Bartop Project + Sitdown Project (Bartop progress 7-29-07)

[stuckpixel]

So, I figured that I've lurked here long enough. It's about time that I get my own thread going.

First, a bit of back-story (because I'm sure this is totally what you want). Back in the days when K6-2 450's ruled the roost as _the_ budget system to have, I built my first cab, after having discovered mame a year or two prior. I won't lie, it wasn't pretty. Went with 1/2" plywood without thinking how the black paint would look, had a two player fighter setup playing to a 15" monitor. Had a PC trackball hanging out in a hole in the CP. No t-molding. I chalk the build up to about 15% lack of funds, 10% laziness, and 75% impatience.

While it wasn't pretty, it was damn fun. I have some great memories of schooling my friends in KOF.

Fast forward to the day of multiple-cores, and here I am. Married, out of my parents basement, and cabless (the original behemoth's overclocked K6-2 having given up the ghost a year after construction). Hell, I've got a kid on the way myself, and I though to myself:

What kind of a parent could I consider myself to be if I don't teach my kids about classic gaming?

Well, okay, the actual thought wasn't anywhere along those lines, but damnit I wanted a cab.

Finally got the wife to agree to it (had been bugging her since we were married). Figured now is the time (before the new kid comes along). Told my parents about it, and lo-and-behold, they actually miss the old cab too! (many evenings I'd come downstairs to see my mom playing ms-pacman, or my dad raining death in Galaga)

So, two cabs it is. A sit-down cab for me, a bar-top for my parents (their bar never gets used for anything anyways).

After getting the go-ahead on both fronts, I started designing. My first attempts were the horrible inefficient ms-paint/gimp profile drawings that some of you may have seen in the main forum. Then, I discovered Google SketchUp, and I was in heaven. (pics 1 and 2)

After multiple revisions, I came up with the final versions of the actual cabinets.

Flash forward a few weeks to today, finally got together with my pops, who is a hell of a lot handier with a saw than I am. Got _all_ of the circular saw cuts done today for both cabs (assuming we don't muck anything up too badly down the road here.)

Nothing too fancy, just a big pile of cut wood, and a rather large pile of scrap wood.  (pics 3 and 4)

So, I guess this is the start to this thread. More news and better pictures will follow (forgot my camera today, had to use the cell, not that you want to look at hi-res piles of wood anyways).

[GAtekwriter]

Your sit-down version is interesting... definitely not a standard cab shape, but I'm not one for rules or adhering to tradition.  Good luck with it...

One suggestion - any way to cover the flat LCD screen with a build of some sort?  Something thin that hides the true nature of the LCD?

Jim

[CheffoJeffo]

All you nice people building bartops for your parents !   

Looks good -- you might consider an enclosure for the flatscreen (so you can put things like big speakers in there for a full jukebox experience). I know that it'll look like a more generic showcase cab that way, but that's not such a bad thing.

[stuckpixel]

Hmm, something to think about. What my plans are for the LCD (which would work with or without the case you both suggested) is to mount it on a lazy susan so I can have easy rotation from horizontal to vertical.

I had originally thought I'd end up putting the speakers in the CP, but perhaps making a "monitor case" with the speakers inside might be a better route. I'll have to give it some thought.

To be honest, I'm not intending my 'sit-down' cab to be the end-all cabinet for me. It's more of a 'tide-me-over' cab. Right now my wife and I don't have a ton of space in the condo, and I think there would have been no way in hell I could have convinced her to allow me to keep a "normal" arcade cab in the living room.

Once we get into a house (which may be a little while with how the housing market is lately), I fully intend to build a full cabinet of some sort.

I'm still fiddling around with the button layouts, which won't likely get cut/recessed for a weekend or two here. One of the "neat" things I decided to do with the sitdown was make my dedicated 4-way joystick actually a 4/8 way (switchable under the CP top). Hence the dedicated buttons. It's not a full 4 player cab, but we can squeeze three players on for some gauntlet or some nba jam.

[Green Giant]

An option for the sitdown cab is the fully enclosed control panel/computer.  Basically decasing your computer and dropping it inside the control panel.  No monitor and no pedestal base.  I thought about this with an extra long vga cord to play some games on my hidef plasma.  Then you have the option of adding it to any cab you might build in the future.

I have seen a couple of these on here that looked pretty sweet.  Definitely a space saver, and playing this on the tv might encourage the wife to allow a full size cab.

[stuckpixel]

Yeah, I've seen the enclosed CPs before, the real negative is I wouldn't really have any place to "set it up" for playing. Or really store it for that matter.

I think that the sit-down cab, while it might not be everyone's cup of tea, will suit me fine until we finally get out of the damn condo and get into a house.

This weekend I'm hoping to get the routing and jigsaw cuts done, should be significantly less work than last week. Cutting wood for two cabs with just a circular is long work (the heat and humidity didn't really help things either). Hopefully by mid-July I'll have both of these boxes in a more-or-less finished state.

Once we've got the routing done, I'll be able to start on the CP wiring for the bartop at least. Probably hold off on the sit-down wiring until we have construction, and possible all of the finishing done.

[stuckpixel]

Little bit more to announce, and hopefully more work to come today. Got the routing and (most of) the drilling done for the bartop CP yesterday.





Turned out pretty decently, used a round-over bit for the lip of the CP, as I'm going to be doing a vinyl laminate over the CP, and wanted it to be continuous.

You'll see the holes in the front, that _was_ where the coin buttons were to go, but I neglected to take into account that buttons need _space_ beyond the actual hole. So, I'll be filling those, and mounting the coin buttons on the CP it looks like.

Finalizing the CP layout for my sit-down cab, and I'll likely be routing that out this afternoon, along with drilling the button holes. Hoping next weekend we can take care of the jig-cuts (on my CP and on the bartop sides), and maybe start assembly. If nothing else, I'll get the coin button hole drilled today so I can work on the wiring for the bartop during the week.

One of the things I really dig is this button layout. It's basically a modified bfauska layout, just slid the bottom row to the left. Still plenty comfy, and it gives the traditional Neo Geo layout without the 7th button.

Still a lot of work left to do, but I'm liking where this is heading. 

{EDIT for correct nomenclature}

[stuckpixel]

So I've been slacking a bit on the updates. Basically, spent last friday doing the routing and hole drilling on the sit-down CP. I need to pick up a mounting-plate for my trackball, but that's about all that remains to be done.



Today, I went and put in more time on the project. Got quite a bit done, finished all of the major cuts (again, baring the mounting plate): Got the corners cut on my CP top and bottom, got the sides cut for the bartop, and got the coin-door cut out. Also, I got a chance to play around with my slot-cutter, and after a bit of fiddling, got all the slots cut.



I would have more pics, but forgot to charge my cell last night so of course, it died on me right as I wanted to take pics..

Pretty much, the next step is construction!! Things will actually start looking like arcades instead of hunks o' wood. Then finishing, hw installation, etc.

Things are progressing. Oh, on the off chance that someone is actaully _reading_ this, do you think I should go with laminate or paint for the finish on these bad-boys? Already planning on doing laminate on both CPs.

[psychotech]

 

Late to this thread but yeah, looking good!

Laminate vs. paint? Never laminated my builds, so ..laminate! That way I can learn from your efforts 

Actually, whatever you like. We all have our own favorite finishes? I did my first mini with self-adhesive film and the next, a bigger bartop, with acrylics. My WIP jukeball/pinbox sides will most probably be done with acrylics again ..well, that works for me

So, no help 

Good luck with your build(s) 

psychotech

[javeryh]

Nice job so far.  I've never tried laminate but when I start cab #3 I'm definitely going to try it.  I had a nightmare painting my last cabinet - I applied 2 coats of white primer, 6 coats of pink paint and 25(!) coats of lacquer.  Then I spent a total of about 12 hours spread over two days sanding it with 1500 grit sandpaper.  Then I applied several coats of rubbing compound followed by a wax polish.  It looks AMAZING but I'll probably never go through it again since it was such a pain.... well maybe not never but not any time soon.   

[stuckpixel]

Good lord, that is what I call dedication. The paint/lacquer probably cost about as much as the rest of the cabinet!!

I'm still torn, but I've got a little bit of time, it's doubtful that I'll have time to work on the projects next weekend, the wife is dragging me to an out-of-town wedding, so I get to spend my time twiddling my thumbs and playing games on my cell phone. =P

[theCoder]

I had a nightmare painting my last cabinet - I applied 2 coats of white primer, 6 coats of pink paint and 25(!) coats of lacquer.  Then I spent a total of about 12 hours spread over two days sanding it with 1500 grit sandpaper.  Then I applied several coats of rubbing compound followed by a wax polish.  It looks AMAZING but I'll probably never go through it again since it was such a pain.... well maybe not never but not any time soon.   

And you got off easy.  I had about twice the surface area, and the paint process was spread over 3 weeks.  Both of our cabs look very shiny though.  But, yes, such a pain.  I think I'll try a laminate on my next scratch build.  It's much more resistant to marks, and looks like a one day job.  Good luck with whatever you decide to go with.

[stuckpixel]

So, more progress! Started assembly on the bartop! Here is it as it sits now.


Got the bottom, sides and monitor shelf secured. Would have had the bezel and top on as well, however in working with the monitor bezel, kind of did things in the wrong order. What my plan for the bezel is, is to make it out of 3/4 mdf, but route out the area where the monitor itself will be pushed up against down to a 1/4 inch, as it's somewhat of a tight fit with a full CRT in there (even when mostly decased) Beyond that, I wanted to use a chamfer bit to basically give more of a bezel feel by recessing the wood back at a 45 degree angle.

Well, we cut the space for the monitor, and decided to route the back out first before using the chamfer bit. That caused a problem, as the Chamfer bit had nothing to ride along.

So.. next work session we'll be cutting and preparing yet another bezel! This time, we'll get the order right =P

Just because I had to see, I laid the cab on its side and popped in the top and (fouled up) bezel.



Should be pretty sweet. After we get that done, it's mostly a matter of putting the finish on. I'm planning on hinging the CP and the back-door, so both electronic elements will be accessable. Oh, and I suppose I should probably install the 120mm fans I bought for it too..


For those of you curious about the sit-down cab, I'm having second thoughts, and right now I'm not sure if I'm going to complete it, or simply make a couple of desktop arcade sticks. I'll probably at least assemble the thing to some degree to see how well it'll work, but I'm still torn.

We'll see. More progress (hopefully) to come next weekend.