Asmocade! (Part cabinet, part desk, all awesome)

[Asmotron]

Hello everyone!  I've been lurking around for a while reading threads and picking up info prepping to build myself an Arcade Cabinet.  I have my software about 90% complete (Still needs some spit and polish on the config side) but this weekend I'll be starting my build!

I currently don't have any pictures of, well, anything, but I do have my CP laid out and a test mock up made.  It is a 2 player 6 button config.  I may eventually push this to 7 or 8 buttons per player, but for now it is working well.  I have also spent a lot of time in AutoCAD laying everything out and getting it looking the way I want.

My "twist" is I am also going to be using this for my computer desk.  Well, hopefully.  My only concern is being able to see the monitor comfortably when sitting at the keyboard tray playing PC games with the mouse/keyboard.

I purchased a 32" Samsung TV for the monitor so my cab will be plenty wide enough (31.5") to have a comfortable keyboard tray.  Its also a "slim" style, as I believe they would be called, with the body being 24" deep, and the control panel making it 30" deep.  I'm a little concerned about tipping, but with the beefy base I plan on making and the weight of my gaming computer I should be alright.  Worst case scenario I will be designing an easily removable wall mount/tether to keep it from tipping over.

So tonight I am borrowing tools from my dad (Table saw, router, etc) and getting my MDF from Home Depot and having them do some cuts for me in store.  Then I shall start sketching out my cab!  I decided I wanted to have a project log going here to keep me honest and help me remember that I want this to be a quality piece of furniture and not rush anything!

Pictures to come over the weekend as I get going!

[jongunz]

Good luck.  I'm definitely interested in seeing your design come together.  Sounded pretty cool  Just cant wait to see it! 

[Asmotron]

Last night I had enough time to get my tools and have Home Depot cut my MDF for me.   The kid at HD cut my side panels a 1/4 inch too short.  This shouldn't mess anything up tho.

Finishing up my coffee then out to the "work shop"  on this lovely Wisconsin day!

Here is my pile of parts:

[Asmotron]

Pretty good day today, but got cut short.  My brother-in-law had to go to the ER tonight so my wife and I had to go watch their kids for a few hours.  Everyone is well, tho!

The morning started off well, and I built a nice hefty base.  I've heard a lot of talk about how a good base makes a cabinet so hopefully what I made came out well!  It seems to be good and square and it is definitely sturdy!

Frame:


Complete!


After losing my nice 6" steel ruler for about 20 mins, discovering that someone bent the crap out of my jigsaw, and taking almost an hour of tinkering to figure out how far away to properly set my guide for my router to have it cut where I wanted I finally have a completed side!  I need to redo my radius corners as I had a brain fart and used a 1" diameter washer to measure my 1" radius curve.  Whoops.  At least I messed up small instead of too big.

Speaking of, is a 1" radius curve a good size for T-Molding or will I want to go bigger?

Standing up in crap corner of my garage. Pardon the mess!


Tomorrow I fix my corners, and then sandwich my sides together to cut out the other side with the router, then onto assembly!

[skjerk]

Looks nice! - You shouldn't have any problems with the T-molding.... It should theoretically go almost 90-degrees, if you cut away a part of the t-molding that goes into the groove correctly.

Looking at your cab-side. The marquee-box seems huge! - Is this intentional? What have you planed for the marquee?

[Asmotron]

It does look huge in that picture! It got a little smaller today after the bearing fell off my router bit as I was cutting the second side.

I don't have anything planned quite yet, I want the cabinet to come first to see how things work out then move on to marquee/graphics.

I probably should have shrunk it some more, oh well. But I'm quite happy overall with the size.  It was looking tiny to me yesterday and then I slipped into the little game room at the pizza joint we went to last night, turns out its spot on, plus modifications.

Today's progress wasn't much, got the 2nd side cut, routed the slot for t-molding, and put the strips in place for the top/back/speaker panel. Now I must wait until next weekend to do more work.

[Asmotron]

I stepped out into the garage for a bit tonight to look at my marquee box on the cabinet. I don't know why those pics make it look so gigantic. In my plans there is 7 inches between the top panel and the speaker panel above the monitor for the marquee. I plan on using at least 1/2 brackets/whatever on the top and bottom to keep it in place. 6 inches doesn't seem so huge, but man does it look insane in that pic!

Anyway here was my Sunday progress. Slot cut and both sides ready for assembly. Well, almost. I've made some modifications to my plan.

[PL1]

Have you planned a way to avoid shadows on your marquee from the furring strips?

There are several approaches in this thread.


Scott

[Asmotron]

My top/back/front panels are all going to be set back 1/2" from the edge, and those furring strips are back a bit further than that.  I also screwed them down with the first screw a ways back from the front edge so if I need to modify I shouldn't have too much of an issue.

It got dang cold here in the last two days.  I went from a high of 45 on Sunday to 28 yesterday and today! I'm hoping to spend a few mins in the garage tonight or tomorrow night and hopefully get the beast standing up soon.  Otherwise it is supposed to warm up again for the weekend.

Edit:

I forgot to mention that last night I setup a rough test for monitor height and control panel layout.  I'm glad I did.  I had a pretty extreme slope on my CP surface - 2 inch drop over 12 inches.  Standing there in my kitchen banging away at some KOF '02 I developed wrist and shoulder pain on my right side.  No good!  I shimmed my test CP with some DVD's to make it nearly level and played some more, much better! 

The only downside to this is that my CP box at the front will now be 6" tall, which is pretty massive. I'm not sure I'm a huge fan of the way that will look, but can't really think of anyway to clean it up without making the cabinet look worse than a 6" tall CP.

Also is .080 acrylic/lexan/plexi thick enough to do well on the CP top?

[Asmotron]

Finally got a chance to update!  Zero work done during the week last week... But that is to be expected with my wife working full time and taking 2 accelerated classes at the same time I get to run the household on week nights.

This weekend went pretty well, the cabinet body is done, control panel box is built, holes are cut for fans and speakers.  Need to buy some stuff this week to get the ol' girl ready for use; switched power plug, speaker grills, fans and fan grills, etc.

My big learning experience for the weekend was to always measure and mark your cuts, don't just set your fence on your table saw and slap the peice of wood on and cut.  When that happens you cut your control panel in half and make the dimensions of the board useless anywhere else in the cabinet!  So I spent $16 on MDF today instead of $8.  Luckily I had $70 in rebates laying around to blow Menards, so it didn't hurt so bad.

Sadly I wasn't thinking ahead on my second sheet either and didn't leave myself a piece of MDF to use as a keyboard tray!  Gah!  This isn't a huge deal either as I might just use a keyboard tray we have from an old desk that is a good size.  It will take some shimming out of my drawer slides to work exactly right, but that is alright.

To get the cabinet functional all I have left to do is to finish off my Control Panel, mount the monitor with a custom VESA mount I'm designing to make the monitor easy to remove if need be, slap on the front door and install the keyboard tray.

On to the pictures!

Sides and very top panel attached to the base:


The mighty base:


Top angle and back installed with holes cut for 120mm fans:


Blurry front picture showcasing the bowed top panel.  This went away, mostly, after I installed the speaker panel.


Profile with the marquee box still looking gigantic.  It doesn't look this big IRL, I don't know what trickery keeps happening:


Speaker panel for the R/L speakers of my old Altec Lansing ACS54's:


Stock photo of the AVS54 system:


I'm presently not looking to make this thing super loud or bass-y so this little set is perfect and has always sounded great.  I will be wiring a remote pot and power switch somewhere to control these.

CP box that went together super smooth using this technique to miter the corners:



I used wood glue and a air brad nailer to pop together the CP box, it is SUPER sturdy.

Hopefully one night this week I'll get to bang out the mounting system for my Samsung UN32EH5000.  I have been VERY happy with this LED TV so far.  Then I can hopefully get someone to help me get it in the house and I can start using it as I will be waiting until spring and warmer weather to paint it.  Due to 2 cats and 2 dogs I don't have anywhere on the main floor (where the cabinet will live) to paint/sand/etc, and its getting too cold outside to use my unheated garage.  I am also paranoid about moving it downstairs as we have a landing and a 180 degree turn in our stairs to the basement which would make maneuvering it down there difficult.

Have a great week everyone!

[skjerk]

Hey!

It's looking great! Keep up the good work!
Have you been working on the guts (computer) of this thing yet?

Cheers

[Asmotron]

Yep, that is pretty much done except for some final spit and polish here and there.  I'm actually using my gaming rig/main PC as the guts of the beast and hoping that my plans to use this as a computer desk pan out.  Things are looking good so far, but I do need to get a chair out to the garage and have a test sit.

If the computer desk idea doesn't pan out I do have an older PC that I had been setting up for the guts that will get tossed in.

[lcmgadgets]

Wow! I admire the way you've jumped right in & started cutting. I'm looking forward to seeing how this turns out. Good luck!

[Asmotron]

"Jumped right in" is a relative phrase, I spent about a week straight working in cad to get things figured out.

[Asmotron]

Well I got a couple hours free tonight so I went and froze my butt off in the garage.  I managed to make my "super high-tech custom VESA 200 mount" and got the monitor mounting all taken care of.  No pics of the monitor actually in as I had it wrapped in plastic to protect it from garage dust and scratches, and it is back in the house while the cab sits in the cold dark garage.

Super High-Tech Custom VESA 200 Mount:




So the idea here was to make something that was easy to install and remove by one person with no access to the back of the machine.  I have no back door on my machine (on purpose), so I needed to make access to mounting/removing the monitor easy.  First the plate is mounted to the TV.  Then with the 3 screws loosened slightly the |_| shape made by the chunks of 3/4 MDF and a 2x2 slide over a standard 2x4 that is mounted across the cabinet.  Once it is centered and level the 3 screws are tightened down clamping the monitor in place on the 2x4.  Easy peasy!

Last but not least a little sneak peak of a VERY rough CP overlay I have been messing with:


I also took a chair out to the garage tonight and sat in front of the cabinet with the monitor in to see how it will work as a desk... I like it, a lot.  I think it is going to be rad.

[Asmotron]

Tyyyppoooooo! A week straight working IN CAD, uhg!

Anyway, got a lot done this weekend, however I forgot my camera while I was at my Dad's using his drill press, then got too excited to get things together to take any decent pictures.  I'll try to snap some tonight after my CP is wired up.

I also managed to get my hinges installed on the CP top without any issues.  I had never done concealed style hinges before but a lot of careful measuring, and some careful drilling, and it all turned out OK!

Almost in its spot, monitor installed and control panel box attached:


PC in, powered up, running Borderlands 2 for my "desk" test.  Works very well, I'll have to see how a prolonged gaming session treats me, but it was actually pretty comfy playing for about 15 mins:


What I have left to do to get this completed until my spring painting:
-Cut the T-molding slot in the CP top
-Wiring up the CP
-Install "flip down" face on keyboard tray
-Install keyboard tray
-Install front door
-Install speakers
-Fiddly projects
-Monitor Bezel

So I'm getting pretty close.  I'm actually wiring up the CP now as we are having a post Thanksgiving party on Saturday and I want the machine playable for that.  I may however stop, take everything out, and go route the T-molding slot, and reassemble with my CP overlay, lexan, etc.

For fiddly projects I have the following to do:
-Remote power on for PC and TV
   -Planning to crack open a cheap universal remote and remote-wire the power button for turning the TV on and off.
-Install 4 120mm fans (2 bottom intake, 2 top exhaust) with a dedicated power supply and remote switching.
-Install Marquee back light with remote power, also design and install the marquee art.

See attached for the power switches I picked up to use for all my remote power.  Still need to snag 2 momentary contact buttons for the TV and the PC power.

I'm thinking of installing the switches on the underside of the control panel.  Keep them out of sight, but easy to get to for my wife or any nieces and nephews that come to play.

[Asmotron]

Couple quick pictures of how things currently stand.  I keep stepping back from the cabinet, and even in its unfinished state I'm super impressed with what I've built so far.  Thanks to the forums for the boatloads of info hidden within!

Messy CP wiring, temporary until after Thanksgiving:


CP Top looking naked without my CP overlay or plexi:


And the front, please ignore the lamp.  Currently it is a black hole in that corner of the living room, needed to see what I was doing!