Author Topic: "Arcade Replay" - Slim LCD cabinet. Now with CABINET LIGHTING. (Read 106341 times)

javeryh · « **Reply #80 on:** March 13, 2009, 10:29:22 am »

This is it Santoro - 55 degrees tomorrow and Sunday. Time to finish this thing!! I'm with you on the rotating monitor - I'm going to finish mine and then work on the rotation but I'm not going to let it hold up the entire project. It will be very difficult to implement.

Santoro · « **Reply #81 on:** March 14, 2009, 07:31:07 pm »

55 degrees was perfect to get some more work done.

First, the way I had the rear vinyl stapled to hold it down looked terrible so I used some hardwood to fix it up:
Before:

After:

Next I built a template to use routing out an opening for the DVD-ROM. I used my Kreg Pocket Hole Jig.. worked great.

Here's the template screwed to the underside of the front panel.

And routed out. Worked nicely IMHO:

Santoro · « **Reply #82 on:** March 14, 2009, 07:33:26 pm »

Now was time to laminate the front panel and keyboard drawer face.

I couldn't resist popping in the coin door and DVD to see how it looked.

I applied t-molding to the drawer face edges and it looks great.

Santoro · « **Reply #83 on:** March 14, 2009, 07:34:33 pm »

Also - Turns out the coin door will fit with plenty of room without modification.

Santoro · « **Reply #84 on:** March 14, 2009, 07:42:49 pm »

Santoro · « **Reply #85 on:** March 14, 2009, 08:54:47 pm »

Some advice for you all. Never put your router down next to a bedsheet that you were using to protect your work.

This mess flailed around dangerously until I was able to unplug it.

javeryh · « **Reply #86 on:** March 15, 2009, 12:03:20 am »

Wow - things are coming along nicely! The weather was great today - too bad I had to work!

The vinyl is a cool idea for the back panel!

I seriously hope that's red paint on that sheet...

thatitalian · « **Reply #87 on:** March 17, 2009, 01:48:38 pm »

I think they are flowers but ---fudgesicle--- me better the sheet than your hand, or worse..... your balls!

(don't ask me why I thought of balls near a router.....)

Ond · « **Reply #88 on:** March 17, 2009, 06:55:36 pm »

Looks great, very stylish match of woodgrain and black, should look nice in its chosen spot in your home.

cmoses · « **Reply #89 on:** March 18, 2009, 12:13:47 pm »

Quote from: thatitalian on March 17, 2009, 01:48:38 pm

(don't ask me why I thought of balls near a router.....)

Reminds me of the Pickle Slicer Joke - google it if you are not familiar

Santoro · « **Reply #90 on:** March 18, 2009, 08:23:24 pm »

Quote from: thatitalian on March 17, 2009, 01:48:38 pm

I think they are flowers but ---fudgesicle--- me better the sheet than your hand,

Agree...

Quote

or worse..... your balls!

(don't ask me why I thought of balls near a router.....)

erm... me either.

Santoro · « **Reply #91 on:** March 22, 2009, 05:09:23 pm »

Made some more progress yesterday. I decided to stay with a square CP box but will make a curved front edge on the panel itself. I did wind up using laminate on the CP sides. If you look really close it's not perfect, but it looks very nice.

Not much narrative today as it's all rather self explanitory. I may be redoing the monitor hole with a router and template, the hole I cut by hand looks awful.

Santoro · « **Reply #92 on:** March 22, 2009, 05:11:06 pm »

Santoro · « **Reply #93 on:** March 22, 2009, 05:15:12 pm »

Done for the day.

Santoro · « **Reply #94 on:** March 22, 2009, 05:20:27 pm »

One comment - you will notice that the monitor is tilted way back compared to the plans. As soon as I stood in front of it, it became clear that the planned angle wouldn't work. It was too close to my face and the viewing angle was really annoying. Where I have it here works well.

thatitalian · « **Reply #95 on:** March 23, 2009, 05:48:12 am »

Is it tilted back 30 degrees? It looks like it is. I am doing my one that way because I found on my first cab that it was a bit too much in my face also.

Nemss316 · « **Reply #96 on:** March 23, 2009, 01:42:54 pm »

Nice work!! I like the old school look on the wood, and the slim design!

Good idea to have the monitor tilted back some, it certainly makes it easier to look down at the cabinet, rather than have the monitor right in your face.

BobA · « **Reply #97 on:** March 23, 2009, 10:30:03 pm »

Looks good. I will keep the monitor angle in mind when I am building.

Santoro · « **Reply #98 on:** March 23, 2009, 10:36:16 pm »

Quote from: thatitalian on March 23, 2009, 05:48:12 am

Is it tilted back 30 degrees? It looks like it is. I am doing my one that way because I found on my first cab that it was a bit too much in my face also.

I haven't measured the angle yet. I will let you know if I get to do that.

leapinlew · « **Reply #99 on:** March 24, 2009, 01:14:08 am »

looking good.

Whats the plan for the gap between the speakers and the bezel?

Santoro · « **Reply #100 on:** March 24, 2009, 08:29:35 am »

Now that the monitor angle has changed I need to re-think the speaker panel - I will probably redo it from scratch.

thatitalian · « **Reply #101 on:** March 24, 2009, 09:45:21 am »

have you thought of a 3-way build up?

Santoro · « **Reply #102 on:** March 31, 2009, 05:13:21 pm »

Looking for opinions on control panel art. There's a bit of an effect I am going for here...

- When the machine is not being used I want it to blend into the house somewhat. Where I plan to put the cab you will see the wood sides most of the time. The CP wouldn't be too noticeable day to day from a distance.
- When the machine is being used, I want to feel like I am playing an authentic arcade machine, not a piece of furniture. This is why the front is black and there is almost no wood showing. A retro CP would add to this experience.

With that in mind, I am looking at something like this (it's a photoshop mockup.) I am interested to what degree everyone thinks the wood style clashes with the Centipede-esque control panel.

javeryh · « **Reply #103 on:** March 31, 2009, 05:36:50 pm »

I think it depends on the marquee. I don't really like it as-is because it sticks out from the rest of the cab. However, if it tied into an equally bright/colorful marquee then it would probably look nice and not tacked on. I do think the design is a little "busy" though. Colors are fine but I'd scale it back a bit.

Uncle Monkey · « **Reply #104 on:** March 31, 2009, 10:55:32 pm »

cab is looking great, you've got a very classy cab there, in keeping with the look, i would go with a much less busy cp/marquee design, and probably stick a one-color scheme/limited palette, i.e. a dark blue/red/green/purple/etc with lighter accents in shapes of the same. i think that too many colors and/or too bright would detract from the overall effect that you currently have going.

here are some examples of the sort of color scheme/palette that i think would look good:

i'm excited to see what direction you go, and the completed project.....

Santoro · « **Reply #105 on:** April 03, 2009, 11:42:07 pm »

Thanks for the feedback... I am a big fan of deviant art for PC wallpapers, but I kind of think they don't fit on a retro arcade machine like mine. Based on this and other feedback I am definitely going to tone down the CP, though I am not sure exactly how yet. I may completely dump the centipede motif completely and go with something darker and simpler. Lots to think about.

In the meantime I have redone the speaker panel and monitor mount, I am much happier with them now. I ordered a piece of smoked tempered glass today, and will be spray-painting a 'bezel' on the back of it. I also hope to cut the marquee plexi this weekend.

Temporary router guides to cut the monitor opening:

The new speaker panel:

The back of the monitor bracket prior to drilling:

I added this hunk of wood to make it easier to move around with a dolly.

The 'secondary speakers' to be used with the Ambiance App.

I found a nice matching pull

Santoro · « **Reply #106 on:** April 03, 2009, 11:47:45 pm »

Here is the slot that will hold my glass. It is angled to match the monitor and was dadoed out on my table saw with a few passes. It was glued and screwed to the CP base using pocket holes.

The control panel will close right over this and hide it. The rear edge of the CP will be angled flush with the glass.

Testing the angle with some foam-board in the absence of real glass.

Santoro · « **Reply #107 on:** April 03, 2009, 11:50:26 pm »

I made the 'rail' to hold my Nova Matrix LED Marquee light.. I may need to move it back more:

Here's where I am at today:

Santoro · « **Reply #108 on:** April 05, 2009, 09:40:02 pm »

I made a bezel today out of black hobby foamboard. It will probably not be too visible behind the smoked glass. On my last cabs I painted the bezel on the back of the glass but if you handled it you risked scratching it.. I am hoping that this will have the same effect without paint.

Santoro · « **Reply #109 on:** April 06, 2009, 10:10:48 pm »

I also modified the Sketchup plan to reflect changes I made along the way.

leapinlew · « **Reply #110 on:** April 06, 2009, 11:50:04 pm »

FWIW - I think the angled monitor works well inside the cab. I bet if you knew you were going to angle it back from the beginning, you would have cut the sides in to follow the contour of the glass, but I like it how it is. I like the feeling of being inside the game.

Santoro · « **Reply #111 on:** April 07, 2009, 07:00:36 am »

I agree, I kind of like it. I think if I were to have cut the sides to match the monitor angle the "marquee protrusion" (WTH do you call that part anyway) would have looked too large and needed reworking. I also need to make the sketchup angle a little steeper too, it doesn't seem to match the real angle.

Interestingly the real life angle looks nicer. I think it's because it is clearly supposed to be that way, while the lesser sketchup angle looks like it 'might have been a sloppy mistake.'

heemid · « **Reply #112 on:** April 07, 2009, 06:56:35 pm »

Looks great, Im feeling inspired. Have you posted the sketchup file or measurements for the sides? Thanks

Santoro · « **Reply #113 on:** April 07, 2009, 09:05:54 pm »

I am getting a lot of requests for the Sketchup file.. I promise I will be posting it, but I (somewhat selfishly) don't want to share it until my cabinet is complete. I am making very slow progress due to a busy personal life and it would kill me to have someone finish a version of my design before I finished mine.

Hope you can all understand.

NIVO · « **Reply #114 on:** April 08, 2009, 04:04:35 am »

i understand perfectly......your selfish!

I like the changes old man.

Santoro · « **Reply #115 on:** April 09, 2009, 09:12:04 am »

I installed the PC and the tinted glass.

The PC was installed using an aluminum motherboard tray from an old PC. I also took the opportunity to plug in one of the cheapie cold cathode tubes to see what it looked like.

Obviously I still need to secure all the wiring.

Santoro · « **Reply #116 on:** April 09, 2009, 09:16:44 am »

Here it is with the smoked glass. Unfortunately I am not at all happy with the way this piece of glass turned out. It is wavy, has a few blemishes, and scratches VERY easily. I will be going back to the store this weekend.

When I get a decent piece of glass, I will be painting the Bezel on behind the tinted glass. The black hobby board bezel I made looks nice and presentable, but it is nowhere near as nice as the effect my previous 2 cabs got with a painted bezel. When that is done, the image appears to 'float' on the jet black glass. It's awsome, unfortunately I never captured it on 'film' to show here.

thatitalian · « **Reply #117 on:** April 09, 2009, 11:31:32 am »

NICE!

I was thinking, are you going to laminate the keyboard tray?

Also, about the art, why the hell are you not using the one in the sketchup plan!? That looks awesome!

Santoro · « **Reply #118 on:** March 21, 2010, 06:32:15 pm »

Pixelhugger's progress motivated me to get working on this cab again. It was a gorgeous day out so I made the speaker grill. I made it out of 1/2" MDF that is held on with really powerful rare earth magnets.

First I screwed in some temporary router guides and cut the speaker holes.

Then I rounded it over and spray painted it black.

Following Pixelhugger's example, I held the frame in position and drilled four small pilot holes to be guides for drilling the retainer magnet holes. The magnets were epoxied into holes that were already a snug fit. Here is a magnet in the cabinet frame:

I stretched the grille cloth over and secured with staples and hobby glue. Everything came out great:

Santoro · « **Reply #119 on:** March 21, 2010, 06:42:40 pm »

I also spent some time on the Control Panel. I am waiting for my high-lip trackball to cut the hole and actually start wiring this puppy up.


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