Space Themed Cab (First Build)

[BlindSet]

Hi all,

About 3 months ago my brother told me I could finish the arcade cabinet that he had started, he ran out of interest and his partner bailed on the project. Immediately I jumped on the idea and started researching all the necessary components. First task was ordering up some controls. I went with the Ultimarc Ultrastick 360 since it is easily controlled through software and makes it easy to wire up all the buttons that I need. I also liked the led lit buttons that people have been doing, seems like most are getting away from it now but I still like it and wanted to mess around with RGB leds. So I grabbed the Happ clear buttons with intentions of getting all disco on my CP (Just how will be determined later).

So after browsing the forum for countless hours I thought I had enough information to finish off the cab with Marquee, t-moulding, hardware software etc. I ordered the T-moulding up, loving the black and blue cabs the many people do I had some of the light blue shipped. Taking a deeper look at how the slot cutter on the router will work I realized that the way my brother made his cab put brad nails very close to the edge of the side panels. This would make it impossible to slot cut for the t-moulding. I knew right then I would have to start over, its like a cake and no icing (mame with no roms?)

At this point I was back at the drawing board, which I liked, free to do anything, build anyway, be unique. So what did I do? What a lot of other people have done, based the design off of Knievel's slim (unique alright  ). After some research I got the approximate dimensions and made some alterations. Here is a sketchup drawing of the side profile for anyone that might be interested in my design.



Fast forward 2-3 days later, I have the exoskeleton of my cabinet! (ignore the CP, I will get into that later)





For anyone wondering the width of the cabinet, I made it 24" between the two side panels, thus 25.5" edge to edge.

I also spent one night building the base of the CP, this was the first time I have ever tried miter cuts and it turned out so so. Not horrible not perfect, liveable. Anyway if I can give anyone some advice it woudl be to make the side panels the entire height of the CP base, instead of what I did. I fastened the side panels on top of the bottom panel. This will require a bit of bondo and sanding later .....





Here is the first question, what is everyone using for control panel top? It seems like its 5/8 MDF and 1/8 plexi? Home depot only seems to sell strange thickness' such as 0.080" 0.157" 0.118" etc. Which of these is the one I should use to get the nice 3/4 total height and be able to hide it all with T-Moulding?

Well I think that's enough for tonight. If there is anything glaringly wrong with the cab please let me know, Id rather fix it now than when I have it painted and Im addicted to getting a high score in Tapper. 

[Johns Uncle]

 Hi, BlindSet you have a stellar build there carn't wait to see more progress  Our cp's are made out of 3/4 " mdf and then we just took a nice chamfer/round off the bottom, hope this helps.

[GregD]

Hey Blindset.  Your cabinet is very similar to the one I am building now.  Will you be top mounting the joysticks or bottom mounting?  I am top mounting so i am going with 1/2" mdf with joys mounted on top.  Then 1/8" luan over that and then 1/8" acrylic. 

[BlindSet]

Thanks for the interest and suggestions guys. I currently have them bottom mounted on 1/2" mdf and they are too short (i replaced the bat wing with a ball top) so I will either have to top mount them or buy extenders. I think the best way to eliminate the amount of throw is to mount them on the top. What is 1/8" luan?

Johns uncle, I like the way that looks, I had a feeling that a bevel on the bottom would be a good way of approaching this.

Here is an image of how the control panel looks right now, this was built to sit on the old cabinet. I will have to redo it soon when I get an idea of CP graphics. I like that layout though, kind of give you a combination of 2-3 button rows, and a single 4 button row without needing 7 buttons. (are the joysticks too short?)

[jkdubb]

I like those buttons a lot.  are they concave?  If so, where did you get them?   Build is looking really nice.

[BlindSet]

Ya they are concave,  I got them from Paradise Arcade. They are the Clear IL Translucent Pushbutton, looks like they are out of stock though currently. They do have some colored translucent available.

http://www.paradisearcadeshop.com/en/59-il-translucent-buttons