Project: Fix-It Felix Jr. Cab (First Build)

[twistedsistem]

Hello all!

Well I have been researching, planning, and obsessing for months now and have decided that I have all of the information that I need to start my first build.  I have decided to build a Fix-It Felix Jr cabinet from the ground up!!!

This is by far going to be a new adventure for me and I have actually recruited a neighbor, that got interested in my idea as we were discussing it during a drunken evening  , to help.

I want to give major shout outs to Sjaak for added inspiration towards this build by putting in some excellent work on the recreation of the arcade game!!
I would also like to give a major shout out to RidicRick for his awesome work on reproducing the cabinet artwork!!

To start the project I have worked with my neighbor, whom is a graphic designer, to make some tweaks to the CPO that RidicRick has created to make it fit what this machine is going to ultimately be.  My cabinet will not be a dedicated Fix-It Felix Jr cabinet as I want the ability to play a mass number of old school classics as well.  To allow for this I have decided to go with a 2 player 6 button layout.  This custom CPO will be shown later on as we are still making the final touch ups to the design.  The CPO will also be shared with RidicRick whom can decide if he would like to add it to his collection of artwork that he is distributing or not, but if he does not then you can contact me and you will be taken care of.

OK on to the fun!!!  This build has started to get real for me this week as I have made my order of controller parts to make sure that they have ample time to get in once the cabinet is built and to allow for me to wire things up for testing before they go into the final product.  Below is a list of what I have order and would like to say that I am very pleased with utlimarc and groovygamegear.

www.ultimarc.com

• I-PAC2
• 2x ServoStik

www.ultimarc.com

• 6x Arcade PRIME Blue Pushbutton
• 8x Arcade PRIME Yellow Pushbutton

The next step of the build is to choose the type of wood that I am going to use for my cabinet and then measure and start cutting.  This is a section that I would like to open up for input as I know that traditionally cabinets are made out of 3/4" MDF board, but my neighbor and I have been playing with the idea of using 3/4" Pine or even 3/4" Maple.  What is your thoughts community?  I am right now planning to buy and start cutting the parts for the cabinet in 2 weeks.

I look forward to sharing the progress of this build and hope that this will help others shall they decide to build a cabinet as well.

[Slydsho]

a dedicated fix-it felix jr. was and is my first build, so i will be following your build progress.
Good luck with your build 

[sabreerbasAlpha]

a dedicated fix-it felix jr. was and is my first build, so i will be following your build progress.
Good luck with your build 

Defiantly flavour of the month is Fix it Felix. Looking forward to seeing both builds and how you both go about it. Good luck to you both. my son never shuts up about Felix lol. 

[twistedsistem]

Not a lot to report right now but wanted to give a little bit of an update.  I have gone back and forth enough in my head about whether or not I should stick to MDF or use a different type of wood and I have come to the final conclusion that I would like to stick as close to the classics as possible.  Having said that I am going to be picking up my MDF boards hopefully this weekend.

I know that I haven't started the build process truly yet but I am very excited to be making steps in that direction!!  I have also spent some time this week coming up with ideas for the controls.  I am wanting to set the I-Pac and controls up in a way that I can swap the control panel out for a different one very easily and without having to shut down the machine.  To accomplish this I am going to be mounting the I-Pac inside of the cabinet and running the wires from the I-Pac to a cat5 patch panel.  This will then allow me to wire the control panel with cat5 cable and just plug the control panel into the patch panel as I attach it to the cabinet.  I have plans right now for a 2 player 6 button setup as my default layout.  The second control panel is being designed in my head right now as I want to come up with a support system that will allow me to put a 4 player control panel on the cabinet.  I do know that there is no way I am going to fit this on a regular Nintendo cabinet control panel so I am working on how I am put supports on the button of the control panel that may lean against the outside of the cabinet to allow for a bigger custom control panel to be placed on.

For this hot-swap control panel design I am working up a wire diagram so that I can keep all of the color coordination of the wires in line and have a very neat layout.  I will be posting the wire diagram as I get it finished just in case someone else may want to follow the same approach!

[twistedsistem]

The time as come!!!  I was able to line up some time this past weekend to get the materials for this build and start on creating the sides of the cabinet.  To start I took a sheet of MDF and laid my Donkey Kong Jr cabinet down on top of it to allow me to trace the outline. 



Now to move the board to a save area for cutting!! 



Extremely excited to be starting the cutting process that steady hands were not as easy as you would think to have.



Almost finished!!  Had to take a little bit of a nerve break



Next was to create a duplicate copy of the first side.




Surprisingly this whole process took roughly an hour minus the in between trip to Lowes to get the correct Router bit.

This was all that I had time to get done this weekend but looking forward to making the rest of the cuts sometime this week!!

[twistedsistem]

OK guys another update!!

As mentioned in my first post I was working with my neighbor to add some ideas to ridicricks 2 player control panel.  Below is what we have come up with and I feel that it has turned out amazing!!  I have placed my artwork order with ridicrick and can not wait for it all to come in!  I need to get working on finishing the cabinet so it is ready for these awesome graphics!!



I am making some progress slowly but surely.  I find myself being very OCD about how things are going and measuring them against the original donkey kong jr that I have for reference.

Here are all of my pieces cut out and ready to start putting together.



Now some pictures of where I am as of tonight.  I feel it is coming along great!!





I have also been working on the computer setup that is going to be going inside of this cabinet and here is a picture of what I have so far.  I still need to mount it to some blonde wood to have it ready for the cabinet.



I will hopefully be updating more this week as my goal is to get the cabinet built and ready for paint this weekend.  Hope you all are enjoying the build as much as I am!

[simondwilliams]

Looks great! I am wondering how you will finish the front edge of the control panel. Will it finish abromptly with the mdf edge?

Also Ridric does not seem to provide the files for the artwork could you private message to me?

Thank you.

[twistedsistem]

OK guys sorry for the delay on my update, I have actually hit a little bit of a stand still .

I have made great progress in my eyes as I have gotten the cabinet to stand up and have almost fully figured out the monitor mounting.  I am debating on switching the monitor to be vertical but I hesitate as I am going to have a lot of emulators on the machine running old NES, SNES, Gensis, and N64 games which I do not know if I like the look of those running scruntched on a vertical monitor.  Input is welcome as suggestions!!!!!!








My hang up that I was talking about is that the cabinet looks soo good to me standing up that I made the decision to put a coin door on front.  I originally decided not to put the coin door and just have a button combo that would coin up the games.  Now having seen the cabinet standing I want the full experience and have order the coin door which should be in late this week.

On exciting news today I received the artwork from arcadeskins!!!!! Thank you to Ridic for his hard work and fast processing on all of that!

Tomorrow I am planning on finishing the mounts for the control panel, mounting the power button at the top of the cabinet (i know this is against the original design but i didn't want a kid to come along while playing and hit the button and shut down the machine , and finally should get the plexi mounts in place.

Looks great! I am wondering how you will finish the front edge of the control panel. Will it finish abromptly with the mdf edge?

Also Ridric does not seem to provide the files for the artwork could you private message to me?

Thank you.

simondwilliams - I am planning on putting t-mold on the front of the control panel just as I am going to put the t-mold on the sides of the cabinet.  This should make the cabinet look much nicer and have a smooth control panel front.

I have actually taken over hosting the artwork dropbox for ridic to help him out and to help the community.  PM me your email address and I will get you added to the dropbox share.

[w98vette]

Hi Twistedsistem,  The project looks great....I also have a donkey kong jr. cabinet that I was thinking about fabricating another one from. 

Did you take any measurements when doing this?

Also I have contacted ridicrick but he has not responded to me with any files for side art with the fix it felix graphics....

I tried PM you but it said an error had occurred and would not let me....can you pm me.  I also created a Dropbox account  my name is w98vette@aol.com

Thanks

[twistedsistem]

Hi Twistedsistem,  The project looks great....I also have a donkey kong jr. cabinet that I was thinking about fabricating another one from. 

Did you take any measurements when doing this?

Also I have contacted ridicrick but he has not responded to me with any files for side art with the fix it felix graphics....

I tried PM you but it said an error had occurred and would not let me....can you pm me.  I also created a Dropbox account  my name is w98vette@aol.com

Thanks

Thanks w98vette,

For the side pieces I just traced the DKjr and used a jigsaw and then a router.  For the rest I used a combination of measurements off the dkjr and the plans from jakobud.com.

you have been added to the dropbox share.

Thanks!

[retrostark]

cabinet looks cool. i was actually thinking this morning about building a fix-it felix cabinet. i want to see how yours turns out.

[twistedsistem]

cabinet looks cool. i was actually thinking this morning about building a fix-it felix cabinet. i want to see how yours turns out.

Thanks retrostark!  I highly recommend building one.  This has been one of the best decisions I have ever made.  A fun project and easy to get carried away with

[retrostark]

i have made cabinet's before (are you kinding ) i just like this one. i actually think i will go and watch the wreck-it-ralph movie right now. (never seen it.)

[alteredgrafix]

Wanted to drop a line and say thanks for getting me started on my build and for showing me to this forum! 

[Buick455]

Any updates?

PM Sent