Build Your Own Arcade Controls Forum
Main => Main Forum => Topic started by: Denhomer on May 28, 2013, 03:19:15 pm
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In short, what's this all about: using 3d printers to create a cabinet.
But first, I'll give a little background about my plans...
I have 1 room in the house where I'm allowed to keep my games. There's 3 pinballs, 6 pachinko's and 1 pachislo. The pachinko and pachislo machines are japanese amusement games all lined up on 1 wall.
They are about 80 cm high by 50 cm wide. I'm considering replacing 1 of these with an arcade cabinet, bartop kinda style. The pachinko machines are all made of plastic and I'm thinking that adding a plastic arcade will look better than a wooden.
I already have experience with having stuff 3d printed, although this concerns very small parts. But now I'm considering printing a control panel, and frontside of a cabinet to fit a 80*50 hole in my game wall...
Companies like shapeways, i.materialize, etc can print the standard Polyamide material in a size of 65*56*33, which would allow me to print the front in 1 piece and the control panel in another.
The downside is that they cannot polish the material, and it would end up rather coarse. I would sand / apply matte finish myself to give it a better look and feel.
Now my big question is, do you guys think this is feasible? Has anyone ever thought of this before or even executed it? Or did you give up because you found something wrong about it that I'm not realising yet?
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I can only image how much that would cost....
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You might be able to hold the costs down by printing it as relatively flat panels.
Scott
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I think it would be cheaper to have it milled out of gold. :o
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I can only image how much that would cost....
Damn, I made the calculations in my head, but it seems my calculator is malfunctioning... 60*50 != 300, but 3000 :dizzy:, which indeed would make it kind of expensive...
But for the controller panel, I would estimate it to be 20*60 cm = 1200cm². Minus the part of the buttons and joystick which could be made out of a metal insert panel (like real cabs do). So that would subtract 15*50=750cm² or something in the likes... = 450cm² total. 2mm thick material would end up in 180 cm³. This would cost about 140$... Still quite expensive... Because I would still need to have the metal panel laser cut...
Damn, shouldn't have gotten my hopes up with al the wrong calculations :banghead:
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One of the most important things taught to me about construction and fabrication is to always try to use the right tool for the job.
3d printing is not the right tool to build an arcade cabinet. 3d printing is a tool for creating one off 3d parts with complex curves and shapes.
Often for
for prototypes which molds are then created for mass production casting.
A traditional arcade cabinet is not that.
If you were creating a cool sculpture arcade like
computer space, then 3d printing would be a tool you could use.
http://www.oobject.com/revolutionary-arcade-cabinets/1971-computer-space/6839/ (http://www.oobject.com/revolutionary-arcade-cabinets/1971-computer-space/6839/)
It would still be uber expensive.
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Just make it out of acrylic and assemble the parts. Someone here...I think a Norse-lander....makes, or made, kits.