Main > Project Announcements
"The Griffin" - Finished August 28, 2010!
SephYuyX:
First off a big thanks to BYOAC, without those guys I wouldnt have bothered with this project. So much help and resources in one place, just an amazing community.
Also thanks to: Andy @ www.ultimarc.com, Divemaster127 @ www.arcadeemulator.net, Randy @ www.groovygamegear.com, and Scott @ www.gameongrafix.com
All great people to work with, saved me money, and provided superior products and services. If youre ever building an arcade cabinet, everything you need can be found through them, dont go looking anywhere else.
The PC - XP Pro, P4 2.5GHz, 1GB, 430W, Radeon 9550:
Completed Marquee:
Completed Control Panel:
Completed Side:
Completed Bottom:
Completed Front:
Full Complete Cabinet:
Intro Video:
Full Complete Indepth Video:
Composite Video:
=====Original Post=====
Uh yeah, no name yet, nor sure if I will at all, so yeah.
Ive always wanted to build my own home entertainment room with leather couches, a great audio system and a huge projection system, however thatll have to wait till I get a big enough house. Whats goes great in an entertainment room though? An arcade.
Well then, since I decided to start on the cabinet, I began to look around and see what kind of designs are out there. I could of gone with the basic look, I wanted something a bit more eye catching, and then I saw this http://www.mameroom.com/images/UAIIQuadKit.jpg The second I saw it I knew it was going to be perfect. But how to figure out the dimensions? On their website you could buy a completed unit, a DIY kit or just the dimensions, and thanks to the internet I did a bit of searching and found some rough dimensions for it, and began to work off of those.
Using Visio I then started to work on the top portion and the bottom portion and ran in to various problems. Some of the dimensions didnt quite match up total wise, so I had to change a few, I also didnt like their pullout drawer for a keyboard, I figured I could easily fit a mico keyboard in the control panel, so I decided to raise the front kick plate, and I think it looks more like an arcade this way.
Here is part of the drawing I came up with. I have a full Visio layout with dimensions thats not show.
Fairly self explainatory which piece is what, and the blue part will help me find the points to cut out the red part. This is the hardest part solved, and as you can see in the final picture what it looks like put together from the side, and its height/width, 6'2x3'4 seems reasonable to me. With this part out of the way, I can fill in the front and back on the fly basically. Im not an expert wood worker, but I know a good amount.
I havent quite finalized on the max inside width, but im thinking 25", it seems most arcades hover around 23" to 35", but I think anything above 30" is too big, maybe ill consider going to 28". I dont need to worry about that right now though, I can size it up once I get the sides cut out. Id also how to find a display unit to match it's width, so somewhere between a 25" to a 33".
In terms of material, im thinking 5/8" MDF; while heavy, it's fairly inexpensive, and im going to try to keep this project sub $1000, which shouldnt be too hard. Most of my cost will come from the control panel and the display unit.
I still havent decided on how many players I should make the control panel either. I was originally thinking 4P, but honestly, there arent that many 4P arcade games, nor will I have 4 people regularly available to play. However I started thinking that there are a decent amount of 4P N64 and DC games out there, any maybe that might be a reason to go 4P. And then after deciding how many players, Ill have to figure out a button config. There are many games out there, ones that use 1 button, and ones that use lots, and it seems every aracade has a different arrangment. Im thinking 7 buttons per player, 1 8x joy each, with 1 track ball, 1 spinner, and 1 4x joy, and then some extra misc buttons.
Yes, as I forgot to mention not only will I be using this to play arcade games, but also the many video games out there. Which brings me to my next issue, the display unit. While an actual arcade display is nice for getting that realisim, getting one that displays newer games properly isnt common, and can be quite expensive, $600 for a 27". So then maybe a monitor? but it may not display the arcade games properly, but I found this guy Ultimarc, the Ultimate in Arcade Controls.� and it's bascially a video card that emulates an arcade display properly, so that may be an option. The easiest and middle of the road option would just be to use a good ol CRT TV, easy to find, and cheap, but would need an S-Vid at minimum, and it's hard to find one that has thinish sides, but I guess that will be an issues down the road.
And then even later down the road is all the small details like power buttons, lighting, and marquees.
(if this post sounds a bit in the past, I wrote it a couple weeks ago, but didint post it.)
SephYuyX:
So since then I thought a bit more, and started on the build.
I decided to go with 2 players, but nothing set in stone yet, but I do want 7 buttons at minimum, maybe 8?
So itll be this set up at least:
..OOO
..OOO
O
And for 8 I guess..
OOOO
OOOO
..OOO
..OOO
OO
O
..OOO
..OOO
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or something.
I still havent found a display yet, but I decided against an acrade monitor just because of the cost. But craigslist has yielded nothing yet in terms of component TVs of a suitable size.
I also started working on a color scheme. I saw one I kind of liked and mimiced it as best I could, good enough for starters.
SephYuyX:
The actual project begins! Ill be copy/pasting from my facebook, so thats why it may be worded oddly.
Some T-Molding samples; this will go around the edge.
Four 5/8" 8x4' MDF Sheets. Heavy suckers weigh about 90lbs each. 1/2 and 3/4 can be found anywhere, only one place in the area sells 5/8 and took days to find out who.
Laying out the pattern for the bottom portion on one sheet.
Laying out the pattern for the top portion on another sheet. The meauring took a very long time. I started at about noon, and didnt start cutting till about 4 when the sun started to vanish. Measure 42 times, cut once.
Forgot to adjust the drawing so I could fit both sides of the top portion on one sheet, but luckily enough both the top and bottom portions could fit on to one sheet (by 2 inches..). So I cut both sheets at the proper length, and that allowed the smaller unused half from the top portion to be used with the bottom portion, and the larger unused half from the bottom to be used with the top portion.
Top portion work in progress. Using multipule clamps to keep it secure, and moving them when necessary. I used the 1x2 board as a straight edge for the saw and clamped it down 1-1/4" from the line I wanted to cut. I originally planned to cut out only one side, and then use it as a template to route the second one out with a flush tip bit, but after a friend recommended trying to cut two boards in one pass, I tried it, and it worked fine. Saved time and money.
Top portion all cut out, and both sides perfectly flush thanks to lots of clamps. Just needs to be sanded a bit, and itll be time to cut out the bottom portion.
Getting the bottom portion all clamped, set, and ready to go.
Bottom piece WIP, same process as before; mark 1-1/4" away from cut, clamp straight line, cut.
Cuts all done, just need to sand and touch up.
Realised I hadnt 'planned' passed the profile bit of the project, so did a few rough measurments and begane to cut the front and back peices.
Bottom part set out.
Top part set out.
Profile laid out.
The front and back pieces of the bottom portion, will do the top parts after the botom is assembled and the top is attached to that. This part wasnt too hard, but all the markings, adding the straight edge, cut, remove straight edge, mark next piece, add straight edge, etc took awhile.
Material List and Total Cost at the moment.
SephYuyX:
So this is where I am at the moment.
Profile done, front and back pieces cut out, slot cut bit on order, still looking for a display. Should have the bottom done by the time the bit comes in, and I should be able to route the slots with the bottom put together.
Im lucky enough to have the basic power tools at my availability, so thats kept costs down a ton.
What im tring to decide on now is what kind of wood inside. I was thinking 2x2, but 1x1 may be good enough. Was also thinking about what kind of screws, and I think ill just go with coarse drywall screws, but not sure on what size yet, as ive yet decided on the wood yet. I was thinking 2-1/4" or 2" for the 2x2 wood, but not sure which.
painterinfo:
Ever used Sketchup?
For a bit of fun I wanted to see if I could produce a scaled 3D version of your diagram.
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=86143e04b723666128fdea86734e40fc&ct=mdsa
You might find it useful to visualise it in 3D if you are designing it from scratch, you have a lot of desisions to make, marquee mount contoller positions etc.
Here is a link to some more info about sketchup. http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/SketchUp_Tips
Enjoy.