Author Topic: Laminated upright cabinet. [99.9% done] (Read 34002 times)

saleem · « **Reply #40 on:** September 11, 2009, 01:50:59 pm »

had me stumped.but,i was thinking about how you was using brackets and screws.now you explian,makes more sense.

glad you are using laminate,its not for me to tell you to do it the way i would but,its nice to see someone getting away from the generic paint job.

americans got more choice than us here in uk.

Epyx · « **Reply #41 on:** September 11, 2009, 02:00:36 pm »

Saleem,

Isn't this in the UK?

http://www.formica.co.uk

Quote

Formica Limited creates beautiful and useful surfaces for many diverse environments and applications. It is the market leader and only manufacturer of High Pressure Laminate (HPL) in the UK, as well as being a manufacturer of a wide range of other interior surfacing materials.

In fact look at the selection of colours available:

http://www.formica.co.uk/publish/site/eu/uk/en/home/collection/plain_colors.0.html

saleem · « **Reply #42 on:** September 11, 2009, 02:33:55 pm »

i will look into this,i heard of formica,but,whether the public can buy i dont know.

we cant buy laminate over the counter,i think its because most laminates are oil based and oil based products are banned in uk.

my bandwidth is busy at the mo,so running that site is difficult but,i will look into it as i am keen to buy some alternate covering for my project (and future ones)

i like what your doing there,you sure seem to enjoy it.would have been a shame to see you just roll paint on.

Gamester · « **Reply #43 on:** September 11, 2009, 09:33:04 pm »

syph007,

Looking great! Don't get discouraged about the time it's taking... my project feels like it is going slow too. But, ya know, you've spent 3+ years building up to this point... savor it... the joy is in the journey!

It seems like you're taking the time to do it right and not taking shortcuts, so that's the most important thing. You'll probably have this thing for many years, and down the road, when you look back on it, you'll see that taking a few weeks longer than hoped to build it right was pretty insignificant in the scheme of things. That's the approach I'm taking anyway...

Keep it up, and I'm looking forward to seeing how the artwork that I know you're secretly working on comes out.

syph007 · « **Reply #44 on:** September 12, 2009, 03:21:14 pm »

Gamester you are totally correct, I'm just an impatient person by nature but I am for sure loving the build process. Problem is now I've got 10 people constantly asking how it's going wanting to see pictures, wondering when they can come over to play etc... so I get all excited and just try to make progress.

I did make some more progress today though. First thing I did was make a run for more laminate. I was paying 50 CDN at Home Depot. Tried the Rona here and the exact same stuff was 37 a sheet. No lowes near me so I couldn't check there.

I've been debating the whole cabinet height thing so I used a cardboard mockup screen to get a feel for it. It was useful though as I concluded I wanted the screen higher than what was recommended. To smooth the look of this more I shaved 1/2 inch off the marquee area with some vertical routing. Had to recut part of the t-molding slot but that was no big deal. I'm very pleased with the subtler change. It's not a big deal to have the screen a tad higher anyway as I tilted it back by about 5 degrees more than the design called for and I will be adding an admin panel below the screen.

Since I had an idea for screen position now, I test fit the shelf for it and was happy, so it's now firmly in place as well. Just used 2x2 for this, and its attached with 2 inch screws from the outside.. perfectly solid, no need for shelf brackets.

The tv is going to be used for now as I'm out of funds, but it will be replaced by a 27 inch Neiman arcade screen. Turns out I live about 4 km from the factory where them make them, so I have to take advantage of that!

Cheers!

syph007 · « **Reply #45 on:** September 12, 2009, 03:27:30 pm »

Oh, forgot to add that I've been working on all 3 main parts of this build at the same time, that being the cabinet, pc setup and the control panel. I was trying to do a test layout last night but could not find a good U360 template. Had to make my own, but a test print confirmed it was bang on. Added as an svg attachment in case anyone else needs this.

Cheers!

syph007 · « **Reply #46 on:** September 14, 2009, 09:16:22 pm »

Finally feeling like I'm making headway. Got the coin door made and laminated with the hinges installed and added a cross brace to support the CP box.

I was really dreading dremmeling out the shape in laminate for the side again, so I said screw it and just spread out the contact cement on the part that would be glued and handled the whole 4x8 sheet. It worked fine but was more awkward.

It was so nice to stand it up and see a finished side laminated, I love how it looks. Ran out of time to round the corners off and install the tMolding, but I can do that tomorrow, and hopefully laminate the other side as well. I have the PC all ready to go, so next is tackling the control panel!

Cheers!

Gamester · « **Reply #47 on:** September 14, 2009, 11:28:38 pm »

syph007,

Looking great man!

I was wondering what method you used to cut the hole for the coin door?

I'll have to do the same thing eventually... if it ever stops raining here!

syph007 · « **Reply #48 on:** September 15, 2009, 07:19:59 am »

Quote from: Gamester on September 14, 2009, 11:28:38 pm

syph007,

Looking great man!

I was wondering what method you used to cut the hole for the coin door?

I'll have to do the same thing eventually... if it ever stops raining here!

I hear you about the rain, that's how it's been here all summer. We're on a dry stretch now though. For the opening I just marked the size then drilled the corners with a 1 and 1/8th bit (had it for the CP buttons) and rough cut it out with a jig saw. I used my favorite tool the router after that to get a good clean edge with a guide on all 4 sides.

I really wanted to get the tmolding on last night, but I figured it was better to pace myself and not rush it... but it feels like I'm getting close now. Had a buddy paint me a vent to go in the back top section. If I get enough time in the next few days I should be done! (fingers crossed)

syph007 · « **Reply #49 on:** September 16, 2009, 08:58:55 pm »

FINALLY I got all sides laminated so I started on the tmolding tonight. It was so fun to put that on since there have been so many steps up to this point. It's pretty easy to install, I only wish I had got a rubber mallot. I went ghetto and added some tape to the head of my hammer... worked ok.

syph007 · « **Reply #50 on:** September 16, 2009, 09:03:35 pm »

And... here it is with the tmolding all installed. I had envisioned it to be lighter... but I didn't want the really light looking blue... so I'm still not sure. At first I wanted to rip it off and pick another color, but now it's growing on me so I think it's a go.

Feels great to be making progress. Still have to attach the front door and mount the upper back 45 degree piece but thats not too bad. So close so close....

syph007 · « **Reply #51 on:** September 18, 2009, 06:38:47 pm »

Small update. Got the front door mounted. I used one of the buckle type closures to hold the door shut. It works great since it pulls really hard on the door. No wiggle at all when closed which is how I wanted it. The idea is that you can't tell its a door, till you reach in to unbuckle it.

sealslayer · « **Reply #52 on:** September 23, 2009, 07:45:49 am »

Quote from: saleem on September 11, 2009, 02:33:55 pm

i will look into this,i heard of formica,but,whether the public can buy i dont know.

we cant buy laminate over the counter,i think its because most laminates are oil based and oil based products are banned in uk.

my bandwidth is busy at the mo,so running that site is difficult but,i will look into it as i am keen to buy some alternate covering for my project (and future ones)

i like what your doing there,you sure seem to enjoy it.would have been a shame to see you just roll paint on.

Don't know who told you that but you can buy sheets of laminate over the counter at any good worktop showroom.

http://www.idsurfaces.co.uk/c-1800-international-decorative-surfaces-laminates.aspx

Imho laminating is a waste of time and effort and it works out far too expensive once you've costed in the glue etc.
Your far better off using melamine faced sheet materials.

syph007 · « **Reply #53 on:** September 23, 2009, 08:39:46 am »

Quote from: sealslayer on September 23, 2009, 07:45:49 am

Imho laminating is a waste of time and effort and it works out far too expensive once you've costed in the glue etc.
Your far better off using melamine faced sheet materials.

Laminating is for sure expensive. I've spent 50 bucks on glue alone. I love how it looks though, I'd do it this way again for sure if I was to start over. My first thought though was to go with melamine boards. The only thing we have available in this area though is just particle board covered in melamine. It would be cheap, but pretty crumby to work with. What I've ended up with (countertop laminate over real plywood) is far superior to that. It's also easier to work with as you can can cut as normal, then laminate, whereas premade sheets you have to cut and handle very carefully.

saleem · « **Reply #54 on:** September 23, 2009, 03:00:57 pm »

Quote from: sealslayer on September 23, 2009, 07:45:49 am

Quote from: saleem on September 11, 2009, 02:33:55 pm
i will look into this,i heard of formica,but,whether the public can buy i dont know.

we cant buy laminate over the counter,i think its because most laminates are oil based and oil based products are banned in uk.

my bandwidth is busy at the mo,so running that site is difficult but,i will look into it as i am keen to buy some alternate covering for my project (and future ones)

i like what your doing there,you sure seem to enjoy it.would have been a shame to see you just roll paint on.

Don't know who told you that but you can buy sheets of laminate over the counter at any good worktop showroom.

http://www.idsurfaces.co.uk/c-1800-international-decorative-surfaces-laminates.aspx

Imho laminating is a waste of time and effort and it works out far too expensive once you've costed in the glue etc.
Your far better off using melamine faced sheet materials.

then i am wrong.i read somewhere on net,oil based paints and laminates are banned.due to public health risk ie:food preperation surfaces and environmental risks.

whatever.i am readying the bartop for primning,so its gonna be painted internaly and i think outside too.

syph007 · « **Reply #55 on:** September 24, 2009, 08:32:13 pm »

Wasn't feeling great the last few days so I haven't done much woodworking. I decided to build the PC part and mount it to keep some building momentum going. I knew I wanted to use the open air concept to keep the pc cool, so I went and found a board about the right size.

The one mod I did first was to remove the annoying fan from the video card I was going to use, and I used some arctic silver thermal epoxy to attach a big heatsink I had leftover from an old xbox. Thermal epoxy is great stuff, held it on very well.

Then I mounted the motherboard to with homemade standoffs made up of a piece of tubing, screw and nylon washer on top. It worked out great. I had some spare black angle iron left over so I used that to make mounting brackets for the power supply, hard drive and video card. I wasn't going to bother supporting the video card at first, but with the addition of that huge heatsink, it needed it.

It's an older PC, P4 2.8 Ghz, but it'll do fine for what it needs to, and if not I can upgrade down the road. Spent zero dollars on this part as my buddy donated the mobo/cpu/ram and I had the rest of the parts in my spare parts bin.

Well, I hope to finish off the cabinet part this weekend if Im lucky, and then it will move indoors for finishing work and assembly.

That's all for now, cheers!

brock.sampson · « **Reply #56 on:** September 24, 2009, 11:54:57 pm »

Where did you get the brace for the video card? I made a wood version to hold my card but this looks like it would hold up much better.

syph007 · « **Reply #57 on:** September 25, 2009, 06:55:51 am »

I made it from aluminum. At home depot in the window area there are 8 ft pieces of trim. They are L shaped and already black. I just cut a piece off and drilled holes, and bent where needed.

Epyx · « **Reply #58 on:** September 25, 2009, 11:26:13 am »

Quote

It's an older PC, P4 2.8 Ghz

Yep, they are workhorses for sure and have held up decently over the years. I have one in my bartop and it runs most games with no issues.

You and Kman have served up nice PC platters today!

syph007 · « **Reply #59 on:** September 27, 2009, 03:18:04 pm »

Ah finally making some real progress. Got the speaker shelf made and mounted, then I tackled the angled panel at the back. It was a royal pain to get to fit just right, with the laminate and all, but I got it to where I'm satisfied.

I installed a vent in this panel, and drilled a hole to place my master on/off button. I need to cut one more hole in the lower back for a second vent and then it can finally move into the rec room! I can't wait to be actually done this and finally get to play some games!

Cheers!

ivwshane · « **Reply #60 on:** September 27, 2009, 07:33:51 pm »

Very nice!

I guess next time for my cab I'll have to go laminate:(

syph007 · « **Reply #61 on:** September 28, 2009, 08:47:08 am »

Shhh, don't tell anyone but I opened a tv ... AND I LIVED!

The front panel buttons were broken so I needed to get to the power board. I was hoping the front bezel would come off but no luck. I had to take the entire rear housing off to get to to board. I rand the wires out the side and recased it so I can now get access to solder some wire extensions on the power button.

emphatic · « **Reply #62 on:** September 28, 2009, 09:10:06 am »

Be aware that that carpet is likely to generate static electricity. Don't place any bare electrical components directly on it.

Gamester · « **Reply #63 on:** September 28, 2009, 04:15:59 pm »

syph007,

The cabinet looks great! Nice clean looking build.

I've got some catching up to do...

syph007 · « **Reply #64 on:** October 01, 2009, 08:14:03 am »

Ok, the cabinet finally got to move indoors to my rec room. Used a dolly and it was no problem at all.

I mounted my power strip and pc and got them all set up with wires run etc. After a few failed attempts at getting my tv to respond correctly I gave up and decided I needed 2 on/off momentary buttons. I really only wanted to have a single power up switch, so what I did was take two momentary buttons and glue them together, then glue that to a Happ button, where the cherry switch normally goes. One turns on the pc, the other the tv.. works just fine!

And this is how my machine has been for the past couple days, since it turns on and my light gun works, my girlfriend and I have been playing alot of Zero Point! Once I got the gun calibrated right it is AWESOME. I was getting perfects on a few of the levels with no problem. The timing of the aimtrak coming out was just right for me to include this in my build.

Now I just need to get that control panel done... and the artwork and I'm in business!

Cheers!

Lewis Black · « **Reply #65 on:** October 01, 2009, 09:22:18 am »

Looking nice

syph007 · « **Reply #66 on:** October 04, 2009, 01:32:49 pm »

Wow I feel dumb for not checking our local surplus store earlier.. they have cheap plexi! I'm working on the marquee area now so I needed some. It was kind of pricey at home depot so I checked the surplus store near me. They had tons of it in odd sizes and they sell it for 3 bucks a pound. I found 2 that are almost exactly the size I needed and it cost me around 4 bucks total!

syph007 · « **Reply #67 on:** October 04, 2009, 08:12:05 pm »

Well I had no luck finding good speaker grills so I just made some today. Cut the board out the right shape, covered with 3 ply of black screen door screening I had in the garage, and stapled that on. I bought half inch aluminum trim then bent and attached it with 2 screws at the back.

I held it up to the speaker area and I think it looks just fine, you can't immediately tell they are DIY ones.

Cheers!

syph007 · « **Reply #68 on:** October 08, 2009, 09:13:27 pm »

Well I have some small progress. Sadly we've actually been gaming on it already which has killed my productivity. We've been playing lightgun games (zero point 1 & 2) and donkey kong with the keyboard. Don't even have a real control panel yet!

I realized I had started making my control panel box 1/8 inch too short, so I tried to glue some 1/8 material on the bottom, and that ended badly, it was a mess. I just said screw it and started over. Redid the whole box from scratch tonight, and I'm finally happy with how it turned out. I took my time and made sure each cut was right and everything ended up fitting perfect. Dimensions are 12" x 32" base, 4 3/8" front and 5 3/8" back with 5 degree slope.

Well it's a long weekend coming up so I really hope I can get a test control panel together and play some games!

Cheers!

Edit: I also got a 15 w florescent light fixture mounted for my marquee light.

opt2not · « **Reply #69 on:** October 09, 2009, 02:53:43 am »

Sometimes it's best to just start over on a task, I find that it turns out better and faster the second time through! Don't worry about the productivity thing, you need to give yourself a few "rewards" here and there with some gaming fun!

Great progress so far, I've been watching this thread for updates, mostly because I'm a huge fan of Laminates over painting for scratch-built cabs. Looking forward to more updates!

syph007 · « **Reply #70 on:** October 09, 2009, 08:53:21 pm »

I was tired of looking at the empty marquee hole, but I was determined to make my own design. As a temp measure I ordered a standard one from MameMarquees. I think it looks pretty sweet, for sure high quality workmanship.

I was nervous about cutting the plexigass to fit, but it turned out to be super easy with a router. My marquee area is 26x6.5. I cut a board to that exact size then clamped the plexi on top and went around it with my flush trim. Cut it like butter, no cracks, nothing. I feel silly for worrying about this, but router cutting was for sure the way to go.

I have to hit home depot tomorrow and look for something to use for marquee holder, so its just temporaily taped up for now. What a difference some art makes, its starting to feel more arcade like already... now I just need oh that silly control panel thing...

syph007 · « **Reply #71 on:** October 11, 2009, 07:14:49 pm »

Ok I finally stopped being lazy and got my marquee mounted properly. I went with the home depot trim method. Cut it to size, drilled 5 holes each, and then painted with the hammer texture spray paint. For some reason it's impossible to find small black screws and hardware stores, so I ended up taking about some old crumby desktop speakers just to harvest the screws. One other modification I had to make was to add another small board behind the marquee light as there was significant light coming out the back and then lighting up the area about the monitor.

Feels really good to have the marquee on properly now, even thought it's not my 'forever' one.

Well I gotta go back to the garage and finish the CP box... so close I can taste it now!

Cheers!

syph007 · « **Reply #72 on:** October 11, 2009, 08:37:58 pm »

Finally got the last piece of laminate installed and trimmed on the CP box. I was worried about how the corners would turn out, like maybe i'd nick the lower part when I was doing the flush trim, but it went totally fine. I used 4 carriage bolts and bolted it on. Now I think I have every single piece done accept the actual control panel. I should be able to have a rough one ready for tomorrow. I plan on testing a few configurations to make sure I have one I like.

Cheers!

Bender · « **Reply #73 on:** October 11, 2009, 09:11:56 pm »

It's really coming together
Nice work on the laminate!
looks great

syph007 · « **Reply #74 on:** October 12, 2009, 12:18:30 pm »

Ugh... in a test fitting of my controls I came to a horrible realization.. I didn't make the box deep enough from the monitor. In my inkscape control mockups I had a 32" by 14" inch box. For some reason the one I made is 32 by 12.... I really am not sure what happened in my logic here. The problem is when I test fit my trackball its too close to the screen for good trackball games... so.. yes.. I will be making ANOTHER CP box... *sigh* 3rd time better be right, or I may be the first to shed tears over my misshapen project!

Malenko · « **Reply #75 on:** October 12, 2009, 12:23:56 pm »

they say 3rd time is the charm!

dont totally scrap the old one, through it up in the free section, maybe someone local can use it?

build looks really good so far, so don't be discouraged!

syph007 · « **Reply #76 on:** October 12, 2009, 02:16:26 pm »

Quote from: Malenko on October 12, 2009, 12:23:56 pm

they say 3rd time is the charm!

dont totally scrap the old one, through it up in the free section, maybe someone local can use it?

build looks really good so far, so don't be discouraged!

Ya I won't chuck it, but I'm not sure what use it will be... I was just out recutting the parts for the proper size, went faster this time. The only pain part though is the laminating since it takes about an hour per surface to wait for the contact cement to be ready.

Only positive thing about redoing it is that I can put the surfaces on in the right order this time. Bottom should go first, then sides, then front and back. This minimized the amount of edges you see, but its ony a minor issue.

syph007 · « **Reply #77 on:** October 13, 2009, 01:36:54 pm »

While I'm laminating my third cp box, I had to 'allow' myself to enjoy some games at least. Threw a u360 and some buttons in a board and mocked up a quick temporary panel. Darn fun, my only complaint is the my right wrist got really sore. I guess because I'm tall its not a great angle to hold your wrist at. I plan on picking up some bar stools though, so at that point it probably won't be any issue. Has me wondering though if most home arcade users prefer to stand or use stools?

syph007 · « **Reply #78 on:** October 13, 2009, 01:53:19 pm »

Forgot I was also going to say that I built the DDR pad in the background as well. More documentation on that is here http://www.pdainitiative.com/ddrmetal/

It's usb so it can be used with the cab and stepmania as well. Basically it's made of wood covered with sheet metal. The button squares are lexan with paper graphic underneath. The spring action comes from the weatherstripping. The only modification I did since I first built it was to replace the foil tape (not a long term solution) with sheet metal squares in each corner to serve as button contacts. Its modeled after the arcade pad, same size just doesn't have a border or back rail.

Cheers!

opt2not · « **Reply #79 on:** October 13, 2009, 02:12:37 pm »

Quote from: syph007 on October 13, 2009, 01:36:54 pm

Has me wondering though if most home arcade users prefer to stand or use stools?

For me it depends on the game I'm playing, for some reason I can't play Robotron sitting down. But games like DK or Pacman I have no problem relaxing on a stool.

Have you thought about a different layout for your buttons? I know that the Japanese style layouts are a bit more comfortable than the North American layout. That could help relieve a bit of stress on your wrist. Or, you could take the whole layout you currently have and rotate it slightly, so it's not completely straight aligned...like, angle it upwards?


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