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paulscade - First Build - MAME - Blastoff!
paulscade:
One of the forum members had asked me about the paint job on the cabinet. Since my response was somewhat verbose, I thought that I'd post it here for others.
1 - The cans (left to right) are: Black, Blue (both were mixed colors), and primer.
2 - The primer is white and I did not have it tinted.
3 – I hand sanded with a sanding block.
4 – I used 120 grit for the whole project.
I sanded between each coat. (hint… let the paint fully dry. :) ). I did one coat of primer one day, another coat on another day… then, on a different weekend… I did the final two coats of blue/black on the same day. I probably should have waited a day between coats… but I had my wife helping me and she’s one to get things done quick. If the paint isn’t fully cured, it tends to clog the sandpaper… which is what happened to me when I did the two coats in the same day.
All paint came from Home Depot. I bought way too much..
I used:
¼ gal blue
¼ gal black
½ gal primer
I painted two coats of primer on the outside of the cabinet… one coat on the inside. The white that you see in the arcade photos is primer.
Hints/comments:
- The first two coats of primer were applied with a brush. If you’re going to use a brush, be sure to use even strokes in the same direction. It will save you some sanding.
- When I was sanding, I didn’t go nuts. I was only smoothing out any bumps/imperfections.
- Use a good quality, short nap roller for the final coats. I used a cheap roller for the first final coat… and I found myself picking out little fuzz things that the roller had left behind. The final coat was applied with a good roller.
- The black paint was more difficult to work with. It seemed like I could see every little imperfection (maybe I was just looking too hard).
paulscade:
Well... today was Lexan cutting day.
I started by cutting the trackball hole. I figured that this would be the most difficult and everything else needed to use this as a reference.
I wanted a perfect 3" hole... so I used the trackball mounting plate as a guide. I saw (I believe it was Mountain's) postings so I decided to do something similar as it looked like the way to go.
Here's my circle jig for routing out the trackball hole:
From the top, you can see the mounting plate behind the 5/8" MDF. I clamped this under the Lexan, set the pattern trace router bit to ride along the mounting place, and started routing.
Lexan is really easy to work with. It's sort of soft... at one point, I had a sliver hanging off of the panel... I went to break it off and it bent... sort of like copper wire would bend. I can see why people like to work with it as opposed to Plexiglas.
The hardest part was drilling pilot holes for the router bit to start in. The drill bit wanted to bite into the soft Lexan material... and I needed a rather large hole (3/8") for the router bit. I started with a small drill bit and then stepped up to the 3/8". I had wood directly under each drill hole and I clamped additional support to the left and right of the area I was drilling. I drilled high speed. The clamping and speed helped a lot... but the drill bits still wanted to bite into the Lexan with a sort of pop as the bit went through. I would imagine that this is where most people shatter Plexi.
Clamping the Lexan for drilling pilot holes:
Once I got all the pilot holes drilled, the routing went like clockwork. Like everyone says... the router cut the Lexan like butter. No melting; just "snow" everywhere.
Work in progress:
Here's the [almost] completed Lexan panel with its protective covering still on. (minus joystick holes). It matches the MDF panel exactly.
It took me just under 5 hours but I'm real pleased with the results.
jlfreund:
--- Quote from: paulscade on July 13, 2008, 04:43:04 pm ---Hardware... oh, yea... I'll be needing some hardware...
I went hunting around for some way to mount the control panel box onto the cabinet. Yes, I know that Happ sells those panel latches (and I'm not sure, I may still need some of those). I found these friction catches at www.rockler.com . I mounted them and the panel now snaps into place. I used 4 of them. Since the catch uses a "pin and socket" sort of design, I didn't want my panel to be sitting on pins (the part of the catch that's mounted to the bottom of the control panel) when it's removed from the cabinet. I decided to place two pieces of MDF (one on each side) on the bottom of the control panel. I cut them at an angle so the panel really does center itself as it snaps.
--- End quote ---
Great idea for the CP mount. That was something I struggled with as well (for my kit build) http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=72579.msg748113#msg748113. I suggest forwarding a link to your post to Mameroom. They really should update their design to allow for sturdier CP mount and easy CP removal.
I also love the LED, fan, and speakers. How did you supply power to the screw board for those devices? And are you going to provide an external volume control?
Also, I hope you use the local artist for side art. I think it would be really cool to paint something original rather than stick on something you bought online.
-Jason
dmworking247:
Great job so far, and well done on the Lexan routing. I've only routed a plexi CP once before and I was really nervous the whole way through... its so easy to go wrong if the piece slips or the router catches. Good preperation, and templates/guides are key.
By the way, theres no such thing as a perfect button layout for EVERY possible game configuration, but reading your description of the 6 player arc + 4 player Neo Geo + 'diamond' configuration, I reckon that comes really close. Well done.
koinsatx:
Great job on the project so far, I look forward to following the project all the way to the end. I especially appreciate the comments, tips, and thought processes and you have went along.
Your work and words and inspired me to get off the couch and finally start my first MAME project in the next few weeks. I have been reading and planning much over the past month but it was your post that got me to Lowes yesterday to pick up three sheets of MDF.
Though I plan on using 5/8 and making a few tweaks and personnel ideas to the overall UAII plans.
Again thanks for a great post so far and look forward to seeing how your machine comes out in the end.