Getting in over my head

[mrtim30]

I'm new to this whole scene and I'm looking at building a cabinet. I have the project arcade book and have been doing a bit of research into what I want to make. Heres the thing. I'm not a talented woodworker nor do I have any wiring/electronic experience. I am though a relatively smart guy and have built my own pc s. I think with a little trial and error and a fair amount of time in the forums I get get through this. I'm planning on taking my time to build the whole thing. I dont want to waste too much time and money on a project I cant complete. Am I getting in above my head? Anyone who started with the same lack of skills as myself and made it through who can give some advice would be really appreciated.

[superart]

edit

[unclet]

I never built anything like this before myself, but you can check out my two cabinets which I built with using the following main tools only:

- Scroll saw (like a jig saw)
- Hand saw
- Drill

http://unclet.arcadecontrols.com/


You can do it and you will enjoy the result so much more once you are done and you can tell people you built it yourself.

Scott's Unicade helped me tremendously when creating my standup cabinet. 

  http://home.austin.rr.com/shumate/unicade/

[fatfingers]

Another vote for "go for it" from me.  I too had no woodworking or electronics experience.  I have never assembled a PC from scratch.  It is a relatively easy (and long) process.  Enjoy it!

 

[knave]

Relax, and go at your own pace.  only some of us (and by us I mean not me) are experts.  Most of my woodworking consisted of a few treehouses as a kid and one semester of woodshop a lifetime ago.  But after discovering this hobby I got some new tools and am getting some practice in.  Some day I might actually build a cabinet.  

Start small and build up.

[javeryh]

Definitely go for it.  I never did any woodworking OR wiring OR computer setup/building/programming before getting into this hobby and so far I've built THIS and THIS.  Not too shabby.

[Kajoq]

Another thing to consider is just buying a gutted or mostly gutted cabinet for super cheap, and using it as a starting block to work from.  Many cabinet designs will allow you a lot of freedom to design and build your own control panel to your specific wants and that will give you a way to ease into woodworking without making your first project quite so large an undertaking.

This is basically what I ended up doing.  Started with a decent shape cabinet, redid the control panel, rewired the jamma harness, got a new cartridge for it, Still working on getting my PC up and running for it though.

[knave]

Funny, I did the same thing.  I picked up a cheap working cab...cleaned it up a little, popped a Street fighter 2 PCB in there rigged a way to have both games available manualy and have been playing it.  I bought it with the intention of maming it but...Meh...It's fine for now.  I still am fiddling with mame to learn the ropes for when I stick a PC in another empty cab I picked up. 

I would like to build one though...eventually.  I know I'm capable...it's just time limitations...and space...

[Kajoq]

Yeah, I have a PC for my cab... 2.4 ghz, 768 megs of ram, etc.  But I bought a new mobo to support the AGP arcadeVGA card I got, and now it wont boot.

I'm thinking about just trying to get a dreamcast, running most of MAME through that as well as a number of other dreamcast fighters/shmups.  Should be a cheap solution for the time being

[leapinlew]

Don't do it. You'll route your face off.

[Santoro]

Do it.  But keep the router away from your face. 

Just don't judge your success based on the some of the best cabinets around here.  If you have a solid working cabinet at the end of it, that is something you have never done before, and therefore it's something to be proud of.    Plus it's a great feeling when people say "you made that?"

[Avrus]

Before this project I had never held:

A jigsaw
A router
A circular saw
A miter saw
My severered finger

(Just kidding on the last one)

As long as you measure 72 times, and take your time you'll be fine.  It pays to have a friend help you, because it makes things much easier for manipulating some of the larger pieces.

I was a big time computer guy (14 years in the biz) before I started the project.  If I can do it, you can do it.

[Spaz Monkey]

Never knew anything about wireing/electrical stuff.  Read the book, read the posts.  If you're a newb (we all were once) it does get overwhelming.  Take your time to learn things, do things at your own pace. 

[councilface]

I'm new to this whole scene and I'm looking at building a cabinet. I have the project arcade book and have been doing a bit of research into what I want to make. Heres the thing. I'm not a talented woodworker nor do I have any wiring/electronic experience. I am though a relatively smart guy and have built my own pc s. I think with a little trial and error and a fair amount of time in the forums I get get through this. I'm planning on taking my time to build the whole thing. I dont want to waste too much time and money on a project I cant complete. Am I getting in above my head? Anyone who started with the same lack of skills as myself and made it through who can give some advice would be really appreciated.

Mate. Its easy. Dont worry about a thing. If you have the nouse to build a pc then  a cab is easy. Just break it into stages.

[unclet]

I think the most overwhelming aspect of cabinet making is the urge to want to finish it is a week or two.   The key is to think everything through in as much detail as you can before cutting anything or purchasing anything and finally take your time at each stage of the project.   

My stand-up cabinet took my 7 months to complete and my driving cabinet took me 10 months to complete.   I obviously did not work on it continuously  but I took my time and had fun with the hobby instead of thinking I "needed" to finish it fast for some reason.   Granted, this time frame is quite long compared to some around here, but I have two kids and a wife who keep me busy with real life .....

Once you finish it you will enjoy it forever ....

PS: Make sure you takes pictures along the way to help others .....  oh yeah ... and welcome to BYOAC !

[mrtim30]

Thanks everyone for your support and warning about losing fingers. As long as I have one left to point and say I built that I will be a happy man. This was my first post here and I cant believe the number of replies I have had and the really positive advice. Just bought a house today and move in in January. Has a hobby room in the basement. So I have 3 months to work out what I'm going to make. This is already great fun and all I've done is bought a book and made a post here.

[ids]

Go for it.  I've been reading stuff here for years.  Finally bought some translucent buttons months ago, and some LED's.  Got some trackballs more recently, then some wire, hacked a mouse....  It all takes time, esp if, like many, you've got a wife and kids and maybe not a lot of cash to spend too quickly.  The book is fairly good, some of it is getting old, but there's a lot of good info, and some good cabinet plans.

Wiring, woodwork, etc are all easy enough - just keep reading, lots of good tips on this site.

Good luck

[Bartman]

Definitely go for it!  If nothing else, its a good excuse to buy some new tools.  And take your time.  Its as much the journey as the destination.  I started buying parts at the beginning of the year, got lumber around mid summer, and I'm getting close to the finish line.  I doubt you'll ever run into a problem that can't be answered on the forums.

Good luck!

-Bart

[Chunce DeLeone]

Don't look to far ahead, if anyone of us looked at the whole project from start to finish at the beginning we probably would never start it,  The short answer is you are in over your head, you and everyone else, and thats whats makes this so rewarding and cool,  if you buckle down and focus on whats in front of you right now, what is the first problem to solve, solve it and move on, don't think about problem 85 before you have fixed the first 20.  This Board is all the support you need besides an unyeilding desire to keep on trucking, and MAME your nards off!!!!!!

[DaOld Man]

Don't look to far ahead, if anyone of us looked at the whole project from start to finish at the beginning we probably would never start it,  The short answer is you are in over your head, you and everyone else, and thats whats makes this so rewarding and cool,  if you buckle down and focus on whats in front of you right now, what is the first problem to solve, solve it and move on, don't think about problem 85 before you have fixed the first 20.  This Board is all the support you need besides an unyeilding desire to keep on trucking, and MAME your nards off!!!!!!

Amen brother!

[mrtim30]

Can't get much better advice than that. thanks Chunce

[knave]

I find that I'm easily distracted by shiny (aka cool) stuff.  I havn't even started ant "real" projects yet...but I've collected a lot of crap that would make a cool project oneday.

Point is...

...Try to focus

Good luck

[fjl]

I'm new to this whole scene and I'm looking at building a cabinet. I have the project arcade book and have been doing a bit of research into what I want to make. Heres the thing. I'm not a talented woodworker nor do I have any wiring/electronic experience. I am though a relatively smart guy and have built my own pc s. I think with a little trial and error and a fair amount of time in the forums I get get through this. I'm planning on taking my time to build the whole thing. I dont want to waste too much time and money on a project I cant complete. Am I getting in above my head? Anyone who started with the same lack of skills as myself and made it through who can give some advice would be really appreciated.

Hey I was in the same boat as you, except for the electrical knowledge. Although I also have some knowledge of working with power tools. But basically I would suggest you start off like me, first design the arcade, CAD drawing, layout, what you want on it, what' you'd like to see on it, allow for future expansion if you so need and all that other stuff. I spent months, literally researching and designing my cab. from the best parts, type of wood and tools to use, to making sure that once fully built it will fit through the doors in my house. Cause I've seen people here say they started building with no real plans thinking things will fall together as they go. Some get away with, but most get stuck on some part that usually requires redesigning a part on the arcade to make it work.

So this is my advice, I'd suggest you keep reading the forums, getting more knowledge, especially with wood. You can ask questions about wood working at the wood working forum or other places. get some extensive knowledge on working with wood. Start with some simple wood projects BEFORE you start on the cab. Trust me, building a cab can be a daunting task if you have little knowledge of wood. I consider myself a little knowledgeable with wood but even then I get stumped on some parts. This is why you should play with wood before hand and ask questions. Nothing wrong with asking a lot of questions. Even though I've annoyed many people here with my questions, they're still happy to help me out.

Take things slow, this should be a long enduring hobby. If you try to fly through it like some people do, it might just end up frustrating you. But if you truly feel you are ready for the task, then by all means go ahead and start. We'll all help you along the way.