Time to go Full Size - LASER cut Acrylic bartop

[selfie]

Some of you may have seen this, my little homage to OND's xenolix

Built at 50% in size it was a bit of a muck around when I had an hour or so to kill.


The Idea behind this little bartop was to have a compact unit that I can put together quickly and easily and relatively cheaply for friends that have asked after having played my upright machine.

After a few alterations (rounding corners, deleting the "marquee", adding all the details) for ease of construction, appearance and functionality I locked in a design a started cutting.
The main material used is 6mm black acrylic and 3mm coloured acrylic.




A few line bends on the front and rear main panels and then glue the front panel in place.


A 10mm clear monitor mount


and glue and clamp the screen in place then glue the black in.


I glued a small piece of 10mm on the underside of the CP to shorten the joystick shaft and allow it to be screwed in from underneath, then in with the buttons.


Some messy wiring


I was planning to use a 60in1 PCB but decided to look at the 100 in 1 that was the same price. I saw Raiden on the list of games, got a bit excited and grabbed that Had I know it was a PC motherboard I would definitely stayed with the 60. So the 100 in 1 and power supply JUST fits.


The board and the PS are fixed to the base that is screwed in from the bottom.


I'm now waiting on delivery of a CGA to VGA convertor, another reason I should have stayed with the 60in1 board, and some red buttons and it's done...






I have artwork to do a yellow Pacman version and a green Galaga version too. For next time I'll make some more changes again.

[wp34]

That is just awesome.   

[Nephasth]

Amazing work!

[rablack97]

I hate people who have access to materials like that and a freakin laser cutter.....

 

[TopJimmyCooks]

The tools are a big part but don't discount the skills and experience needed.  I'm a decent wood/metal fabricator but with no experience in line bending or acrylic bonding I couldn't go into that shop and do that with those tools and materials.

I like how using the bends reduces the number of pieces overall.  You would have a hard time with all the pieces on the back panel of this design if you were trying to use only flat parts. 

[Louis Tully]

.

[Santoro]

wow.   That's just beautiful.

[emphatic]

That looks very nice. Really cool you went with JAMMA as well.

[rablack97]

The tools are a big part but don't discount the skills and experience needed.  I'm a decent wood/metal fabricator but with no experience in line bending or acrylic bonding I couldn't go into that shop and do that with those tools and materials.

I like how using the bends reduce the number of pieces overall.  You would have a hard time with all the pieces on the back panel of this design if you were trying to use only flat parts.

Trust me, i'm not downgrading the skills and expertise.  The keyword is ACCESS to those materials and machinery, my point was i wish i had taken up the trade to be able to do what he's doing....I'm limited to MDF, a skill saw, and a router...

Which i can say i've built some nice rigs with just those tools, give me those tools, materials, and the EXPERTISE, I'd be in heaven.....

[wp34]

Give me access to that laser cutter and I would just have an expensive place to lay my MDF.  Wouldn't know where to start with that rig.

Take a look at the picture of him cutting the fan outlet again.  The shot of the half cut circles is just freaking too cool.

[rablack97]

CNC Machinists Kick ASS......

[kahlid74]

Good stuff!  Very cool design and layout.  Love laser cutting.

[selfie]

Thanks guys.

My old man taught this stuff at TAFE (tech college) for years and has been doing plastic fabrication for ~25years. I remember going to work with him on Saturdays as an 8 year old and I've been doing it since then ~20 years so it's a bit old hand

I used  to teach my shop class at school when we did plastics as the teacher freely admitted I knew more about it than he did. On a side note I have very fond memories of my High school shop teacher, he had no time for the kids who weren't interested but for the few that were he all the time in the world. I found out after I left school that he was a very famous Rugby Union player, Captaining the Wallabies and receiving an Order of Australia Medal.

I guess I'm so indifferent about LASER cutting now. I've had that machine for, wow, 6 years. You can buy a better machine now for about 15% of what that one cost but it has paid for itself a few times over so I'm not complaining. That said, I do often feel a little guilty when I see how other people make things that take about 20 seconds on the LASER.

[Slippyblade]

But seriously, how much are you gonna sell these for?

[jmike]

But seriously, how much are you gonna sell these for?

+1
Work out the details, parts, labor and come up with a price we're all interested.

 

[Azure]

Despite the fact I've not completed anything of note in acrylic yet, I still consider you my role model when it comes to this. You and Lokesen have shown me that you can do incredible things in acrylic:) I love this! I had been thinking about a bartop similar to this, and had been noodling over designs.... but this...THIS is art. Keep it up, selfie! you are a true craftsman^_^

BTW, the bends were done using heat as stated in your topic in 'woodworking'  right? It's the hardest part of working in acrylic for me:( 

[selfie]

Where is the embarrassed smiley?

But seriously, how much are you gonna sell these for?

For the material and cutting, no bends or assembly, I would normally charge about $150-$180 at a guess. That is in the form, I will end up changing it for the next one

I'm in Australia so its the shipping that would be the killer and if I supplied it as a kit the glue is classed as a hazardous material and can't be shipped by Air. I have been trying to figure out a way to make one with less bends so I can flat pack it a bit better.

[Le Chuck]

Selfie - you continue to amaze.  Wonderful work! 

I miss the marquee tho.  Can't wait to see the next one.

[Ond]

Nice to see a fellow Aussie building something here that started out in my head  .  Excellent work, tho I agree with Le Chuck about missing the marquee.  I'll give the Xenolix design a go as a project beginning this month myself.  I've got a bunch of LCD monitors lying around and a laptop MB that can be used.  Your use of plastics is really inspiring; it's a great material I'd like to use as well, maybe in combination with MDF. 

 

Ond

@ Le Chuck - *ahem*  at least this design IS getting built by someone! 

[Le Chuck]

@ Le Chuck - *ahem*  at least this design IS getting built by someone! 

*ahem ahem* I'll tread lightly lest the great eye of Sauron OND gaze too sternly in my direction at my current lack of progress on other projects and instead suggest Selfie's next build.

Hey Selfie, I'll be waiting by the post for my custom flatpack of this masterpiece waiting to happen (with a special thanks to the Carpathian)

[selfie]

I am so tempted to build an Urkelcade

[kahlid74]

@ Le Chuck - *ahem*  at least this design IS getting built by someone! 

*ahem ahem* I'll tread lightly lest the great eye of Sauron OND gaze too sternly in my direction at my current lack of progress on other projects and instead suggest Selfie's next build.

Hey Selfie, I'll be waiting by the post for my custom flatpack of this masterpiece waiting to happen (with a special thanks to the Carpathian)

Selfie, if I was looking at getting into laser cutting did you have any tips/information about it?

[jmike]

selfie,
       would you be able to take some more pics of the first model you did (the one with the marquee)?

Truly awesome work!


 

[selfie]

selfie,
       would you be able to take some more pics of the first model you did (the one with the marquee)?

Truly awesome work!

Sorry jmike the little one hit the bin yesterday...

Kahlid what type of LASER cutting are you looking at? Speaking generally there are three types of LASERs. RF LASERs are the big metal cutting jobs in the range of 1kW and up. CO2 LASERs are glass tubes and cut plastics and work in the power ranges of 60W up to about 800W from about 400W you can cut thin metals. These are LASER cutters. Then there are LASER engravers that work with CO2 tubes and generally run lower powers.

I'm a bit pressed for time now but I can go into more detail a bit later

[Nephasth]

This is a shoe-in for the '12 Users' Choice...

[dextercf]

I need to get my friends with someone locally which has access to something like this.. damn!
There is no end to what I could come up with..

[selfie]

When I got the 100 in 1 board there was a loose wire on the MB at the VGA "connector" I took it back and had it soldered up but when I fired it up I got a really bad signal, flickering, lost colours then nothing... I took it back again and grabbed a 60 in 1 board.

There is now a bit more room inside.


The bottom got closed up, the masking got peeled off, I cut a joystick dust washer to match the sides, a few marks got polished off and other than labelling the coin and start buttons we are done.











I took it home and fired it up and my wife's response was "That's f__kin cool!"   

I will be taking it to my brother's engagement party on the weekend and hopefully someone will offer me some money for it

[pinballjim]

Looks great but that is some mega overkill on that power supply, dude. 

[selfie]

Looks great but that is some mega overkill on that power supply, dude.

I know but it's what I had

[rablack97]

All that work...and PBJ is looking at the power supply.....

  :applaud:Great job man....although i thind you used too much plastic...

 

[SNAAKE]

make me one plz

[SNAAKE]

I am serious. how much you think it will be to make me one like this?
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y57/selfie/Untitled.jpg

assuming you can do custom size too? need the famous asus 23" evo monitor in there..

[emphatic]

This is just so damn sexy. Well done, dude.

[firedance]

Awesome work, very impressive 

would be great if you could sell it as a kit 

what would the costs be IF u did sell it as a kit

how about a 2 player version using a 19" 4:3 lcd screen instead ?

[willybeamish]

Very badass 

[selfie]

I'm at it again...


I sold the red one to a friend and still had some bits floating around so why not.

A few little changes. This one has a horizontal monitor and a few more pieces/less bends. I did it this way to see if it was viable to do as a shipable (that's a word right?) kit.

Built purely for ebay I used a game tornado 352 in 1 I'm not really happy with this one. The colours don't match as well as I'd like, with the horizontal screen the CP is not big enough for 2 players but it looks too big for 1 player and there is no room for the space invader on the back. Am I being picky?

Anyway here's the ebay pics.

[DaOld Man]

Awesome work man!

[dextercf]

Where do I order a kit?
I would love one for a 60-in-1 board I got laying around needing a cab like this..

[Vebbo]

Yeah. Slick cab's. Very nice work.

[Noshbomb]

Wow!