Build Your Own Arcade Controls Forum
Main => Project Announcements => Topic started by: scream1973 on February 17, 2011, 01:48:10 pm
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Have finally commenced on my first cabinet build.. Using the UAII plans from the project arcade book.
Done in oak stained with gunstock minwax to match up with the bar/dining room where it will ulitimately live.
Will have 2 player CP with a halloween/horror themed look with the theme covering the bezel and marquee as well
Of course i ordered parts before i completely thought things through.(lol) as i am potentially rethinking the joystick situation.
Original plan was 2 8 ways with a dedicated 4 way.. Might just do 2 switchable or 2 U360s now. not 100% sure yet
7 electric ice buttons with RGB per player ( have 20 total to play with)
2 LED-wiz
Ipac2 encoder
Utrak T-ball with RGB
Black Leather Tmold
2 player Coin Door i picked up on Ebay doesnt have the frame ( which i really would like to have since to make the door swing properly i had to route the hole slightly bigger than the door so light shines around it ..
LED for the Marquee
Have a 21" CRT monitor to start but will probably end up with a 28" LCD which is what i built the cabinet to hold as its 27" wide for the rough opening
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looking good so far! :cheers:
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Thank ya sir..
Cabinet isnt progressing very quickly.. I am waiting on all my parts to come in which should be soon..
U-trak is on its way and then i think i may bite the bullet and go with 2 x U360s with the top mount restrictors.
Wife has me finishing a bathroom build project first.
Then its on with the cabinet build
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looking good.
keep it up, I'm looking forward to seeing how it comes out
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Bathroom has been sucking all of my time but that project is almost done..
Did some design work on my marquee.
Here it is..
Thinking i will have some vines and trees running down the bezel to tie everything together before i get to the CP.
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The Marquee looks good. It may be cool to fill in the sides just a little more, maybe by making the name alittle wider
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Looking good.
Are you using oak ply for this (assuming it's not solid oak!)? Can you give any more specifics about the wood you're using and the steps you've taken (and need to take) to work with the wood?
I've finished up a design for my first cab, with the intent of making it a woodie, but am stuck worrying about the difficulty of working with 'real' wood and having it come out in a wife approved state. So any pointers you could give would be most welcome (and hopefully to others, not just me). I'm looking to stain to a darker expresso finish....
Congrats on the build so far. I wouldn't worry about the time factor, there are cabs around here that have been in process for years. Ahem.
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What i used for wood is Oak Veneered 3/4" Veneer Core Plywood ( Price in Canada is around $70 a sheet , but i got a great deal on it @40 a sheet ) .
I previously used Particle Core Oak Veneer on my Bar and found the veneer core to be lighter and a little easier to work with the only issue is potential voids occasionally in the plys.
Its very easy to work with especially if you have the tools. I cut everything with a circular saw ,jigsaw, Router and drill up to this point.
The slotcutter was very easy to use and cut the channel like butter ..
As for staining..Oak stains pretty evenly without pre-treatments but you have to lightly sand to bring down the grain after the first coat. A pre-treatment would bring this grain up and allow you to sand without knocking any finish off. To get my color took 2-3 applications of the stain and then 5 thin coats of poly for a nice smooth sheen. I use oil based stain and then a waterbased poly and had no issues with it on either this or my bar i built.
Can't think of anything else off the top of my head but definately feel free to ask questions and i will try to answer them ..
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Thanks scream, much appreciated.
Did you have any issues with the edge of the ply splintering out? I've used a Jigsaw to cut cheap ply in the past and there were a few places where the top layer splintered away. For that application it didn't matter, but for an arcade machine it obviously would. I have some fairly long curves in my design which I imagined I would need to jigsaw to cut, should I be using the router to do that? The design you went with seems to have a few tricky cuts in there...
How did you fix everything together? Are you using nails from the 'finished' side, battens, any fancy joints to hold it all together? Also have you had any issues with the ply warping/bending or is that only really an issue with the thinner board sizes?
Sorry for all the questions, but want to get as much info before I start buying more powertools and sheets of wood.
Keep posting those pics :)
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Hey not a problem..
The easiest way to prevent splintering is to use a sharp blade meant for veneered wood.. Also if you had a sacraficial piece of wood you can clamp the piece ontop of it helps prevent splintering as well (place outside downwards cut on the inside pieces.)... i only had a couple of splinters and i was able to sand the edge back enough to make it not noticeable.
i rough cut then used the router to bring it to proper size.. and then used the one side pieces as a template to route the other side to be a perfect match.
I used brads to hold it together on the finished side here and there for the smaller joints.. Screws from the inside out for the major parts where i could and then a couple of dark bronze screws on the outside in basically the corners where i needed the additional strength.. once the stain and poly went on you can barely even notice them at all..
As for warpage and bending can't say i have had any issues with that so far .. i think thats more so in the thinner pieces of ply and also if you brace it well with your design the chances of warpage are alot less. I know my bar i have had for around 2 years and no warpage or issues with that at all ..
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Looking at the marquee you guys are right it needed a lil something more.. So i added a few more elements to the left hand side in the form of a creepy tree ..
This theme will continue down the bezel with the tree onto the control panel.. I will probably have some fog/ghosts on the right hand side of the bezel.
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the red lettering need some shadow and/or borders so it stands out more. everything else looks good nice work :burgerking:
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Yes! ;D The tree really filled it nice.
I do agree with snaake that the red lettering needs a little something for depth or boldness.
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Here we go..
Drop shadow to make it pop some more..
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Yeah, the drop shadow looks good.
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That art is looking really nice!
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Bathroom project is complete so now i just have to hang 5 more sheets of drywall around the outside area of the bathroom then i can turn my attentions back fully to getting this cabinet rocking along..
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For some reason it wont allow me to post my rough CP art..
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scaled it down to see if thats the issue
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The red rings look really good, I hope those aren't only for placement? Are they going to remain in the graphic? :applaud:If you did red buttons with black plungers, that would look cool too!
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Man, I was looking forward to seeing what the control panel art looks like but I'm on vacation and using my blackberry. For some reason I can't see jpegs.
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So far they are for placement but your comment makes me think.. I might do something to surround the buttons. The panel artwork is still a WIP.
Buttons are RGB lit Electric Ice buttons with the player buttons topped of with black vinyl from Pongo
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Got me thinking..
Heres a version with Red joystick halos / Arrows. I found the joystick surround in someone elses post here.
Was thinking potentially something like this with spider webs but i can't seem to get a web i like that doesnt end up looking cheesy to me
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I like the spiderweb idea for the joysticks. Just need to find a 8 sided symmetrical spiderweb, or like an 8 sided concave star type web would be cool
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Trying to figure a good color for the webbing as well so it stands out but still blends in.
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Did a test print on 11x17 sheets to see how ti looked and it was a lil on the fuzzy side so i took it back to the drawing board.
Heres the next rev
Still trying to figure out the joystick halos per-say.. really wanna use like a spider web configuration but i just cant seem to get something i am happy with
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Heres my idea of the bezel artwork.. I might give it that blueish tint.. not 100% on that yet
Wife likes the control panel without joystick halos so i think i am gonna keep it pretty simple as it stands then
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The bezel looks great.
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Thanks.. my son is busting ---my bottom--- about getting working on the cabinet.. and now the wife is starting as well since her projects are done.. lol..
So its gonna be full steam ahead..
Just got my U-360s in on Monday so i have all my parts..
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Yeah, bezel does look very cool. The webs you used there dont look 'cartoonish' at all.
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Thanks.. showed the wife this morning and she thinks it needs a little bit more across the bottom of the bezel between the tree and the zombie..
Heres a question..
What would be the best way to do the bezel graphic .. adhered to the front of the glass or behind the glass ? Because this may slightly change my glass choice.. I was initially thinking smoked tempered glass but not sure how the graphic would show through that.
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Heres another iteration of the Bezel. I think i like this one a lil better since it encoporates the blueish tint that the other elements have.
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Sandwich it between two layers of glass, the smoked in the back and clear up front.
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Sandwich it between two layers of glass, the smoked in the back and clear up front.
Thats a good idea!
BTW - like the bluish-ness, it ties the cpo and bezel together better.
One addtl idea re: the zombies on the lower half; what if you had, say, a much larger, 'closer' zombie between them, almost like mostly head and shoulders, with them following up behind, to give it more of a sense of depth or 'approach'?
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Ohh i like that idea of putting a larger Head in the middle with them following suit..
Plus the glass sandwich can definitely work.. Just have to get my final exact size and order the glass.
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Added that design element in.. swapped the bat for another spider and cleaned up the top a little to make ti sharper..
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:applaud: :applaud:
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I love your artwork with the exception of the mirrored zombies at the bottom of the bezel.
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The skeletons in each corner.. Think they should be unique on each side ?
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Got me thinking..
Heres a version with Red joystick halos / Arrows. I found the joystick surround in someone elses post here.
Was thinking potentially something like this with spider webs but i can't seem to get a web i like that doesnt end up looking cheesy to me
I really like these joystick halos. Any tips on how you made those?
Thanks
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The joystick halos are actually from another member here a few years back.. If you do a search on joystick halos you will find the post ( dont have it handy.. )
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Finally got all the artwork finalized how i felt good about it and placed my order with Scott at Games On Graphix.
Have the t-molding all in place... built the box for the CP and stained it (pics to come later).
have a mock up panel top outta particle board for now..
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Got my ship notice.. if today wasnt a holiday my artwork from Scott would have arrived today and over the weekend i would have cut the real CP. Damn will have to wait until Monday night i guess. Hoping to have everything complete by the end of the month when we have company coming.. might have to take a day off work to finish everything off.
Going to use Mala with LEDBlinky.. got that all pretty much figured out now.. Updates on the camera..just have to download them
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Sorry about the quality of pics.> I will take some better ones .. these are just the cell phone pics..
Still a little bit of "finishing" work.
I wanna swap the coin door lights for Leds as the 12v ones are to dim.
And a lil bit of trim work around the glass in oak left to be done.
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Sorry about the clarity.. Cell phone pics
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Looks great man. Congrats
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Heres some better quality pics..
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great job ;D
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Wow. Now that's a machine that would work just fine in the living room!
Love it
:applaud:
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Nice looking cab. Very nice! :applaud:
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Thanks very much.. I am very happy with the way it turned out..
Next phase will be addition of Light guns / USB external ports for 360 controllers for players 3 & 4 .