Track and Field Cocktail

[brock.sampson]

I was originally going to build a bartop for a friend of mine as a suprise and a thank you for hosting football parties.  We were together enjoying a few cold ones and mentioned that he really wanted to get a cocktail style cabinet.  Not wanting to disappoint I have switched gears from bartop to cocktail construction.  Unfortunately I used up quite a bit of time working on vectorizing APB artwork for the bartop that I can't really use for the new cabinet.  The weather and my schedule permitted a little bit of time over the weekend so I actually made some progress.  The plan is to have a Street Fighter layout on one end and track ball and a handful of buttons on the other end.  I'm being fairly true to the Jakobud plans and also have some help from Spriggy with dimensions and models.  Not sure what I'm going to do for control panels yet.  The original had metal panels.  I have never done a metal panel yet but this might be a good place to start.  Attached is a crappy pic of the progress made over the weekend.  There is a separate base that converts this from a cocktail to stand up that I will be building as well.

[javeryh]

Real nice start.  How did you cut out those curves?

[IG-88]

Looking good! If I ever get my Hyper Sports done we'll have to get together and have a party!

[brock.sampson]

Real nice start.  How did you cut out those curves?

I used the measurements off the plans and routed the straight sides.  Used a jig saw to get close and then sanded the outside corners down by hand.  On the inside corner I used a 3" hole saw and routed the straight sides out.  I screwed up a couple times so it was certainly the most frustrating part thus far.

[javeryh]

Real nice start.  How did you cut out those curves?

I used the measurements off the plans and routed the straight sides.  Used a jig saw to get close and then sanded the outside corners down by hand.  On the inside corner I used a 3" hole saw and routed the straight sides out.  I screwed up a couple times so it was certainly the most frustrating part thus far.

Real nice job.  The curves look really accurate and go right into the straight edges.  That isn't easy.   

[brock.sampson]

Made some additional progress today.  Base is built and door side complete.  Base doesn't line up perfectly so I may rebuild it but not sure.  

Next on the list is control panels  Thinking about making those out of wood instead of metal.  Not that I'm an awesome woodworker but I have no metal working experience.

[brock.sampson]

Nearly complete with wood working portion of this build.  Rebuilt the base, installed feet, bolted them together, and mounted the monitor.  Had some problems getting the joystick side control panel side to line up correctly, but finally got that sorted.  To do list before I can start painting:

Glass quotes
Carboard bezel
Round corners on bottom of cabinet and base
Drill admin holes in joystick side
Drill all holes in trackball side
Find/make transition piece from control panel to glass

Here are some updated pics.  Sorry for the poor quality cell phone is all I had handy.

[cmoses]

Very interesting idea with the two different layouts.  Is this larger than a normal cocktail?  More like a Atari football, but still designed for sitting?  What size monitor are you putting in it and will it be tube or lcd?

I have been giving some thought to a cocktail and like the idea. 

[brock.sampson]

I think it will be longer than a standard cocktail.  It's about 24" wide.  Based pretty closely off of these T&F plans on Jakobud's site http://jakobud.com/plan.php?id=32.  It's very similar to the an atari football cab some of the dimensions might be a little different.  It can be either sittings or standing.  Standing with the 9.5" base or sitting if you remove the base.  I have a 21" Apple crt that my work was throwing out mounted to 3/4" mdf oriented for horizontal games.  I still need to figure out how to get the front end to flip when you use the joystick side or trackball side.  Sounds like that is possible in mala we'll see if I can make it work in hyperspin.

[Trap]

I use irotate http://www.entechtaiwan.com/util/irotate.shtm for screen flipping.  It might be a good solution for you too if you can't get hyperspin to do what you want it to.

Your project is looking great so far!

[abispac]

I use irotate http://www.entechtaiwan.com/util/irotate.shtm for screen flipping.  It might be a good solution for you too if you can't get hyperspin to do what you want it to.

Your project is looking great so far!

very interested on this too, as i use hyperspin as well, but bad boy bill dosnt want to implement a rotating in hyperspin...
can you show how we can use this in a cocktail cab with hyperspin please, thanks

[Trap]

im just using it for the ability to use hotkeys to manually flip the screen how i want it

[brock.sampson]

Making more progress.  Bottom corners rounded tmold slot cut button holes drilled.  I need to drill one more in the underside of the joystick cp for power and recess them all.  Got my first coat of primer on the main cabinet and base tonight.  I think I need to thin it a little next time kind of came out spattery but not bad.  Not planning on painting the outside trying to source some cheap wood grain laminate for those.

[cmoses]

Looking good Brock.  I do not think I have ever seen a Track and Field Cocktail before, can you answer some questions?  Obviously Player 1 and Player 2 are on one side and Player 3 and Player 4 are on the other.  Can all 4 people comepete at the same time in some of the events (100 M dash, 110 M hurddles)?  Or are 2 players the most that compete at one time?

[brock.sampson]

Nope just two at a time.  Sprayed one more coat of primer today and the first coat of black.  It was going pretty good until my dog stepped on the door and I got a little over zealous trying to get the slots for the vents black on the inside.  I need to learn to walk away I always do this to myself.  Nothing a little sand paper can't fix though.  I was hoping to do just one more coat of black but those f#!@ ups probably just made it a three coat job.  Hoping I can get another coat of black laid down tomorrow after work.  Should be warm enough but I think the wind is supposed to pick up.

[cmoses]

Any updates on the cocktail Brock?

[brock.sampson]

Finally done painting.  The weather has not been very conducive to painting outside so I had to paint the last two coats in the garage.  HVLP doesn't create a lot of overspray so it wasn't a huge problem just took a long time for the paint to dry and cure out.  I have the cabinet back together and I'm going to order a sheet of laminate over lunch.  Going to try and focus on wiring control panels over the next couple of nights.  Hopefully I can get some stuff accomplished over the holiday weekend.

[brock.sampson]

Back side laminated.  Starting to wire control panel.

[BobA]

Looks like you are a fan of soldering and tie wraps.   That should hold together forever.  The only problems I ever have with CPs are due to crimps being loose so I am beginning to think that solder maybe the way to go.

[brock.sampson]

Yeah I usually don't have very good success with crimp connectors.  Not sure if its the tool I have or the operator.    I always go overboard with the zip ties.  First time using cat 5 cable on a panel so that should save me a few but probably not many.  Finished wiring up the 1st player side last night.  Plan on doing 2nd player side tonight and the harness for the trackball side, coin door, and power switch.  Depending on the weather may try and laminate the front tonight as well.  Probably should have done that yesterday. 

[MinerAl]

With the wood laminate on there it REALLY looks like a Atari Football (c.1979) cocktail cab.

You need to find room for 4.5" trak-balls on your control panels.

[brock.sampson]

Certainly closer to Atari Football than Track and Field.  I think Atari Football was a bit darker like walnut this is supposed to like mahogany and a little redder.  Made some more progress last night 95% of the joystick cp is wired.  Need to finish the ground for the last couple buttons and wire up the connector to go to the other control panel, coin door, and power switch.  Sounds like it's supposed to warm up a little tomorrow and Friday so I'm going to laminate the front one of those evenings.

[skinz]

WOW!  All this inspiration is making me thirsty!!!   

[brock.sampson]

Front side laminated last night.  Coin door propped in place for a quick pic.  I was tempted to install the t-molding last night but it was getting late and cold in the garage.  Hopefully I can make some good progress this weekend.  Need to drill holes through laminate for carriage bolts.  That will be scary, reminder go slow so you don't f up the laminate when drilling holes.  If that goes well, clean out all the laminate shavings and mount the computer, speakers, and smartstrip.

Go Huskers!!