Wii display *DONE* (95% anyway) =p

[Octo]

G'day all! I've been out of this scene for a few years now (due to apartment dwelling with no tools) and decided to restart my loved hobby.

Whilst working for a certain retail corporation as the Electronics Manager, I happened upon this Nintendo Wii display that was being thrown away. Never one to let things get tossed, I quickly threw it in the back of my ole Volvo wagon. It sat in my garage for the past year whilst I tinkered and lost interest. But now is its rebirth, as I'm currently unemployed and need something to do while waiting for responses 

Now I know a lot of you arcade purists aren't going to like this as it doesn't exactly resemble the good old units of yesteryear. But I love it's modern styling and two-tone aspect. The white and blue lighting are killer and it came already setup with a huge surge protector, marquee panels, and monitor mount. It also has pre-installed cooling fans and a spiffy locking side panel.

I'm building a control panel at the moment from clear 3/8" plastic. Not exactly sure what kind of plastic it is, but I found it in an old electric closet at my last job before it went out of business, and again, nothing goes to waste... It's extremely strong and my 3"x24" strip I cut to test it's resilience refuses to bend.

From the same material I'm crafting some side mounting speaker brackets, but haven't quite finalized the look yet. The last touches will be some lit blue buttons and joysticks, which I can't afford right now. I'll just harvest my current cab's black set until then.

So, for a minimalist, modern looking cab, what do you guys think?

[Ginsu Victim]

Are you trying to get more page views by tossing the word CUM in there?

Though not the norm around here, done right, that could be pretty nice looking. I'm all for repurposing things.

[javeryh]

Nice start.  I like non-traditional cabs when they are done right!   

[Octo]

Are you trying to get more page views by tossing the word CUM in there?

A few years ago, yes, yes I would have. Today, I'm just trying to sound edumacated....

I found the problem with my first cab, the one that actually looks like an arcade, is that I quit working on it as soon as it was operational. It's been the same MDF colored hulk in my living room for about 3 years. I had planned on creating a new one more in line with an MKII cabinet, but coming across something so cool, for free no less, was too irresistible. 

[Ginsu Victim]

Rule no 1
Finish cab before ever placing PC inside.

[Octo]

So I'm taking a nice, eardrum healing break from cutting my CP. Looks alright, but I'll be going over the edges with a trim router to smooth them up. As you can see from the pic below, I need to create vent shafts for the fan, most likely out of fiberglass.

I've been mulling around ideas on how to cleanly make my control panel, and finally came across some good info: just dissolve all the shavings in acetate to make glue. Finally, a reason to actually sweep up the mess I make before my roommates start harassing me!

My next problem is that I want my speakers to tilt upwards ~45deg. which means they're getting a trip to the oven. Gotta make a jig first though. Or, I could do it the redneck way and just heat it up, run outside with my oven mits on, and bend it by hand.... Decisions, decisions... 

EDIT: I've changed my speaker layout again so that I won't have to melt/bend the plastic. I chose to use a common mounting bracket with the monitor, which guarantees strength and insures the sound comes from where it logically should... not much physical progress today, but I mapped out quite a bit on paper.

[Ond]

Hmm interesting, I look forward to seeing how this one goes - dare to be radical!

[Octo]

Okeydokey.... Well, I picked up a spiffy B&D plunge router from the pawn shop today, only $30 (retails at $120) I went in looking for a cheapo but how could I pass it up?

Money well spent, as it smoothed out the circular saw cuts I had made on my CP. Then while trying to cut the overlay, it melted the plastic and seized the bearing on my 3-hours-old flush cut bit. There went $16.

I finished the speaker mount and got it mostly sanded down.

Since I lack AutoCAD at the moment (can't find my install cds since the format) I'm drawing out the dimensions for my plexi risers. May have to make a trip to the parents house for the chopsaw, other wise the 22.5 deg cuts are gonna be a pain.

[Octo]

Small update:
I haven't spent as much time as I should have on it the past couple days, but I did make some progress.

-> Had to make some sort of holder for the mounting bolts so that I can tighten them from inside the cab. I ended up melting some of the clear plastic and molding it around the bolt heads, then epoxying them onto the bottom panel. They don't look amazing, but won't be seen so no biggy.
-> Both top and bottom sheets of the CP have been notched for the side panels and air duct.
-> Cut the major sides and epoxied them in place.


Some notes on things I've learned from this project:

-> This stuff is kind of a pain to work with, and if you don't wear some form of respirator, you'll get dizzy from the fumes when cutting.
-> Neighbors and roommates don't appreciate waking up to the sound of a router tearing into plexiglass, and you won't be able to hear them walk up behind you with a golf club.
-> Always double check your datum edge, don't assume factory cuts are square.... 

[kizer]

Talk about the in your face approach when it comes to that monitor.

[Octo]

Yeah, I picked it up at the Target Black Friday sale for $70 a couple years ago. I realized it was too big for how close the players will stand, but until I get some spare income, it stays. I think I'll get a generic 17" 4:3; this one is a 22" Westinghouse 16:9 which will just have wasted space on the sides...

At the moment, I really wish I had a table saw, the these 45^ cuts are killing me.

[mayhem]

nothing wrong with wondering eyes when playing games close up and personal !!!!!!!

[Octo]

Alrighty, not much progress made. I can't put buttons on until I get a paddle bit, but here's how they will look. The machine had these two little flaps spot welded on, and rather than drill them off I used them to mount my admin panel.

I'm debating whether or not to modify my current Happs joysticks with handmade clear tops (molded plexi scraps + acetone create crystal clear objects) rather than buy more. I'm pretty sure that if I put some blue dye in there it will come out ok, but may look more like a marble than thorough translucent blue...

I also need to get some molex connectors to go from the I-PAC to the controls, and mount my PC to a removable plate.

[Octo]

Finally, it lives! It shouldn't have taken more than a week, but it looks pretty spiff, so I'm happy.

I had some hair pulling setbacks today . My IDE cable disintegrated in the back of the hard drive, and I'm missing the VGA cable. Of course Best Buy no longer carries these, and their 'Geek Squad' doesn't know what I'm referring to since it's outdated tech. I had to drive 20 miles to a Fry's just to get $10 worth of cables

Also, I'm having problems with my BIOS not having an option to start up when power is applied. I thought that was pretty standard, but I guess not. That means I have to add a new switch, and I hate that....

All in all, it looks and sounds amazing. The Philips sound system was well worth the $7 clearance price, it shakes the garage when I play Moonwalker and I could barely hear the UPS guy shouting at me. 

[Octo]

Murphy strikes again!

Somehow I think my MoBo shorted. The cab powers on for a couple seconds, then shuts off. I was hoping it was just the power supply, but I tested it on my desktop and it's fine. There's still grease on the CPU, and the heatsink is cold, so it's not overheating...

It's so frustrating! I had it working this morning, went to get a power switch, and shorted it. 

[severdhed]

what kind of power switch did you use? (momentary? or push on, push off) did you connect it to the motherboard where the normal pc power switch goes?   if it is not a momentary switch, it will do exactly what you said it is doing...it will turn on, and then back off after a few seconds.

[Octo]

I used a simple on/off rocker switch, then figured it would do that (basically hold down the power button so it turns on then off)

I then dismantled the front of the old case and tried to use the stock power switch. It still turned on then off.

So I just used two pieces of wire to act as a switch, and eliminate any possible defects with the other switches, and it does the same thing.

Also, the MB now powers on with the power strip, which it didn't do before. Pretty sure I F'd something up on it. Luckily it was a cheapy, and needed to be replaced by something a little better. The computer specs at the moment are less than ideal, but work for the games I play (up to SFA3) I found some MB/CPU combos on eBay I might get to replace my desktop's, which would then go into the arcade. 

[clok]

Looks great, and you inspired na idea in me (not a new one, seen it before) and its somewhat what you are doing. I'm thinking of a the clear control panel so you could see the guts. Wonder if i could make it look nice enough, even yet if I will ever start on another project.

Anyways, yours looks great, something different.

Clok

[Octo]

Just make sure you cut and assemble it precisely. With a clear CP, any shortcuts or mistakes will be visible.

[Barry Barcrest]

Murphy strikes again!

Somehow I think my MoBo shorted. The cab powers on for a couple seconds, then shuts off. I was hoping it was just the power supply, but I tested it on my desktop and it's fine. There's still grease on the CPU, and the heatsink is cold, so it's not overheating...

It's so frustrating! I had it working this morning, went to get a power switch, and shorted it. 

Mine did that and i could get it to come on properly buy pulling the power lead in and out of the motherboard. In the end it did turn out to be a faulty power supply.

[Uncle Monkey]

This could end up really cool......

[Octo]

Mine did that and i could get it to come on properly buy pulling the power lead in and out of the motherboard. In the end it did turn out to be a faulty power supply.

I've gone through all the diagnostics for a PS that I could find. When the 4 and 5 pins are jumped (the remote and ground pins) the PS will start up and stay on. It powers other computers fine without cutting off.

My friend's husband builds PCs for a side job, and luckily he uses AMDs, so I may coax him out of some old, worthless socket As    Can't afford to spend anything on the cab right now, so getting a free MB that he has just laying around would be splendiferous.

Oh, and I didn't take into consideration the time it would take just to drill button holes.... I can get maybe two before my drill dies. That blue plastic, whatever it is, turns gummy when machined, but the clear acrylic is great

[severdhed]

drilling button holes with a cordless drill pretty much sucks.