Fun-sized Candy cab (Renamed after a great suggestion!)

[S.P.A.R.R.O.W.S]

Greetings everybody!

A while back I constructed a consolized MVS case in the shape of a Metal Slug ammo box. http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=129674.0 Though it went well and was near completion, it met a bit of an unfortunate end from falling off a drying shelf. I learned many things during that project, a lot of which I'll use for this one. The number one lesson being to use more glue. I'll be revisiting that project sometime in the future as an arcade stick with hookups for a TV.

Since I started, my arcade collection has grown a little. While playing on a TV is fun, sometimes it can not replicate the fun of sitting down beside a friend at an arcade. I'd love to make some of the woody cabinets, but with my limited space, its truly not an option. I looked through these forums I found a cabinet that would work perfectly! The Sega Dinosaur King / Love and Berry arcades. They're small, sit down, and nice looking too. I'm aiming to replicate the look of them and the feel. 

[S.P.A.R.R.O.W.S]

To start I sketched out what I wanted the cabinet to look like on a small sheet of MDF. I also tested the ergonomics and viewing angle this way, so everything would be nice for long play times! A handy tip for those who are designing their own sit-downs or cabinets, look up standards for furniture. There's even calculators and guidelines based on specific heights. Its also a great idea to outline what your goals are as well, that way you will have a clear and concise plan. My goals were as follows

- Comfortable for sitting down at
- Strong and durable joinery to make it last.
- Smooth and gently curved in areas to give it the "Candy cab" feel



After my template is done, I place it on one of the sides and use a templating router bit to cut out the shape I need. Instead of using the template once again, I place the other side underneath the one I just cut and use the router once more. This way I have two identical sides to work with. One thing I can never stress enough is that you need to clamp everything very well so nothing moves. Routers have a lot of strength to them and you can easily make an unwanted gouge.



This should look familiar from my last project, once again I'm adding on headers. They're for strength and appearance since I am not using t-moulding. A solid wood strip is stronger than MDF, and doesn't aquire a rough texture once primed. When you use a radius bit that matches the thickness of the header, it will be virtually unseen even if there's slight swelling or shrinking in the wood.

[S.P.A.R.R.O.W.S]

This table saw may look strange to a few, but its a common industrial set up. Its a sliding table saw, and works quite similarly to a mitre gauge. To make sure I didn't need to paint edges I cut pieces on an angle or bevel by tilting the saw blade. I could have easily done headers on this too and skip mitring. I chose to do only put a header on one, since that may be easily subjected to wear.  The others I chose not to do for speed. I don't need to wait for the headers to dry and cut then flush. Doing the math for the angle was very easy to figure as well. Since the top is at 45 degrees, I only need to half that, resulting in a 22.5 degree cut. If I needed to find any other angles I used a bevel gauge and used it to set the saw.



Next I use a jig they've made at the shop. Its for doing pocket hole joinery and drills an oval shape through the thickness of the wood. Many people refer to it as a Kreg joint. It has a flat end and for the head and  a step for the shank of the screw. They make for a strong joint when compared to something such as a butt joint with nails. This time It surely wont fall apart. I'd really recommend purchasing one of these jigs, its easy to use and has a wealth of uses. I'd also argue its quicker than using strips and screwing in to them. They also sell plugs you can glue in to the holes made by the jig so you can have a nice smooth surface still.

I would show the images of the assembled cabinets and the start of me making the cut-out for the monitor. Sadly the memory on my camera became corrupted and I can't retrieve the images on it. Tomorrow when I'm working on it once again I'll take pictures of it. Next to do is make the cut out for the monitor and the trim to go inside of it. Then its on to the large pieces at front and the large rounded front for controls.

[Generic Eric]

You should name it "Fun-sized Candy Cab".



BTW, nice avatar. I look forward to when Mr Driller 2 has better emulation. 

[S.P.A.R.R.O.W.S]

BTW, nice avatar. I look forward to when Mr Driller 2 has better emulation.

Funny you should say that. I have a Mr.Driller G arcade board that I plan on putting in to this cabinet over making it a MAME one. I really love puzzle games from arcades myself. They're especially fun with two players. Puyo puyo can become really intense at times!






This is my template for making the monitor bezel. A simple square put together by kreg screws. Its screwed in to the back of the monitor bezel piece so any of the resulting holes will never be seen after I cut out the rough shape. Only leave about 1/16 or 1/8 of an inch so you do not stress your router and wear your bit quickly. I put my good side up and the template side down and then secure it to the work table firmly with clamps. I use a hand held fixed base router with a templating bit to then cut everything exactly to size. I didn't take many pictures of the process since my last project went in to detail about it. In addition, there's many examples of it being done too.



 
This is something you don't often see though. I made a mistake when laying out and made my cut out off centre. It was only 3/32 off, which most would not notice. I was concerned that if I forgot this fact later on, I'd mount the monitor with out compensating too; in addition to me being a perfectionist. The solution is rather simple though, with simple math I figured what the sides needed to measure and what distance I was off by. I added a small strip of wood that was accurately cut on the table saw on and then used my template once more to take off the excess material on the other side. The result is now a perfectly centred bezel! I still need to add the trim in to this, but it can easily be done later on.



Here's the cabinet assembled, you can see some of the pocket holes that I used from inside of the cabinet. I took a lot of care in this step, I wanted to make sure everything was square and parallel. If not, I could make much more work for myself than I truly need. Its finally starting to take shape, but it looks a bit boring currently and it's a far cry from being finished. Next to do are the curved portions the sides and the large rounded control panel at front. I'll be using solid wood for this and an assortment of router jigs too.

[DarakuTenshi]

You should name it "Fun-sized Candy Cab".



BTW, nice avatar. I look forward to when Mr Driller 2 has better emulation.

LOL I like that... Maybe just Fun Sized

[S.P.A.R.R.O.W.S]

You should name it "Fun-sized Candy Cab".

LOL I like that... Maybe just Fun Sized

After working on it for a while, I always found myself calling it a "Fun-sized Candy Cab". Thanks for the suggestion, its great and catchy too!




I started to work on the large side pieces that help make it look more unique and less box-like. To start, I cut two large pieces on the tablesaw with the blade tilted so the pieces were angled along their thickness. The tablesaw I use has a blade that tilts to the right, which isn't ideal to bevel something along its thickness. I'd need to attach a sacrificial fence and align every thing very precisely, the off cut will also become trapped between the blade and fence that makes a risk of kick back. Doing what I did is called a left justified cut was much easier and much safer in the process. After that was done, all I needed to do was sand the saw marks out. Sorry the picture doesn't show it well, my ancient camera finally gave up the ghost and I'm using a cellphone for these.



After that, I make a template to mark the pieces since they taper in width as well on a curve. I made this out of MDF so I can later use it for a router template too. Here you can better see the taper in thickness I put on it. After, I then cut it close as I can with the jigsaw, leaving perhaps only an 1/8th or 3 mm left for a flush trim router to take off. I ended the blanks with sanding them closer to the line so barely a 1/16 was left, I'm doing this because it stresses the bit less and makes a smoother cut I've found.



Finally, I attach the piece to the jig with several screws. The router rides on top and the bearing on the bit runs on the bottom of the template out of MDF. Taking light passes, I get a smooth finish on one of these. With the other one, the bit caught a bit of the grain and simply snapped it out. Resulting in a lot of damage to the piece. I was able to repair this with a strong epoxy putty that cures in 30 minuets and then flush trimming again.  I was told this is common with maple actually, and can be prevented with climb cutting as they called it. Climb cutting is going with the direction of the spinning bit, meaning it will want to snap out of your control if you don't have a firm grip. I'll have to remember this next time.

[S.P.A.R.R.O.W.S]

Next, its time to glue these things on to the cabinet. Since they're so wide and long, all I really need is glue, I doubt I'll need any fasteners like nails or screws. I used a lot of clamps for this, and truly for a moment I had a "What am I doing..." moment. 



After a bit of sanding and some ever so slight filling, the project is really starting to come together. Next to do is to make the curved extension for the play area. Its not very hard by all means, and its very similar to the process I just used. It will be made from a solid piece of maple I've all ready cut to size.

[404]

almost bought one of those dino kings just over a year back. When i was just about to take the 2 hour trip to check it out, the guy started responding slow and then got a bit ---meecrob----y on me.

Few months later i found out that he sold a a set of them to another guy in the area. One of them ended up with a forum member at shoryuken.com

[S.P.A.R.R.O.W.S]

Instead of making a new thread, I decided to revive this one from the dead. I remade this cabinet after the headers on my old one shrank too much. It was really odd too since it shrank in length. I've actually never experienced that before and I was always taught that wood wanted to shrink in width long before it wanted to shrink in length. It was likely because the wood I used was stored in a cold damp place before and I didn't let it acclimate long enough.







This time I only used MDF, wood was only used on the front piece and the side pieces. MDF has an issue with becoming rough and furry on its edges when painted though. Thankfully due to some advice I learned how to get around this. BIN, a pigmented shellac used to seal, works fantastically for this. It uses alcohol for its base so it doesn't raise grain or it does very slightly. I just apply two coats and sand with 220 between for a glass smooth finish. Another way to get everything glass smooth is by taking a lot of care with prep. I filled anything I thought problematic with body filler and then used a finer spot putty to get anything missed. It took a lot of work and time, but I hope its worth it. Next to do is paint! I chose a waterborne epoxy paint that's pre-catalyzed. Epoxies are a very hard paint and are durable too, since I'm using a semi gloss too I can scrub it too. This will be my first time using a spray gun to put on paint, so I'm a bit apprehensive about it. For colours, I chose one close to the blue used on the Capcom Mini Cutes along with a white that went well with it.