MameR2 Project - First cab

[mrtwo]

Well, after reading on all this madness for the past several years and planning for several months, I decided to get serious on my threats to build my cab.

MameR2 is the working name and stands for 2 things I really like, Mame, and 80's toyota MR2s.

[dmsuchy]

I think a Mame R2D2 cabinet would be cooler! You could get a dome for the top and paint it blue and chrome like R2's head and hook up lights and maybe a motor to it so it could spin and chirp. Just a thought.

[mrtwo]

I appreciate the suggestion, but I do think that idea might be better suited for someone else.

Maybe they could even build a matching mam3po and paint it golden?

After continuing to think about the temporary placement of my ventilation holes, it struck me why I don't like them.  I am going to have my marquee light there and I would have 2 constant spotlights projecting up toward the ceiling.  Sounds like somebody would like this idea doing a Batmame cab, but no good for me.

I am now considering putting the vents on the angled piece at the top.  I want to catch the heat rising out of the cab and let it out.  I think that should do it.  I know a lot of you have been building these things for a while, so any help with regards to this would be greatly appreciated.

I have been saying for about a month or two that "this weekend" I am going to go out and get the wood.  Well, another weekend is coming up.  I will post pics if that actually happens.

[mrtwo]

Ok, so now that I have thoroughly discussed the plans with my brother in law who is much more experienced with building things and has an extremely high success rate of not cutting off any of his extremeties (even the tiny ones), I feel I have a good grasp on how we will be proceeding.  No wood yet, but it is probably for the best since I won't have his help until sometime later and after talking with him, I know I don't even want to start with the small cuts.  Perhaps this week I will go.  (I have been saying that for about 2 months now).  This time I actually did call and find out how much Lowes will charge to deliver $55!!  I think I will be renting a truck from them $20.99 for 75 min.  I don't live that far and the only thing I can't transport in my existing vehicles is the 4x8 MDF.

I have decided that the ventilation holes will be most likely in the angled section of the rear of the cab.

I am still waiting to hear back from anyone that might have some suggestions or advice.  I am sure I have not thought of everything.  If this project remains as quiet as it has been, I will just prod along and keep you posted.  I know that there have been several hundred of these things built so it is probably less exciting to see someone build the same ole cab, but that is what I am after.

Perhaps my next cab will be the "SphereCade" with multiple LCD panels replacing the CPO and dynamically changing along with my LCD marquee, but for now, classic suits me fine.

I did some calculations today and even though I thought I had done my measurements correctly, I have a space of just a hair under 33 1/2" in one spot leading to where I want the cab upstairs.  Since the cab as is will be 33 1/2" on the exterior, I am thinking I will need to change something.

I will be going over the UAII plans to see if a two piece approach may be better for mobility.

Can anyone tell me if UAII two pieces can be taken apart, reassembled, then taken apart?

Thanks again...

[markrvp]

When you say take apart, do you mean something different from the UAII's already 2 piece (top & bottom) construction?

As for width, you can simply make all the cross pieces 1/2" less.  For example, if the monitor shelf is 29" wide, then make it (and all other similar pieces) 28-1/2" wide.  33-1/2" wide is a monster.  My cab is 27-3/8" wide and that is plenty big to house a 27" Betson Imperial multisync monitor.