The X360 - Xbox 360 powered bar top! - 70% Complete -

[comicsans]

Hey

Long time lurker here! Im nearly finished with my project so I though I would share it with you all. It is a Xbox 360 in a bartop arcade.

Im not great with woodwork so i purchased off eBay a bare bone bartop arcade shell (I cheated a bit I know). The rest is 100% my work though!!

Parts List

Bare bone bar top shell
Madcatz All Stars BrawlStick
Sanwa Joystick
Sanwa Buttons
Xbox 360 Elite
Xbox 360 Heatsinks
Carbon effect self adhesive vinyl
Matt black spray paint



Sanwa joystick and Buttons to replace the fightstick stock components

[comicsans]

Ripping apart a perfectly good joystick! oh its destined for greater things!!






Using the top as a template for the cpanel..

[rooter]

This is awesome.  Won't the Xbox get too hot inside there?

[comicsans]

hey! im completly stripping the xbox out of its case and im going to modifly the heatsinks and add some fans so it should run quite well.

[emphatic]

Cool project! 

[SNAAKE]

dont think there is room for that xbox inside.......

MAYBE a slim xbox360 motherboard.

[Well Fed Games]

When the 720/neXtbox/whatever comes out, and that sweet spot hits in a few years of $50 360s, I am going to make a ton of these. Will be following this!

[comicsans]

Heres some more progress!

[404]

If you are in the states and are interested in parting with the old brawlstick shell, I'd be interested in it in order to help out with this project here http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=120362.0

[Santoro]

Looks good - Am am also concerned about the heat and will be interested in how you mitigate that.  You really don't want a heat related RROD on your new bartop!

[emphatic]

Looks great! 

[comicsans]

dont think there is room for that xbox inside.......

MAYBE a slim xbox360 motherboard.

already done it! it will fit dont worry!

[comicsans]

If you are in the states and are interested in parting with the old brawlstick shell, I'd be interested in it in order to help out with this project here http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=120362.0

sorry dude am in the uk.

[comicsans]

The control panel! Will do for now but the pvc material doesnt seem that strong so i will probably remake it in wood at some point.

[comicsans]

Theres somthing pretty cool about this image!


See it fits!!!

[SNAAKE]

you should just RGH that xbox and get rid of the dvd drive

otherwise looks great

[comicsans]

never heard of that before SNAAKE is it hard to do?

[swaffar]

Well that's a phat xbox so there are a few solder points that are very small for inexperienced solder'ers, but that's the worst of it.  The only problem with hacking your box is that you'll need to have the fan running higher than normal to keep the system cool.  I keep mine at 75% and it's rather loud.  You might not want that in your little bartop.

[comicsans]

I litrally have zero soldering experience.. i think it will be good how i have done it though i have a few more pics to add i have added jasper heatsinks and some fans so there shouldnt be any overheating issues.

[SNAAKE]

well for a start dont update your dashboard. its not that hard if you follow the simple instruction but u need to be able to solder tiny points. not as small as soldering on IC chips for close. worst case scenario maybe you can find someone in the UK that will do it for you. check xbox-scene.com forums. Ive seen UK people there too.

and you dont really need to run the fan faster for jaspers. they (usually) never break. but if you are paranoid you can always add extra fans.

[comicsans]

Few more images!

[comicsans]

All upto date now with these pics!

I replaced the old stock cpu & gpu with the updated jasper heatsinks as they work alot better especially on the gpu, i also god rid of the xclamps and used the RROD kit to fit the cpu & gpu! and offcourse some article silver thermal paste. I also used a laptop cooling pad for the fans attached as they ran off usb.



Look at the crap microsoft dumps on there cpu & gpu


All clean! took me a little while to get off!


+

=







I will also add the orginal xbox fan back on to help coold the cpu & gpu as the small fans arnt that strong. we should be ok for the heat now.

[GIZMOGAMES]

hahaha i recognise that laptop cooling unit i have 10 of those compliments of the local pound shop the whole project looks great and i love the blue control pannel
and you did a great job on the 360 breakdown and refit full kudos shame you couldnt break down the other joystick rather than the brawl one but i guess i be looking for a brawlstick now to use on my projects
That or locating someone who hacks the pads How are you finding the materials from the bartop kit is it stable
Anyhow nice job m8 

[comicsans]

they only two things im not happy with is the control panel which is ok but im gonna remake it out of wood because i want somthing more sturdy (the control panel is a thinner pvc than the rest) and the part that holds the monitor im gonna replace with wood because it has a little too much flex in it for my liking. I went with the brawl stick over the hori for the build because you can replace the buttons easily with sanwa part and i wanted to be as authentic in that respect as possible. Plus i think the green buttons really work well for the project.

[GIZMOGAMES]

haha No it ALL works the only thing i WOULD suggest if its not too late is to make templates of the whole set of pieces because by the sounds of it yr going to get inundated with pm's asking for them lol
and uk im in york So keep up the great work bud and even if it was a kit your making it your own..
 Oh are you concidering any artwork lol   

[comicsans]

cheers dude i been to york before! im working on the marquee but im not 100% on what else im gonna do yet think im just gonn play a whole bunch of mk4 lol

[AGarv]

To make the CP more solid you could always place some wooden braces directly underneath of it, maybe even a lattice.  That would let you keep the sharp appearance while removing any "give" that the acrylic has.