Dragon's Lair Bartop Arcade Build

[BigLarry]

OK, So I've been building for about a week now and thought I best join up and get my build thread started!

Always wanted a bartop machine, so I did what I guess most people do - buy a pile of MDF and hide it from the wife.

I went for Dragon's Lair "theme" it's nothing like the original cabinet as it's the game I have fondest memories of - it was like nothing else that had come before and the artwork to this day is amazing.

I'm UK based so I got some 12mm MDF from one of our large DIY stores who also offer a cutting service (free of charge). This got the bulk of wood cut quicker and more accurately than I could do with my less than primitive tool set.

The only thing left for me to do was to cut the curve down each edge, which I did one at a time as I didn't think my jigsaw would cope at all well doing 2 sheets together. With a bit of patience it turned out quite well.

The cost of the MDF was £16.50 and as I say, that included the cutting.

I'd seen some plans with the whole cabinet held together with "brown or white blocks" but this looked a bit flimsy to me, so I braced the cabinet out with spare wood.

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Shows the internal of the cabinet.

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Above are the bracings on the side panel.

In case anyone is wondering why I decal'd up the inside too, there are certain points on the cabinet where you see the "inside" of the outer panels so rather than paint, I thought it neater to decal them (and I'm bad at painting).

I had an old 17" monitor so for now I chose to use this, keeping the costs down.

This gave me:

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I then printed off my decals, which I composited myself in Photoshop and then created a cutting path in Illustrator for the machine to cut along :

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and then applied them to both sides:

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I also applied the control panel and the marquee - this was just stuck to a sheet of perspex.

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Being an amateur, things seemed to be going OK so I was please to get here:

Untitled

I don't have a router so couldn't cut the groove in the edge for the T-mould so I got some "sticky back" chrome trim from Amazon.

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With the chrome fitted.

---- So that's where I am today. My joysticks and buttons have arrived (Including my Ipac-2). And I hope to get them wired up in the next few days. I've also got some perspex to cut for the front and control panel.

The chrome trim isn't perfect and needs something more substantial to keep it from coming off - so more glue it is.

Internally, the system will run off a Rasbperry Pi (2B) and will run the latest build of Retropie.

I need to look at the monitor bezel now, as I've not left myself enough room for it to cover the monitor. I'll be using a piece of perspex with a decal applied to hide the monitor, although I'm already considering getting a 19" instead.

I'll update the pics when I get the joysticks and buttons fitted and running.

[reptileink]

Not a bad job for your first one, but I am really confused as to why you just didn't paint the interior black? The part you can see from the outside just makes it look tacky in that you can only see a mere portion of the decal inside, and nobody is ever going to see it. 

Unless you got the decals for free, that's a waste of money.

[BigLarry]

Thanks for the comments.

Yep, I understand about the inner decals being a waste but I really didn't want to get in to painting so it seemed the way to go - perhaps I could have just printed them black on the inside.

Another reason for me was that I'd never really applied decals as such so it was a good practice/baptism of fire for me doing the insides first! And yes, I have access to the large format printer and cutter so the decals where free.

I got the buttons on and wired tonight, will be testing everything out tomorrow.

Still got to sort out the screen with a perspex cover which is a job for the weekend.

Here's how things are looking now:

[smass]

I think it looks great.  I like the decal on the inside of the panels.  Can't wait to see it with your bezel.  This is a first rate job and an awesome first project. 

[reptileink]

- perhaps I could have just printed them black on the inside.

This would have been a better choice, but aside from that nitpick, the bartop is looking great!

[leapinlew]

Looks good.

I'd suggest reworking your control panel to include some halos around the buttons and joysticks to help define the control panel. Perhaps an instruction card to describe what the buttons do.