Finally, my very first MAME cabinet build!

[yotsuya]

No primer, no clear coat in those pics. If you can, give it a few days without doing anything with the parts to let the paint fully cure. I got a little too excited and ended up with a few minor chips in mine while I was reassembling the doors.

+1

I thought I was the only one that happened to!

[Lormax]

Won't be an issue.  I can spray it and leave it alone for a week.  It seems like there's still so much to do, spraying and waiting aren't a problem

[Green Giant]

Neph:  Thanks for taking the time to link those pics!  That looks great!  No primer needed?  Any gloss/satin clearcoat put on after the 5 coats of hammered?

Le Chuck:  Ah, there it is!  That does look like it'll be exactly what I need, thanks!  Never knew that stuff existed.  Will be looking into getting some samples over to me for color testing.  

Edit:  After looking into it more, this'll definitely do what I need to do.  It'll just be interesting getting the right shade of purple.  Perhaps I'll try some transparent/translucent vinyl and light it from underneath with the sheet (or LED's)

If you are looking for some indirect lighting under your control panel, NOTHING is better than LED strips.  The stuff really is amazing.  I saw it in the past and never thought much about it, but about a month ago I started playing with the stuff.  Hid it above the crown molding in my kitchen to provide some accent lighting.  And I am nearly done installing it on the underside of my stair banisters.  It is actually part of the reason my arcade is down right now.  I have a few ideas I want to test out with the stuff.

But without further adieu, here are those pics I promised showing green t-molding.  I think the color was called alien green.  I don't remember where I bought it though.  The pictures make it look a little blueish, but in reality is isn't really that bad.

[Lormax]

The cab looks great!  I ordered samples of the green and purple tmolding from t-molding.com.  We'll see how good of a match they are.

Care to share the ideas you have with the LED strips?  If you'd like we can take it to PM

[Lormax]

Progress Update:

Front of the cab is cut off.  The remaining supports have been removed.  One of the supports was so heavily glued that it took part of the outer MDF off with it.  I'll post a pic tomorrow, I hope it's repairable with some wood filler or something similar.

I-Pac 2 arrived.  Removed the stock Jamma wiring from the Capcom CP and started re-wiring it with my own.  Mounting the I-Pac with the Bic pen + Wood screws trick.  All grounds are done and daisy chained.  One half of the buttons is complete.  I'll do the other side tomorrow most likely.  I plan to use this beat up CP as a test bench, nothing else.

Software testing and setup is this weekend, though I don't think I'll be the one doing it.  Word got out amongst my friends and 3 of planning to come by this weekend to help out.  Hoping that between all of us we can really get some stuff done.

[Green Giant]

The cab looks great!  I ordered samples of the green and purple tmolding from t-molding.com.  We'll see how good of a match they are.

Care to share the ideas you have with the LED strips?  If you'd like we can take it to PM

I don't mind sharing them.  Mainly I have 2 ideas I am contemplating.

The first one is to remove all of my green t-molding and apply green led strips along the t-molding slots.  Wire that stuff up and power it via the computer power supply.  The hard part that I am unsure of will be applying my clear/translucent t-molding on top of it.  I am planning to remove the spine of the molding and attach it to the cab with some construction adhesive in caulking tubes.

My primary concerns are obviously adhesion of the t-molding using just adhesive and how well the light will look coming through the molding.  I want it to disperse the light instead of looking like rows of leds very closely spaced together.  If my test runs don't go well I may try coating the underside of the molding with some kind of whitish spray paint.  I have a large order of clear/translucent t-molding because I was planning on using EL-wire on both sides of the t-molding spine, but my tests didn't look that well.  I never delved further into the EL-wire since I was in an apartment.



My second idea which I just thought up a few days ago kind of ties in with the side art I was supposed to do a few years ago.  I wanted to and still plan on doing some adidas inspired sideart.  It would basically be green strips that wrap around the cab.  Well the idea I just thought up was to inlay led strips into the cabinet sides using a router.

I will need some router practice before I attempt anything like this, but it would involve creating some 1/4"-1/2" deep channels into the side of my cab.  I would run some led-strips in the channels all powered through the computer power supply.  Once the leds are all situated, I would lay the cab on it's side and fill the channel with some silicone caulk.  If it looks as cool as I picture it in my head, it will blow people's minds.



It is really nice have no major obligations in your life.  You really have a lot of time to try all kinds of stuff.  I am hoping to make a test run of both of these ideas this weekend on some scrap wood I grabbed at home depot.

And if I really feel wild, I might sale my led-wiz and purchase one of the new models that has multiple power rails.  I could power my 5V leds as well as powering a few 12V RGB led strips on the separated power rails.  Imagine how insane it would be to have your cabinet t-molding cycling through all kinds of colors.  If not that idea I will just go with green led-strips.

[Green Giant]

Software testing and setup is this weekend, though I don't think I'll be the one doing it.  Word got out amongst my friends and 3 of planning to come by this weekend to help out.  Hoping that between all of us we can really get some stuff done.

Lucky.

When I told my friends I was building an arcade they all came by to watch, drink some beer, and pester me how long until they could play on it.

[Lormax]

I have a large order of clear/translucent t-molding because I was planning on using EL-wire on both sides of the t-molding spine, but my tests didn't look that well.  I never delved further into the EL-wire since I was in an apartment.

If I understand that right, were you trying to get a 'Tron' look by outlining the cabinet in EL Wire?  I've thought about that as well...it didn't look very good?

I'm thinking of doing the same thing on the side that you've mentioned...router out some designs then light it up.  I'll be needing the same practice as well.  If the translucent vinyl samples work out, I think I know how I'll be doing it.  Getting those areas cut out right is going to be the tough part.

[Green Giant]

I have a large order of clear/translucent t-molding because I was planning on using EL-wire on both sides of the t-molding spine, but my tests didn't look that well.  I never delved further into the EL-wire since I was in an apartment.

If I understand that right, were you trying to get a 'Tron' look by outlining the cabinet in EL Wire?  I've thought about that as well...it didn't look very good?

I'm thinking of doing the same thing on the side that you've mentioned...router out some designs then light it up.  I'll be needing the same practice as well.  If the translucent vinyl samples work out, I think I know how I'll be doing it.  Getting those areas cut out right is going to be the tough part.

I felt like the t-molding didn't diffuse the light at all.  It looked like clear molding with el-wire underneath it.  I was hoping the entire t-molding strip would look like it is glowing when lit and plain when off.

But after thinking about it, perhaps some sort of frost spray that you would use for a shower door might work.  If I could diffuse the light it would work nicely.  I never did much with it since I was stuck in an apartment for 3 years compounded with job loss, getting engaged, helping the fiance get her MBA, and good old fashioned procrastination.

So you thinking of using EL-wire in the sides?  I suppose you could do some nice curves where led strips only allow straight-ish lines.  The one thing about LED strips that really intrigues me is the possibility of a RGB strip controlled via an LED-wiz.


How durable is EL-wire?  I only ordered a sample device to test it out.  Haven't done much in terms of soldering/designing with it.

[Lormax]

I'm an avid Warhammer 40k player and modeller.  I started installing LED's into some of the vehicles, and one of them had a clear plastic 'crystal' looking thing on its turret.  I wanted the whole thing to light up and glow when the LED's turned on.  When it was clear, you could see right through it and see the LED, looked like crap.  I needed to make it much more opaque.  So I hit it with the Games Workshop clearcoat spray, which they called 'ardcoat.  It worked GREAT.  Frosted the clear plastic right over.  Here's how it came out.



That the effect you're looking for?

[Green Giant]

I'm an avid Warhammer 40k player and modeller.  I started installing LED's into some of the vehicles, and one of them had a clear plastic 'crystal' looking thing on its turret.  I wanted the whole thing to light up and glow when the LED's turned on.  When it was clear, you could see right through it and see the LED, looked like crap.  I needed to make it much more opaque.  So I hit it with the Games Workshop clearcoat spray, which they called 'ardcoat.  It worked GREAT.  Frosted the clear plastic right over.  Here's how it came out.



That the effect you're looking for?

EXACTLY!!!!   

[Lormax]

Quick progress update.  Test bench CP completely wired up, untested.  I think I'll do that shortly after posting this   The stick-on zip-tie tiedown things still need to be ordered.

[Lormax]

Progress Update

The CP from above was tested..most things work.  Some buttons and microswitches need replacement, nothing major.  Will deal with that down the line.  It's just a test bench for software.

Cabinet work:  The whole thing was sanded down.  I did not expect to find side art hidden underneath the paint!  Look what I found...


Here's the front of the cab now.  The front was cutoff already, and the whole thing completely gutted.



When the front of the cab come off, it decided to take some of the side panel with it.  Trying to do some repair work with wood filler.  I'll be doing this in stages so that I let each coat dry completely before adding more.  Once it's bulked up enough I'll hand-sand it down pray the slot cutter doesn't completely rip it to shreds.



Some more woodfiller work in the back where the lock was.  I also have woodfiller where the bolts were for the monitor bracket.  The bolts that were on the outside of the cab near the bottom of the sides (You can see them in the pic above) have been countersunk into the wood and woodfiller put over them.  Forgot to take before pics, so didn't bother with after pics.



The CP layout was printed out at Kinko's and attached to some MDF.  Here's a pic of of when I started on it.  It's since been fully cut out and the edges sanded to smooth down the imperfections from the jigsaw.



In addition to all this, I've started on a Bartop as well.  With all the extra labor I had around, whynot   Heavily influenced by an upright Tempest cab and Leapinlew's build.  If you read this Leapin, hope you don't mind me doing a bit of 'borrowing'!   The bartop is planned to be a Xmas present for someone that LOVED Tempest back in the day, so hopefully they like it   The plan is to also include a basic Neo-Geo style setup plus spinner.  19" LCD 4:3 monitor.  It's still in pieces for now, so didn't bother taking pics.  Should have more progress on this through the week and next weekend though.

[Green Giant]

It never ceases to amaze me what people did to old cabinets or I suppose newish in your case.  Poor killer instinct.


Your progress is looking great.  Way better than the work or lack of work I have done.  Spent me weekend cleaning up the garage and setting up some stuff I got at harbor freight.

The bartop sounds cool.  I have been thinking about making a dedicated 4-way bartop for the wife for her birthday.  Am thinking a Frogger theme, but I have to finish this other crap first.