Blip2 (working title)

[markc74]

Crikey - realised I've been doing this (and recording it here) for 20 years...!  Hope everyone is well, and for those who were here when I started, have you not grown out of this yet? 

Anyway, here we go again...

I've finished the 'procrastinating over every tiny detail' and now in the 'ready to crack out the power tools and risk serious injury' phase of creating a new cabinet. It will be similar, but not exactly the same as Blip as I'll be using an OLED TV instead of a CRT (for reasons!). It will still have a dynamic marquee. Coin door will also be replaced by a credit button. I loves me the look of a coin door but truth is I rarely use the one in Blip so that's not gonna be replicated.

The original Blip is still going strong after 10 years and that will now be a dedicated 2 player machine. Blip2 will be a bit more versatile and single player focused. I still like the shape of the original Blip cabinet (it was modelled after my favourite cabinet - Moon Patrol) and spent a long time getting the ergonomics/shape right though so I'm going to keep the new cab very similar apart from a few tweaks here and there.

I'm debating on coming up for a new name for it but I kinda like Blip2 so I'll see how the mood takes me while I'm building it. It is a copy of the first cabinet so it makes sense, but I might still call it Polybius 9000, or Terminus 2. Too early to call. RetroCade might even be cool again now. Or maybe not...

The TV I'm using is an LG 42" C4 which I'll be mounting vertically giving a roughly 26" screen both horizontally and vertically. I had thought about using a 48" TV and having dynamic bezels but that's just waaaaay too much work for me to collect/get them right and I think I prefer the look of the games hovering in inky blackness anyway.

The marquee monitor is pretty similar to the last one I used, only an inch or so bigger and running at 1920x540 which looks a little clearer. It was still expensive though at $450. Not bad if you're US based but for me as a Brit I got hit with a 200 dollar postage and then got hit again with import duty. 

Due to work and family (dammit) I'll probably only getting a couple of hours a week to work on this thing so gonna be a slow one... Still - happy to be building again!

[Ond]

markc74 - legendary builder!  Glad you are here with new project. Except for a few its now largely a silent crowd.

[javeryh]

We are so back!

Can't wait to see what you come up with so I can copy it 

[jeremymtc]

Another MarkC project? Count me in. Your projects are always inspirational.

[markc74]

markc74 - legendary builder!  Glad you are here with new project. Except for a few its now largely a silent crowd.

I noticed - I keep popping in now and again to see what's happening and who's the latest victim to propose angled controls...

We are so back!
Can't wait to see what you come up with so I can copy it 

Feel free! I'm actually copying my own cab this time though 

Another MarkC project? Count me in. Your projects are always inspirational.

Thanks! I had really wanted to come up with a new design for this that was different from the other cabs I've made but couldn't settle on anything I really liked.



Ended up tracing around my old Blip cabinet to get a side panel, and then adjusted a few things here and there that I wanted to change - mostly around the marquee area and making the base larger to fix the minor wobble on the last one.

Cut it out using a combination of jigsaw for the rough outline and curves, a router and straight edge for the straight bits and finishing with a file to make sure the curves all looked right to my eye. Then used a trace bit in the router to get a second side copied.









The sides, base and top will all be 18mm MDF, with the front, back and speaker panel will be 12mm to cut down weight a little.

The plan is to cut all the pieces and do a dry build, and all being well then think about laminating the pieces separately before gluing and screwing the whole thing together.

Next step will be adding the furring strips and then working on the base so that I can start assembling it

A note about laminate though - I forgot how insanely expensive it was! More than double the cost of the wood - but as Blip1 looks as pristine as when I put it on I can't really complain too much. I was looking around for the stuff Daniel Spies arcade uses to save some time but even that was gonna end up costing a fortune and it looks like melamine rather than Formica so thought I may as well splash out and get the result I want.

And yeah - I know my workshop is currently a bombsite! Everything is being ripped out over the Summer so I'm not too concerned with the mess I'm making. Dust masks are a necessity with MDF though!

[thatpurplestuff]

Excited to see the new iteration since the original was so cool.

In regards to the name, how about Bl1p since this one is more focused on 1p games?

[Laythe]

Oooh, nice!

Watching this one with interest.  Good to see you back at it.   

[markc74]

In regards to the name, how about Bl1p since this one is more focused on 1p games?

You know - I really like that! 

Watching this one with interest.  Good to see you back at it.   

Thanks! I'm enjoying being back at it. I've made a couple of cabs for friends and to sell over the last couple of years - and finished the Flip vpin but been wanting to make this one for a while.

Been working on the panels for this one during the week but nothing exciting to post yet. Hoping to have the dry build done in the next week though so I'll get some pics up.

[ArtistTheGeek]

I've just recently come back to BYOAC after twenty something years away. I'd always wanted my own arcade cabinet since the early 80s, and when I found this place I thought "ooh, I could DO this!!" - and then life/work etc took over and I forgot all about it. Still got my old folders of hundreds of reference and idea pics I downloaded at the time though. Every time I look at stuff and think about what I would want (I've got the bug again now) it's always as 'classic' as possible. chunky. Taito-esque. CRT screens etc.

Your Blip cab that I was reading about just the other week was one of very few that made me go "ooh.... now THAT I want!" - absolute stunning build, and I learned a LOAD from the thread. Modern yet classic looking.

I'll enjoy reading through this one as you go through the process 

[markc74]

Thanks ArtistTheGeek... I like to post here as it's good fun to look back at what you did - and especially handy for all the things that went wrong that you might forget otherwise. Not to mention likeminded peeps giving feedback and helping you on your way.

Anyway - had some time this week so was able to get quite a bit done...

Cut and attached the furring strips to the side panels - this took aaaaages as I get a bit OCD about this. I found using a combination square really helpful for this as it made sure the strips were offset from the sides in exactly the right place both sides (or exactly the same amount wrong on both sides  )



That done I then started cutting the rest of the panels and doing a dry build.



Then I got to cutting the control panel and it all started going wrong. It has a 30 degree angle at the back of the CP so that it butts up against the glass (when I fit it), but when I cut it, it was about 5mm out on one side. Sooo. I cut it again, triple checking that was I cutting exactly straight and had exactly the same problem. Still 5mm out. So I measure the furring strips and all around the CP and bezel area to see if one of the strips is out of alignment and nope - all square. So I cut it again but this time I compensate for the 5mm but cutting it slightly longer on that side. This time its 5mm out the other way.

 

Realised I was going around in circles and maybe it's because the cabinet is still laying on it's side and something isn't perfectly level so decide to stand the cab up and check everything. Nope - all is exactly where it should be. Decided at this point to just take a break from it and come back to it when I have a clearer head. Now it's standing it should be easier to sort out (in theory!)

Anyway - it's standing. It looks pretty much how I hoped it would and is rock solid stable. So I'm happy. Mostly.









The last pic shows the modified base. Definitely makes the cabinet more solid

That's it for probably this week but I've got some time off next week and hoping to get the woodworking part finished so I can start painting and laminating.

[PAFhumbucker]

I’ve gone through the original Blip thread so many times.  I’m really looking forward to seeing this build in progress!

[markc74]

I’ve gone through the original Blip thread so many times.  I’m really looking forward to seeing this build in progress!

Here you go then 

Lots of little jobs

Started by adding the support for the main display TV - fairly standard stuff - just 12mm ply the inner width of the cabinet (602mm) and 500mm high to give plenty of support. The TV will be attached to the mounting board using the VESA mount.



Good job I checked the VESA mounting position with a measuring tape - I’d originally assumed it would be centred to the screen but nope. Meant I had to offset my vesa holes by about 35mm to the right…

Then created the control panel - for the 2nd/3rd/4th time! Managed to get my cuts straight on this attempt so not quite sure what was going wrong last time… anyway this is made up of the top panel, a front panel that connects to it, and a metal sheet that goes over the top of the panel to cover the joystick and trackball mounting as I prefer not to have bolt heads showing on the panel. Not a huge amount to look at right now but here’s a pic anyway!



I’ll work on the actual controls more towards the end when the main cabinet is done, as if I have too many things going on I tend to procrastinate or make mistakes.

Cut the speaker holes…



Power inlet hole…



Handle holes at the back…




The next job to tackle is the marquee area. On the original Blip cabinet I added the marquee monitor inside the monitor space with a small gap around it. As the bezels were quite wide it meant you had a big black border around the marquee of around 20mm. I didn’t mind it at the time but I felt like I could improve it for this build.

So this time I’m going to inset the marquee monitor into the frame a little so the black edges are smaller. The bezels on this monitor are about half the size of the last one but I still need to route out about 9mm around the monitor which leaves around 10mm (including laminate) left. Still plenty strong but the router cuts had to be perfect.

Here it is now after a very careful (and stressful!) 3 hours…



And with the marquee inserted…



Now this does leave me with a small problem later, in that if I cut a full t-molding slot along the marquee area I think there won't be enough material left. I need to think that through a bit. I may just have to cut the spine off the t-molding and glue it instead. If anyone can think of a more elegant solution I’d be mucho grateful…!

Anyway - that’s it for the woodwork (I think).  Next job is to take it apart to glue the furring strips, prime, paint, laminate and cut the slots for t-molding.

The optimist in me thinks that I've done all the major work. The realist in me knows that it's all the small jobs that take forever...!

[javeryh]

Use some double sided tape and attach a 1/2"-3/4" MDF strip to the edge of where you want to install the t-molding (you will have to figure out the thickness based on your slot cutter). Use as much surface area of the tape as possible so it doesn't slip. Then route out the slot as usual, going completely through the scrap piece you attached but only like 3/8"-1/2" into your cabinet. This will make a shallow slot that you can still hammer t-molding into (that you may need to trim with a razor to make the spine shorter.

I hope I'm making sense - I think gluing flat t-molding onto the edge will be very difficult. You need a guide and a short spine in a shallow slot will really help. I would also reinforce this with glue so it doesn't pop out but at least it will be very straight).

Cab is looking great. I need to get off ---my bottom--- and do something. 

[markc74]

That sounds like a good idea! 

I'll give that a go on some spare material at the weekend.