after that, working out the new monitor mounting

[captainpotato]

Okay, time for an update. During my silence I have been making some progress. The attached image isn't the latest stage but it does give an indication of how it looks.

In summary, a base with wheels at the rear was constructed, with a vertical frame to ensure that the two upright sections stayed in alignment. The bottom half pieces were shaped and routed, as was the front piece. The bartop top section has been added, as has a piece across the top at the back to support the handles for moving. Last night I added the monitor rests (that have been engineered so that I don't need to redo the monitor mounting that I created for when it was destined to be in a bartop).

As usual, I suspect I have well and truly over-engineered it. Rather than going with dowels and hidden joins that I had originally, this version now has a heap of screws. As I have discovered, wood glue does not budge as it is (I panicked and considering changing the angle of the first monitor mount about thirty minutes after I clamped it. Not a chance... not that it matters, anyway, as the angle is sensible as it is).

Next step is to fabricate the control panel. The first piece has been cut into shape, now it just needs the base and a hinge (not to mention some holes drilled in it). Following this is changing the size of the marquee area, then replacing it. Beyond this, there's only the back and preparing the surface before painting, so I'm happy with my progress.

Deadline is Christmas, so I've got time. Artwork isn't included in this timeline, but I know exactly what I want (but need to try to get decent quality versions...).

[captainpotato]

Okay, time for another update. As can be seen below, the cabinet now has had its first coat of undercoat. The remainder of the woodworking went pretty much according to plan, other than for the fact that I'd think of something I hadn't done, just as I was considering cleaning up the cabinet in preparation for painting.

Next few days will involve more undercoating and sanding back between coats until I am happy with the finish. It also gives me a little more time to finalise the colour scheme - I know what I want, but it depends on getting the artwork that I'd like to use. If the artist doesn't agree to send me higher quality copies (I only have a low res copies of what I'd like to use), I'll have to decide whether to learn how to vectorise it or to change theme.

[captainpotato]

Today was another day of undercoating. After three coats, it's time to sand back the finish, and then maybe another coat or two, depending on how I feel.

It may not need it, but more undercoats means that I don't need to finalise the top coat yet

Anyway, this is how it looks at the moment (nice how the flash picks - and overemphasises) every minor bump, not to mention makes the t-molding slot look more jagged than it really is

[captainpotato]

Okay, a quick update. Thanks to work commitments, the time of year and the Adelaide weather of late, I haven't made the progress that I wanted to. However, I did finally get outside tonight to sand back the last undercoat before the first topcoat goes on.

Yesterday I received my Ozstick order, as can be seen below (as well as some leaf switches I bought a while ago and a piece that was cut off the bartop during the conversion that comes in handy for cleaning out the t-molding slot ).

I also got permission - and high resolution copies - to use the artwork that I wanted to have, so the cabinet's got a definite theme now. All will be revealed soon(ish)

[captainpotato]

Now that the festive season is over, I can get back to working on the cabinet. I agonised over the colour scheme for a while, and finally came up with something that I like. Went and bought the paints today (gloss enamel) and stuck a cost of each on (and am currently inhaling the fumes - oh, for an actual workshop...).

Despite what the image may appear like, the darker colour is a rich olive green (the fluoro globe and wet paint doesn't give an accurate impression of colour). Accidentally kicked my drop sheet onto the wet CP, but it's nothing that a bit of sanding won't fix up.

[The Evil Collector]

I like the olive color. I admit I was a little distressed when you decided to ditch the bartop (my favorite type of cabs) and go with this plan, but it's actually looking pretty cool.

Prolly to late but do you have a close-up pic of the joint between the old and new sections? Was it a half-lap type joint? Or biscuits, or what?

[captainpotato]

I like the olive color. I admit I was a little distressed when you decided to ditch the bartop (my favorite type of cabs) and go with this plan, but it's actually looking pretty cool.

Thanks - the main reason for the bartop was a lack of floorspace in my last place, and to be honest, it was too complicated for its own good. This way it will be completely functional, rather than worrying about the rotating monitor not working easily (I'm no master craftsman - it worked, but it wasn't up to some other examples...). I like bartops as well, but I have far more floor than desk space at the moment

The olive and white colour scheme will also have orange t-molding, so it will be distinctive.

Prolly to late but do you have a close-up pic of the joint between the old and new sections? Was it a half-lap type joint? Or biscuits, or what?

I do... make that did. My almost new Western Digital drive died just before Christmas, and I'm debating about whether I can justify the cost to recover the data before sending it back under warranty. As frustrating as it is, I do have a backup of most of it (just no backup of photos of any recent cabinet activity...). Most annoying is the loss for the write-up of the build that I'm going to do. Oh well - it could have been far worse.

In answer to your question, half-lap joints, about 2cm. It's almost undetectable, and once the sideart has been added, will be even harder to see. For extra strength, there is a strip of 40mm x 25mm pine running up the back of each side. They double as a stop for the back (well, will once I make it).

[captainpotato]

Okay, time for a further update. It's been a while since I've posted because I've been busy working on the cabinet. This and the fact that the last week or so of up to 46-degree days (that's Celsius, not Fahrenheit) has meant that my computer has been in a sauna (even today it's not good).

Upshot is that it is now assembled, playable and approaching completion. At the moment, I'm sorting getting the artwork printed and have already ordered the toughened glass for the bezel. The hardware is all installed and the software is running smoothly.

Anyway, here's a shot to give you an idea of the current status:

[javeryh]

This cab is coming out very nice.  I really think it was a great idea to turn it into a stand-up cab.  I can't see even the slightest hint of a seam on the side.  Are you still going to rotate the monitor?  There are some great projects with motors and software that handle the rotation automatically once a game is selected from the front-end... 

[captainpotato]

This cab is coming out very nice.  I really think it was a great idea to turn it into a stand-up cab.  I can't see even the slightest hint of a seam on the side.  Are you still going to rotate the monitor?  There are some great projects with motors and software that handle the rotation automatically once a game is selected from the front-end... 

If you know where to look, there's slight evidence of what it once was, but once the artwork goes on, it will cover most of it anyway (even for those who know where to look ). Yeah, I'm pretty happy with the way that the seams have turned out, as well as the rest of it so far. There aren't any photos of the inside yet because I need to tidy up the wiring somewhat

The monitor is staying fixed as it was too much hassle. As much as I perhaps would like to do that, I think that it's beyond my current abilities. Anyway, if it cannot play horizontal games, it gives me reason to make another minicab that can That is, after my Sprint 2 cabinet has been restored and MAMEd (no monitor, no game boards and in not great condition).

[captainpotato]

Another update - since last posting I have been fighting to get a quote for the artwork and the glass is running a week late (so far). And we are told that consumers need to spend money, but nobody seems to want to take mine.

As can be seen in the photos, I have now installed the first prototype of my DIY spinner. It works fine (Well even), but I don't know how much abuse it will take, so I will work on another prototype when I get a chance.

Also in the pics is a shot of the back and one of my coin door. Have to say that I'm really impressed with the way that the coin door has turned out - IMO, it really helps make the cabinet.

Edit: forgot to mention - the cardboard bits are only temporary