Pedestal Cabinet Project---------Delayed (temp.) due to faulty part?!

[Soliton_Radar]

After dreaming for 2 years and planning off-and-on for 1, I have finally begun my arcade cab. ( This site has been the MAIN inspiration for my determination to get things started! Thanks ALL.) All materials have been purchased and I have almost completely cut out all of the wood. I work for a hardwood flooring company so I was able to get red oak ply for *real* cheap. I went with this design for a number of reasons but mostly becase I wanted ample room for 4 adults. This way, the CP is farther out than it were right up there with the monitor. A bit big? Yeah, but I hope it will be worth it. I dsigned it in Autocad and was able to even add my CP art to it.

[hulkster]

nice.  i dont have any plans at my site, but i do have some construction pics if you want to see how i did any of it.  i built one similar that you may want to check out.  its not perfect by any means, but i think its half way decent.  i think jakobud has plans on his site as well for a showcase cab if you need exact dimensions. 

[Soliton_Radar]

  Cool! Do you have some pics that you can post? or maybe direct me to where I can see them? This is my first Cab build so I did alot of testing with CP height and monitor height. I just hope in the end everything comes together nicely and as planned! keep your *fingers crossed*! Oh here is a pic or two from the last weekends building endeavor


Me routing the main side pieces


Pieces already cut waiting for final assembly!



Close up of the CP art. Look at ALL THOSE CHARACTERS!

[nipsmg]

Let me make one suggestion.

Figure out a way to make the pedestal detatch from the TV stand.  I don't know how likely it is that you'll be moving anytime soon, but that thing will be IMPOSSIBLE and COSTLY to move if it's all in one piece.  and you may not be able to get it into/out of any room you want to put it in.
I'd make it 3 pieces, the tv stand, the pedestal, and the connector piece.  YOu can make it look pretty seamless if you plan it well.

Other than that, looks great!

--NipsMG

[Soliton_Radar]

Awesome suggestion! I was actually planning on building it at my girlfriends house in 3 pieces (TV Stand, CP Base and connector, and the CP itself) and then assembling it when I got it in my apartment. But a detachable design would make it easier when I move out. I will have to think of a way to do that. Any ideas? 

[hulkster]

well i have plenty of pics on my website.  click the little globe underneath my pic of my cab to the left here under my name and it should take you to my site. 

i made my cab in 4 pieces.  pedestal base, cp, monitor base, and monitor section.  i held them all together with carraige bolts and this makes it very easy to detach if i need to move. 

[Soliton_Radar]

OMG my design looks very similar to yours!!!!! I went to your site and saw the pics. NICE JOB! Well I gues it should have come as no surprise to me that our cabs are alike....I got my insipiration from the same place you did! Pedestal design keeps everyone back far enough from the monitor if space is no issue I guess. I have completed cutting out all my pieces and will DEFINITELY take the advice about the carraige bolts. I will take some assembly pics tomorrow and put em' up here!

WISH ME LUCK!

[Soliton_Radar]

I finally am going to update this thing! I've done so much since my last post I think it's time I put up some pics. The cab is almost done, with the exception of wiring and some little things here and there. What an EXPERIENCE it has been. I've never worked with wood before so everything was a first go. I think it came out awesome! Defientely the translation from CAD to wood didn't go ULTRA smooth but it was fun doing it. I'm almost sad to be finished; I had a blast with everything. The artwork came out better than I hoped. I had a printer that I know from my advertising work that gave me a great deal. Anyhow, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

P.S. Cutting out polycarbonate (Lexan

[Felix T Cat]

How did you layout the CP ?.  I want to build something like that but the CP layout has so far been the sticking point.  Did you use a CAD program or something ?

Thanks

[Knievel]

Nice job, wish I had the room for one of these.
That CP is stunning, those rectangle buttons are going to look great at night!

[SNAAKE]

DUUUDE !!
VERY unique indeed...

[Soliton_Radar]

Thanks for the comments guys!

The CP layput was somewhat of a debate for me. I first measured my shoulder length and width, around 23" x 5". I used four of those "boxes" to get the general dimensions of the cp. This way I could insure that 4 adults of my size would fit nicely (and hopefully play nicely) together. The button layout I did in Illustrator (as well as the artwork) I messed around for a WEEK

[Felix T Cat]

Care to share the Illustrator file for the CP layout and CP top ?.  You could save me many hours of the same mind crunching.

[Soliton_Radar]

I sure can! It's rather big, but if you don't mind the download time I can give it to ya! You can get it here:

Control Panel Overlay

It was created in Illustrator CS but I provided a legacy version that's compatible with 9.0 and above. It has alot of layers and may take awhile to load. 36 megs and it's all (nearly all) vector art! Any how, it's ready for your modification needs. It alreay has a bleed and crop marks. (That way if you don't center it perfectly you have some overhanging black to chop off.)

ENJOY!

[oldsage]

Sweet man! Post some more pics!
(i personally don't like wood colored cabs but i love you're design!)

[Soliton_Radar]

Ok, here's a pic after the second coat and at night. The pic makes it look a bit darker than it is. I still have to work on the finish though; the wood patch I used to cover the holes stained darker than the rest of the cab. The two parts are together as well. I'll have to get more pics up after this weekend when I get the wiring and bezel done. By the way I hooked the speakers up to my receiver.......100 watts of booming glory! I'm gonna have to keep this thing turned down or my neighbors will kill me

[RetroJames]

The design is great, very HUGE.  No steering wheels though huh?

[AmericanDemon]

Very nice setup  Gonna look great finished

[Soliton_Radar]

Actually, the entire CP and CP box are removable. Held in by 4 carriage bolts on the sides. I also have a Logtech force-feedback Momo steering wheel and pedals that are laying around that I am not using at all. ( Impulse buy by me and my girlfriend cause we wanted to play Need for Speed Underground........) I had thought about making a modular CP box but haven't thought that far ahead yet. Although, the thought of a dedicated sit down cab had crossed my mind........NO, NO! You live in a one bedroom apartment, remember? NO SPACE! *smacks himself*.

[HaRuMaN]

AWESOME!  And you used my Hsienko character in your CPO!  wOOt!   

[Soliton_Radar]

Yes I did! Thanks very much for her vector work! Infact, I would like to thank all thosse who have contributed to the http://www.localarcade.com/arcade_art/ collection! I used a lot of the art from there and I am eternally GREATFUL! Thanks again evryone! I continue my project tomorrow and will get more pics up ASAP!

[HaRuMaN]

Hey, no problem!  I'm just glad someone had a use for it, lol.  I've been working on some characters from Samurai Showdown... hopefully I'll have them submitted soon.

[Soliton_Radar]

  Well, this week was supposed to be the week. It was supposed to be done, and final pics posted. But as I began my wiring endeavor I was abruptly halted by a small glitch. My setup was simple. I wanted to be able to have my CP connect to multiple consoles. PC, Xbox, DC, you name it. So the obvious thing to do, IMO, was to order a BYO kit from X-arcade for players 1 and 2 and let my IPAC drive players 2 and 4. After getting my PCB from x-arcade later than expected (DHL lost my package for 3 days or so) I started by wiring up players 1 and 2. After about a couple of hours I had finished and was ready for my FIRST TEST! I was totally excited. Boot-up; good. Started my front-end; good. Proceeded to play my first game; not so good. Everything was going smooth until I had to use player 1's button 2. It WAS DEAD. So I thought maybe a wiring problem. Checked wires and no problems there. Swiched wiring harnesses and the same particular button was not functioning. After consulting X-arcade they advised me to take a strip of wire and directly connect the ground and the pin in question. Nada. Actually, I went from ground to EVERY pin on the PCB and everything checked out fine. SO.............they are going to send me another PCB and I will return this one. The project has now been on hold for like 2 weeks and I am drooling to play.

Here's the kicker. I'm sure that many of you people here have encountered delays along the way during your construction, but right here, right at the LAST PART I am on hold cause of a faulty part. I know, it's not anyone's fault. BUT I AM SO CLOSE I CAN FEEL MY HANDS TWITCHING! THEY NEED TO BE GRABBING A JOYSTICK! (don't you dare take that the wrong way!

[nipsmg]

I'd ask them at x-arcade if you could get the USB Connector since you bought it only days before the announcement.  I've had a simlar situation happen to me with 3 companies.  2 of the 3 actually allowed me to ship back what I bought and get the more updated version, 1 didn't.  Can't hurt to ask though.