Author Topic: "Fatality" -- My Mortal Kombat Themed Cab (Read 10580 times)

Effayy · « **on:** September 08, 2005, 02:09:56 am »

Well finally. I've been spending my months in this place asking a zillion questions, and finally I have something far enough along that I can consider it a true work in progress!

I'll get to the picture-goodness in a sec, but first I'll lay out the plan...

The cabinet is based on the UAII specs. This is my first foray into any sort of woodworking, so I didn't want to stray too far from the original plans, but I did make some small changes which I think will work better in the long run.

Well, a Project Announcement just wouldn't be complete without pics, but before you look at them, bear in mind that I'm moving very slowly at building my cab... I try to set small goals and at least get something done each night, even if it's only repairing what I broke the night before... I'm not just trying to be funny, either.

Well, without further ado....

A shot of the bottom half of the cabinet, looking in from the back. I'm putting a door there next. The UAII plans leave the back open, but for some reason I figured it'd end up bugging me if I didn't close it off. From this shot you can also tell that I used L-Brackets and a whole pile of wood glue when putting this together. It seems quite solid.... So far.

Just another view of the bottom half of the cabinet, this time from the front. I used countertop grade formica on most of the visible parts, but I ended up just painting the inner "edges" of the sides. I figured it wasn't worth spending another small fortune on more laminate when we're talking about a 1/2" strip up the sides.

One of the minor changes I made involved how the keyboard drawer worked. The original plans just have the drawer sliding out with the front panel staying vertical. I figured that would annoy my wrists if i was doing some heavy maintenance, so I used piano hinge to let the panel swing forward when I open the drawer. You can see from the pic that the panel ended up overextending a bit. I ended up fixing this with a couple of well-placed screws on the underside.

Just another shot of the keyboard drawer as I'm closing it. Note the small amount of damage to the side of the drawer. It was a combination of a few things that caused that.... For starters, the drawer fits quite snug. So the paint was scraping off slightly. Also, the latch at the top was screwed rather close to the side of the drawer, causing the laminate to break away from the MDF a bit. Boo hiss. To be honest I don't care about that anymore. That was my 3rd attempt at the front panel, I'm not in the mood to waste any more MDF..... yet.

My new sleek sexy WG D9200 monitor. I haven't even plugged this in yet, and probably won't for quite a while... I still have to buy the computer and ArcadeVGA card for this first. The reason why I bought the monitor so early in my project is so I can ensure that it will fit properly when it's time to build the upper half, which will be started very very soon.

Heeeey what do we have here? They look like 12" subwoofer neon lights! Why on earth would I buy these? *cough cough NeonMame cough cough*............. Although the idea I have for the neon is a blatant rip of Kneivel's wonderful machine, I'm going to add my own little twist. Either it'll come out looking brilliant, or like 100% pure arse. I'm praying for brilliant, myself.

Soon I'll be at the point of getting these side panels matched up with the bottom half. Instead of screwing them in directly to the bottom part, I'll use T-Nuts and bolts to keep them in place. That way when I move from my current location, I can disassemble the cabinet into multiple parts. The bottom, the top, the control panel, and the monitor. I have a really annoying basement staircase.

Well, there we have it. As I said, not much yet, but I'll hopefully have something new to report each day, regardless of how small an update it ends up being.

- FA

digitalpackrat · « **Reply #1 on:** September 08, 2005, 08:43:09 am »

looks great so far. did you buy the plans or kit or doing it by eye? You've got quite a bit of progress done. Hell I'm taking far longer than you are... I spent a month planning and started my cab last summer and only managed to get the bottom half built. Its now been a full year and i'm still working on it but I'm hoping to have the majority of it done this weekend. I better cause i'm moving on monday across the country. Are you making it so it breaks down semi easily so you can get it through doors? Mine is also loosly based on the UAII design but with quite a few modifications. I'm doing it by eye and straying from my original design it feels like every time I work on the cab
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=42121.0

Skadar · « **Reply #2 on:** September 08, 2005, 02:05:28 pm »

I have to admit that I purchased some subwoofer rings as well.

That feature of NeonMAME is just too cool not to copy... er... emulate.

Effayy · « **Reply #3 on:** September 08, 2005, 11:18:58 pm »

Quote from: digitalpackrat on September 08, 2005, 08:43:09 am

looks great so far. did you buy the plans or kit or doing it by eye? You've got quite a bit of progress done. Hell I'm taking far longer than you are... I spent a month planning and started my cab last summer and only managed to get the bottom half built. Its now been a full year and i'm still working on it but I'm hoping to have the majority of it done this weekend. I better cause i'm moving on monday across the country. Are you making it so it breaks down semi easily so you can get it through doors? Mine is also loosly based on the UAII design but with quite a few modifications. I'm doing it by eye and straying from my original design it feels like every time I work on the cab
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=42121.0

Thanks! First of all, let me just say that your cab is looking awesome. Excellent work!

I bought the plans originally, but I do intend to deviate from them a bit. For starters, I opted to use L-brackets instead of screwing through the sides of the MDF, and those neon rings aren't in the plans at all.

I started this cab last year too, but being as I live in Canada, I wasn't able to use my garage in the winter to cut the wood/laminate since my car was in there. So that stalled me for quite a while. I'm back at it, though. Slow but steady doesn't necessary WIN races, but at least I'll try to finish it

I'm building the cab in a way that will allow me to move it in 3 peices. Top, Bottom, and Control Panel. The top half will mount to the bottom with 3 bolts on either side. I'll flush-mount some T-nuts on the outer sides of the upper-peices so I can laminate over them and keep the cabinet looking screw/bolt free from the outside. I already bought the nuts, bolts, and washers for that.

- FA

Effayy · « **Reply #4 on:** September 09, 2005, 09:02:18 pm »

Well, I didn't work on the cabinet itself tonight, but instead I decided to play a bit with one of the little items I hope to find room for on my CP, or at least somewhere close to it.

I picked it up on EBay for $50. It's a nice 4x40 LCD display with a backlight. The only thing I wish I could change about it is the backlight's color (my cab will have a red theme)... But that's ok.

Above: The LCD screen showing the name of my cab in it's large-fint setting with the backlight on. I'll most likely put a small VB application (or script) into my machine's startup somewhere to pop up that message.

A little mock-up of the screen if I were to be playing SF2.

The controls for everyone's favorite game. I was tempted to write in the 4th button's command, but then I grossed myself out.

- FA

Bones · « **Reply #5 on:** September 09, 2005, 09:15:22 pm »

Bloody awesome mate, bloody awesome.

Effayy · « **Reply #6 on:** June 30, 2006, 12:33:38 am »

Hi all,

Plenty of time has passed, but now that summer is back again, I can get back to working on my cab. Just so you know, I have a car that sits in the garage over the winter, and since it's only a 1-car garage, the cab building had to wait through the cold months.

Anyway, now that I'm back at it, here are a couple of photos to show the beginning of what I expect to do to build on Knievel's awesome Neon Mame idea:

Pic 1: I intend to laminate over the entire side, creating a seamless look. Then I'll have the red neon subwoofer rings behind that logo.

Pic 2: Just a close-up of the logo

I'm glad to be working on this again... Hopefully I can have the woodwork done by the end of summer, then i can spend the winter months doing indoor things like wiring up the controls, etc...

- FA

KDOG · « **Reply #7 on:** June 30, 2006, 06:50:49 am »

I absolutly love the cut out. I had an idea that too but I decided to keep it simple for the first cab.

toe. · « **Reply #8 on:** June 30, 2006, 08:02:02 am »

your cab has given my future cab
self-esteem problems.

good show. i thinks its just awesome
what youve done.

leapinlew · « **Reply #9 on:** June 30, 2006, 11:28:56 am »

That cutout looks awesome! Good job. Can't wait to see how this finishes up.

Q*Bert_OP · « **Reply #10 on:** June 30, 2006, 11:44:22 am »

Very nice!!!, and if you're using a d9200 monitor, you can plug in a standard PC signal, without the AVGA

somunny · « **Reply #11 on:** June 30, 2006, 11:53:11 am »

I love to watch the progress on UAII cabinets. That's what I built and it's great to see how everyone makes it 'theirs' with custom touches.

Really nice job so far.

Steve

Veinman · « **Reply #12 on:** July 02, 2006, 04:49:53 pm »

Awesome MK logo!

Mark70 · « **Reply #13 on:** July 02, 2006, 07:39:47 pm »

Quote from: Effayy on June 30, 2006, 12:33:38 am

Hi all,

Plenty of time has passed, but now that summer is back again, I can get back to working on my cab. Just so you know, I have a car that sits in the garage over the winter, and since it's only a 1-car garage, the cab building had to wait through the cold months.

Anyway, now that I'm back at it, here are a couple of photos to show the beginning of what I expect to do to build on Knievel's awesome Neon Mame idea:

Pic 1: I intend to laminate over the entire side, creating a seamless look. Then I'll have the red neon subwoofer rings behind that logo.

Pic 2: Just a close-up of the logo

I'm glad to be working on this again... Hopefully I can have the woodwork done by the end of summer, then i can spend the winter months doing indoor things like wiring up the controls, etc...

- FA

This is exactly the kind of thing that takes great ideas to the next level!!!!! Maybe it's the few beers I had with my steak tonight, but you may be responsible for me making another cab. All I need is your cell phone number so I can tell my wife to call you to explain why I need two homebuilt cabs.

Crafty · « **Reply #14 on:** July 03, 2006, 12:36:34 am »

Awesome effort on the cutout...

I can see in the future just as you ~~knocked off~~ emulated Knievel's design future builders will ~~copy~~ oops emulate some of your unique design features...

This is what project announcements is all about new ideas, new designs...

I'm getting excited again....

BlinKY1337 · « **Reply #15 on:** July 03, 2006, 01:20:35 am »

wow that cutout wow

KillerArcades · « **Reply #16 on:** July 03, 2006, 01:26:33 pm »

dang! You just have some serious skillz with a saw!

I could never even hope to getting something like cut out and looking good! How'd you make that anyways? Just trace and jigsaw it out?

Effayy · « **Reply #17 on:** July 03, 2006, 05:56:03 pm »

Thanks for the kind words, guys. Especially nice since i think I may have bitten off more than i can chew.

QBert 24/7: Well, even with the D9200, I intend to buy an arcadeVGA for my box. I'd like the older games to look as authentic as possible, and the card is just easier to work with for MAME in the end, anyway.

Skondris: It wasn't done with a jigsaw, actually... It was a scrollsaw. Which is the tool I think I had the most fun with so far in this whole project. Here's a pic of the one I've been using. It was borrowed from a co-worker. It's surprisingly easy to work with. All you need to do is trace out your design on some wood and follow carefully and slowly with the scrollsaw. the only problem is, I can't seem to use the saw on really large peices of wood (like the side of the cabinet for example, so that's why I cut out the hole, created the insert, and just cut out on the insert. the MK logo works really well for that purpose since it's a circular logo to begin with.

Now, I've continued working on the dragon, but as I was saying, I think I may have been a little too ambitious here. My plan was to do this:

1. Route out the holes on the cabinet sides
2. Create wooden inserts for the holes
3. Stencil and scrollsaw out the dragon logo on the insert
4. Glue and screw the insert to the cabinet side
5. Laminate over the entire side, including dragon
6. Flush trim / Dremel out the logo again through the laminate, using the insert as a guide.

Now I'm on step 6 and I'm really starting to wish that Dremel came out with a little mini flush-trim bit as well. The router's bit is way too large for many of the intricate parts of the logo, so I've been using a dremel for the hard-to-reach places. Unfortunately I think I'm going to end up losing some of the definition on the logo, I won't be able to cut the laminate into the tight corners, etc. But in the end I'll probably achieve the same look without too much worry. Using the dremel for this just requires a LOT of patience and slow work on my part. Here's some pics of the progress:

Pic 1: the dremel beside the 1/4 cut logo. (Note, i was able to use my router for some of that)

pic 2: Time to eat, so this is about as far as I was able to get today:

Hopefully I can have more done tomorrow. I do have a question though. Can anyone think of an easier way for me to now cut out that laminate? I'd like to make the cuts as clean as possible... the dremel is ok, but I have a feeling it'll look kinda nasty in the end.

- FA

NightGod · « **Reply #18 on:** July 03, 2006, 07:19:23 pm »

How about a coping saw? You might have to rig something up to hold the blade for getting into the tiny corners, but I would think it would definately be sharp enough and small enough to get into those really tight corners.

NiteWalker · « **Reply #19 on:** July 04, 2006, 08:32:42 am »

Use the smallest diameter flush trim bit you can find (1/8" I think) and use a small file to get into the corners.

Effayy · « **Reply #20 on:** July 05, 2006, 08:06:47 am »

Thanks for the suggestions.

I decided to go the flush-trim route, so I picked up a 1/8" downcut spiral bit on the web. A little pricey, but it'll do what I want, and I can already tell that I'll probably be using it a lot in the future as well... So in the end, money well spent.

Once it arrives I can continue with the dragons, until then I guess I should take this opportunity to start mapping out a control panel!

- FA

Effayy · « **Reply #21 on:** July 11, 2006, 08:37:22 pm »

Finally some more progress today!

My 1/8" flush-trim bit arrived today, and so I got to test this bad boy out. It's quite nice, cuts through the laminate like buttah, and I really couldn't be happier with it!

It was definately small enough to get into all the small gaps that eluded my original 1/2" bit. When I was done cutting with it, I only had a few tight corners to touch up with the dremel to complete the task. I'm really glad that I decided to take this route (no pun intended). It was a little pricey, but definately a more professional look than doing it 100% dremel would ever give me.

So finally, one of the dragons is done. I can start working on the other side now (hopefully tomorrow night).

I really hope these will work with the neon speaker rings behind them... I'll only know once I get to that step, i suppose.

If it doesn't work well enough, I guess I'll try to find a way to be creative with LEDs.

- FA

NiteWalker · « **Reply #22 on:** July 11, 2006, 08:39:11 pm »

Good job

That came out awesome!

javeryh · « **Reply #23 on:** July 11, 2006, 09:48:15 pm »

Wow - amazing work!! One comment though - I think you should also paint the inside black to match the outside so you don't see the wood. This is going to look so sweet all lit up...

versapak · « **Reply #24 on:** July 11, 2006, 10:28:04 pm »

Quote from: javeryh on July 11, 2006, 09:48:15 pm

Wow - amazing work!! One comment though - I think you should also paint the inside black to match the outside so you don't see the wood. This is going to look so sweet all lit up...

I agree that the inside of the cut should be painted, but I think it would look a hell of a lot cooler if it was a different color, like red or something.

Zakk · « **Reply #25 on:** July 12, 2006, 01:00:44 am »

Get this done and submit it for a Mamey. Do a good job, cuz I know a couple of judges are pretty brutal.

Do it. This has dragged out long enough.

johnperkins21 · « **Reply #26 on:** July 12, 2006, 01:37:07 am »

Very nice. If the neon ring doesn't light it up well enough for you, maybe you could get a rope light to run around the edges of the inside of the dragon to help with your glow.

Crafty · « **Reply #27 on:** July 12, 2006, 10:40:58 pm »

Another option if the Neon ring does not work..

See attached photo...

I have my eye on these for future use in a jukebox project that has yet to move beyond the fantasy stage...

They do come in other colours...
Web Address here
http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=GH1532&CATID=21&keywords=&SPECIAL=&form=CAT&ProdCodeOnly=&Keyword1=&Keyword2=&pageNumber=&priceMin=&priceMax=&SUBCATID=296

Effayy · « **Reply #28 on:** July 14, 2006, 12:37:30 pm »

Crafty, that's an excellent idea, and if my neon lights don't do the trick, this will most likely be the route I take.

I did some preliminary searching online to try to find a plasma disk that meets my needs, but I'm having a surprisingly hard time finding one that meets all these criteria:

- Red Colored Plasma
- 12" diameter (the cutouts in my cabinet are 10.5"
- Thin profile (I have about 3" playing room on each side between the MDF and the monitor)
- Not $200 each.

Definately worth me checking out though, that would just look so nice mounted behind the logo.

- FA

Effayy · « **Reply #29 on:** August 05, 2006, 11:45:53 am »

Just a small update:

Make a decision on the lighting options for the side logos. Behind the logo will be a sheet of thin red plexiglass, behind that I'll have the neon ring, and I'll back it all with a square of laminate to hide the monitor guts from an outside viewer. The plasma disk idea would have been great except after a lot of looking I haven't found a cheap source for 12" disks in red.

For a speaker solution I'll pick up some 5 1/4" car speakers to mount, and I have an old set of Cambridge Soundworks speakers that I could probably hack (they are 4.1 surround, but I could set them up for 2.1). Unfortunately other than painting the wooden edges of teh logos black and cutting out a couple of new peices, I haven't been able to work much on the mahcine lately.

I really really want to see this thing done, but surely to god I can't be the only person who always ends up getting his cabinet-working time sideswiped by other events time after time. Well, I'll keep plugging away here,a nd hopefully have some pics of my progress up soon enough.

- FA

releasedtruth · « **Reply #30 on:** August 14, 2006, 11:58:00 am »

It's almost a year already, make it happen. Prying eyes are dying to see!

psychotech · « **Reply #31 on:** August 14, 2006, 11:05:10 pm »

Yeah!

"Prying eyes are dying to see!"

Can't wait to see the cab finished and those dragons on fire! That'll be a sight to behold ..Get on with it already


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