Bartop/Weecade Clone - COMPLETE (6/8/12)

[EvilGreenDevil]

Hey everyone, I thought it was time for me to finally start a thread for my first cabinet build to hopefully get some feedback and advice as I try and finish it. I know I'm one of many who have a first build thread that mimics the Weecade but I'll do my best to try and add my own style to it. I think I fall into the mold of people who have been a longtime lurker but quite honestly, this forum has basically been my homepage for the past two months. I have always wanted to make a cabinet and was almost set on a showcase or maybe a candycab but when I realized I would eventually  have to move the cabinet when In finally buy a house, I realized a bartop might be a better option. I took a lot of inspiration first from the famous Weecade and based my plans off of his.

A few other builds that I was drawn to and will be borrowing a lot of ideas from:

• jamieoliver22’s Game Over Arcade
• vast’s Bartop Build
• Termin8tor’s MK Bartop
• Weecade Clone - David Filet

Pretty much the only thing that I didn't have to buy was a 17” Samsung monitor that I had from my old college computer. Here's a quick rundown of the specs

Cabinet materials
½” MDF
Rubber feet for bottom
Aluminum corner molding
IEC inlet for power cable
120mm fan for back panel
Belkin smart strip
Lexan for CPO/marquee
4” car speakers
Cheap motorcycle amp to drive speakers
Cold cathode light for marquee

Computer
17” Samsung Syncmaster 710t
CORSAIR Builder Series CX430 V2  430W ATX12V PSU
8GB DDR3 RAM - Mushkin Enhanced Silverline (2 x 4GB)
ASUS P8H61-M (REV 3.0) LGA 1155 Intel H61 HDMI Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
Intel Core i3 2100 LGA 1155 3.1GHz Processor
500GB WD Caviar WD5000ABYS 3.0Gb/s 7,200RPM
low-profile video card to play SFIV

Arcade Parts
Seimitsu LS-32 Joystick (x2)
Seimitsu LB-39 Smoke Bubble Top (x2)
Seimitsu PS-14-KN 30mm Pushbutton - Smoke colored (x12)
Sanwa OBSF 30mm buttons for pinball (x2)
Lono2 PCB from Paradise Arcade Shop
Chrome Convex LED Lighted Pushbuttons (x5) – P1/P2 Start, 2 Green for coin, 1 Blue for admin
EZ-Off LED Button control (free but still wondering how I'll use them)
Extended shafts for LS-32 (in case I decide to bottom mount)





I'll be posting some progress pics soon and update as I go along.

[EvilGreenDevil]

Here's a few starter pictures of some of the woodworking. I originally wanted to widen the original Weecade plans by 2 inches or so to make more room for a 6 button layout...I ended up reducing that because with a 17" monitor, it just looked odd.

Tracing out the side panels


Wood is cut


Test fit...originally wanted a 19" wide cabinet but that looked disproportional so I cut it down to 18". The original Weecade was about 17" (450mm)



Molding in place

[EvilGreenDevil]

A few more shots




buttons as they will be on the front of the CPO (facing the players)


makeshift computer in a box as I set up the front end. I'm going with Hyperspin


That's it for now. I'll try and lay off the photobombing for a while.

[EvilGreenDevil]

Artwork...I almost forgot to share my artwork. As I mentioned, jamieoliver22's Game Over Arcade really caught my attention as I knew going in that I wanted to have a green/blue/black/white theme. His artwork was exactly the style I was interested in. I reached out to him and he was nice enough to provide me with his original psd file. The main difference, his design was for 4 buttons and I knew I wanted 6. Well after much youtubing and trial and error, I was able to modify his to meet my liking.

Also notice, I moved all other buttons to the bottom of the panel and added a coin button for each player


Then i realized Photoshop wasn't as hard to use as I thought and decided to go back to some of the artwork I had worked on from customizing my Madcatz TE stick that I use to play Street Fighter IV. I loved the thick ink brushstroke look of SFIV and decided to incorporate that into my artwork. Here's where I am with it and would appreciate any suggestions, still wondering how to handle the center line that remains from Jamie's artwork



Marquee will follow the same style and probably be renamed to just say "Arcade" in brushed lettering. Input is greatly appreciated 

[SNAAKE]

digging the sf4 style artwork

that game is still AS$ tho lol

[Le Chuck]

Nice wee-build.  It's a versatile little design and you're really packing in the buttons with a dual 6 at 18in.  Should come out okay, you'll just have plenty of excuses for some "friendly" jostling during heated game play. 

[Termin8tor]

Great start, love the buttons by the way 

[EvilGreenDevil]

Thanks for the feedback. I'm sorta stuck with the artwork...still hesitant to pull the trigger on getting it printed. I feel like the stripes at the bottom look too much like fire and that I could add more color to the button area. I've also been told that I could switch the artwork between the joystick area and the menu button.

I'm no artist and sorta threw colors up there anyone have an idea on this?

[Richie_jones]

Great build, really neat..

I feel for you with the artwork, it's a nightmare especially on a tight budget..I'd love to have a few hundred dollars spare to get some decent artwork drawn up for mine...

[EvilGreenDevil]

Let me rephrase, I'm not stuck on whether or not to pay for artwork (that's definitely happening) I'm not sure if I'm happy with the final design yet. Here's a quick update on the layout I'm going with. Might push the buttons closer to each stick by maybe an inch to allow a better gap between the two players.



Also, I attempted to cut holes for the speakers and realized I am awful at it. I will probably not use speaker grills and have the edges rounded so I'd like them to be as perfect as I can...I'll look into a circle jig. I also have some ideas for the back panel that will look better with perfect circles...here's my plan.



The right side is a push button for the computer motherboard, an on/off switch for marquee/led lights and an inlet for the power supply cable to the wall. Hopefully it's not too "busy"

[Richie_jones]

Id have the fan at the top sucking the air out and the vent holes in the bottom as heat always rises...just my 2 pence but worth a thought...

[vast]

Also, I attempted to cut holes for the speakers and realized I am awful at it. I will probably not use speaker grills and have the edges rounded so I'd like them to be as perfect as I can...I'll look into a circle jig. I also have some ideas for the back panel that will look better with perfect circles...here's my plan.

I used a 4" hole cutter on mine, screw the jigsaw! 

[EvilGreenDevil]

Great start, love the buttons by the way 

I've worked with the translucent Seimitsus before on a few fight sticks. Once I get the artwork printed, I' debating on keeping the internal white plastic showing, fill it with the cut holes from the artwork, or place paper printed in either green or blue to identify main buttons like this

B|G|G
B|G|G

Something minor...i'll have to decide when the buttons are on and artwork is done.

I used a 4" hole cutter on mine, screw the jigsaw! 

16 piece hole saw set ordered

[Green Giant]

Id have the fan at the top sucking the air out and the vent holes in the bottom as heat always rises...just my 2 pence but worth a thought...

But if the fan is sucking cold air in, the hot air will leave out of the top vent holes.

Plus they look cooler with the 3 holes at the top.

[Richie_jones]

yeah theres no problem with it, just not as efficient...Look at any pc case, the fan in the rear is at the top...

[vast]

I dont have any extra fans on my bartop, just the top vents, the PSU fan and the CPU cooler.  I haven't had any probs with overheating, and sometimes the bartop can be on all day running SSIV: AE.

It's looking nice dude!

[EvilGreenDevil]

I dont have any extra fans on my bartop, just the top vents, the PSU fan and the CPU cooler.  I haven't had any probs with overheating, and sometimes the bartop can be on all day running SSIV: AE.

It's looking nice dude!

just got my low profile video card in the mail. can't wait to see how it runs SF....we will definitely have to play somehow.

Also ordered a Forstner bit for the 30mm buttons so I'm gonna take a stab at a control panel using some scrap this weekend.

Also, I understand gluing the molding pieces to the side panel but should I glue any of the other parts (monitor bar, top, speaker piece)?

I can see making it as sturdy as possible but I don't want to be suck if I ever have to disassemble to fix something.

[EvilGreenDevil]

well I knew I was going to mess up at some point, things were going so well. I was about to screw the monitor board in place when I realized the top of the monitor was covering the speaker holes.



I have to use a thin saw and sand paper to fix this. After its set at the right angle, I should be good to start painting.

Lesson learned: measure one more time than you think you need to.

[Newgeta]

LMAO i love the  , i seriously LOLed, i feel your pain so much right now!

Cabbies lookin nice, the artwork is top notch!

[EvilGreenDevil]

Out of town this weekend for the Easter holiday so I didn't have a chance to do anything on the cabinet itself.  Before leaving, I was able to finalize all the pieces, screw/glue them into place and sand it down. I'm going with a candy white paintjob and following OnD's method of we sanding and multiple layers. I have about two coats of primer on so far and as others have mentioned, it's just a waiting game at this point.

I used the time away from home to finalize the artwork look I'm going for. As I mentioned earlier, I really took a liking to jamieoliver22's Game Over Arcade. That was my basis for the artwork but the more I worked with Photoshop, the more ideas I would get. I basically redid the artwork completely, only keeping some of the basic colors. Anyways, here's what I came up with...gonna sent it to gameongrafix to get it printed.





Not sure if "Arcade" is the best choice of marquee but I honestly couldn't think of anything else haha.

EDIT: Added these to the first post for new folks checking out the thread.

[opt2not]

Cool looking artwork! 
Looks like my painting corner in my home office

[EvilGreenDevil]

Cool looking artwork! 
Looks like my painting corner in my home office

thanks, I think i'm gonna go with clear dust covers that slim in size to show off as much of the artwork as I can.

[EvilGreenDevil]

OK so everything is coming along nicely albeit at a steady pace. I finished my final coat of primer and figured I would test fit the PC parts one more time just to make sure before I started putting the topcoat on. I was able to cram everything in pretty well a-la-Tetris which left me pretty happy. The one issue I ran into was that my P1 joystick clips the CP molding by barely 1/4".

Now I'm left with the decision of moving the joystick in (which would also mean moving the buttons and P2 layout in to keep things even) or take to my jigsaw and carve out the small space that I need. The molding is 1" thick which after being trimmed would still be 3/4". Still glued and screwed in, I think it should be fine, I'm just hesitant to start cutting again.





Maybe i'll do both, move the stick in 1/8 of an inch and shave an 1/8" off the molding. Space between each player's layout is at a premium and I'd like to avoid moving any closer.

[Richie_jones]

Do you plan on pinball buttons. These will snag to. Had to redo my cp due to the pinball buttons snagin the joysticks

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

[EvilGreenDevil]

Do you plan on pinball buttons. These will snag to. Had to redo my cp due to the pinball buttons snagin the joysticks

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

They fit no problem, already checked.

[sunnyp]

Beautiful artwork 

[EvilGreenDevil]

Beautiful artwork 

I know this thread has been quiet for some weeks but I've been waiting for my paint to dry. Sending the artwork to gameongrafx will tie it all together. I'll get more pics up soon.

[EvilGreenDevil]

Looking for some help if anyone could chime in. If you see in one of my earlier pictures, the underside of my P1 joystick slightly catches the molding on the left side of the cabinet. I'm torn with how I should go about fixing this. The easy solution is to just move the joystick in and away from the molding but that sacrifices valuable space which is minimal in an 18" wide control panel. The other option would be to take a jigsaw/router/drill and (carefully) shave off a little of the molding to get it to fit. The space needed is 1/4" at most.

As a side note, the weeks of painting in my free time are done (thanks OnD) and I finally can start putting everything together and finish the control panel. More pics very soon!

[swaffar]

Looking good.  I think I'll use those smoked pushbuttons when I gun my old project for my new mini arcade.

[EvilGreenDevil]

Since the moldings are glued and screwed (not to mentioned painted over), I will first just remove the screws and attempt to take some wood off the inside with a jigsaw. The moldings were pretty big to begin with (a little over an inch). I had just used some scrap wood that was around from old shelves that were built.

I'l really trying to avoid any damage to the paint job....I put a lot of time into it and hoping to not have to touch up anything major.

Good news is that now that I know I wont move my joystick in, I can finalize the artwork and send it off for printing.

[Ond]

The artwork looks real nice, it's going to go very well with that nice white finish, I'm glad you've got the paint work where you want it.

 

Ond

[EvilGreenDevil]

I'm happy with the painting so I moved on to fitting all the parts together. I started with the back panel to make sure it still fit snug after all the costs of paint. I have my power button, 120mm fan and USB panel in place. The plan was to have cabinet door magnets on the inside at the top but they aren't keeping the back panel as tight as I'd like it. I may look to small furniture screws to bold the top two corners flush.  

Here are some update pictures, more to come.







much more this week as I wrap it up.

[EvilGreenDevil]

in the wee hours of the morning, I got my artwork set. I am pretty much done now. just have to wire everything up one more time and finish tidying up the wires. I'll post more pics and/or a video as soon as I get the chance.







also I'm going to fill the smoke pushbuttons with the artwork cutout instead of leaving them white. I'll post a comparison shot halfway through but I think it will look great.

Lastly, you'll notice a clear dust washer on the left and a standard black one on the right. I am 50/50 on which to go with but leaning towards black.

[EvilGreenDevil]

Just went with the artwork in the buttons. I think it looks better

[Le Chuck]

That is sick 

Your CP really came together well.  Great job

[sunnyp]

The final build looks fantastic. Well done 

[emphatic]

Very nice work!

[opt2not]

It does look really nice. I love how the front button artwork has the dripping paint!
Great choice!

IMO, you should put something for the side-art as well. Perhaps a dripping-paint type decal of some kind to really tie it all together. Perhaps in the green and blue colours you have on the CP to really contrast and break-up the stark white of the sides.

[golden_35]

I'm happy with the painting so I moved on to fitting all the parts together. I started with the back panel to make sure it still fit snug after all the costs of paint. I have my power button, 120mm fan and USB panel in place. The plan was to have cabinet door magnets on the inside at the top but they aren't keeping the back panel as tight as I'd like it. I may look to small furniture screws to bold the top two corners flush.  

Here are some update pictures, more to come.







much more this week as I wrap it up.

Where did you get that usb/speaker plate?

[EvilGreenDevil]

Where did you get that usb/speaker plate?

Just searched Amazon for one, here:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FA9B8M/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00