Game Gauntlet - DONE!... well mostly.

[Brax]

I've never gone with www.t-molding.com, I always assumed shipping and duty would be too much into Canada. I got all my t-molding from Starburst. Some t-molding that isn't quite as popular, they have to order in, but even then it only takes a few days.

Your button spacing in your renders look a little off. The distance between your x axis looks different than your y axis. I've heard other people who have done it that way complain about different button distances after the fact. Personally, I use 1-1/2" centres all the way around. Just a heads up.

Edit: Ignore my last comment. Looking again at the pics of your drilled control panel the button spacing looks fine.

It's nice to see another CAD professional making use of full 3D mockups. Call it overkill but I just had to be sure everything would fit too. If I ever get my 1up arcade replica cab built I'm REALLY going to need the 3D layout.

[Mark70]

I've never gone with www.t-molding.com, I always assumed shipping and duty would be too much into Canada. I got all my t-molding from Starburst. Some t-molding that isn't quite as popular, they have to order in, but even then it only takes a few days.

Your button spacing in your renders look a little off. The distance between your x axis looks different than your y axis. I've heard other people who have done it that way complain about different button distances after the fact. Personally, I use 1-1/2" centres all the way around. Just a heads up.

Edit: Ignore my last comment. Looking again at the pics of your drilled control panel the button spacing looks fine.

It's nice to see another CAD professional making use of full 3D mockups. Call it overkill but I just had to be sure everything would fit too. If I ever get my 1up arcade replica cab built I'm REALLY going to need the 3D layout.

When I did the 3d model I just plopped the button models into the drawing.  All of the panels were 100 accurate, and I took a lot of care in placing the trackball, but I just eyeballed the button and joystick placement to get a sense of where to position them. If you consider the joystick and six buttons as a unit, the CP isn't symmetrical, so I thought of the button joystick set as occupying a rectangle and spaced those rectangles evenly on each side of the trackball.  So the 3d model let me eyeball the setup; I then went 2d in AutoCAD and made the CP patter accurate and made all of the numbers nicely equal and exact.  I never went back and applied it to the 3d.  When I mocked up the CP in 3d to see that everything would fit underneath and I'd have room to wire the buttons, I gave generous space to the buttons, knowing I could cut them pretty tight to the sides without any problems.

[Mark70]

Brax,

Can I ask what you paid for your t-moulding from Starburst? and  how many feet you bought?

[Mark70]

Those of you who contact me for plans, be aware that there were some things that I changed during the building phase to make it work.  The plans aren't perfect.  There are some issues with the way that the drawer fits with the inside panels of the lower cabinet, and if I could do it again I would put the lower cabinet door on top of the sides instead of between the sides.  Use the plans at your own risk.  They're not perfect, but should be a really good guide.  You still need to measure every piece to fit as you build it, if you do it the way I did.  Things never end up perfectly in square and plumb.  I leave the method up to you, but you can get a reasonable idea of how I did it from the "shareproject" link in this thread... way up there somewhere.

[Brax]

Brax,

Can I ask what you paid for your t-moulding from Starburst? and  how many feet you bought?

Geez, it was over a year ago. I really can't remember. It depends what you get too. The chromed stuff is more than colours.. etc. It was definitely competitive and there's no shipping. If I remember correctly it was around the same as t-molding at the time or just slightly more per linear foot. It worked out to a better deal since there's no shipping involved. I was very happy with their prices.

As for how much I bought... again I can't remember but I have an odd-ball side by side cocktail cabinet so I'm not sure it would help. (maybe 15' or so)

[Mark70]

Here's how it should look when it's done. No hall of famer for sure, but I think I'll be able to be proud of it.

I think I still need to dress the marquee up a little.

[thndrckn]

you have a pm.

Great looking Cab...

[Mark70]

observe it in all of it's shinyness and beauty.

I love taking that blue crap off of acrlyic

[Mark70]

they're right.  photos don't capture that reflective, shiny, plasticy, jewel quality that it has in real life.

[Mark70]

3

[c64rulez]

I bet you were thrilled when you got it. It looks simply great. Enjoy

[Mark70]

Well, I'm mostly done.  Still a lot of setup to do.  Smart strip, back door, bezel art, etc.

Some things I learned.

-the changeable control panel design I came up with is not as changeable as I thought it would be.  I'm going to fix it in there and if in the future I decide to put a different one on it will be fairly easy to switch.  It's just not, plug and play switching.

-tolerance, tolerance, tolerance.  MDF has very flat smooth surface.  It's easy to make things to very very tight tolerances and they mock up just fine.  Paint is thicker than you thought it was.  It will make drawers stick, doors stick, CPs fit too tight etc.

-MDF dust is insidious.  I spent about 2.5 hours in the garage with the shop vac running.  I vaccumed everything.  I mean everthing.  Walls, my lawn mower, last summer's dead potted plants, my tools, the whole floor..... and little pieces of mdf shavings are still showing up on the carpet in the living rooom.  To think I nearly decided to build this in my basement instead of the garage.

Anyhow.  without further adeu

[Mark70]

Laying on the floor will reveal the hidden, countersunk, credit buttons....  and the scuffs from the keyboard drawer, starting already, and some abuse from taking the CP on and off.  Well....it's all in black on the underside.

Yes the paint I used isn't as black as it should have been.

Keep that in mind.  If you choose a colour chip at the paint store, the black has white in the mixture.  I bought mine, one guy took the order, I said as black as you can get it and handed him the "black onyx" paint chip.  When I picked up, another guy had mixed it and presented it.  He asked what it was for, and I had forgotten to dress up like a goth and say "my living room" so I told him it was to paint out parts of a cabinet I was making.  I said I needed it as black as I could get it, and he said "oh you should have told me that, I could have left out the white".  Dumbass.

Add that to the list of what I've learned.

[Mark70]

My bezel glass is made of acrylic.  It's about two inches shorter than the whole opeing, including up behind the speaker fascia.  The bezel and acrylic slip up behind the speaker fascia then drop down in behind an aluminum channel at the bottom.  I built the bottm part out of an aluminum 90 degree angle which I bought at the local hardware chain store.  I had to bend it to an acute angle a bit at a time working along the length of the piece with my bench vise.  then sand out the teeth marks from the vise and paint black. 

Those are the dust covers from a $20 set of speakers I got at future shop.  They're fixed over holes in the speaker fascia, and the speakers will soon be mounted inside the cab behind.

[Mark70]

The flash really makes all of the blacks look different, but in the dark basement, under incandescent light, it really all looks much the same.

Here's the bottom of the bezel

[Mark70]

I think I already posted a shot of the finished CP.

Oh, when you get your artwork printed, specifically request that they print it without any borders.  My CP art was shrunk by 1/4" all around and it has little screw ups in the corners which I'm going to have to stick something under the plexi to hide.

[Cornchip]

Wow...I'm glad I read this post. I didn't know there was a place in Toronto to buy arcade parts. It's not always convenient to place orders from the US. Since I'm going to the International Auto Show Friday..I'll have to stop by Starburst. I have been lurking long enough and will get my project into high gear. Actually I bought a used PC in Markham last Friday to use in my CAB.

 - IBM NetVista 8307 2.66G w/40G
 -HP 21" CRT monitor (Sony Trinitron Tube w/dual VGA inputs..Dreamcast???)

 I haven't thought much into a design for my CAB yet. I like the Lusid style the best. On the the forum is a sweet CAB...The Neon. Wow! I would compare your CAB closely with that. All of the above are very clean examples of what I would like to accomplish.

 Best of all..my wife approves. Just as long as she gets a remodel of our down stairs bathroom (started on Friday...can't wait till it's done...I'd rather build a CAB!!).

 Cornchip   

[Mark70]

This cab owes just about everthing to the neon.

[Cornchip]

   I like this project. I'd like to ask if your still offering the plans in DWG.

 PM sent.

 Cornchip   

[Cornchip]

Thanks Mark. That looks like the right file (2D layouts). Nice use of the MDF...I noticed at The Home Depot a 4x8 sheet is actually over sized at  97". Very economical. Quickly I noticed that I'll have to increase the side panel from 3'2" to suit the depth of the monitor (19.5"Hx19.5"Wx19.5"D). I'm guessing 3"to 4" inches will do. The width seems fine inside with .5" to spare either side. 

 Do you remember what length of T-Molding you ordered? I guessed at around 48'. I added a 10% cutting allowance.

 I'll continue to plan ahead as I think of things.

 Thanks again...
                         Cornchip   

[Mark70]

I think I ordered 50'.  I seem to remember getting two rolls and a half roll. 

I had plenty left over.  I redid my CP and I still have about 5'.

Measure in CAD.  I was too lazy and just used the fermi method when I ordered.

Oh, if you do the curved marquee, I used PVC flor tile edging for the marquee retainer.  I just snipped out bits of the part that would normally sit under the tile and it curved nicely.  You have to play to get the length right so it sits in the same curve as your marquee panels.

I have a 17" PC monitor in mine.  My monitor shelf is tilted so it's perpendicular the laid back angle of the side panels.  The tilt may save you some room.  As with everything else, draw it in with CAD.

Don't try and put pinball buttons in the side like I did uless you add width or move the joysticks closer to the center.  And plan for the trackball bolts.  Mine are too tight to the front of the CP to get nuts on them.

[Cornchip]

  I believe I will end up making the CAB a little  wider as you mentioned. I bought a used Circus Charlie marquee. I haven't recieved it yet...so I can't say for sure how long or tall it is. When I know more I'll calculate a radius based on length and how much I wish to "bow out" this plexi marquee. While I'm at it I'll  widen the rest of the panels accordingly.

 I called Starburst about the T-Molding. They had less than 30' on hand of blue. I'll have to find another source. I was planning a order to Groovygamegear.com for a KeyWiz anyways...they have blue.

 Cornchip

[Mark70]

Don't try and put pinball buttons in the side like I did uless you add width or move the joysticks closer to the center.  And plan for the trackball bolts.  Mine are too tight to the front of the CP to get nuts on them.

I take it back.  I ordered some snap in sanwa buttons off of ebay and they fit really well.  They don't have the satifying click then you depress them like the Happ buttons do (because of the cherry microswitches) but some people don't like that.   I found that I like the click of the cherry switches because with the sanwa buttons, which are quite sensitive I found myself sitting with the button depressed and didn't realize it during a Visual Pinball session.  I think the sanwa buttons are preferred for fighting games where you have to hit them quickly.  I don't know for sure.  All I know is that they fit and I have working pinball buttons now.

[Mark70]

Plans teaser for the GWJers