Things I learned the hard way while making my cabinet.

[Mark70]

Hopefully this will serve as a good guide for beginners.  These are all things that I wish I had known before I started my project.  Try and keep these one line type responses.  Start another parallel thread to discuss anything which inspires you.

I'll start:

1.  BYOAC forums will time out if you type a really really long reply and you will loose everything  you typed in that really really long time then you will have to do it all over again, but you won't have the patience and everything will become a crappy abbreviated version of what you typed before.

2.  Tolerance.  MDF is very flat and very smooth and drawers and doors that work wonderfully in mock up will stick later on.  See #3.

3.  Paint is thicker than you thought.  See #2.

4.  Black paint recipies at paint stores include white pigment.  Make sure are very clear when you order that you want it black, black, black.  For extra fun, dress up like a goth and say it's for your living room.  People will always ask you why you're buying gallons of black paint.

5.  Acrylic is impossible to score and snap.  Conversely acrylic is easy to work with a router while sandwiched between two pieces of wood.  Don't fear acrylic.  Don't pay for lexan.

6.  Plan everything.  The only thing that doesn't fit on my cab is the two pinball button holes that I drilled impulsively while building.  I modeled my whole cab in 3d except that. Now I have to find special internal microswitch buttons and hope that they fit.

7.  Wiring takes up more space than you think.  Plan it.  If your PC and coin door in the bottom, and there's a keyboard drawer between your PC and the monitor/CP, you have to get by that drawer.  I found a way.  Luckily.

8.  The oscar controls 3d model of a happ track ball doesn't show the mounting bolts.  Despite modelling my cp in 3d I ended up routing slots for the bottom two mounting bolts in the wall of my CP.  Thank god they didn't end up outside the box.

9. MDF is insidious.  The dust gets everywhere.  I shop vac-ed my whole garage.  I vacuumed everything.  I mean everything.  Walls, my lawn mower, the broom, empty beer bottles, shelves, the floor, my tools, the door.... I'm still picking up pieces of MDF off of the living room carpet.  Don't even think about building inside your house.  Ruin just your garage.

10.  MDF dust is toxic.  This is the one thing I didn't learn the hard way.  I have a long history of working on boats and to me sanding/cutting/dust = mask; always has.  Any money you spend on a mask is an investment in your health.  Don't skimp here.  I honestly didn't know MDF dust is toxic when I started so I'm glad I always wear a mask.

[Mark70]

11.  A router with a deep cutting slot bit on it will "climb".  My router started climbing and it didn't feel any different than when the router base was riding on the material.  I ruined about 12" of one of my t-moulding slots.

12.  When you have your artwork printed make sure that you tell them to print it with no border which seems to be the default for most printers.  Staples/business depot printed my CP art with a border and didn't notice until I was trimming the edges.  My artwork had all shrunk by the width of the white border.  It was mostly cut and installed when I noticed and kept it anyway.

13.  When you make your sawboard make sure the saw motor will clear the clamps while they're in place.

14.  When you make and angled cut with your sawboard, you ruin it for making cuts except on that angle for ever more because it cuts your sawboard off on that angle and you can no longer line up the edge of the sawboard for a regular 90 degree cut.  Make new sawboard.

15.  MDF will split and spread if you screw into the end, even if you pre drill.  Find any way you can to screw perpendicular to the piece.  Usually it means adding blocking

[hypernova]

15.  MDF will split and spread if you screw into the end, even if you pre drill.  Find any way you can to screw perpendicular to the piece.  Usually it means adding blocking

Doesn't project arcade incorporate some of this?  I didn't have any of this happening myself.

1.  BYOAC forums will time out if you type a really really long reply and you will loose everything  you typed in that really really long time then you will have to do it all over again, but you won't have the patience and everything will become a crappy abbreviated version of what you typed before.

always irritating when something goes wrong when posting and everything is erased.  This is actually probably common knowledge, unfortunately!

[Timoe]

always irritating when something goes wrong when posting and everything is erased.  This is actually probably common knowledge, unfortunately!

Yeah but it seems to be happening a lot lately. go easy there new guy 

[quarterback]

6.  Plan everything.  The only thing that doesn't fit on my cab is the two pinball button holes that I drilled impulsively while building.  I modeled my whole cab in 3d except that. Now I have to find special internal microswitch buttons and hope that they fit.

I'm not sure exactly what the issue is, but if it's that you don't have enough room inside your CP for the buttons, maybe you should take a look at the Sanwa pushbuttons.  ponyboy sells them

NOTE: The 2nd pic here is of a "snap in" style.  As of this posting, ponyboy only carries the screw in style.  The first post in his thread should let you know if that changes

[SirPeale]

1.  BYOAC forums will time out if you type a really really long reply and you will loose everything  you typed in that really really long time then you will have to do it all over again, but you won't have the patience and everything will become a crappy abbreviated version of what you typed before.

Before you send, click anywhere.  Hit "CTRL-A, CTRL-C" so you copy everything you just typed into clipboard.  That way if it does time out, you can go back a page and just "CTRL-V" to paste it back in.

Also, make sure when you log in, click the 'always logged in' checkbox.

[Spaz Monkey]

Even though you may have spent a lot of money on the cabinet (whether a "true cabinet" or you built it yourself) Bondo and black paint will solve many problems when you can't drill/cut worth crap.

[Was putting wheels on my cabinet, mis-drilled through the bottom twice.]

[leapinlew]

Ergonomics!

Even a mockup can be misleading till you've tried it a few times. My first arcade cabinet is a converted Nintendo cabinet. It has a 22.5 x 8.5 inch control panel. I mounted the joysticks too low and after a bit of playing - your wrists get a little tired. It's a little thing, but something you don't think about till afterwards. The only real fix is to rebuild the CP.

[hypernova]

go easy there new guy

huh?

edit:  oh...maybe that's it...i need to use more smileys.  Personally, I hate 'em, but they do help clarify what kind of tone/mood you want to convey in a post.

And i'm hardly new.  Almost a year anniversary for me here.  (I could've used an exclamation point there, but I also hate unnecessary punctuation marks.)

[RayB]

16. Don't install ANYTHING, until you are 100% finished sanding and painting.

17. DO NOT use wall repair putty to fill in holes or repair damaged wood. It is NOT strong enough.

[divemaster127]

I know people like to build their cab as cheap as possible, but when i built mine, I learned a few things, dont go cheap on the controls buy the good ones to start with.  The same with the computer I purchased cheap parts, pcchips mb etc, & I payed for it, get the best computer for your buck, you wont regret it later, i did a 3000 amd 64+ with a gig of ram & it handles, most roms( & this system ran about $350.00) use a big hard drive the first time, i wanted to save money so i purchased a tv, I hated the picture then i purchased a arcade monitor...so i did everything twice, the moral is spend the extra first time its cheaper in the long run, sometime i will see post about people stating they really on a very tight budget, this hobby is not cheap its best to take your time & use quality parts etc
thanks
dm

[GGKoul]

Don't start playing it until you've completly 100% finished your cab.  As it never gets finished after that..

[divemaster127]

that's what i did finally a year & 1/2 later i put on the artwork
thanks
dm

[Brad]

Don't start playing it until you've completly 100% finished your cab.  As it never gets finished after that..

Boy is this ever true. I've had my cab almost finished for over 2 years. I just play it now despite it needing artwork and decent speakers 

Brad

[ChicagoDave]

A couple of things I learned:

18. Hot glue is hot. 

19. Never let go of a circular saw while it's still spinning.

20. When you measure for the coin door hole, make sure that you account for the fact that the coin door has rounded corners.  I ended up having to repair this by cutting 4 corners off of a piece of MDF and hot glued them into the corners of the hole.  I then used wood filler to fill the gaps and sanded the whole thing down.  After paint, the problem was fixed.

21.  If you use rotating casters, make sure they have enough clearance to rotate completely around.  Any obstruction will cause the cabinet to "lock up" when trying to move it.


 

[hypernova]

21.  If you use rotating casters, make sure they have enough clearance to rotate completely around.  Any obstruction will cause the cabinet to "lock up" when trying to move it.


I didn't think rotating casters would be possible.  They require so much clearance, it seems it would compromise the stability somewhat.  (Course I tried using 4" ones from work.  3" would still seem a bit too much diameter of motion.) 

18. Hot glue is hot.

I propose an addendum to this one:

Hot glue is hot, yet ironically doesn't stay hot enough long enough.

Don't start playing it until you've completly 100% finished your cab.  As it never gets finished after that..

I can totally deviate from that norm.  Mark my words!

[GGKoul]

Don't start playing it until you've completely 100% finished your cab.  As it never gets finished after that..

Boy is this ever true. I've had my cab almost finished for over 2 years. I just play it now despite it needing artwork and decent speakers 

Brad

I fall in that category too...

[dax]

1.  BYOAC forums will time out if you type a really really long reply and you will loose everything  you typed in that really really long time then you will have to do it all over again, but you won't have the patience and everything will become a crappy abbreviated version of what you typed before.

Before you send, click anywhere.  Hit "CTRL-A, CTRL-C" so you copy everything you just typed into clipboard.  That way if it does time out, you can go back a page and just "CTRL-V" to paste it back in.

Also, make sure when you log in, click the 'always logged in' checkbox.

Are you people using Internet Exploder (I mean Explorer)?   If so, that makes sense.  I use Firefox and I can usually go back and not lose my form data.


All this talk about MDF problems... is there some reason why you would want to use it over regular wood or plywood?  Can you not install molding on plywood?  Or is it a cost consideration?  The thing that scares me about MDF is if it gets wet, it gets ruined quickly.

[markrvp]

MDF has 3 properties that make it attractive to cabinet builders:

1.)  It is less expensive than cabinet-grade plywood

2.)  It is easy to work with

3.)  It accepts paint very evenly (without wood grain bleeding through).


The disadvantages are:

- Swelling when wet (so keep it inside)
- It's heavier than plywood
- it's messy as hell

[NinjaEpisode]

- it's messy as hell

a.k.a. Wear a Mask!  I was a smoker at the time that I did my cab last year and even for me, the dust from that MDF was worse than smoking a pack of cigarettes.  I was sadistic enough to even smoke while I was cutting....after a day of that, I went and grabbed some cheapo masks to cover my mouth and nose.

[Mark70]

The choice of MDF over plywood was based on the fact that I hate sanding.  A life of growing up sanding wood boats has just about burned me out on sanding.  Paint "picks up the grain" on plywood, even high quality sanded or veneered plywood. The grain swells unevenly when you paint it and it takes a hell of a lot of filler primer and sanding to get a nice flat surface.

[DrewKaree]

The choice of MDF over plywood was based on the fact that I hate sanding.  A life of growing up sanding wood boats has just about burned me out on sanding.  Paint "picks up the grain" on plywood, even high quality sanded or veneered plywood. The grain swells unevenly when you paint it and it takes a hell of a lot of filler primer and sanding to get a nice flat surface.

Run 2 skim coats of drywall compound over it.  Problem solved - IF you're going to paint.  Make it the consistency of shampoo to make it easier to work with to cover the grain, and use it regular strength to fill in wider gaps and holes.

17. DO NOT use wall repair putty to fill in holes or repair damaged wood. It is NOT strong enough.

Seeing as how I just advised FOR using this, I'd like to ask what you are referring to when you say "holes".  You are COMPLETELY correct in not using it for repairing damaged wood.  The "holes" are what I'm wondering about.  I've got a CP with some mighty hefty cracks on exhibit in Project Announcements that I had no problems filling, and no problems drilling.

[javeryh]

22.  If you are staining you cabinet, stain each piece PRIOR to assembly if you want it to come out as even as possible.

[missioncontrol]

23. EE will slow down your progress and once you start posting there your cabinet will most likely never get done

[Mark70]

23. EE will slow down your progress and once you start posting there your cabinet will most likely never get done

EE? ...my cabinets is done.  Well, as done as they ever really get.

[MYX]

24. Drill bits are sharp.

25. Arcade building and insomnia may be related.

26. BYOAC forums = lower job performance

27. Talking about building your cab gives your daughter yet another excuse to roll her eyes.

28. Building this thing is a heck of a lot of fun.

[psychopanda]

29. Make a plan to organize the cp wires beforehand.

30. Building a cabinet is going to cost you alot more than you think.

[missioncontrol]

23. EE will slow down your progress and once you start posting there your cabinet will most likely never get done

EE? ...my cabinets is done.  Well, as done as they ever really get.

Everything Else

[Buddabing]

32. The enemy of good is better.

[RayB]

17. DO NOT use wall repair putty to fill in holes or repair damaged wood. It is NOT strong enough.

Seeing as how I just advised FOR using this, I'd like to ask what you are referring to when you say "holes".  You are COMPLETELY correct in not using it for repairing damaged wood.  The "holes" are what I'm wondering about.  I've got a CP with some mighty hefty cracks on exhibit in Project Announcements that I had no problems filling, and no problems drilling.

Maybe I should ammend/clarify. Don't use it for control panel repair or large deep holes. It will end up just crumbling. If used on the control panel, when you drill button holes through it, it tends to break off very easily. Note, I am talking about wall patching compound, or whatever it's called. I'm not talking about bondo, which is what everyone recommends we use.

[Doc Thirst]

17. DO NOT use wall repair putty to fill in holes or repair damaged wood. It is NOT strong enough.

Seeing as how I just advised FOR using this, I'd like to ask what you are referring to when you say "holes".  You are COMPLETELY correct in not using it for repairing damaged wood.  The "holes" are what I'm wondering about.  I've got a CP with some mighty hefty cracks on exhibit in Project Announcements that I had no problems filling, and no problems drilling.

Maybe I should ammend/clarify. Don't use it for control panel repair or large deep holes. It will end up just crumbling. If used on the control panel, when you drill button holes through it, it tends to break off very easily. Note, I am talking about wall patching compound, or whatever it's called. I'm not talking about bondo, which is what everyone recommends we use.

Joint Compound?

[RayB]

White stuff that dries kind of chalky.... 

[missioncontrol]

Oh and if you ever decide to do a keyboard hack don't complete the hack and put it away for 8 months then come back and expect to know what your layout was and what you wire labels were for and other stuff you didn't think you needed to write down because you didn't plan on it being 8 months before you did anything with the hack.........

[arzoo]

18. Hot glue is hot. 

This may seem counter intuitive, but if you get hot glue on your skin, immediately spread it thin (smear it) with your fingers. The thinner the layer of glue, the quicker it cools and you won

[MovingTarget]

18. Hot glue is hot. 

This may seem counter intuitive, but if you get hot glue on your skin, immediately spread it thin (smear it) with your fingers. The thinner the layer of glue, the quicker it cools and you won

[krick]

19. Never let go of a circular saw while it's still spinning.

The same goes for a router.  I'm lucky I didn't take my finger off.  It did bleed a lot though.

[ChicagoDave]

19. Never let go of a circular saw while it's still spinning.

The same goes for a router.  I'm lucky I didn't take my finger off.  It did bleed a lot though.

Mine just caught a piece of the wood, shot up and hit me in the stomach.  I was pretty lucky.  The saw then landed on the cement garage floor.  I thought the laser would have been knocked out of line, but it was fine.  My cut was screwed up though.

[krick]

19. Never let go of a circular saw while it's still spinning.

The same goes for a router.  I'm lucky I didn't take my finger off.  It did bleed a lot though.

Mine just caught a piece of the wood, shot up and hit me in the stomach.  I was pretty lucky.  The saw then landed on the cement garage floor.  I thought the laser would have been knocked out of line, but it was fine.  My cut was screwed up though.

I finished routing around the edge of a piece of MDF, then I sat the router on its side on top and proceeded to brush off the MDF-dust with my hand and contacted the still spinning router bit.  What a dumbass I am.  It's no wonder I had two minor but equally bloody shop class accidents in jr highschool.  One required stitches.  Me and power tools, really don't mix well.

[leapinlew]

I was cutting an 1/8" peice of plexi for the CP. I was pretty excited since the project was coming to a close. Wasn't even thinking about securing the plexi down. Got the drill to full speed and when it hit the plexi - the plexi spun around and hit my hand. I seriously thought I cut something off.

Wouldn't that be some sh!t? Cut off your gaming hand trying to build a arcade machine?

[jcrouse]

Wouldn't that be some sh!t? Cut off your gaming hand trying to build a arcade machine?

Thanks for a good afternoon chuckle at work.

 
John

[diamz]

What are the absolute tools required for building one's first cabinet? Circular saw, jigsaw, router, drill??? What tools would you recommend to make the job easier? Thanks -diamz

[Silverwind]

32. The enemy of good is better.

That's my weakness.  Whenever I get ready to do something to my cabinet.. I always think of something "better".  This makes the complexity and time involvement shoot up dramatically...  sometimes I just have to hit myself and keep it simple to keep my hopes up of getting it done at some point.  Hehe.

[DrewKaree]

What are the absolute tools required for building one's first cabinet? Circular saw, jigsaw, router, drill??? What tools would you recommend to make the job easier? Thanks -diamz

Start a new thread.  That isn't a "thing you learned".

You'll get more responses, including a pretty good one from me

[Tahnok]

Along the lines of not letting go of your router...

33: Do not place your router bit only 1/2" into the collet and tighten it often.

I had my brand new pattern cutting bit come flying off when I tried to get some more height out of it. Fortunately, it flew in the opposite direction as me (though it did take fifteen minutes to find again). Needless to say, I now do any pattern cuts in two passes.

[DrewKaree]

Along the lines of not letting go of your router...

33: Do not place your router bit only 1/2" into the collet and tighten it often.

I had my brand new pattern cutting bit come flying off when I tried to get some more height out of it. Fortunately, it flew in the opposite direction as me (though it did take fifteen minutes to find again). Needless to say, I now do any pattern cuts in two passes.

Scares the crap out of you when you realize what coulda happened, hey? 

34.  Don't even start a cab, in fact, STOP READING THIS SITE if you are wondering how you can "save" money.  It just ISN'T going to happen.  You can LESSEN the amount of money you spend, but this hobby is a money pit and a time killer that WILL bring enjoyment to you.  It just comes at a cost

[saint]

35. Do not -- DO NOT -- attempt to move your arcade cabinet down stairs by yourself. Even empty, it's bloody heavy and big. You will hurt something. Probably many somethings....

(Yes, I know this from actual experience. That which did not kill me made me stronger... or something).

[nostrebor]

36. Do NOT go to an operators warehouse, with cash in your pocket, and just tell yourself that you are going to "look around".

 You will end up bringing so many games home that you have to put the Midway cabaret in the back seat of your truck and your wife will be pissed because you are 3 weeks from moving and your bringing more stuff home just so you can move it again in three weeks.

[DrewKaree]

your wife will be pissed because you are 3 weeks from moving and your bringing more stuff home just so you can move it again in three weeks.

37.  Get rid of the wife before jumping into this hobby or get her used to the phrase "This is the guy's equivalent of black shoes for women"

[subcriminal]

Things I learnt:
1. Don't put your buttons too close together even if they do feel better that way. You wont be able to screw the lock nuts on.
2. Blue cherry microswitches suck compared to red ones. Just replaced all mine they were so bad. (Switching at the very end of button travel compared to reds that switch half way down)
3. Never underestimate the effect a cap kit can have on and arcade monitor! Do it even if they look like they've been done before!
4. When demoing the finished cab to the missus make sure you have a good list of girly games she's guaranteed to like It doesn't matter how cool it is that you know all the fatality moves in MK2. She wont be impressed. Make a custom 'missus' list in MameWah or something to show her you care

[brack]

Along the lines of not letting go of your router...

33: Do not place your router bit only 1/2" into the collet and tighten it often.

I had my brand new pattern cutting bit come flying off when I tried to get some more height out of it. Fortunately, it flew in the opposite direction as me (though it did take fifteen minutes to find again). Needless to say, I now do any pattern cuts in two passes.

I have that topped.  I did the same thing except it didn't fly in the opposite direction.  At first I thought it was a piece of wood that got me.  Upon further inspection I realized that the rabbitting bit had spun out and struck mr. johnson right in the head.  I stood in pure shock for a minute before I dared inspect the damage.  All was good though, and it surprisingly didn't hurt that much.  I guarantee no one who reads this will make that mistake now, I know I won't do it again.  TIGHTEN YOUR BITS TO PROTECT YOUR BITS!!

[Tahnok]

Ouch! You're right, I will not soon make that mistake!

Actually, if it had hit me it probably wouldn't have been that big of a deal. I was wearing goggles and a dust mask; my face was completely covered. I was also wearing a long sleeve sweatshirt; my body was covered. It probably would have hurt like hell and left a bruise, but not broken the skin, like getting hit with a paintball.

[diamz]

What are the absolute tools required for building one's first cabinet? Circular saw, jigsaw, router, drill??? What tools would you recommend to make the job easier? Thanks -diamz

Start a new thread.  That isn't a "thing you learned".

You'll get more responses, including a pretty good one from me

No prob, will do. I was just thinking that determining the most useful tools for the job would be something some might learn building their first cabinet and quite possibly learn the hard way.

[DrewKaree]

What are the absolute tools required for building one's first cabinet? Circular saw, jigsaw, router, drill??? What tools would you recommend to make the job easier? Thanks -diamz

Start a new thread.  That isn't a "thing you learned".

No prob, will do. I was just thinking that determining the most useful tools for the job would be something some might learn building their first cabinet and quite possibly learn the hard way.

Right now, in the backgroun, we're working on precisely this information.  On the plus side, remembering you posted this, I put it up to add to the information.   

Here's a link to that topic

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=50624.msg494384#msg494384

[Fozzy The Bear]

this hobby is not cheap its best to take your time & use quality parts etc
thanks
dm

Depends on your point of view..... I can honestly say that this is the cheapest hobby I ever had.

When I compare it to building a car from scratch.... it's peanuts....
When I compare it to building a passenger hauling steam locomotive... it's Peanuts...
When I compare it to making large complex movie props... It's peanuts..
When I compare it to re-building my Motorcycle from the ground up... It's Peanuts...

Depends on how you look at it...

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

[Mark70]

17. DO NOT use wall repair putty to fill in holes or repair damaged wood. It is NOT strong enough.

Seeing as how I just advised FOR using this, I'd like to ask what you are referring to when you say "holes".  You are COMPLETELY correct in not using it for repairing damaged wood.  The "holes" are what I'm wondering about.  I've got a CP with some mighty hefty cracks on exhibit in Project Announcements that I had no problems filling, and no problems drilling.

Maybe I should ammend/clarify. Don't use it for control panel repair or large deep holes. It will end up just crumbling. If used on the control panel, when you drill button holes through it, it tends to break off very easily. Note, I am talking about wall patching compound, or whatever it's called. I'm not talking about bondo, which is what everyone recommends we use.

Joint Compound?

Yes I'm quire sure that he's talking about joint compound.  Also called "mud" in the drywalling trade.  Architecturally we specify it as "gypsum mud"

[Mark70]

What are the absolute tools required for building one's first cabinet? Circular saw, jigsaw, router, drill??? What tools would you recommend to make the job easier? Thanks -diamz

Start a new thread.  That isn't a "thing you learned".

You'll get more responses, including a pretty good one from me

No prob, will do. I was just thinking that determining the most useful tools for the job would be something some might learn building their first cabinet and quite possibly learn the hard way.

When you put it that way, you may be right; but the potential for derailment of the thread is too huge. 

On the learned it the hard way vein - Use the right tool for the job. For example, use a spring washer tool to remove the spring washers on the bottom of your joysticks.  Don't push them out far enough to pry at them with a slot screwdriver.  They go flinging across the room, or into your eyes.  It's a good idea to wear safety glasses when removing and replacing spring washers/spring clips, whatever they're called.  In fact the packaging for spring washer tools usually say wear safety glasses.

[fatfingers]

I'm very early on in my project, but I already learned that before you try to blow the sawdust away after drilling (or in general), one should swallow first...unless, of course, you actually want to see how quickly MDF will soak your saliva up...   

[RayB]

The last post reminded me of another one:

Wear a mask AND make sure it's REALLY snug. I've used those paper masks, and yet still I end up blowing dust or spray paint colored boogers after some sanding or spray painting!

[PCtech]

Joint Compound?


HEH...yeah I used a "joint" compound when building my cab, but not for patching holes...more for relaxing the builder....wiring that control panel can drive you nuts...NOT recommended, but works for me. 

As has probably been said, don't be in a hurry, you will hate yourself for it later.