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Stargate cab to MAME cab conversion
MameMaster!:
My cab is also an old trashed Star gate. Here's my updated thread from 2004, and the second one was my "re launch" of my updated updated ( ;D ) cab turning it into my current cab-- "Mame Invaders™".
I built it in 2001-- and re did it in 2004
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?board=10%3baction=display%3bthreadid=22665
Revised yet again--
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=70436.msg721296#msg721296
:cheers: :cheers:
JohnnyG:
Here is a small update. The water damage at the bottom has been repaired and here are a few pics...
Sanding has been completed and primer is next. Also, I have placed the order with GroovyGameGear and am now just waiting for it to show up.
drventure:
Nice work on the water damage cleanup.
I gotta say. the CP sticking out the front doesn't quite look right to me on that particular style cab. Don't know why right off hand. and I'm no purist, so it's not a case of "Ack don't violate that Stargate!" or anything like that.
Maybe it's the lack of thickness in your mockup that's throwing me.
Regardless. Also have to say, any wife that'll come home with a stargate cab unannounced flat rocks in my book :)
opt2not:
I agree with drventure for the same reasons. The CP just seems awkward sticking out like that. Maybe it's the length of it sticking out that's throwing me off.
Good job with the repair! :applaud:
JohnnyG:
Well folks, I dropped off the grid for quite a while, mostly due to lack of motivation on my part. The cabinet sat in my home office gathering dust while I was simply just being lazy. But less than two weeks ago I finally got hit with the bug again and I have been working in all my spare time. So here is my latest status update (with many more to follow soon I hope).
First, here is the paint job on the cab itself. After the sanding was done last before, two coats of primer were done (with sanding in between) and then two coats of semi-gloss black paint (with sanding after the first coat). Overall, I think it turned out very well...
Now, I spent a lot of time trying to come up with the best layout for my control panel. I came up with a design that I felt would work well for my needs (while also cutting nearly 1 1/2" off the depth). I then created a template and cut it out in cardboard. I mounted the buttons and joystick to make sure it felt okay, made a few minor adjustments and then finally started working on the CP.
After finishing the final template in Photoshop, I printed it out, got the supplies for the CP (mdf boards, and acrylic sheet, and a few other minor things) and headed to my parents house to work with my step-dad. We spent a lot of time measuring, cutting, etc. Here are the final results...
Cutting the acrylic was an absolute nightmare. The finest jigsaw blade we had still cracked the plastic, and nothing else seemed to work. Finally, we cut it as close as we could to the shape of the control panel top, and then used a belt sander to work it closer, and finally a hand sander to get it perfect. Really annoying, but it worked in the end.
Of course, cutting the holes was in the acrylic was tough too. The larger arrow-shaped bits we normally use for cutting bigger holes cracked the acrylic, and we didn't have a circular bit that was the 1 1/8" we needed, so I had to go buy one. Once we did, we were able to finally get the holes drilled. The whole control panel took most of the day, but I am happy with the way it turned out.
The next part I worked on was putting glides on the bottom of the case to make for easier movement, and also to help keep it perfectly level. I had thought about casters, but decided against them. The problem with glides was that there was no easy secure place to put them, so I cut blocks and secured them to the bottom of the case. Then the glides were attached to those blocks. They work very well...
The final piece for this update it related to the water damage at the top of the case. Here are two pictures of what the damage looked like...
The only way I could think to handle this problem was to take a belt sander to the top to clean up as much as possible. Here is what it looks like now...
Too much broke off on the right side, so I will need to use some spackle or something to build it up, and then the whole top will be covered by thin 1/8" board cut to the exact size and painted black. That should help clean it up nicely.
Anyhow, I look forward to any thoughts/comments.