Main > Project Announcements
Bella's Arcade [FINISHED]
javeryh:
--- Quote from: Donkey_Kong on December 07, 2006, 12:57:35 pm ---I love it and the U 360 W/ Pink balltop...GENIOUS!! Wish I had a daughter to build a pink cab for!!
:cheers:
--- End quote ---
Thanks! I had Andy confirm the pink balltop would fit before I ordered - and it does! I think it will look sharp against the black vinyl CPO...
In other "news" I am having a very hard time finishing the cabinet portion and getting everything ready for paint. The main problem is the control panel - I can't seem to figure out how the bottom part connects with the rest of the cabinet. I also have to make sure it is removeable in case I need to do any maintenance in the future and I'm not quite sure how to accomplish this. The only thing I can think of is to cut the panels on an angle and I don't know how to do this accurately with my tools. Every thing except for these last two panels is cut and ready for paint so I'm almost there...
I'll post pictures of the trouble area tomorrow and hopefully someone here can help me. I really wanted to finish today but I don't want to rush...
Things I need to do to finish the cabinet (for my own sanity):
1. Cut hole in bezel panel for the monitor
2. Cut hole in coin door panel for the coin door
3. Remove material on back edge of coin door panel sides so door closes easier
4. Cut CP front panel (angled edge)
5. Cut CP bottom panel (angled edge)
It's not that much and #1, #2 and #3 will probably only take an hour or two but #4 and #5 are going to be a huge pain. I really want to get the thing completely finished so I can get it out of the garage and inside the basement for painting - it's cold out there!!
javeryh:
Some quick pics of the cabinet with the bezel panel and CP installed (nothing is glued yet hence the clamp):
Here's the overall look - obviously I still need to cut the hole in the panel for the monitor and coin door. The notch in the back is for the speaker and light wires that you can see hanging down. I'm going to cover this with a panel that will be perpendicular to the bezel panel and meet the panel on the underside of the marquee - kind of sloping towards the player.
And here are some shots of the recess I've created to hold the glass and cardboard/plastic bezel over the monitor. They will rest right on the CP panel with nothing but gravity holding them in place. It's a 3/8" lip - I'm figuring on 3/16" to 1/4" thick glass and then something 1/8" thick or less for the bezel. I had to rabbit the edge of the bezel panel (3/4" x 3/8") so the control panel has a place to rest (it is going to be removeable).
Any thoughts or suggestions? Am I on the right track or is there something you would have done differently? I'd also like to hear some ideas on how I should go about locking the CP in place so it doesn't move at all but I can still remove it if necessary.
Kaytrim:
javeryh,
Seeing you don't have a table saw it might be something to ask Santa for. ;) Another solution is to leave the MDF cut normally and not try for the crazy angle. Here is what I would do instead...
Cut the front panel of the CP so the back corner meets up with the top corner of the middle support panel. Wrap the middle support panel and cabinet sides with news paper. Use bondo to fill in the space left between the front panel and the middle support panel. The newspaper will prevent the bondo from adhering to the side and support panels.
You are talking about the possibility of removing the CP for maintenance or future changes. What I would do in your situation is move the buttons on the sides in a little bit to give you room for a piece of pine, 1x2 or 2x2 would do the trick. This will give you a solid point for your screws instead of edge screwing the MDF. I have ruined a few pieces of MDF by trying to hit my pre-drilled holes on the edges. This way you can access the screws from the sides or the CP face and not worry about ruining the MDF.
javeryh:
Thanks Kaytrim! That's a pretty good idea. I'm a little afraid that the gap there would be a little big to use bondo on but I really don't know. Also, it might be hard to hold things at the proper angle to let the bondo dry although I suppose if I used the bondo after everything was in place this would be less of a problem. I need to think about this more but I might end up using your suggestion if I can't get the MDF cut at the proper angle.
javeryh:
OK, big update for a very small task:
This isn't glamorous but it sure was more time-consuming than I thought it would be. This entire process took me about an hour and a half which doesn't seem right but everything always takes longer than I think it should. Last night I cut out the hole for the coin door on the front panel of the cabinet. I ordered the Happ Small Coin Door (but not from them) - it's a little pricey but I think it adds a real nice finishing touch and an "authentic" look to the cabinet. Plus, since I decided to remove the "coin" button from the control panel it will be the only way to start up the games!
The first thing I did was remove the coin door panel from the hinges (and remove the hinges too) so I could layout the mounting template in the center. This was pretty easy to do with just my t-square and pencil. The corners of the cutout are rounded and have a 1" radius so I had to drill a 2" diameter hole in each corner in order to get the proper cut. Here are some shots showing the layout and some of the holes drilled:
Once all 4 holes were cut in the corners I used my jigsaw to connect the holes and remove the interior material. I made sure to stay 1/8" inside the line for the rough cut so I can clean it up with the router and a flush trimming bit.
The final thing I did was use the router to make everything nice and even. Here are the results:
Unfortunately, the coin door hasn't arrived yet so I can't get a finished picture but it is supposed to come this week and I will post the final results when it gets here.
Whew!
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version