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Cabinet construction real wood vs. MDF

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Havok:

--- Quote from: Avery on June 24, 2005, 01:45:52 pm ---I guess the $20,000 question is what are you trying to accomplish?

If you want to make a standard arcade looking cabinet and you're going to paint it and put artwork on the sides and just don't want it to go into solution if it's feet get wet, then I'd recomend A/C grade pine plywood.
--- End quote ---

That's the thing: I have a small office\computer room where this thing just won't fit. So, since I don't have a basement (sigh...) It's going in the garage. So, moisture is definitely an issue. I get the feeling that plywood will also be stronger: I've ripped screws out of MDF panels when moving before. It seems to me that MDF is basically cardboard on steroids.

CJK:
That's because most people don't use the right kind of screws with MDF. MDF doesn't hold the typical fasteners you find in Home Depot particularly well, so a fastener designed for MDF is advisable. Here's an example:

http://www.mcfeelys.com/multiple.asp?productID=7050-CSP

If you can do without mechanical fasteners, so much the better. Dowels or biscuits and glue will make a joint which is stronger than plain screws anyway.

That said, there is a lot to be said for plywood over MDF as a cabinet material. If you don't have much woodworking experience or haven't worked with MDF much, you'll find plywood much friendlier (and not just because of the dust, though as mentioned above, that is a big issue with MDF!). However, I'd use MDF on the control panel because it machines much more easily than plywood, especially for things like routing out recesses on the CP.

-- Chris

pmc:

--- Quote from: Avery on June 24, 2005, 01:45:52 pm ---I am currently restoring an arts and crafts house that has suffered many years of neglect.  When I'm done the machine that I'm currently building in the hull of an old gutted Berzerk cab will stick out like a sore thumb.  What I want to build next (there's a phrase to make the wife shudder) is something that looks like a colaberation between Nolan Bushnell and the Greene brothers.  That one will probably made of quarter sawn white oak and ebony with very little plywood involved.

(For those of you wondering, there's a good Greene and Greene inspired desk here: http://www.furnituremaker.com/)

--- End quote ---

I'm getting visions of a Frank Lloyd Wright-ish cabinet.  ;)
What games would look right being played on it? Maybe Shanghai. Or Tetris.

Be cool with mother of pearl inlayed and a stained-glass marquee.

- pmc

Avery:

--- Quote from: pmc on June 25, 2005, 10:09:45 am ---What games would look right being played on it? Maybe Shanghai. Or Tetris.

--- End quote ---

I don't know that any games are REALLY going to look right on it, but that paradox is part of the fun as far as I' concerened.

I'd thought about the stained glass marquee, but not the inlay.  Thanks for the idea.

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