Franco's Custom Cocktail (UPDATE: Wood cutting commences!! =) )

[patrickl]

Yeah, really cool work as usual. I hope this isn't going to be another "Mission Control project" where the cool features keep on coming, but an actual cab is never really in sight 

[Franco]

Thank you for the kind words 

Timoe, the company that make those enclosures are called Hammond Manufacturing. I think they are based in Canada but I know they have US stockists too, if we can get them here in blighty im sure you can get them anywhere else. This is the contact page for their company http://www.hammondmfg.com/contact.htm

Dont worry, I want this cab up and running asap, im hopefully hoping to have the main frame etc completed over xmas. I really want to get the CPs done too, I have done a mockup of the main 'body' of the cabinet so I know what size to make that, im going to make some mockup CPs to stick to the main body once I have done that to check my panel sizes and height etc.

One sticking point I am having is that ideally I want to use Ponyboys Leaf brackets but looking at my original CP 'length' I dont think I will be able to fit them in. I have messaged ponyboy about when some more are due in but I have had no answer. I need to get some dim's for them to work out what panel 'length' I will need. I think I will stick a post in the main forum to see if anyone has a Leaf bracket that they could measure for me so i can work out my CP sizes whilst I am still waiting. If its not possible to use the Leaf brackets I will use GGG Micro-Leafs.

The other part that is pissing me off (sorry that sounds harsh, I'm still loving the whole process, I just want to get on) is my GGG order. Of no fault of Randys at all I'm still waiting on my GGG order. I ordered it some time last week and it arrived in the UK on Monday (6 days ago from the tracking log) but I still dont have it (the tracking log hasn't changed either)

I really am hoping for a finish date of feb/march at the latest. Im soooo going to try hard and not fall into the trap of playing a 3/4 finish cab.

Thanks once again for the kind words and ill update once again once i have something worthy.

This may be the last time I post before Christmas so I hope you all have a very merry xmas. Mines a Grolsch if you are buying     

[patrickl]

Thank you for the kind words 

Heh, come on just kidding   Can't wait to see it finished though.

Although I guess I have to wait till after christmas.

This may be the last time I post before Christmas so I hope you all have a very merry xmas. Mines a Grolsch if you are buying     

Cheers to you too and may all your christmasses be white brushed aluminium 

[Akuma]

Wow. The aluminium control panel and the enclosed I-Pac 4 with the D-Subs are cool ideas. Are they following NEO GEO standard? As a matter of fact, some weeks ago I tried myself at soldering some D-Sub 15's but I didn't get the job done as clean as you did. By the way - I thought this project was porn related (see pic)



(okay, no I didn't really think so, but including the screengrab was too much of a temptation ; )

[Franco]

Nah, not following any standard apart from the makeitupasyougoalong standard  I just started at the top left pin and connected the inputs from the IPAC going down the PCB (hopefully) making sure that all players controls match up on each d sub.

Ha ha, that screen grabs funny, my mate saw it and was pissing himself!

Well actually bit the bullet and (shock horror!) started cutting some wood. 

Before I got cutting the wood I took revenge on the broken monitor and chopped off the pedestal foot thing...



Luckily there was no wires close to where I was cutting and it came away relatively trouble free.

I made a bit of a cardboard mock up to make sure there was going to be enough room in the cabinet for the monitor. I adjusted the dimensions until I was happy with the clearance. The motherboard is going to be mounted on the bottom, hence the space for the video card etc. It looks a bit funny in this shot but I swear the sides taper in ten degrees....



Next came the start of the cutting!

Im not going to bore you with a load of pics (well just a couple) but I thought I would share what I did for a couple of parts.

I purchased a circular saw, mainly because I needed to cut some 10 degree cuts though the thickness of the MDF. The saw took a little while to get used to whilst I got hang of the feed rate etc but I found you can get fairly straight cuts with them. As stated in the manual I adjusted the height so that only a couple of mm of the blade broke through the wood which reduced the saw from ripping the material.

I found that clamping a piece of planed wood to the material allowed me to use it as a guide to make sure that the cuts were as straight as possible. I used the guide in conjunction with the lazer and I was quite happy with the results.





Franco's tip of the day™ would be to clamp the two pieces of wood together before you have completed the cut to take some of the weight of the material when it breaks through to reduce the material ripping as it breaks through. Obviously you don't need to do this if you have someone to hold the piece being cut off but it certainly helped me.



My marking and cutting must have been fairly accurate as the two side pieces were pretty much bang on same height when stood up next to each other.



This is where I am up to now, I have both square sides cut (with 10 degree angles on both ends) and I also have the bottom piece cut which also has matching angles. The widths of the pieces are probably a mm or two out but I cut the panels slightly oversize so I can flush route them to the same size.



In other breaking news I finally managed to get my hands on my GGG order. I was a bit concerned about the LED Wiz's fitting in the smaller project boxes I have but I tried one of them and its going to be a bit of a tight squeeze with the wires but they should go in nicely. I would rather them fit in snuggly than use the bigger boxes where they would look a bit lost.



Anywho's, thats it for today, im planning on having an early(ish) night tonight so I can hopefully get lots more done tomorrow 

 

[SithMaster]

Cant wait to see this finished.  Dont forget about the monitor cord lengths when your judging for spacing.  In an upright you have plenty of space for a power and vga cord but with the mobo being right underneath the monitor here it might be a tight fit when you plug things in.

[Franco]

Thanks for the concern mate. There is about 6" or so space there so there should be room. I can mount the mobo at the other end to where the power cord comes to give it more space if need be.

Arrgh, I just want to get cracking on now! I even came home early from the poker night so I can get a nice early start tomorrow

[mccoy178]

What the heck happened to Franco?

[polaris]

his account has screwed up. he's here under franco b

[dmworking247]

These things are amazing... I see so many things on this board I wish were commercial products. Seriously, you ought to bang out a thousand of those.

I'd love to see a version of this that could replace the bezel of a standard 'happ style' arcade button too... it might go nicely with a black/dark button.


Also, where did you get those wonderful single-USB plugs in their metal mounting? I've been looking for a source of easy-attach-to-cabinet USB plugs for AGES!

[Pixelhugger]

Try Markertek for USB panel mounts

http://www.markertek.com/SearchProduct.asp?item=NAUSB&off=2&sort=prod&skuonly=0&search=panel+mount+usb&pagesize=20

[Franco B]

Hey guys. Sorry for my absence, for some reason my account got deleted as you may know so I will be posting from this account from now on.

dmworking247, I got the USB panel mounts from Maplin in the UK. This is the link to them. I had a look around and found they are supplied by Neutrik USA. The part code is NAUSB. This is the link to them on their site.  They also supply them in black too.

They are in fact a USB gender changer from A>B. I got round this by buying some A>B cables so they will plug into the USB ports on the PC.



As for the stainless button bezels have you thought about spaying the bezels with chrome paint? I tried one quickly with some Plasticote enamel spray for you earlier and the result was quite good (I forgot to take a photo, sorry). I think with the correct surface prep and correct spaying they would look really nice, especially if lacquered afterwards.

Ok, now for the update, its fairly big as I haven't updated in a while. I haven't got a whole lot done on the main cabinet due to the weather (as anyone here in blighty will appreciate), I have also developed a rather acute Call of Duty 4 multiplayer addiction which I am trying to wean myself off! (My gamertag is Franimal 1 if anyone wants a kicking  )

I have managed to get some bits done where I can though (mainly at work where I seem to have more free time, or rather I haven't got an xbox, lol)

Ive got the three LED Wiz's mounted in the enclosures. They have been quite a slog but I'm really happy with the result. Here is a pic of them with their big bro IPAC4 enclosure:



If anyone is doing this make sure you have a) Plenty of spare time, b) A dremel with lots of bits, c) small hands (no sausage fingers here!) and d) the patience of a saint!)

After discussing concerns of sending the daisy chained return from the cathodes through just one pin of the d subs I decided to bridge four spare contacts of each d sub together to increase the conductive area (thanks Daoldman, I believe I have you to thank for that idea, or possibly Unclet)



Ive got a gracious shot of a couple of them lit up too



It has been a lot of work doing them but It should save me time in the future if I need to do any maintenance on any part of the wiring. It will also allow me to easily swap CPs if I decide to make any extra CPs in the future (for trackball/spinners etc).

It will also make it easier to test the enclosures before I add them to the cab, which leads me nicely on to the other part that I have been working on (since yesterday, we'll forget about the other 5 weeks since my last post  lol)

I decided to make a test CP for a few reasons. Ill be able to use it to configure and test the LED Wiz's/enclosures and Ill also be able to use it as a wiring jig so I can wire each wire set up before transferring it to the final CPs. I thought it would also give me chance to try out a CP in case it brings up any problems which I can rectify before I build the final ones. I'm glad I did as it has already taught me one or two things.

Ok here's a few pics etc of the test CP build.

The first thing I did was to design a button array in Autocad. Once I was happy with how it looked I printed it out to 1:1 scale and then laid my fingers on it to test the spacing etc before tweaking it to suit. This is the array I finished with:



The offset profile around the buttons is the shape of the stainless button bezels I am going to make. They should look something like this when finished:



(Kinda looks like an alien knuckled duster! lol  )

I originally planned to have fairly thin panels but after placing the printed out template on a work surface I wasn't happy as there would be no wrist support which could get both annoying after extended play, plus I think it would affect the game play. Cocktails are not the most comfortable things to play at the best of the time so I think its best to make it as comfortable as possible.

I placed the paper template on a work surface and adjusted it until I had enough wrist support. I then measured the distance and made a quick and dirty CP:



The panels are going to be bigger than first anticipated but the cab its self is going to be fairly big and should still look in proportion I think. Ill do a revised 3D model of the whole cab before I commit to anything.

The width of that panel is A4 sized, the horizontal CPs width will obviously be longer and I think the vertical CPS width will be slightly shorter, I just chose 'depth' A4 as some kind of happy medium. The button and joystick placement will still be the same so it will still function as a wring jig for all three panels.

I taped the 1:1 scale template to the CP and center punched the centers through the paper. I then drilled the holes on a pillar drill using some Forstner bits. I really am impressed with them, you get lovely clean cuts (especially for such a cheap set). The buttons are 27.8mm over the thread and so I used a 28mm (1/4" or thereabouts) cutter and the buttons slid in beautifully 



I also drilled the holes for the Plexiglas tubes (5mm or so length) to be backlit by LEDs. I was expecting the plexiglass rod to be somewhere close to 5mm in diameter but it turns out in fact that it is 5.25mm which is a pain in the ass as the diameter of the LEDs s 4.9mm and so there is no real viable option in between. I ended up drilling the holes 5.2mm and the plexiglass tapped in nicely but obviously the LEDs were baggy. I wanted both to be a nice tight fit (without glue etc) so I have come up with a better idea.

I am going to insert 10mm plexi rod into the CP but have a hole to push fit the LEDs from the other side of the CP, this cross section will give you an idea:



I am going to have vinyl overlay over the top of the CP. I am going to get arrows printed on the overlay and then I will cut them out of the vinyl, revealing the plexi beneath:



(Imagine the dotted line is the hidden plexi circumference and the arrrow is the cut out section)

It should then look something like this once arrayed round the joystick:



I'm quite happy the LEDs and plexi rod are different sizes, otherwise I don't thing I would have thought of this.

Don't sweat guys, nearly finished now!

This is a pic of the 'finished'  test CP:



I also made some stainless dustwashers to replace the plastic fantastic stock ones:



Well I think that's about it, Ive probably forgotten something though. The only danger now is I will soon have a functional control panel which coud affect the progress of the rest of the build   



 



 

[patrickl]

Looks great again. Cool idea with the leds.

[dmworking247]

Thanks for the leads on the USB ports, they are great. I found an Australian distributor for them too (where I am).

In my searches though, I also found www.frontx.com which has modular ports that fit in a 'slotted enclosure' that fits in a 5 1/4" drive bay.   It just so happens that the 'admin panel area' I've put on my bartops is the exact dimensions of a 5 1/4" bay so I think I've found the perfect answer.

It even has a flip-down door to hide all your stuff, and come in white, beige or black.

However, its not the cheapest option (dual USB ports = $15 alone).. because all of the ports are nicely recessed. However my panel area on my bartops are already recessed so if I can go without the door I might just get the 'enclosure' itself and mount all my USB, audio, VGA out etc ports onto the blank bezels that come with it... It'll be more time consuming but save me $60+ (since I'm building two)

[Franco B]

Yeah I saw the frontex ones but I thought they are a bit expensive too that's why I decided to make my own.

Well I had some fun and games wiring the CP. I spent the good part of a day wiring the panel only to find I had done it completely wrong 

For some reason I had got it into my head that the LED WIZs run off a common cathode but infact they run of a common anode. This meant I had to scrap all of my wiring and start again 

I thought I may have scrapped the enclosures to but luckily all I had to do was change the bridged 'ground' wire to the 5v USB terminals.

Anyway, enough of the moaning, time for some videos 

I hooked everything up to the PC and it detected and installed the LED WIZ's with no hassle. I then opened up the LEDblinky sequencer, created a quick layout and and turned all the LEDs on with the inbuilt ramp up/down feature of the LED Wiz, this was the result:

[youtube]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=bVVBy9DfG1o[/youtube]

Somehow everything worked ok!  I was worried that after all that work that something would go wrong but luckily all is good. 

I had a quick go today sequencing a few frames. This is the result:

[youtube]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=BDW28IG7RQM[/youtube]

I made a looped 32 frame sequence and tested a few things out. The joystick and start/credit buttons fade in/out in 7 levels of intensity (and off), the buttons just chase back and forth and I sequenced a chasing dot round the joystick and also a up/down fade. I dimmed the trailing LEDs to give the dot a 'tail' so to speak.

I'm trying to keep every sub-sequence in 8 frames, or so that a multiple of the sub-sequence equals a multiple of 8 so that every thing is 'in time'

[leapinlew]

Awesome work dude.

[ex_directory]

Franco, Franco, Franco, why did you not point me to this project when you replied about my light blue buttons   

I am in awe of that test cp and have just changed my design - 

NB: I am trying to match my cab to the kitchen design which is retro 50's (cream, duck egg blue, dark brown - looks better than it sounds!) hence the question re light blue buttons.

My whole cab is vinyl cream (like a smeg fridge) with chrome t-molding. Was thinking picking up the blue on the cp but had been wondering about the clear buttons for a while. But you have answered my question, they look chrome-ish if you know what I mean and with the light blue led I am sold! Think I will pick up the light blue and clear bubble balls from arcadeshop.de as can't decide which to go for. Couple of q's if I may:

I see you used the Sanwa jlw into 3/4" mdf? Do you think this is too low? Did you find any shaft extensions on your travels? I also currently have the bat top t-stiks and also found it a little stiff hence want to go down the Sanwa joystick route.

Are the clear buttons the same as these http://www.arcadeshop.de/Action-Buttons-Pushbutton-clear-white_493.html?

Was it difficult to make up the stainless dust covers? Would it be reasonable of me to ask a local fabricator to make some do you think or will they charge me the earth?

And finally, not sure if you saw it, but I did find a stainless ball top on my travels http://groovygamegear.com/webstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=70&products_id=229, think the bubble with led is better but in case someone else is interested.

Ex

[Franco B]

Thanks for the kind words   

I didn't point you in the direction of this thread as I dont like to blow my own trumpet, well not all of the time anyway

Liking the sound of your cab, 50s retro will be sweet I have actually got Waveryder working on some 50s retro arcade art for my cab top (think 50s sci fi movies vs Space invaders) 

The CPs (like the test one) are going to be made from 12mm (1/2") MDF. The joysticks dont feel too low, although they could be a litle higher ideally, I may end up making some longer shafts for mine if need be.

I believe those buttons are the same, I got mine from FX buttons a couple of years ago but they look the same. I need to order a few more myself so Im hoping they will be the same. If you do get some and are LED lighting them I can highly recommend the GGG diffuser inserts. They diffuse the light nicely and stop you getting blinded by the LED.

As for the dustwashers, they was easy to make but that is my job after all. If you want I can send you a CAD drawing of the washers and a CNC G code program if that helps. They may end up charging an arm and a leg after programming, tool setting and machining etc. Alternatively, I could make you some, say $10 a pair?

Ive managed to speed that LED sequence up in Mala, i think it looks much better at a faster frame rate

[youtube]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=GwPkp8YLPV4[/youtube]

Im hoping to get the CPs CNC milled next  week. One advantage being is that any CP artwork I have done will exactly match up with all of the holes etc.

[ex_directory]

Liking the sound of your cab, 50s retro will be sweet I have actually got Waveryder working on some 50s retro arcade art for my cab top (think 50s sci fi movies vs Space invaders) 

I hope so, once I have the smeg fridge effect complete will then be thinking about some retro side art.

The CPs (like the test one) are going to be made from 12mm (1/2") MDF. The joysticks dont feel too low, although they could be a litle higher ideally, I may end up making some longer shafts for mine if need be.

Hoping you weren't going to say that. Mine is 17mm thick and I have big hands but havine not found any extensions for those shafts anywhere. There are longer shafts out there but seemingly not for the sawna joy, and if I don't go for the sawna joy then I can't have the bubble ball!

I believe those buttons are the same, I got mine from FX buttons a couple of years ago but they look the same. I need to order a few more myself so Im hoping they will be the same. If you do get some and are LED lighting them I can highly recommend the GGG diffuser inserts. They diffuse the light nicely and stop you getting blinded by the LED.

Hmmm, buttons look very similar, but do you have the diffusers in in your cp picture? I thought the diffuser made the button look more white, whereas I want a more chrome look. With the clear you get various reflections which I think makes it look more chrome like plus presumably the spring inside reflects?

As for the dustwashers, they was easy to make but that is my job after all. If you want I can send you a CAD drawing of the washers and a CNC G code program if that helps. They may end up charging an arm and a leg after programming, tool setting and machining etc. Alternatively, I could make you some, say $10 a pair?

You have a deal, it will cost more than that in petrol to find a fabricator! I thought maybe you were in the UK? I am in Cambridge, UK.

Ex

[Franco B]

Hoping you weren't going to say that. Mine is 17mm thick and I have big hands but havine not found any extensions for those shafts anywhere. There are longer shafts out there but seemingly not for the sawna joy, and if I don't go for the sawna joy then I can't have the bubble ball!

Is it not 18mm MDF? Anyway, you could always route a relief in the bottom of the CP to raise the height of the joystick. If you dont want to do that or if you get stuck otherwise I could always make you some longer ones.

e] Hmmm, buttons look very similar, but do you have the diffusers in in your cp picture? I thought the diffuser made the button look more white, whereas I want a more chrome look. With the clear you get various reflections which I think makes it look more chrome like plus presumably the spring inside reflects?

Yeah the photos do have the diffusers installed, if you like I can take some photos over the weekend of them lit/unlit, with/without the diffusers if you like.

If you want to go for the chrome look, why dont you get some clear ones and then spray the outer bezel chrome? You can get some chrome enamal spray paint from B&Q, its called Plasticote. I have used it before and if you do good enough prep they would look really nice.

You have a deal, it will cost more than that in petrol to find a fabricator! I thought maybe you were in the UK? I am in Cambridge, UK.

Ex

No probs. Im in the UK too, I just tend to talk $$$ as most of the guys on here seem to be stateside.

[ex_directory]

Is it not 18mm MDF?

Your right, from Travis Perkins I believe. That was a long time ago - I made the classic mistake of getting my cab working while half finished and have been playing on it ever since. 3 years later time to finish it - in style   

Anyway, you could always route a relief in the bottom of the CP to raise the height of the joystick. If you dont want to do that or if you get stuck otherwise I could always make you some longer ones.

Slightly nervous about routing a recess with a joystick, what would you say is the minimum width to be safe (e.g. re aggresive use of joysticks on occasion?)

I measured up my t-stik bat top, and it currently sits 70mm above the cp (flush mounted under cp). How high are yours (to top of the ball)?

If you end up making some longer ones for yourself then I will be interested, otherwise don't want to put you out.

Yeah the photos do have the diffusers installed, if you like I can take some photos over the weekend of them lit/unlit, with/without the diffusers if you like.

Yeah, that would be great. Although I think I am already convinced.

If you want to go for the chrome look, why dont you get some clear ones and then spray the outer bezel chrome? You can get some chrome enamal spray paint from B&Q, its called Plasticote. I have used it before and if you do good enough prep they would look really nice.

Got a feeling I have some plasticote around somewhere, although prob in black, used it to redo the outer of my coin door. Was concerned spraying would wear eventually and look a bit tatty. Had considered spraying the whole button. Also had considered spraying the inside and/or the diffuser to a light blue? I just need 10 test buttons to try all my ideas out!! When you say prep do you mean just giving it a key and possibly a primer spray coat?

No probs. Im in the UK too, I just tend to talk $$$ as most of the guys on here seem to be stateside.

Thought so, will PM re dust caps. Thanks again!

Ex

[Franco B]

ex_directory, apologies I hadn't seen that you had replied.

That's the danger of playing a half finished cab, its soo hard to do anything when you can be playing on it 

I'm no expert but I think you would want at least 8mm of materail to support the joystick. It all depends how you are mounting them really.

I haven't got my CP to hand at the moment so I cant get the measurement for you, ill get it for you tomorrow.

As for prep, yeah just make sure the surface is keyed and dirt grease free. The buttons tend to have a slight seam on the highest point which would also want removing (although it should get rid of this when you key it)

Okies, update time

Shock horror, I have actually done some more woodwork

A combination of bad weather, a bad COD4 addiction and being nervous about a particular part of the build had put me off but on Monday we had a glorious sunny day which inspired me to get out in the sun and get cracking

Firstly, have a look at this (awfully compressed picture)



You can see that the side panels will hinge at the bottom to gain access to the internals. The LED Wiz and IPAC enclosures will also be mounted to these panels. The framing at the top of the cabinet will give sidewards support to the monitor as well as giving the cab strength and also providing enough room for the depth of the enclosures.

Soooo, as I had already cut the sloped side panels (many moons ago) the next thing to do was to cut the top framing with 10 degree angles to match the taper on the side of the cabs:



Next came the tricky part which I had been dreading. I needed to screw through the side panels at a 10 degree angle and them into the framing in two places on the two sides of each beam whilst getting the posistioning etc right.

After plenty of calculating, marking, checking and messing around I managed to drill and screw them into position



You can also see at the bottom some temporary brackets which were made from some scrap aluminium just to hold it together whilst I was working on some other parts.

Once that was complete I made a supported shelf for the monitor. I haven't got any pictures of the shelf but Ill take some tomorrow when its light, anywhoos, here is the monitor in position:



Its actually starting to look like a cocktail

Today, I made some strong brackets out of 2mm stainless steel to replace the temporary aluminium ones.

1) Mark out material and center punch the hole positions



2) Drill holes, hacksaw and file sides and radii to match   



(anyone for dominoes )

3) Bend to 110 degrees using bending press,  grit blast and degrease to achieve a uniform surface to be sprayed.



4) Spray with enamel midnight blue paint



5) Check angle in cab after forgetting to do it after bending (although the angle should have been right after tweaking with a vernier protractor)



They have come out quite nicely and should give the cab some extra strength.

That's about it for now. I have cut the CP tops ready to be CNC milled this week but that about it.

I'm really happy with the progress so far, I've been working on the cab for the past three afternoons and I plan to carry on with it now as much as possible until it is finished now I have the tricky off putting  (imo) part out of the way.

Ill update later this week after I have some more done.

[Kaytrim]

About time you got 3D on the case. Looking good, your metal working skills really show in the details.

TTFN
Kaytrim

[mountain]

It looks like you are moving right along. This thing is going to be awesome.

email sent

[Franco B]

Tell me about it being time! Its nice to be making some steady progress now though 

ArtsNFartsNCrafts asked me how I mounted the monitor so I will post it here.

I was scratching my head whilst planning the build as I wasn't sure exactly how to mount it. After coming up with various solutions I thought the easiest and most sturdy solution would be to fabricate a platform for the monitor to sit on:



I screwed four lengths of 32mm planned wood together with 7 screws to make it nice and strong. I intentionally made the platform slightly too small in case I had to decrease the height of the platform I then cut some supports  and screwed them into the side of the cab. The platform rests on the supports which take the weight of the monitor. I also screwed into the side of the platform to give the cab some more rigidity.

The two lower rows of screws are the ones holding the supports to the cab and the top row is the screws holding the platform. I haven't counter sunk or screwed the screws to full depth yet as I need to keep assembling and disassembling the cab so I'm not going to screw them all the way in until the final assembly.



I picked up some easy mount cabinet hinges from screwfix after receiving some help in this thread.



They are only about £1 each and are awesome. My only criticism is that the holes for the screws are slightly too small if you want to use some wider screws, they are made out of aluminium though and so are easy to open out.

I layed either side of the cab down onto MDF and traced the inner profile before cutting them out. This worked quite well as the panels are a perfect fit:



I intentionally left a slight lip when cutting the rectangular sides and when mounting the top beams so that I can flush route the excess once I had mounted the 'triangular sides.

Then it was just a case of screwing the hinges into position.....:



and bingo, I now have hinged sides



That's it again for today, Ive cut the CP tops out and should have them CNC milled tomorrow so Ill post some pics once I get them home.



 

[ArtsNFartsNCrafts]

ah, brilliant.  and simple at that!

i'm curious about your monitor:

is the actual monitor screen centered in your monitor's casing?  Mine isn't, so it looks like the hole I cut in my cocktail's top may have to be off center, so that the screen is actually centered (does that make sense?).  And of course, I'm crossing my fingers that a piece of smoked gray plexi glass will hide all that.

[Franco B]

I left some extra room in mine so I can position the screen centrally.

If your monitor is the same as mine it will be wider on the bottom than the top. If you have cased it so that it is a near perfect fit then I think your screen will be be offset. I suppose you could make the table top bigger on one side to create the illusion that it is in the middle but then you would also have to move your controls to be central to the monitor which would mean they wont be central to the lower part of the cab.

Okies, next update,

I was hoping to get the CPs CNC milled today but I had an urgent job on so couldn't get on it, fingers crossed I will get chance to do it tomorrow.

I have had a productive day though 

As you can see from the previous update I hinged the sides to gain access to the internals. To secure the side panels in place in using two cam locks on either side. I marked out and milled a slot in the top beams for the locks cam to swivel into:



I then drilled the holes in the right positions to the slots and test fitted the locks:



I'm mounting the IO panel I made on the back of the panel so I drilled, jigsawed and routed the though hole and relief for the panel:



Its the first time I had used the router for anything but cutting t-slots or trimming edges and I'm quite happy with the result. You can see the (not so) deliberate mistake I made when routing the through hole but its no biggie as the panel will cover it up. When I milled the I/O panel I made sure the radii were the same as one of my router bits so that they would pair up once routed. There are a couple of slight gaps but nothing major, nothing that the vinyl wont cover once applied:



I learnt a few things about routing such things which will help me in the future.

I also drilled the holes for the ten grill vents I made:



I knew I had a 55mm Forstner bit so when I made the vents I turned the diameter that fits in the hole to about 54.8mm for a nice fit.

Here's a photo of the vents an I/O panel in place on the back panel:



and I really couldn't resist putting it back together to see what it looked like on the cab (with the feet too):



I'm really happy with the work and progress so far, if I keep this up I should be well on the way to finishing nearing completion soon

[Franco B]

Actually managed to get the CPs CNC milled this morning:



They came out quite well after getting the drill speeds/feeds right. I phoned a friend who works at a CNC wood shop and got some data from him. He suggested drilling in between 2000 - 10,000 RPM and a feet rate of 1000 - 5000 MMPM (MM per minute), I was quite shocked at the numbers considering when CNC turning metal I don't really drill above 1000RPM and 300MMPM. Any way I trusted him as let the machine go, ---fudgesicle--- me it was fast! It was quite amazing to watch, I wish I had taken some video thinking about it now.

I did however make a bit of a mistake, you can see on the small panels that there are six holes when there are only meant to be three as I forgot to delete three of the hole positions from the program. Its not a big deal though as I will make some aluminum inserts to mount from the bottom, ill leave a slight gap so I can use some filler to mask them.

I counterbored the holes for the carriage bolts so that they sit below the CP top and I'm going to fill over the top of them:



You can also see the holes for the LEDs and the counterbore for the plexiglass inserts. The plexi was meant to be 10mm diameter but it is actually 10.35 which was a pain as I couldn't just plunge with a 10mm Forstner bit. In the end I used a 10mm slot drill and circle interpolated the counterbore to 10.4mm.

That's it for this mini update, as you can see from the photos its a lovely day so I'm going to crack on and get some more done, ill update again this evening.

[Franco B]

Just a quick update as Im on my way to work.

Ive got the holes filled in the vertical CPs. I made some nylon plugs to insert in the CP from the bottom:



I left about 2mm to be filled with wood filler:



Filled and sanded:

[Franco B]

Been busy again the past couple of days

Ive started to make the rest of the CP panels etc. For the side panels I remodeled the CPs in AutoCAD and printed out the side profile to use as a template for cutting the side and also for positioning the other panels:



I picked up a load of aluminum bar and angle section from B&Q which was surprisingly cheap, the 15mm angle section is about £3/m and the 20x2x200mm strip is only about £4 for the 2m. I'm using the angle bar to make some long brackets out of to hold the CPs together and I'm using the strip to cover all of the edges that aren't covered by the t-molding:



I milled and drilled the angle section to make the brackets, as the CP has a 10 degree slope I used a mixture of 45 and 50 angles to make sure all of the corners meet nicely:



You can see some of the length are too long at the moment, I left them oversize so I can mark the position for them to be trimmed. Once complete I'm going to spray them blue and leave the screws silver.

Here is a picture of the test assembled CP, as you can see it is still very rough, I still need to file all of the radii and sand it etc but I wanted to make sure It all went together before I did any more:



I only have a few of the screws in but it is already solid.

I also had a couple of deliveries this morning :



I picked up some twin 4" blue cold cathodes and Ive also got a PacDrive (although I need to order a second). The plan is to mount the cold cathodes inside the CPs as shown here:



There will be two sets in the long horizontal panel and a set in each of the vertical CPs.

I'm going to make some 5mm thick perspex bottoms for the CPs (with the space invaders monster or similar etched into it) so that the light will shine out from under the CP. The cathodes will be controlled by one of the PacDrives.

Ive been trying to find a decent textured vinyl to cover the rest of the cab in but I've been having trouble finding something suitable sooooo I think we are going to go with carbon fibre sheet 

One of my friends works as a sales rep for a company that produces CF sheet so hopefully I should be able to get a good deal, if I get it cheap enough I'm going to cover it inside and out. If not I will cover the exterior in CF and the interior in normal black vinyl. I think the CF will set off the stainless steel and ally parts nicely. I want to stay away from imitation CF vinyl as it will just look cheap. I'm also going to cover the internal beams etc of the cab in blue vinyl to tie in with some of the other blue parts of the cab.

That's it for today, off to do some more

[Daniel B.]

Franco...

Have you received any of my emails? I've been trying to reach you for some time....

[Franco B]

Hey bud,

Strange, dont think I have had any emails off you 

Let me go take a look.

[Franco B]

Hopefully thats got it sorted Daniel 

Whilst im here I thought I would mini update.

I got the rest of the ally brackets milled up last night, im going to take a CP into work this evening to file the radii and cut the brackets to size etc.

I always have a look in the scrap bins for any useful bits and bobs that get thrown away (its amazing what get thrown out). I had a look last night and found this:





Its a length of 3 core stainless steel armoured cable which should be perfect for the external power cable for the cab 

Good news, it looks like were expecting another member to the family too :



For size comparison:



Thats it for today, ive gt the whole day off tomorrow so Im hoping to get plenty done then.

[Daniel B.]

Hopefully thats got it sorted Daniel 

I didn't see anything from you Franco? Sorry to keep mucking up your thread! I did send you a pm yesterday, did you get it? I'm wondering if there is some kind of black hole between us, lol.

[Franco B]

Check your email 

[mountain]

Looking good Franco. Congratulations on the good news!

[Franco B]

Well, I guess you would all be expecting some kind of major update here, unfortunately not.

Ive been having a few problems as well as Real Life™ getting in the way as usual.

Ive been concentrating on the CPs mainly as before. I had a problem with that first CP I built as I routed the slot too deep in the ends and when I test fitted some t-moulding in it, it split the wood. I should now have solved this problem as I made some larger bushes for the arbour so the t-slot can only cut deep enough for the t-molding.

I then proceeded to make the other 6 CP ends with mixed success. I printed the profiles out full scale and used them as a simple template to mark out the profile on the wood before roughly cutting out with a jigsaw before routing to size. This work with mixed success, the first pair came out spot on, but the other pair of pairs for the vertical CPs came out slightly different. They probably would have done but I knew I would come up against alignment issues etc further down the road so I want to get them bang on.

The main problem is that the CPs are so small it is hard to work them with the router in regards to  clamping and edge clamping. To get round this I am going to CNC cut some 4mm thick aluminum templates and then screw these into a rough cut pliece of MDF. Im going to under mount my router in a piece of MDF to make a router table and then I should be able to use a flush trim bit to follow the profile like this:



If you can remember further back in my project you may remember me saying I was going to make some player button bezels that will be on the front of the CP. Heres a pic to remind you if you have forgotten:



(The CPs have changed alot since that picture but you get the idea)

Well I got the bezels made this weekend:



The bezels round all of the main player buttons are going to follow the profile of the buttons so I thought I would follow the profile round the start/credit buttons to match

Now I just need to get someone to design me some spacies gun turrets similar to these so I can get them printed out in in black vinyl:



Thats it for today, hopefully I will get the new CP templates made this week so I can get the CPs done. I need to get the CPs done as they are holding the rest of the project up.

Thanks for stopping by.

[Sain]

Awesome cab design, I look forward to seeing it finished.

[Thy]

Amazing metal work Franco, it's absolutly stunning quality. Looking forward to seeing it finished.

On another note, you still making the hollow joysticks these days?

Looking forward to next update!

[BradC]

This thread looks funny from the front page.