"The Varsity Club" Dual Monitor Arcade *Reconstruction has begun* 12/29/09

[mccoy178]

I installed the coindoor area and tried to figure out where I want to mount the light guns.

Here is a couple of pics of the cabinet just for poop and giggles:





Here is the coindoor area after wood putty and sanding:



I think this is a perfect area for the guns.  I don't think they'll get knocked off because P3 and P4 will be far enough away.  I guess I'll find out:

[mccoy178]

I decided without the control panel, I would make a wise decision and install the plunger!   I just took a shot in the dark.  I guess I'll find out soon enough if it will work.

I took some measurements and then drew up a little template:



I used various drill bit sizes to drill out the template:





I was really happy with the fit:







I left about an 1/8" at the bottom to clear the t molding:



I used a weird combo of washers and a machine screw to hold it into place.  All in all, very satisfied with the results, (as long as it fits ):





Now, I have to find someone to make the pressure sensitive device for the plunger.  I didn't know if this was going to be a reality or not, so I'm pretty stoked about it.

[mccoy178]

While I'm thinking about it, I believe that the t.v. needs to be moved up about an 1 1/2".  I will look into this on Monday.  It shouldn't be a crazy hard fix and if I let it go, it will bother me for eternity.  Well maybe not eternity, but I digress.


P.S.  This evening I plan on continuing wiring of the LEDWiz and possible the leaf switches.  I brought the cp box home to see if the plunger fits , and it would be excellent if I can have it almost totally done for Monday.

[dweebs0r]

The TV seems like it needs to go up a little and be angled forward a bit too.

It looks really good but to me the TV does seem kind of sunk in there.

-Dweebs

[mccoy178]

The angle of the t.v. is 45 degrees, almost identical to the Golden Tee machine.  A huge difference that I love about this cabinet as compared to my old one is the height of the cp.  It is perfect for a regular stool or standing up.  I practiced standing about 4 feet away to use the light guns, and it looks like it is going to work very well.  I do have the monitor sunk for strategic reasons.  Being an avid Golden Tee fan, I hit the heck out of the trackball and like most idiots slam the monitor at the same time.  By recessing it, I want to have enough give as to never having to worry about any accidents. 

[dweebs0r]

Ahhh, as well thought out as everything is on this thing I figured you did it for a reason.

-Dweebs

[Timoe]

This cabinet looks photoshopped.  its fake.

[mccoy178]

Man!  Busted again!  No more photoshop for me. 

I received the computer today.  It was packaged nicely, but man was it dirty!  I've got some pics to show the exciting cleanup!  Enjoy!











Now I need to get this badboy tested.  I wonder if it will kick out smoke like a diesel engine?!

[mccoy178]

Well, after the exciting chore of cleaning the computer, I decided to waste some more tiime and see if the plunger would fit .  Amazingly, it did!   I was very happy with the location, because on the 49 way is going to hopefully have the rotary adaptor and the trackball is going to have a support base underneath it.  Otherwise, I was crazy lucky on the location.  (I did have an idea of what I was doing, but you never know.  The pic with the cp sitting on the box is such a tease.  The wiring is  tedious.)

[mccoy178]

I finished the wiring of the LEDWiz tonight.  I need to clean up the wiring a lot, but I'm glad to have it done.  I also mounted the hinge to both the cp and the cp box.  Here are a couple of pics of how I did the LEDWiz wiring:

I removed all of the leaf switches so I would have finger room.  I ran the common line first(orange).  After that, I ran the individual lines.  I will clean up the mess a little later. 

Here is how Kneivels wiring really looked before the cleanup.(Just kidding Kneivel ):

[mccoy178]

This almost brought a tear to my eye:



Here are some of the labels from MikeDeuce lit up.  Cool little product:



One last pick before I passed out for the evening.  One stage closer to completion:

[GadgetGeek]

That plunger scares me.  I can see somebody putting a little extra into their golden tee swing and bouncing their boys off that.  OUCH.
Keep up the great work.

[Timoe]

Mccoy,

This is coming out really clean and original too.  You should be really proud when this is done.  You sure got alot of gear up under that CP!  This is probably the most expensive cab I have seen.

I'm not a fan of sports crud on an arcade cabinet but it looks darned nice.

Good fer you! 

[markrvp]

This is probably the most expensive cab I have seen.

He told his wife he won a parts giveaway from Retroblast.  When she sees the credit card bill, he may need a place to sleep for awhile.

[mccoy178]

I had planned to sleep in the control panel.  Sure it will be a little tight, but I'm sure there is room in there somewhere.  As for the Golden Tee, busted balls theory, unless they are humping the cabinet, they should be safe.  That was the only place I could locate it.  Trust me, I've thought and thought about where to put that dang thing.  Thanks for the compliments fellas.  Between the good sentiments and seeing the results of the cabinet are great motivators!

[arcadefever]

Mccoy,

This is coming out really clean and original too.  You should be really proud when this is done.  You sure got alot of gear up under that CP!  This is probably the most expensive cab I have seen.

I'm not a fan of sports crud on an arcade cabinet but it looks darned nice.

Good fer you! 

i'm not a fan of sports on an arcade cab, but i agree with mccoy , this has to be one of the best panel ever, great job...
the final cab will go straight  to the HALL OF FAME 

[mccoy178]

Thank you very much for the compliments.  I fired up the computer today and it runs like a champ!  That was a big worry for me.  Now it's on to mounting this motha'.

[NIVO]

mount? uh huh huh huh  so whens the punchout party you old goat?

[mccoy178]

I had a pretty productive day today.  I had the opportunity to get the cabinet construction done and primed.  I found a powercord sitting around and decided to use it.  Here is a quick pictorial of how I did it:

Here is the powerswitch.  I love authentic items:




First I decided where to locate the switch and I cut the hole.  I brad nailed some guide strips, rough cut out the center and finally, routed out the area and made it purty:






Here is the powerswitch and its new home:


Here is the back of the cabinet with the new panel mounted:

[mccoy178]

Here is the cabinet finished.  I added the back of the marquee and the top piece of the cabinet.  I also have a door for the back and plan on using a key lock to keep the nosy bodies out.  Here are the final pics of the cabinet right before priming and a pic of the cabinet primed:

[mccoy178]

I also decided to fix the monitor bracket.  While doing so, I also made a nice retainer piece to hold the monitor solid and provide a perfect surface to hold the plexiglass!  Enjoy:

Here is how much I moved the monitor brackets.   About an inch or so up and about an inch or so forward as well:


I had to cut a little of the support piece on the betabrite shelf:


Here is a clamp holding the bracket in place:


Moving the bracket was a good decision I believe. to the observant ones following this:


I also bought the plexiglass.  It cost $65!  There are some big plans for that badboy:

[mccoy178]

I was able to paint roll on two coats of semi gloss today.  I also spray painted the inside, just to make sure everything was protected.  The exterior looks good and that's the important part.  The camera has dust on the lense giving the spotty appearance.  Everything was primed before painting:





Also, I finally finished getting all the wire ran.  I still need to clean it up, but it was terrible.  If I never have to spray paint or wire again, it won't break my heart:

[mccoy178]

Now, for something rather exciting.  I started to make the jig to hold the plexiglass after it is heated.  Here is what I did:

First, I traced the curve of the cabinet onto a piece of paper and then cut out two identical boards:





Second, I attached the two boards and the paper together and drilled holes in strategic spots.  Next I cut dow rods to fit in the holes and put the jig together:





I hope to get to the bending before the weekend so I can paint the plexi on Sunday.  Anyways, more updates to come!

[mccoy178]

Well, I just finished molding the plexi.  All in all it went very well.  The top bend was bend a little cold, so there are two one inch hairline cracks.  One on each side.  I figure that I can put some sort of instruction or something on there.  It is really not that big of a deal.  I get pissed when I mess up anything and this didn't cause any sudden knee jerk reaction if that makes any sense.  It could've been a ton worse.  I'm going to attempt to route out the speaker areas next.  I'll be back tonight with more pics.

[Santoro]

This is just great work, I love the cab design. 

(I cannot believe it took me that long to find this thread!)

[KenToad]

Wow, McCoy, I think you're actually carrying out what so many others are just dreaming about.  Amazing work.

 
KenToad

[mccoy178]

Thanks fellas!  Wait until tonight.  I couldn't just let Pixelhugger do all the fancy plexiglass work.  I'm gonna give him a tiny run for his money.  Why did I have to build mine in the same decade as him? 

[bb040]

would really love to see pics of you molding your plexiglass......would love to see how you did it

[mccoy178]

Today is a tribute to both Pixelhugger and Knievel.  They have both provided blueprints for our hobby that are of the first degree.  This is the best quality I could produce.  The plexi work is a reflection of the lead Pixel has set and the cp wiring is in tribute to Knievel.  I saw the work he did on the cp he made and it was very impressive.  I know there are plenty of others out there who have set the ground work, but these two specifically inspire me everyday I work on this machine.   Now, an explanation of what I did today:

The first thing I did today was form the plexiglass to the contour of the cabinet.  After getting the angles correct, I decided to cut out the areas for the speakers.  Here is a pictorial of how I did it:

First, here is the machine that was used to bend the plexi.  Very simple, yet very effective:



I measured where I needed to make the bend and marked it with a dry erase marker and pealed back the protective paper:



I ended up not using the template that I made  and used the cabinet itself.  I don't want to talk about it:



I marked the line where the next bend was to happen:



I peeled off the protective paper and transfered the marking to the plexi directly.  I erased most of the mark before it got too hot on the bender:



When I went to bend the second section, it cooled too quickly.  When I reheated it, I tried to bend it too early and that caused an inch hairline crack on both sides.  Here is the finished piece and a closeup of one of the cracks.  They will be easily hidden:





All in all, I was very happy with the results.  The bends are a perfect fit!  Since I've not bent anything bigger than a letter holder, it was pretty cool.  It seemed like so many things could've went wrong.  I can handle the two little cracks.

[mccoy178]

That went so well, I decided to cut out the area where the speakers will go.  On my last cabinet, I cut off the computer speakers and used Sony Explode speakers.  I didn't want to use car speakers this time, so I decided to use the original speakers.  The more I sat there and looked at them, the more my gears started to spin.  Here is what happened and the results.  I still need to use the 1/8" round over bit, but you get the idea:

First, I took my good ol' time and made a template out of mdf.  Here it is just before I routed it out:



Here is the template after routing.  Gosh I love routers!:



I used a piece of plywood underneath and sandwiched the plexi between the template and the plywood.  I had also drawn my measurements on the plexi so I could easily line them up:





Here are a couple pics after the initial routing was done.  I was uber nervous about cracking the plexi.  I believe having pressure on both sides is what helps avoid that issue:





Here are a few pics of the plexi sitting back on the cabinet:







I used the grommets that came on the speakers and drilled out holes for them.  Once mounted, the grills pushed right into place:












It's no dashboard like Pixels, but you gotta start somewhere right?

[mccoy178]

Now, this is for Knievel.  I've wired four of these beasts and this by far was the craziest.  Take a gander at the wiring pics above.  Just imagine how long it took to clean it up. I love solid strand, but boy does it take forever!  Here are some pics of the finished product.  I can't stress how happy I am that the wiring is done!

I should've invested in plastic wire tie production:

[Bones]

That wiring is sick.

[markrvp]

HOLY COW!!

[arcadefever]

it is a real pleasure to read the update every day about this cab 

this is a master wirering job 

GREAT GREAT GREAT GREAT 

[mccoy178]

Thanks fellas!  I appreciate the positive feedback!    I have decided not to use the lightgun.  I am making a xbox modded cabinet next, and it will go in that.  I have concerns for the lightbars and Golden Tee.  Also, the other cabinet has an upright screen, so I think the lightguns will work better on it.  I'll live.  Also, I have marked the plexi for painting. 

This weekend, I plan to do the following:

1) Paint the plexiglass
2) Paint the cp box
3) Create a nice box for the volume control(I don't like the manufacturers' creation.  It will be mounted on the backside of the cp box near the Shazaam button.)
4) Mount the Motherboard, Powersource, and Harddrives to the control board and get them ready to be installed.
5) Figure out general layout for interior of the cabinet and make sure everything has its place.
6) Get marquee ordered from Scott
7) Check out my software status and begin to reorganize my collections.

[Pixelhugger]

HOLY... FREAKING... CRAP!! 

That is sooooooo cool!!! NICELY DONE!    Gotta put this one on autonotify!

[Pixelhugger]

This is just great work, I love the cab design. 

(I cannot believe it took me that long to find this thread!)

Ditto

[mccoy178]

I painted the plexiglass last night.  On my first cabinet I hand painted the plexi.  This time I used spray paint and it was uber easy.  It did take 5 coats, but it literally took a couple minutes to spray it on, and with no cleanup!  For the noobs:  If you are going to paint, paint it on the inside.  It doesn't matter how ugly it is on that side, it looks perfect on the other side.  Here is a little pictorial on how I painted it.

The very first thing I did was use a dry erase marker to draw the areas I didn't want painted while the plexi was in the cabinet.  That is very important!

First, I rounded up all the supplies: A newspaper, painters tape, and the plexi.  I also used a hobby knife to cut the excess tape off the corners:



Second, I taped off the areas using the marker lines.  I used a hobby knife to cut excess tape off of the corners:



I used a quick drying spray paint on the plexi.  I put five coats on.  Although it wouldn't of mattered if the paint ran, I didn't want it to, so I took it easy.  I held the plexi up to a bright light to make sure there were no light areas.:



Here is the backside before the paper was removed:



Here is the final product.  I love that look.  I would've liked a nice bezel in there with instructions or whatnot, but you can't beat the quality of the look it gives:

[DaveMMR]

Okay, I don't respond to each and every project announcement (though I've read a great number of them), but I just have to say that that is one of the sickest, awesomest and oustanding looking cabs I've ever seen.  The attention to detail really shows in your work.

I'm just jealous that you make it look so effortless.  I couldn't cut a straight line if God himself bestowed me with some heavenly ripguide that's miraculously idiot-proof - and there you are, bending plexiglass without breaking a sweat.

Man, good job!   

[mccoy178]

Thanks a ton man!  I honestly thought non stop about this project for about 8 months.  It has been neat as to how things are coming together.  I predict that I will be about 90% done in two weeks.  I have a bottleneck of things to do right now, but I should be out of the woods soon.


I am now trying to determine where to locate the volume control.  This is not fun, as I have prepared for most everything else.  Such a dumb little thing to do and such a pain in the butt!