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Cocktail Dream (First Build) [Done, basically]
saurian333:
--- Quote from: painterinfo on January 08, 2010, 04:43:18 am ---Hinges are fun if you get them to swing right. My first set of hinges for my last cab I had to swap them twice to get the right ones.
Working on the control panel would be perfect cold weather type of work I would think. Painting sucks even in the best conditions.
Computer is the only thing I have not put much thought into yet for my cab. I have a couple of old ones lying around and a copy of MAME .036 which works on older machines.
Anyway look forward to your next set of pics.
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FYI, if you didn't get it from my previous posts, .108 was working well on the 800MHz machine. I might still try to salvage that for the cab, at least temporarily, if I can find more working RAM lying around. (I do have a slightly faster machine with 512MB that works much better, but it's kind of in use in the basement; I might be able to live with swapping those two.) Deciding on specs is probably the easiest part (at least it was for me, thus far), once you resign yourself to the fact that even the most powerful machine can't emulate ALL of the games! Don't need to worry about 3D video, most sound boards are adequate, 40GB HDD is enough for the bare minimum (though I wouldn't go less than 160GB), and .5-1GB of RAM seems to be enough for most games. I haven't tried many newer ones or the ones that seem to be the biggest resource hogs, but I don't plan to run many (if any) of those on this cab.
Yeah, I would like to do the control panel now and wait for at least somewhat warmer weather to finish the painting. Need the funds, though. I would hold off on the KeyWiz and get just the controls for now...
...but then I'd have a complete CP that I couldn't do anything with! :blowup:
Meanwhile, I have tinkered with artwork for the top, having come up with a theme/title finally! That should be posted today or tomorrow. I'll want some opinions/suggestions for fine-tuning or additions.
saurian333:
OK, no new cab pics just yet; my camera isn't working with my Linux box at the moment. I'll figure it out later, or do it from my desktop.
Today I've done the last coat of paint (I think it's good now!), cut a monitor bezel out of poster board (turned out wrong, but I might be able to salvage it), cut an overlay for the top from the same poster board, and drilled out the monitor mount. Next is to fix the angle on that CP, as soon as the paint is dry down there so I don't get dust in it again when I cut.
I did promise pics, and I have handy the artwork I've designed so far.
The story with my chosen theme is that I was trying to think of a retro-styled theme that could have some stupid, catchy, vaguely arcade-related name to go with it. Coming up with a name for a project in any medium is a curse, and I've spent weeks trying to come up with something.
While trying to think of something that might relate to the fact that I'm building a cocktail cabinet, I eventually thought of the movie "Cocktail." I suddenly realized it was perfect; the bar's name fit, and neon lights would be a cool, 80s kind of theme. So, here it finally is!
painterinfo:
Great name for a cocktail machine.
--- Quote from: saurian333 on January 09, 2010, 05:57:54 am ---....cut a monitor bezel out of poster board (turned out wrong, but I might be able to salvage it), cut an overlay for the top from the same poster board, and drilled out the monitor mount....
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Have you decided on what glass to get and how to clamp it down? I used some aluminium angle strips for mounting the glass on my cocktail machine, but it was not a traditional type build.
saurian333:
--- Quote from: painterinfo on January 09, 2010, 06:47:41 am ---Have you decided on what glass to get and how to clamp it down? I used some aluminium angle strips for mounting the glass on my cocktail machine, but it was not a traditional type build.
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That's a nice looking cab. :)
I'm planning to use plexi, and my thought is to just drill/bolt through in the back, since that will be the best way to attach the hinges. I would use piano hinges through the edge of the board, but my MDF is only half-inch, and I'm afraid it won't hold.
Lexan or glass are just too expensive for my taste, at least for this build. I'm going fairly cheap all-around on this one, since it's my first, and because my funds are limited. I'm going to post a cost list when I'm all done, and I'm hoping it won't be too crazy.
wp34:
Very nice young Flanagan! :applaud: