Darkside Arcade - AKA: How not to build an arcade cabinet

[jesta]

So earlier this year I thought it would be a good idea to build an arcade cabinet to compliment my collection room. Did a lot of lurking and researching here on the forums before deciding what avenue I was going to persue. Once I came across Knievel's Evolution my mind was made up. I knew the finished cabinet has to take as little room as possible so a slim LCD cabinet was the plan.

My first objective was to get the cabinet built so that there was no turning back. Picked up a couple sheets of 3/4" MDF and laid out one side and carefully cut with a jigsaw:




Clamped that down and use a router to duplicate the second side:




Next was a base for the cabinet, I needed it to be mobile so went with a simple 2x4 frame and some heavy duty casters.

Mistake #1: Wheels were too close together and did not provide enough height



The plan is to have a couple thin (1/4") sheets of wood slot down this groove in the back of the cabinet to make it easily accessible:



Mounting up the 19" LCD

Mistake #2: Mount had to be redone to connect to all four mount points



Drilling and countersinking screw holes:

Mistake #3: Notice that I have countersunk the same side of both side pieces, they should be opposite, had to recut one side



Cabinet upright, notice third side in the background:



Began control panel layout, identical layout to Knievel's control panel:



Box for control panel:



Cabinet with control panel:



Keyboard Drawrer assembly:




At this point I stopped working on the cabinet and started working on the software, getting artwork done, and ordering controls and other miscellaneous items. Little did I realize that I would not work on the cabinet again for another 4 months. To be continued:

[jesta]

I probably didn't do enough research on how to build the control panel (artwork first, panel first, etc) so I tried to make a template off the control panel I made for the artist to base his work off of. Turns out once I got my artwork it did not match my control panel, wholly my fault. In the end I had to cut a new control panel that would work with my finished artwork.

Mistake #4: Do your work when designing your control panel and artwork



Buttons, Joysticks and Spinner cut:



Trackball opening cut:



And freehand routed for the mounting plate:




Initial layout, just missing joysticks:



T-Nuts installed for joysticks:



So I had this nice piece of acrylic and I was ready to start cutting it but did so a little too hastily and ended up cracking it.

Mistake #5: Take your time drilling acrylic



Two buttons installed to maintain alignment of acrylic:



After 30 very stressful minutes of cutting the needed holes in the acrylic without cracking it, I drilled a hole in the area where the trackball lives and used the router to cut out the diamond shape before realizing that I did not need to cut this:

Mistake #6: Don't cut the trackball hole in the acrylic:




Needless to say, I had to spend another 30 minutes and more unneeded stress to recut the entire piece of acrylic



Test fit and trimming of artwork:



And then cutting the slot for t-molding:



So now I went to put the completed control panel onto the box and then discovered that I did not take a box quite big enough to account for the size of the trackball. Back to the drawing board to redesign the front of the box.

Mistake #7: Make sure you account for the size of your mounted controls.



And now it fits, with t-molding installed:



I wanted the controls to be easily removable to a couple of dowels and alignment pins in the uprights should work:



Inside of box, yes the bottom has holes in in. Ran out of MDF and reused my former wrong control panel board for the bottom, will redo this later:



After some paint and t-molding installed:



Close up of control panel and admin buttons:



Keyboard drawrer:



Will put a large imperial logo here:



Got the marquee installed last night as well but didn't snap a pic, will put that one up later today.

The next few steps are going to be to wire the controls, install a backer around the monitor and some glass and then get the computer in there. The cabinet is far from perfect but I'm happy with it for my first attempt at something this large of scale.

[PL1]

Welcome aboard, Jesta.

How stable is the cabinet in the front-back direction?

The casters seem a little close together.




Scott

[Maximus]

Well I feel your pain buddy, but it's the best way to learn some really valuable skills, and the most important part is that you keep pushing on through. The cab is starting to look great and when it's finished you'll be a real proud father. Don't worry too much about absolute perfection, even factory made original cabinets aren't perfect, just make it good enough that it's solid, reliable, works and looks cool in it's final resting place.

[sabreerbasAlpha]

well Maximus has said it all really Keep going mate and remember this is your baby. As long as your happy that's all that matters.

That being said your doing a fine job from what I can see. 

[kingchimp]

This is a cool looking build.

I feel your pain on the mistakes front, I worked out today that I'm going to have to re-do both of my sides.  The important part is not to let it get you down, which you seem to be doing admirably. 

[Jigenjuke]

jesta, welcome aboard!

7 mistakes?  Is that all!?!  You're too hard on yourself.  The cabinet is looking great! 

Jigenjuke

[jesta]

Welcome aboard, Jesta.

How stable is the cabinet in the front-back direction?

The casters seem a little close together.




Scott

Yes, initially they were too close together and had way too little clearance height wise. Don't have a final pic but added another 2x4 piece in there and moved them out to the far corners. It's pretty rock solid at this point.

[jesta]

And as promised, here at the marquee pics. Printed and sandwiched between two pieces of plexi. Held on with Lowes corner protectors




Probably no further updated until the weekend at least. Ordered the wiring and connectors I would need to wire up the control panel and printed the imperial logo for the front of the cabinet.

Thanks for looking

[eds1275]

Nice, it's great that you didn't destroy everything during your setbacks. I have to ask though... what's with the duct tape suit in the background?

[Monkeyvoodoo]

Nice, it's great that you didn't destroy everything during your setbacks. I have to ask though... what's with the duct tape suit in the background?

My guess is that there is a costume maker in the house. There's probably a Boba Fett suit or Stormtrooper armor somewhere.


Sent from where ever I happen to be.

[Generic Eric]

Nice, it's great that you didn't destroy everything during your setbacks. I have to ask though... what's with the duct tape suit in the background?

My guess is that there is a costume maker in the house. There's probably a Boba Fett suit or Stormtrooper armor somewhere.


Sent from where ever I happen to be.

No one is going to call out the R2 unit?

[SavannahLion]

jesta, welcome aboard!

7 mistakes?  Is that all!?!  You're too hard on yourself.  The cabinet is looking great! 

Jigenjuke

Well... he still has the electricals to do.

Keep going. One of the earliest cabs I obtained fell off the back my truck and demolished every structural component inside. I'm not 100% certain but I think the monitor I salvaged has a cracked flyback which makes for an interesting light showlast time I plugged it in.

so yeah, there's still the eletrical. 

[mcseforsale]

Man, I coulda saved you some trouble on that CP build.  I have a trackball template and the Kneivel templates printable in PDF at fedex office. 

When you cut plexi, use a router, it's much easier.  Also, I cut the center of the trackball (3" hole), then use that to route the plexi, then cut out the football.

Build looks really good.  Nice recovery.

AJ

[Rick]

Nice, it's great that you didn't destroy everything during your setbacks. I have to ask though... what's with the duct tape suit in the background?

I'm guessing that's an "Isaac Mark I" suit, possibly?   And jesta - that's not a 'third side', it's a template for the "Return to the Darkside" arcade...

[jesta]

Nice, it's great that you didn't destroy everything during your setbacks. I have to ask though... what's with the duct tape suit in the background?

My guess is that there is a costume maker in the house. There's probably a Boba Fett suit or Stormtrooper armor somewhere.


Sent from where ever I happen to be.

Have to give it to you guys, you are good. It is the display mannequin for my sandtrooper armor.

[jesta]

Nice, it's great that you didn't destroy everything during your setbacks. I have to ask though... what's with the duct tape suit in the background?

My guess is that there is a costume maker in the house. There's probably a Boba Fett suit or Stormtrooper armor somewhere.


Sent from where ever I happen to be.

No one is going to call out the R2 unit?

Luckily you can only see one of the two that are pending assembly 

[jesta]

jesta, welcome aboard!

7 mistakes?  Is that all!?!  You're too hard on yourself.  The cabinet is looking great! 

Jigenjuke

Well... he still has the electricals to do.

Keep going. One of the earliest cabs I obtained fell off the back my truck and demolished every structural component inside. I'm not 100% certain but I think the monitor I salvaged has a cracked flyback which makes for an interesting light showlast time I plugged it in.

so yeah, there's still the eletrical. 

Indeed, I am hoping my wiring and connectors arrive before the weekend so I can get that done. Fortunately by background is with electronics/computers so that part is not as near as intimidating as the woodworking was

[jesta]

Man, I coulda saved you some trouble on that CP build.  I have a trackball template and the Kneivel templates printable in PDF at fedex office. 

When you cut plexi, use a router, it's much easier.  Also, I cut the center of the trackball (3" hole), then use that to route the plexi, then cut out the football.

Build looks really good.  Nice recovery.

AJ

Yea, I had the templates but also happened to have the lack in insight to not cut the same pattern in the plexi that I did in the wood.

I did use the router to do the edge and trackball cutout in the plexi but seeing as how my smallest straight cutting guide bit is 1/2", I figured it's be just as easy to holesaw the buttons. Would probably get a smaller router bit if i were do to it again.

[jesta]

Nice, it's great that you didn't destroy everything during your setbacks. I have to ask though... what's with the duct tape suit in the background?

I'm guessing that's an "Isaac Mark I" suit, possibly?   And jesta - that's not a 'third side', it's a template for the "Return to the Darkside" arcade...

Ah hah, that is one way to look at it

[jesta]

Small update, wiring and connectors arrived from eBay last night so started wiring the control panel this morning. Pretty much done with this part and now just need to wire it up to the ipac.



And cut some posterboard to trim out the monitor before I go get the glass cut. Not sure if I am going to keep it this way or just back-paint the glass.

[jesta]

Final update for today, the cabinet is up and running for the most part. Will hopefully get glass and marquee light installed tomorrow as well as getting my admin buttons wired up. After that just need to wait for the speakers to arrive so I can close up the cabinet.

I-Pac, Turbo Twist and Electric ICE-T Trackball all wired up







Testing controls



Hyperspin up and running and trackball wired up

[jesta]

Was able to button up all the loose ends this weekend and am calling this project done for now.

Wired up the speakers (computer speakers) and an under cabinet fluorescent light


Cut the three panels that will slot in to form the back of the cabinet


Here you can see where it slots in


Hacked up and mounted a surge protector to the bottom panel


Drilled some holes to make panels easier to remove


And final pic of it all buttoned up



Back to my R2 projects for now even though I already have plans for a mini-cabinet as well

[keilmillerjr]

Thank you for taking the time to post all your mistakes so hopefully no one else does the same! I'm not being sarcastic. Seriously, thank you. Taking sure there is sufficient depth in the control panel for all your accessories including a trackball was a good tip. 

[jdbailey1206]

Jesta

I agree with pretty much everyone on your post.  Working for a demolition company we do a lot of work for the big 3 car companies and I tend to see huge factories where there are multiple people working towards one end.  I guess what I am getting at is there are multiple people using multiple machines to create one thing.  Collectively we are one person spending our own time to create a labor of love.  We will see every mistake, every little nuance and hiccup that we ran into along the way.  Like most have said IT IS a labor of love and it's good to see you push through.  There have been many times when I have almost threw my weecade on the fire pit behind my house and had someone CNC me out the pieces so it would be easier.  My second player buttons were 1/16th of an inch lower on my CP and after showing about three people (none of them saw the mess up) I left it because no one could see it.  All they could see was the final product which everyone is too busy having the time of their lives with instead of seeing all your "boo-boo's".  In short, good work.  Keep it up.   

[TopJimmyCooks]

You've got a lot of ability and pushed through some stuff where others would have given up.  Good work. 

[SNAAKE]

looks good.

wonder who did the badass artwork

[nickels]

Very cool.

You don't appreciate everything that can go wrong until you start working, and everything goes wrong. This is the type of thread that is very helpful to someone thinking about making their own cab as it gives a lot of great advice on thinking ahead and what to try and avoid.