Author Topic: Dowdy's Mame Arcade!!! FINISHED (Read 25568 times)

rdowdy95 · « **Reply #40 on:** July 17, 2006, 02:21:05 pm »

javeryh nice looking cab it looks clean! You know what though. You said you can see some flaws. If you think about it those machines in the 80's I played on had a bunch of flaws too. That is what made them so good. Kind of authentic you know. The next thing I will be doing on the cabniet is cut those other boards out on Wednesday, and also sometime this week make a 4 ft, 2 ft, and 1 ft saw board. Still need to find out how much wood to buy to make them. Thanks for all the info guys. I still need to order that router bit. Going to do that right now.

javeryh · « **Reply #41 on:** July 17, 2006, 03:13:17 pm »

Quote from: rdowdy95 on July 17, 2006, 02:21:05 pm

javeryh nice looking cab it looks clean! You know what though. You said you can see some flaws. If you think about it those machines in the 80's I played on had a bunch of flaws too. That is what made them so good. Kind of authentic you know. The next thing I will be doing on the cabniet is cut those other boards out on Wednesday, and also sometime this week make a 4 ft, 2 ft, and 1 ft saw board. Still need to find out how much wood to buy to make them. Thanks for all the info guys. I still need to order that router bit. Going to do that right now.

Thanks for the compliments. The flaws that I notice are me just being super anal about how perfect I want it to look. There really are no noticable flaws unless you get about an inch away from it and even then it's just in places like where the control panel meets the carcass.

Also, for some reason anytime I take a picture you can't tell that I stained it - it just looks like blue paint. I can assure you that the wood grain comes through rather nicely and it definitely give it a "legitimate piece of furniture" feel... even though it's totally not.

rdowdy95 · « **Reply #42 on:** July 17, 2006, 04:46:05 pm »

I did see a little bit of the wood grain from one of the pictures you took. Very cool. I didn't even know there was blue stain available. Too sweet!

rdowdy95 · « **Reply #43 on:** July 18, 2006, 02:42:59 pm »

Didn't do much yesterday. No cutting went on. I need to cut those other lower supports out. Going to do it tommorow. Yesterday I went to Home Depot and got one 2'x4' of 1/4 " plywood and one 2'x4' of 3/4" MDF. This is going to be for my saw boards that I am going to attempt to make. I want to make sure when I cut out my first cabniet side it looks good. I also bought some Gorilla Glue for the saw board project.

Then I bought some stainable wood filler and a putty knife. I am going to try to work on some splinter messups on the edge of my control panel. I also didn't know this but I sanded some sections on my control panel cause I thought that was good to do, but it left some scratches on the Birch finish. So I think I shouldn't of done that. So I have the perfect size I can trace it out and cut it again on another sheet if need be. What do you guys think I ought to do about the control panel? I found out I should of used a saw with more teeth like 100 or 110 for finer jobs, or even one that is made to cut birch plywood. I could use the flush trim router bit to make a carbon copy of the control top I have cut? I just don't know what to do. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Other things I bought was a countersink, and a #8 countersink bit for the drill to pre-drill the holes for the #8 wood screws.

Wednesday I only work 5-9 PM at the job so during the day I am going to be doing my sawboards, and try to make my control panel look nicer.

leapinlew · « **Reply #44 on:** July 18, 2006, 02:57:44 pm »

Whats your finished CP gonna look like? Stained wood or are you putting art/plexi on it? It sounds like your thinking about staining the wood on the cp. That right?

If so... I might suggest building a practice CP.

rdowdy95 · « **Reply #45 on:** July 18, 2006, 04:19:11 pm »

Hey leapinlew you are exactly right. It is not going to have art or plexi. It will just have the stained look. After I clean up these splinters on the one sheet I will stain it and see what it looks like. I still have more wood for the other control panel if the practice one looks bad, and if I decide to do it over. The shape and all look great, just some minor cosmetic problems. I think staining the practice one will look good. Should I cut holes in it too like my layout I am going have or just leave it as is, and stain it without the holes cut. Is it better to stain before the holes are cut or after the holes are cut?

leapinlew · « **Reply #46 on:** July 18, 2006, 04:47:41 pm »

If it's practice - do the whole thing. It would be easy to use a flush trim bit to create another one (unless I'm wrong - someone correct me).

Are you going to use a trackball? If so, I assume you pretty much have to have a trackball plate.

rdowdy95 · « **Reply #47 on:** July 18, 2006, 05:32:13 pm »

I am going to be using a USB Trackball 2 and 1/2" from Happ Controls also getting the square mounting plate as well. Only problem is I have not ordered any of the joysticks, buttons, or any of that stuff yet.

rdowdy95 · « **Reply #48 on:** July 18, 2006, 05:33:56 pm »

Also I haven't even designed my control panel yet. I have an idea of what it is going to look like. There is a design of this other guy I saw on the net. Let me get a pic of what it will look like, and I will show you what I want it to look like.

rdowdy95 · « **Reply #49 on:** July 18, 2006, 05:38:46 pm »

Here is a picture. His 4-way stick has 6 buttons as well. Is there any 4 way stick games with 6 buttons though?

rdowdy95 · « **Reply #50 on:** July 18, 2006, 10:43:10 pm »

Hey I finished cutting those other lower supports. Man they I think are a little off! Do these things have to be exact? I am using 3 inch caster wheels on the thing! I will check into sanding them down or cutting some more after I finish making these sawboards. I am going to try to make all three of the sawboards tommorow. That way I can get some nice straight lines on these boards and such. I definately need to get some sawboard action for whe i cut the cabniet side. Also tonight I ordered the two bits I need off of MLCS. I ordered a 1/16 T-Molding slot bit, and a Top bearing flush trim bit to make an exact copy of my cabniet side once I get it cut out! Also need to sand paper my top piece of the control panel with some high 200+ sandpaper. Things are coming along slowy but surely!

leapinlew · « **Reply #51 on:** July 18, 2006, 10:50:03 pm »

do the cuts need to be exact?

Yes! Almost all of them do. Since you plan on staining, being precise is important.

As for your order from MLCS.... did you get the arbor/bearing too?

rdowdy95 · « **Reply #52 on:** July 18, 2006, 11:39:13 pm »

Yeah I will recut the base boards to make sure they are exact. I don't want any wobble cabniet. I did get the arbor bearing for the slot cutter yes. Thanks for the good website! I am making the sawboards tommorow if my wife has no other dumb chores for me to do.

leapinlew · « **Reply #53 on:** July 19, 2006, 10:29:12 am »

Cool!

I'm saying this cause it seems that your new to this building business, but preparation/planning takes up like 90% of the time. Preparing wood, multiple measuring, etc. The actual cutting of the material ends up being only a small amount of time spent overall.

javeryh · « **Reply #54 on:** July 19, 2006, 01:13:13 pm »

Quote from: rdowdy95 on July 18, 2006, 05:38:46 pm

Here is a picture. His 4-way stick has 6 buttons as well. Is there any 4 way stick games with 6 buttons though?

You should check out Knievil's Woody - he is building a stained CP but is using 1/8" maple ply over 5/8" MDF (and then adding 1/8" plexi on the top to protect it). I would definitely want to hide the trackball mounting plate and this is the only way to do it without using vinyl or artwork (I think).

dudebozo · « **Reply #55 on:** July 19, 2006, 01:52:33 pm »

hey rdowdy95, i like the way your build is coming around. looks really good, keep up the work. man, seeing your project makes me want to get back to working on my cabinet. i noticed you got an A64 to power your mame rig, i picked up a cpu mobo combo last week at fry's. my friends were giving me a hard time for getting something so overkill for mame.

rdowdy95 · « **Reply #56 on:** July 19, 2006, 02:37:31 pm »

Hey Javeryh,

I know what you mean, but I kind of liked the black mounting plate on top. I think it looks pretty cool. I know what you mean though. I have seen the one that hide the plate using some artwork/plexi on top. I think Woody's design looks cool though. Call me weird, but I like the black mounting plate.

Dudebozo,

To answer your question. Don't listen to friends. The computer stuff is pretty cheap these days. I have never ever built an Intel system. Only AMD! I have been building computers for about 10 years now. Started after highschool. I usually order everything from newegg.com. However, when my closest Fry's in Plano, TX has a sale I am usually there to pick some things up. Also they have a good website with weekly specials too. The reason I got the AMD 64 3500+ Socket939 was it was only like $10 more that the 3200+ at the time. I also got two sticks of ram equaling out 2GB! I know sounds like overkill, but with 2GB I will never need to upgrade. My Radeon X1300 Pro has the component connector so I can go with components for a better picture. Depending on the heat here in Texas I may just stay insdie the house, and build the computer this weekend. I need to build it soon to make sure I do not have to send any of the hardware back. You know what is sad though. It takes me longer to install Windows, and get it ready to go than take long to build the hardware side of the computer. That takes like 45 minutes.

rdowdy95 · « **Reply #57 on:** July 19, 2006, 02:56:43 pm »

Hey guys I just made a 4 foot sawboard before it got to hot today. I looked at Drew's info about it on how to make one. This will help me make those straight line cuts. I am not cutting anymore pieces out until I get a 1 foot and 2 foot sawboard made. I need to get some more plywood though. The piece leftover I have is too small. I used 3/4" MDF for the rip guide and 1/4 plywood for the base. I would like to get 1/2" of some wood for the base next time. That thin ply was hard to get screwed in cause it was kind of bendy. Here are two pics of the 4' one I made today before it got in the 115 temp in the garage.

dudebozo · « **Reply #58 on:** July 19, 2006, 10:58:44 pm »

AMD! AMD! AMD!

haha, yeah, i'm in the same boat. i stick with my boys over at AMD. gotta root for the lil guy. but yeah, i'm definitely drooling on that A64. i wanted to go with at least with the socket 939, but this other deal with a 3200+ socket 754 suited me better. the really awesome thing about your rig, you can do some pc gaming up on that thing too. i guess what they say is true about texas, even the mame rigs are bigger and badder in texas. just playing. it should be nice to see some pics of your mame rig when you are done. are you going with a case or place all the computer stuff on a piece of board?

rdowdy95 · « **Reply #59 on:** July 20, 2006, 01:59:54 am »

I feel safer if I put all the stuff in a case. The case I am using is a basic Antec case with a 350 watt PSU. It will suffice. I won't be needing a lot of electrical power for this system. My brother has the same case I built for his new system, and it has done well for him. This is my first socket 939 AMD 64. I have built about five of the socket 754 systems. I might also leave my bottom back panel off just for better cooling. That or have it slide in/out for easy removal if things do get a little warm in there. I could mount a motherboard tray inside there, but it would be easier to put it all in a good ole ATX case. So dudebozo have you started on your cabniet yet. For the first month I was just playing all the games on my other computer, which actually has an ATI Radeon X800 XT card in there. $500 Video Card right when it came out. Now that is the system I use for PC gaming.

dudebozo · « **Reply #60 on:** July 20, 2006, 02:15:30 am »

man, this guy doesn't mess around when it comes to building rigs. good stuff. my mame rig is all built, threw in 2 300 gig hdds (fry's special). just loading all sorts of stuff, getting it ready. but yeah, i built my first cabinet last summer. i took it apart so i could fit a 27" tv, but a winter flood we had ruined all my pieces. now that school is done with, i finally have the time to build another one. i've learned a lot since my beta cabinet, and learned a lot from people here in the forums. i'm just barely cutting out wood and stuff. hopefully soon i can sit down and create a thread of my cabinet. i think this weekend i can get some of my friends over to help throw in a hand or two and try to bust it all out this weekend. maybe bbq it up or something. but yeah, keep up the great work rdowdy95

rdowdy95 · « **Reply #61 on:** July 20, 2006, 01:10:57 pm »

I am going to cut out and sand/stain all my pieces before I start screwing stuff together. I have my Dad, Brother-n-Law, and my best friend to help me when I need them. Can't wait to read about your new project. I am going to Home Depot for lunch today to get me another 2x4 piece of a 1/2" of something for two more sawboards. 2' and a 1'. Then I will start cutting out one full size of an arcade cabniet side. Also I need to stain my control panel top and sand it to see what the color will look like. Things are coming together.

rdowdy95 · « **Reply #62 on:** July 21, 2006, 12:46:37 pm »

Man I have been slacking lately. Well my control panel top looks like a POS. So I am going to redo that one with the other sheet of wood I have. I originally cut that one freestyle. The same with the base boards those suck as well. Tonight is the wife's BDAY. So the only thing I am doing tonight after the Bday will be to finish test staining the sucky control panel top. Then finish up my 1' and 2' sawboards. I started those yesterday. Hopefully I have some one inch #8 wood screws on hand. I still need to buy some screws in bulk at Home Depot. The sawboards should help me make those straight cutting lines that have for so long evaded me. Also I have bought 100 teeth saw blade for the circular saw for smoother cuts to reduce those splinters. Saturday/Sunday I want to finish cutting out the monitor shelf, and cut out the first side of the arcade cabniet. Wish this rookie well. I won't post anything else till Monday night. Then I can tell you all if I made progress or if I was just a slacker.

dudebozo · « **Reply #63 on:** July 23, 2006, 01:00:27 am »

yeah, it's been a rough weekend so far. we had our bathroom remodeled, and everything is done, so now it's time to clean up. yuck. but yeah, i haven't had any time to touch my cabinet this weekend. i think i just need to get jumpstarted back on my cabinet again. good luck with yours rdowdy95

rdowdy95 · « **Reply #64 on:** July 24, 2006, 01:13:03 am »

Well I know I said my next post would be Monday night, but I got all the stuff I wanted to do done. I don't know if I told you all this, but I did finally get the monitor shelf all cut out, and it looks good. Also I cut out one of my side pieces today. Check out the pics below. I am pretty proud of myself. It came out pretty good. There is a couple of places I will put some wood putty, but overall very good for a rookie like myself. The hardest part was that curve. Man that was hard. I used the jigsaw and it took me about 15-20 minutes. Next thing I need to do is recut my control panel and recut the base boards. They all had some cutting issues. I now have a 4', 2', and 1' table saws to get those nice straight lines. Also doing the control panel back, front, and bottom. So I have drawing and measuring to do there. For the second cabniet piece I am going to lay the side I have finished and use a router flush trim bit, and hopefully it will make me a nice carbon copy side piece.

rdowdy95 · « **Reply #65 on:** July 30, 2006, 03:55:05 pm »

Wow it has been six days about! Well I have been in the woodworking forum most of the time this week. See I never used a router before. I highly recommend you read the directions, and maybe even some good books at your local library on how to use one of these puppies. Anyways I finished routing my second cabniet side piece. See the pic below. What I need to do know is to do some minor sanding. Also I have a ton of sawdust I need to sweep up. I should of done the routing outside. Also when using a router wear your goggles and a breathing mask. If you use MDF definately don't skimp out on the mask part. I am using plywood and it is supposed to not be as bad, but I had tons of dust everywhere.

rdowdy95 · « **Reply #66 on:** August 23, 2006, 12:05:08 pm »

Hey everyone. I haven't posted in a while. Well I am almost done cutting out all my pieces of wood. I am making sure all the pieces that should be 26" are that exactly. So I have been flush trimming them with my router using my base as the template for the proper width of the other pieces. I have one more 26"X18" piece to cut out which I am going to cut it then make it flush with another 26"X18" piece. Then I will have the two control panel box sides to cut out. After that is done I am going to start sanding with my sander and staining each piece before I start to build. I work most of the weekend so I am atleast hoping I can finish cutting the pieces and start sanding them this weekend. I will post pics when I have all pieces sanded and ready to go.

leapinlew · « **Reply #67 on:** August 23, 2006, 12:43:01 pm »

Doesn't that flush trim bit rule?!

That router turned out to be a surprise awesome tool for me. I didn't realize I'd use it as much as I did.

Anyhow - keep up the good work and keep posting pics. You never know who will take a tip away from what your doing. Check out my thread on the showcase cabinet I built when you get to the CP (and plexi cutting for the CP) if you like. I did a semi-decent job of detailing what I was doing.

bvicarious · « **Reply #68 on:** August 24, 2006, 02:12:05 am »

rock on dowdy!!!

rdowdy95 · « **Reply #69 on:** August 30, 2006, 02:13:49 pm »

Here is my base that I finished today. Me and my brother-n-law worked on it, and it came out real good. I wanted to use swivel casters in the front, but they were jus too damn big and would of hit the outside of the cabniet side. Oh well can't rain all the time. Here are some pics of the base. This weekend I will try fitting the sides on the base! WOOHOO!

rdowdy95 · « **Reply #70 on:** August 30, 2006, 02:15:01 pm »

Damn can't upload very good. Here is the base bottom!

rdowdy95 · « **Reply #71 on:** August 30, 2006, 02:19:04 pm »

Today in the mail I also got my Marquee. I kept it rolled up till I am ready to use, but here is what it is going to look like. Had my buddies over at emdkay.net to make it for me. I think it is pretty cool. I picked for my mini marquee Galaga which is my Dad's first favorite arcade game he played at the arcade and I picked my older brother's favorite game which was Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. He passed away in the summer of 1996 due to a car wreck. So I am kind of honoring my Dad and brother with the marquee.

rdowdy95 · « **Reply #72 on:** September 02, 2006, 11:46:31 pm »

Okay last night I attached one side, but it wasn't coming out level. Two more screws was all it needed though to get level. Today though I got lots of work done. I had a fit getting the other side on though. I came up with a great way to get the second cabniet side proped up. I stacked 4 bricks up and sandwiched the bricks between two pieces of wood. I used the two back pieces since they were the same size and clamped it all together.

The only strife I had, was I didn't countersink deep enough and two of my screw heads got stripped. So I had to use a flathead screwdriver and a hammer to chisel around them. I had to eventually take pliers to them and turn them loose that way. It took some time, but I got it done and didn't scuff the side too much. Nothing a little woodfiller can't fix. Anyways here are three pics from the first part of the day!

rdowdy95 · « **Reply #73 on:** September 02, 2006, 11:48:34 pm »

Okay and here is the money shot. When I was taking the leveler to everything I amazed myself cause everything was somewhat level. I am going to put on all the L brackets tommorow. Checkout the pic!

dudebozo · « **Reply #74 on:** September 03, 2006, 12:43:11 pm »

looking good dowdy. its always a nice feeling when you get those sides on cause your piles of cut wood actually are starting to form up. good times. just be aware though, when you get to a point like this, it gets really hard to stop from going and going and going. it's like, oh, i'll just put this one piece on, and then i'll be done. and then it's like...nah, just one more here. hahaha

rdowdy95 · « **Reply #75 on:** September 03, 2006, 12:55:10 pm »

It will go a little faster now, but I suck at staining so that is going to take a while, and my control panel box isn't perfect. I am going to have to sand that thing like crazy. Wiriing and all that. I also need to get around to build the MAME computer for this thing. Still so much to do. I am waiting for ponyboy to get an audio amplifier enclosure kit which hopefully he will get by Wednesday, then I can order all the parts through him.

leapinlew · « **Reply #76 on:** September 04, 2006, 12:43:46 am »

Looking great Dowdy. What is it? TV Stand?

Ha! Keep up the good work.

dudebozo · « **Reply #77 on:** September 04, 2006, 03:23:38 pm »

i'll have to deduct one point from leapinlew, for a low blow to rdowdy95.

keep it clean boys, now come back out fighting.

you getting any mame cabinet building done this labor day rdowdy?

rdowdy95 · « **Reply #78 on:** September 06, 2006, 03:34:40 pm »

Sorry it took me a couple of days to reply. On Monday, September 4th I did put all the L-brackets on inside the cabniet. I also put 4 on the bottom of the base. That is all I have done so far. I am trying to decide if I want to stain it now or wait till I am done building it. My thing is I am going to be drilling from the outisde in for the monitor shelf. So if I wait to get the monitor shelf in there then I can woodfiller the outside and then sand/stain the cabniet.

rdowdy95 · « **Reply #79 on:** September 10, 2006, 10:43:17 pm »

Well guys I put up two sets of mounting strips today, and I haven't screwed the panels in yet, cause I am going to sand and stain the inside of the cabniet first before I screw those in. I also need to get my wife to push one side of the cabniet side in just a tad that way I won't have any gaps in between the shelves inside the cabniet.

Second pic shows the top panel level!


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Author Topic: Dowdy's Mame Arcade!!! ***FINISHED*** (Read 25568 times)

Author Topic: Dowdy's Mame Arcade!!! FINISHED (Read 25568 times)