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What to buy first - controls/electronics or wood
Boz:
I'm finally ready! A month ago I purchased most of the wood-working tools I will likely need and have purposed a wood project or two to get myself familiar (at least in a general way) with using the tools. I'm finally ready to start building a stand-up cabinet from my sketches.
However, I'm a little curious which I should buy/build first.
One the one hand, I think I should have all of my controls here in hand so that while I'm building the cabinet, I will have the controls/monitor/misc handy for "actual" measurements and dimensions. In my mind, this would make the shaping of wood easier and potentially faster since I won't have to wait for any parts to come in from arcade vendors. I'm aware that little electronic niceties are probably missing from my design and that I'll have to drive down to the local computer store to pick up the straggling USB cable for this'n that. But, having everything here will make putting the wood together go better.
One the other hand, I'm tempted to build the entire cabinet first to get the design bugs worked out and get most of the woodworking out of the way. Of course I'll have some modifications to do when I finally get the monitor and some other stuff, but the cab would be finished for the most part.
Any thoughts on what to do first?
Thanks.
ahofle:
Not sure there is an answer to your question, but I can tell you having all those beautiful arcade controls sitting around waiting to be installed certainly boosts your motivation for finishing the wood working part. 8)
Tahnok:
--- Quote from: ahofle on June 20, 2006, 04:58:54 pm ---Not sure there is an answer to your question, but I can tell you having all those beautiful arcade controls sitting around waiting to be installed certainly boosts your motivation for finishing the wood working part. 8)
--- End quote ---
Not to mention you are more likely to have the money for the controls and monitor earlier on in the project.
MovingTarget:
I would get the monitor then start in on building the cabinet. I also recommend building the CP sooner than later. Some people avoid this because they're affraid they'll just sit around and play instead of finishing the cab (which is what I did) and left it for last. But, I can tell you that's a lot of work doing the CP and while you're waiting for the primer and paint to dry it's nice to get moving on that.
Oh, also, get the artwork done as soon as you can too. Depending what you're doing you might need that to go under your CP anyway.
All just my opinion though. :P
Buddabing:
I would say do the wood part first.
First, if you build your control panel first, you may never finish the project. :)
Second, a new control, encoder or other device may come out between now and the time you are ready to install the controllers, e.g. the new Ultimarc stick
Third, you'll probably change what controls are on your cab several times between now and the time you're ready to create the control panel.
Good luck on your project,
Buddabing