The NEW Build Your Own Arcade Controls
Main => Project Announcements => Topic started by: emb on September 10, 2012, 11:36:15 pm
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Done (Mostly):
Green Bay Packer Bartop Cabinet (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tY2MO6Hrkg#ws)
My wife finally gave me approval to build a bartop. :notworthy:
I will be using a vertically mounted HP L1710 17" monitor won off of ebay for around $30 after shipping. The 1/2" MDF has been purchased along with a few other generic components. I have yet to pick out the hardware. Odds are it will be something on a Mini ATX board.
I whipped up a first draft of a Visio diagram of what I am thinking. I may do some tweaking with the curves and finish up the dimensions. The shape is growing on me... meh, we'll see if my opinion changes tomorrow.
Does anyone notice any problems with the design from a user interaction standpoint? Is there anything that deters you away from an aesthetics standpoint? I figured it is worth getting everyone's opnion to help widen (or narrow) down my options. I may cut something out on a piece of 1/4" hardboard to get a better feel for it.
The CPU / mobo combo I have been eyeing (intel atom d2700 - 2.13 ghz dual core): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813153229 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813153229)
(if anyone knows where I can find a better system for the same price or cheaper; please, let me know)
Monitor Specs: http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/12917_na/12917_na.PDF (http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/12917_na/12917_na.PDF).
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Nice design... My thoughts: I'd make the side panel and the cp more parallel. Your inset from the side panel edges look inconsistent (eg. It looks inset 1/2" on the front of the CP., 1/4" by the marquee and on top, and 1/8" on the back and sides.). I'd work at getting those more consistent. What's going to keep the plexi from moving up. What are you going to put in the gap between the Cp and the plexi? Do you have enough depth below your CP? Where is your speakers going to go?
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Thanks for the feedback. All panels are edges 1/4" from the edge. There is a 1/4" edge from the edge of the marquee. Not the wood.
I do agree, I should tweak the control panel so the edge is more parallel.
I intentionally didn't place a stopper for the plexi so that I can easily remove it if needed. That way I can push up the plexi and pull it out. I have seen a few dynamo cabinets do something similar.
I still need to look at where to place the speakers and the depth of the CP.
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I like it except for the bottom of the marquee - try it perpendicular to the screen. Also, maybe see what it looks like with the marquee parallel to the screen as well?
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Thanks for the feedback. All panels are edges 1/4" from the edge. There is a 1/4" edge from the edge of the marquee. Not the wood.
Don't forget to factor in the marquee retainer ;)
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If you are still working on it and are looking for some more inspiration, there is a project called VCabinet available on the Spanish language forum arcadeforever.
http://arcadeforever.forumfree.it/?t=60590996 (http://arcadeforever.forumfree.it/?t=60590996)
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Thanks for everyone's feedback so far. I am quickly learning that Visio is not the best tool for this. Once I get a decent shape I will likely draw it out on paper and route out a quick template.
Also, thanks for your idea javeryh. Seems to look much better with lifting the lower lip under the marquee. I tried tilting the marquee but that looked a little funky. I also changed the angle of the side panel to match the 10 degree angle that the control panel will sit at.
Keep the constructive criticism rolling ;)
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Visio is great for making cutting templates. Sketchup is what I would use for this. Looking forward to the progress. :cheers:
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I spent several hours of thinking about the design of this cabinet and decided I will abandon this design. I'm giving in. I'm hopping on board with the weecade clone bandwagon. I tried to resist! What can I say? It is such an awesome look!
Does anyone know if any plans for the weecade exist for a vertical monitor? I'll come up with some plans if nobody has.
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Don't give up... You were so close! Why waste all those hours you already spent only to to throw it away and build something that everyone else has already built? This is BYOAC... Build "YOUR OWN"... Not Build "Someone Else's" design! ;)
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You state a good point that Ii was contemplating myself at the start of this project, however, I only spent a couple hours working on it. After a mental debate, I realized that I find nothing wrong with knowledge sharing and reuse if the product looks good and works.
To put things in perspective, it is just the frame design that I am reusing as a basis. There are many different characteristics that make up a cab. BYOAC has nothing in its name about design, but building (although it is implied to a certain extent). ;) Besides, this cab is for my wife. She was the one who preferred the weecade design. :D
Even with what I mentioned above, I still have to make some modifications to fit a vertical monitor. What I am trying to indirectly say is thanks, your post helped remind me that you can make a cab vintage and original. I'll likely start off with the weecade as a base, and make changes from there. Who knows maybe the end result won't even look like a weecade.
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Does anyone know if any plans for the weecade exist for a vertical monitor? I'll come up with some plans if nobody has.
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,119409.msg1265402.html#msg1265402 (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,119409.msg1265402.html#msg1265402)
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@Nephasth, I looked at that one already....even routed out the side panels for that design, just didn't seem fitting of a design for the house.
I created a couple more designs (the actual implementation would have rounded edges). I am still a little concerned that the depth to height ratios are too far off (it shouldn't be too top heavy).
The designs also may not be tall enough to accommodate the vertical screen. I also need to get a sense of what level of where peoples heads will be when playing the cabinet. It seems possible that the top of the monitor may not be visible because of the marquee location.
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Made some more mods and rounded most of the dimensions to the nearest 1/8". I think this will be my final candidate (contingent on my monitor specs).
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I cut out a template on a spare board to see how it would look. This will be a great template for my router.
I am still waiting for my monitor which should be here by tomorrow.
My only other concern right now is ensuring the atom will be fast enough to play mk3, killer instinct, and epsxe. I may bite the bullet and get an i3. It would be nice to keep the mobo/CPU under $150 although I don't think I can find anything in that price range.
Has anyone used a atom dual core (2.13 GHz)?
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If those games are a real concern for you then maybe you should build a horizontal cab! ;) the atom processor should be enough to run all the old school vert games!
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I already have a horizontal upright cab which is solely focused for MAME. I figured this would be a cool addition to the corner of the family room. The main intent of it is to play vertical games but I would also like to play some PSX games on it.
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Made a little more progress today. I ended up finding a 30" by 72" sheet of black laminate at Menards $9. It was way too good of a deal to pass up.
After getting the laminate home I thought to myself, "Should I paint or laminate the inside? If I laminate the inside then how am I going to glue everything together? Screws would not be stable enough to hold all of this MDF together."
Thankfully there are some pretty helpful people on these forums ;)
(http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,122666.0.html (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,122666.0.html))
I took my router template and cut holes for where the batons will go using a jig saw (first image). I will use my router and template to cut the laminate and baton holes when that time comes. My only concern is gluing the laminate at the proper height. A viable solution will likely involve cutting out more of the "template guts" (second image) to to help ensure that more contact is made with the side panels.
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My template was too unstable after cutting the baton holes. As a result I ended up creating a new template out of 1/4" hardboard. I will create a jig for cutting out the laminate batons when the time comes.
Anyways, I was able to cut the side panels today. I rough cut the the MDF using a circular saw and jig saw. I then used the template and my table router to clean it up. 1/2" MDF cuts like butter ;)
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Received my buttons today and started to think more about the layout. Here is one layout design I came up with (image 1 is in inches, image 2 is in metric). It is an 8 button layout to support PSX games. It may need some tweaking.
I am not 100% confident on the layout. It might be a good idea to cut it out on cardboard first. I came across another ergonomic layout from poking around on the forums and net (image 3). It is very likely that I will use that layout instead.
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Why so many buttons for a vertical cabinet?
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Why so many buttons for a vertical cabinet?
Playstation games.
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Vertical playstation games! :woot
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I contemplated that same question for days, "why have that many buttons? Why run psx on a vertical bartop? Why not tun only vertical games on it?" Here is where I am coming from:
- I mainly desire to play vertical games on the bartop.
- I would like to play non vertical games as well and I don't mind having a border along the top and bottom.
- I already have built an upright cabinet and would like to keep only MAME on it.
- I want to play console games on the bartop.
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Made some more progress today. I cut out the laminate along with holes for the batons. Everything was cut with a table router and a couple straight edges.
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Purchased a few parts:
Headphone Jack:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/150897121644 (http://www.ebay.com/itm/150897121644)
2x USB Panel Mount:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/330743829844 (http://www.ebay.com/itm/330743829844)
Speakers:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/370646291349 (http://www.ebay.com/itm/370646291349)
(I used the same ones and gutted them from my previous project, they work fine)
3x LED strips for marquee (bought extras because they are cool and cheap):
http://www.ebay.com/itm/170916121871 (http://www.ebay.com/itm/170916121871)
4x pin molex connector (for power)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/150849879068 (http://www.ebay.com/itm/150849879068)
Tmolding was purchased from t-molding.com
Omni2 was purchased from ultimarc.
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Laminated the inside, cut out all the panels (with their laminate pieces), and glued the cabinet together. Still have a long ways to go. It's getting there :)
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Primed and painted the inside (I ran out of laminate). I also painted the outside edges black for sanity purposes (in the unlikely case where there could be a gap between the laminate and t-molding).
(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/12/10/22/ypaneqah.jpg)
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Laminated the outside and added the t-molding.
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Added bezel batons and built the control panel. Just waiting on the cp overlay and marquee to arrive in the mail. I also cut and painted the corner brackets to hold the marquee (not shown).
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Wow, Looks great!
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Done (mostly):
Green Bay Packer Bartop Cabinet (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tY2MO6Hrkg#ws)
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I was thinking of doing a packer theme bartop... good to know there is another cheese head around!
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Love your bartop! The 9ers are going DOWN!