And so it begins..........Project Pink..COMPLETED !!

[sealslayer]

The time has come after much looking and drooling on here, today I started my first cab.
Its taken me a few months to buy all the tools I needed and to buy my workshop / shed and the wait for me is now over.

I took my first cut in anger today and I'm very happy with the results so far.
I don't intend to create anything to fancy for my first cabinet, although I will try and make it as clean as possible.
The GF has decided on the colour scheme, she's a lover of pink so its going to be a pink theme, we are going with pink T-molding, Fluorescent pink lighting, Black laminated sides along with pink joysticks and buttons if we can get hold of any.

Day 1:
Bought the Wood today, 18mm MDF along with timber for the internal structure.
first off I made my sawboard, whoever came up with this simple idea is a genius.! Perfect cuts everytime so far.





First off I'm not using any plans as such only very rough diagrams and measurements, I'm not the sort of person who can sit in front of a PC with turbocad, I like to get my hands dirty.
I made some rough measurements while the MDF was against my fence so I could get a good view of the cab in my mind before I started. This may sound shoddy but I have quite a good eye for scale and its all turned out perfectly well.

The biggest pain was cutting out the section above the CP where you face the monitor, no way of getting the circular saw in there, it was a case of gettings as much out as possible then I planned to use the the sawboard with my jigsaw to get a perfectly straight edge.
Once I got most of it out I had a "use the force luke" moment and decided to go freehand with the jigsaw and I'm really shocked at how well it came out, almost perfect. A little bit of sanding along the edge and it looks great !



Took me about 4 hours to complete one side and to get the other side to about 90%.
Tommorow I'll clamp the two together and run the router around the edges to match them perfectly.

The image below looks very bad, its because I had to rotate the image, my workmanship isnt that bad I promise !!
Once the CP is in place it will line up perfectly with the top of the cab and the Kickpanel at the bottom, 35" wide.

[theCoder]

Oh, yeah, it's pink for the girl friend, that's it.  I've heard that one before.  Good luck on the build.

[yfdgricker]

Good Luck! The sides have an interesting look to it already!

[sealslayer]

Day 2:

I didn't end up with much spare time today as worked called just as I was about to start matching the two sides, I've had a slow week work wise so I thought I'd be at it all day 

Managed to clamp the two sides together then noticed with much dismay this huge chunk missing from the second side 

I can only think I must have slipped or the circular saw may have got stuck, god only knows, next time I wont do any work when it starts to get dark 

I managed to sand the two sides where the big junk is to a resonable level then I filled the rest and have left it to set overnight.

Also found out today that the seller on ebay that I was going to buy the T-molding from doesn't appear to sell pink.
The final set back of the day came when I stood the two panels as they will be when the cab is complete.
My head is only about a inch away from the top of the cab, it appears I may have made the top stick out a bit too far, I can either make the CP deeper to give a little extra room or take a inch or two of the top so it doesn't stick out so far, this however will ruin all the outside alignment that I wanted, i.e the top,cp and kick panel all being the same depth.
Nevermind theres always tomorrow to figure these things out.

[MYX]

The title...And so it begins..........
I feel like I should be hearing a deep voice and reberb when it is said.

As to speed... It will go no where nearly how fast you thought it would. I keep forgetting to include set up time in my plans.

[sealslayer]

Day 3:
Well I can't believe how much time I've spent today and seem to have got next to nothing done.
A few hiccups along the way slowed me down slightly, firstly I have learnt I need to mark the sides of the cab in and outside.
When I started today I put the two sides together and noticed a  difference at the top of the cab when they where laid flat on top of each other, now they weren't like that the night before 
There was probably about a 3mm difference in the two, so I set to work with my router to trim down the side that had more excess, it was only after I had done this that I realised what I had done.
when I turned them over they matched !!, I know they should match either way but I didn't have a router bit deep enough to mate the two sides so I did the best I could with the sander, its only a very minute difference but it still niggled me 

Basically all I have done is round of the bottom corner and the kick panel, made the bottom and top battons and drilled the holes for them to be mounted, hopefully tomorrow.
The Battons at the bottom have been secured by big arse 8mm Bolts, the monitor shelf and the top battons will be held the same way, although they will be cut down once the cab is complete.

Can you believe I still don't have a monitor !!, I'm going to look for the average dimensions of a 21" Monitor and keep my fingers crossed that my monitor shelf is going to be the right size.

I would probably be going at a faster rate if I had plans at hand but I'm quite enjoying the  way its going as it seems to be evolving as I'm having different ideas as I'm building it.

The angles of the battons came out extremely well considering I'm only using my eye to judge the angles and a handsaw to cut them without a Mitre block ! (pics of those tomorrow)







What I have learnt today...

I must mark the inner and outersides to avoid confusion 
I don't need a Mitre saw.....
This is extremely pleasureable and time consuming and is surprisingly taxing on the body, I feel like I've done more psychical work in the last three days than I have a month at work!

[theCoder]

For what it's worth, most of your adjustments, misallignments, and patched screw-ups will never be noticed by anyone but you. 

[sealslayer]

lol, just noticed on page 2 of this forum that I'm not the only person to have used "and so it begins" to start their thread, I honestly didn't see that thread when I named this one 

[sealslayer]

Day 4:

Today went very well, secured all the battons to the inside of the cab.
Made the monitor shelf and the very bottom shelf
So far I've not used a single screw, its all being held together with enough bolts to sink a battle ship    this baby will be able to take some serious punishment.

I used bolts with a square and drove these home into the monitor shelf with the aid of socket and a rubber mallet, great way of sinking them to ensure the square bolts sinks into the MDF.









Tommorow I'll secure the bottom shelf and hopefully make the top panels, I've been very lucky with the off cuts from the original sheets of MDF, after the sides where made all the extra pieces where exactly 24" so they fit inside the cab perfectly.

[CheffoJeffo]

Interesting profile to your cabinet ... kinda has an Asteroidish feel to it.

Cheers.

[sealslayer]

I just went freestyle with the design as the board was standing up, its all turned out great so far.
Only point I'm slightly concerned about is how far the top sticks out, I've hit my head on it 4 times today, if I'm using bar stools though it wont really be a issue.

I have some interesting ideas but I'll let the progress pictures do the talking as they may change while its being built.

[NightGod]

The title...And so it begins..........
I feel like I should be hearing a deep voice and reberb when it is said.

I think of the scene in the first Mortal Combat movie when they're on the ship and sky starts opening up and Raiden looks up and says "IT HAS BEGUN!"

Day 4:

Today went very well, secured all the battons to the inside of the cab.
Made the monitor shelf and the very bottom shelf
So far I've not used a single screw, its all being held together with enough bolts to sink a battle ship    this baby will be able to take some serious punishment.

I used bolts with a square and drove these home into the monitor shelf with the aid of socket and a rubber mallet, great way of sinking them to ensure the square bolts sinks into the MDF.

For future reference, those are most often called "Carriage Bolts" and they're great for attaching joysticks to control panels.

[sealslayer]

lol, I know now for future reference what the bolts are called, thanks

"And so it begins" is from Lord of the rings return of the king, when Gandalf is standing on the balcony if my memory serves me correctly.

[grueinthebox]

If you haven't changed your mind yet, Dream Arcades sells pink t-molding, buttons and joysticks...  Picked up some of the t-molding when they were taking preorders to see if there was enough interest to have it made.  Figure I'll use it someday, but I'll man up and admit it's not the wife's idea.   

[sealslayer]

Oh good, do you have a link to their website? and do you know if they ship out to the UK?
Cheers 

[sealslayer]

nm, google is your friend , wow very cheap prices, just hope they ship overseas...

Looked on their FAQ section and it says $200 dollars for overseas shipping, I'm not sure if thats for whole tables or any size item , I really hope not as they have everything I need in pink and its so much cheaper than over here.

[theCoder]

What are your plans for the kickpanel flange at the front-bottom?  Chrome plated or polished aluminum diamond plate would look excellent there.

Keep up the good work and pictures.

[zenmasterbooty]

After a pondering the shearing strength of ten 8 mm steel bolts, I have to ask...how heavy is your monitor?

[subcriminal]

I just went freestyle with the design as the board was standing up, its all turned out great so far.
Only point I'm slightly concerned about is how far the top sticks out, I've hit my head on it 4 times today, if I'm using bar stools though it wont really be a issue.

Doesn't look too hard to shave a bit off those marquee sides. Maybe before you fit the lightbox?
After you're friends have been round, had a few beers and bashed their heads they might not find your cab so impressive Looking good though

[sealslayer]

Day 5:

I'm very happy with today's work, not a lot done but what has been done looks great.
I cut the kick panel out along with the piece that will sit behind it, one edge of the kick panel had to be cut at a 50 degree angle but my circular saw only goes to 45 degree's.
I had to take the adjusting bolt out and move it past the saws guide mark and put the bolt back again to wedge it at 50 degrees.

I'll post pics of the kick panel tomorrow, I also made the little mouse holes for the locking Castor wheels to sit through.
Once the large holes where drilled just cut a line up to each side and cleaned any mess off.









Tomorrow I plan to route the panel that sits behind the kick panel deep enough to sink a piano hinge that will be joined to the kick panel. Once the cab is laminated the hinge will be sunk and invisible.
This will give easy access to the Castor's as it will open upwards giving you plenty of room to lock and unlock the wheels, probably completely pointless as it will hardly ever be moved but I'm trying to go with different ideas, I'm sure the idea has allready been thought of and used, but what the heck 

[sealslayer]

After a pondering the shearing strength of ten 8 mm steel bolts, I have to ask...how heavy is your monitor?

lol, I hope the monitor is no more than 30 KG (70'ish pounds), alot of the nuts and bolts etc I have used have been bought  from car boot sales, in the states these are probably known as flea markets, so whatever I can lay my hands on I have bought as its nice and cheap, probably overkill considering I've sat on the shelf and it didn't budge.
Over here 300 people drive to a field, typically on a Sunday and sell anything and everything that they can fit into their cars, Great place for getting lots of cheap bits and bobs. I bought 8 x 26" piano hinges yesterday for 30p each (60c)   

What are your plans for the kickpanel flange at the front-bottom?  Chrome plated or polished aluminum diamond plate would look excellent there.

The kick panel will be like you suggested diamond plate  and routed so it sits flush except it will be sprayed in......you've guessed it high gloss pink   

Doesn't look too hard to shave a bit off those marquee sides. Maybe before you fit the lightbox?
After you're friends have been round, had a few beers and bashed their heads they might not find your cab so impressive Looking good though

I think I may well end up having to do this, the bolts are far enough away to cut a inch off and still leave enough of the batton in place. I didn't really want to though, when you look from the side view it was all going to be perfectly in line.
I may consider extending the CP a extra inch or two, that way the kick panel and the top will still be in line and keep it looking uniform.

[NightGod]

So...just curious...what do you do if you and this girl ever break up?

I mean, an all pink cab is great when you HAVE a girlfriend, but it's not much for GETTING a new one.

[sealslayer]

lol its to late now, I was up until the small hours buying lots of  bits on ebay that are all pink.
Actually the plans I have in my head for the cab will look great once its all lit, I quite like the idea of pink now especially the joysticks, they have a gob stopper look to them

[theCoder]

I quite like the idea of pink now especially the joysticks, they have a gob stopper look to them

And so it begins......

[mikevangels]

So...just curious...what do you do if you and this girl ever break up?

I mean, an all pink cab is great when you HAVE a girlfriend, but it's not much for GETTING a new one.

Call me crazy but I never thought any cab was a good idea for getting a new gal.

[_) (V) (-)]

I have a question about your castors.

Won't the 'mouseholes' restrict their movement?

I mean, when you are turning the cabnet around or reverse it's direction of movement, the castors tend to spin 180 degrees. It looks like the mouse hole will prevent this.  Or will the other set of wheels do the steering?

I am interested because I really like the 'hidden' castors look but not sure how to incorporate it on my own project.

[sealslayer]

I have a question about your castors.

Won't the 'mouseholes' restrict their movement?

I mean, when you are turning the cabnet around or reverse it's direction of movement, the castors tend to spin 180 degrees. It looks like the mouse hole will prevent this.  Or will the other set of wheels do the steering?

I am interested because I really like the 'hidden' castors look but not sure how to incorporate it on my own project.

I plan to use the back wheels to direct the cab and the front ones are there really only to lock the cab once its in place, your right it does restrict the movement if you intend to move the cabinet a lot.
For the wheels to move the full distance you would only have to  make the bottom part of the hole slightly larger, where the circle meets the line down you could cut it at a angle rather than straight so you have enough play in the wheels.

[sealslayer]

Day 6:

I seem to start something each day that I had no intention of doing they day before  my plan was to route the kick panel for the piano hinge but for whatever reason they didn't happen.

I made the top pieces today, nothing yet has been secured though as they have to be sanded and painted inside and out.



I then decided I really had to get a monitor to see how much room I would have at the front and rear when the door would be shut.
I headed off to a good shop that sells pre-owned PC items, as soon as I walked into the shop staring at me was a nice 21" PC Monitor  I paid

[NightGod]

So...just curious...what do you do if you and this girl ever break up?

I mean, an all pink cab is great when you HAVE a girlfriend, but it's not much for GETTING a new one.

Call me crazy but I never thought any cab was a good idea for getting a new gal.

OK, you're crazy.

Chicks dig the arcade cab. Don't use it as a selling point, but it's not a bad thing to have in the house when they come over. Though in pink....

[theCoder]

...how am I going to fit the glass to the front of the cab.

Two ways come to mind.
The first is the way my 1980 Atari cab did it.  There were two horizontal pieces of wood running the width of the cab, one at the top, and one at the bottom.  The top piece had a slot in it, the thickness of the glass.  The bottom had a small L shaped ledge.  The tall portion of the L was in the back with the width of the bottom the same thickness as the glass.  The glass was lifted up into the top slot, then pushed onto the ledge.  A retaining strip was then screwed into the bottom piece of wood to keep the glass from coming forward and down.  You could get away with no retaining strip if you make the bottom piece have a shallow slot, and the top one having a deep (1/2" or so) slot.  Lift the glass up, push in, slide down.

The second way is similar to a picture frame.  A rectangular piece of wood with a pocket routed out in the back.  A piece of glass is held in the pocket with a couple of small pieces of scrap wood and a few screws.  This approach is very easy to do, but you don't have a convenient way to clean the glass a few years down the road when it gets dusty inside.

Look around on this forum.  I'm sure there are many other ways people have addressed this.  Keep up the great (and fast) work.

[sealslayer]

Day 7:

After a night of non stop thinking about the monitor frame, I decided to have a day of rest today....
Well that was the intention......

After a long winded driving detour due to a accident on a main motorway I went past a old hardware store that I had intended to visit on previous occasions but never got round to doing.
I picked up a six metre length of 3mm angle, perfect to start making my monitor frame with 

I cut the pieces into four using a hacksaw at first, this just wasn't quick enough so I tried my jigsaw.
I added a little bit of oil and it cut through the metal in no time, I then clamped, drilled and bolted the frame together.




After I couldn't resist the temptation and brought my laptop down to have a quick preview, the picture looks great and is a perfect size for the cab 



Tomorrow I'll cut the corner pieces that will connect to the frame and to the four corners of the monitor and clean all the framework up as it looks like crap at the moment.
This will also act as a great straightener for the cab as it will be bolted from the sides and bottom and will pull it all together nicely


Running Costs and time to date.

Not all the items listed have yet been used.

MDF

[postalp123]

MDF

[sealslayer]

MDF

[sealslayer]

Day 8:

Finished the rest of the monitor frame today, took sooooooo much longer than I expected, much like the whole build so far 



I had to get the angle grinder out to smooth the edges of the frame as they had started to cut a groove into the MDF, this really peeed me off, as so far everything was going well, now I'll have to get the filler out again 

Tomorrow I'll start to figure out how I'm going to make the bezel, I have the monitor front still and I think I'm going to trace that onto some cardboard to get a template then maybe cut the pattern into thin MDF.
I really want the whole thing to look as flush to the monitor as possible, and it has to be able to come out easily if I ever have to change the monitor at any stage.
I'm trying to think of all possibility's, monitors don't last forever and the last thing I was is to have damage anything if It has to ever be changed.

Another thing in the back of my mind is the distance between the monitor and the glass screen, I'm going to have to look at different examples, at the moment I'm thinking of making it as close as possible.



Running Costs and time to date.

Not all the items listed have yet been used.

MDF

[sealslayer]

Day 9:

Well its actually day 10 but so little got done yesterday I'm not going to bother calling it a day. 

Today I gave the last coat of hammerite paint to the monitor frame, a nice gloss black.
Yesterday I did all the measurements to get the correct position for the frame then drilled all the bolts holes for when the whole cabinet gets put together.

I made the screen cover today, I really don't like the look of plastic bezels so I decided on a plain front.

I used my router today for the time really, I have messed about with it before but today was the first time that the work had to really count, I'm very happy with the results.
I sanded and rounded the edges of the screen cover to give it a much smoother look, as it looked far too sharp.








I spent all day measuring, cutting, adjusting, sanding the inside of the monitor cover to get the correct angles for the screen, only to find when all the pieces where in place they pushed the front out to far, not a problem at the moment but it will be when the glass is on     what a waste of time !!


What I intended to have behind the screen
Still we live and learn 
I'll cut out some very small pieces of 6mm MDF to put behind the edges to cover any point where a normal bezel would cover the monitor



On the plus side I got myself the bargain of the day, a Mitre saw for

[dudebozo]

nice build so far.  keep up the work.  yeah, i have to agree with you on that last part.  the many trips to home depot or sears to get tools.  it's like...oooooohhh, look at that cordless drill combo kit, i'll take it!!!  good job dude

[NickG]

...no way of getting the circular saw in there...

OMG! That cracked me up! (I hope you were joking) Good job on your cabinet.  Neat caster limitation idea!

[sealslayer]

lol no I really couldnt get my saw in there to cut one long complete line, so I cut most of it away, looking back If i had to do that part again I would have routed it out.
That part was the side where the monitor goes and I didnt have the confidence then. 

[sealslayer]

Day 11

I seemed to start so well and now each time I go to work on the cab it seems that nothing is getting done, most frustrating !!

Yesterday and today I finished the kick panel, I routed out the channel for the hinge to sit into, this now sits nice and flush with the wood and will be hidden with laminate. using the router can be so much fun 
The kick panel will eventually have magnetic catches attached to keep it closed.
Nothing yet has been screwed in so ignore the fact that the wheels are behind the kick panel, same with the piano hinge only a couple of screws are holding it at the moment 

I also made the two pieces for the CP to rest against, all that's left now is to cut the back door, front door and the internal pieces that will hold the PC then its time to paint all the internal pieces.
The inside of the cab has to look as good as the outside for me as I'm aiming for the cleanest look possible.








Running costs and time to date

MDF

[Chris]

I spent all day measuring, cutting, adjusting, sanding the inside of the monitor cover to get the correct angles for the screen, only to find when all the pieces where in place they pushed the front out to far, not a problem at the moment but it will be when the glass is on     what a waste of time !!

Maybe not...

On my Konami cabinet, the glass rests up against the bezel... there is a crossbar at the bottom to hold it up, and it goes behind the speaker panel at the top and behind the control panel at the bottom to hold it in place... no need for bolts or a frame or drilling.  So if you even have just the thickness of the glass left in front of the bezel and enough glass to go below the panel and above the speaker panel a bit, you're in business!