Yet another Knievel ripoff

[Freelancer]

I've been involved in the Mame scene for the past 8+ years.  About 5 years ago I became aware of all the folks who were doing cool things with Mame and a custom cabinet.  Ever since then I'd been toying with building a cab, but was always concerned with where I was going to put it.  I don't currently have a gameroom in my house and have always been concerned by the depth of arcade cabinets.  I didn't want to put a unit in a normal size room and have it overpower the room (gotta have some room in there for other stuff).

I purchased an X-Arcade control panel several years ago, and that has

So for whatever reason several months ago I renewed my interest in building a unit.  I quickly decided that the bartop was the way to go.  As I was digesting all the good stuff on these forums and starting the preliminary design, I stumbled across Knievel's "The Woody" design.  Suddenly I knew the bartop wasn't going to cut it.

So what follows is my attempts to recreate a close approximation of the design known as "The Woody", I'm actually not going the wood grain route, so Knievel's "Arcade Mania" is the machine I'm going for.

Obviously thanks to Knievel for the inspiration and several friendly emails in which he gave me some pointers that helped get this project off the ground.

[Freelancer]

First off, my wood working skills rate about a 2 on a scale of 1 to 10.  Have always been interested in woodworking, but never really tried it.  So this project is also my first real shot at building something were measurements are down to the 1/8 of an inch.

First off, I purchased a router.  Picked up the DeWalt 618 kit.  I'm also using this project to pickup a few nice tools that I plan on using in the future, so for the most case I'm not going the el cheepo route.  Also picked up a router book, since I've never used one before, figured I ought to learn the basics.

Went to Home Depot, purchase 2 4x8 MDF 3/4 inch boards.  Had Home Depot rip cut the 2 panels to the exact width of the back of the unit (saved me a lot of cutting, +100% dead striaght), had to do this anyway to get them to fit in my Explorer.

Then transfered the diamensions of the unit to the MDF.

[Arcades R Fun]

Great start!
Kenievel's cab designs have inspired many!
If you have not cut MDF before,  it creates nasty, tiny dust particles when cut and I nearly coughed up a lung the first time I cut it without a mask!
So, wear a dust mask along with your goggles when you start cutting.

Beware of the mess the dust makes.
You will find that the dust has a mind of its own and goes everywhere! I cut in the garage and the dust ends up on my wife's kitchen floor, she was not amused.

[Jeff AMN]

Nice job.

There isn't anybody on this board as dedicated to perfection as Knievel that I can think of off the top of my head. You've chosen a nice project to base yours around, just make sure to update with lots of pics as you progress.

[phines]

I wish Knievel had his plans posted for the "woody" *hint* *hint*.  That is a sharp design!  If I were you, I would cut the sides out on a scrap piece of plywood, then use that as a template to cut the MDF using a router.  I did this on my bartop with good success.  But I think I have woodworking skills of about 8 on your scale, but it's worth try.

[Gutshot]

I wish Knievel had his plans posted for the "woody" *hint* *hint*.  That is a sharp design!

I second that, I love the design of the woody, and I think it is the only way I would be able to convince my wife to have a machine in the house

[BLah247]

I wish Knievel had his plans posted for the "woody" *hint* *hint*.  That is a sharp design!

The think is I think Knievel does a lot of his stuff on the fly and doesn't really have a set of 'plans'.  With my cabinet he provided me enough measurements that I was able to replicate it I think fairly well.  My friend just completed his Red & Black NEONMAME cabinet based off the same measurements with some different mods to fit a larger monitor and some jukebox type stuff.  I need to ask him to take some good pictures and I'll post it on that blog I did for the project.

Knievel's designs have inspired many to take the next step from the 'hey that would be cool' stage to.. 'I can't believe I made this thing' stage....

On a side note I hosted the last UFC fight at my house with about 30 people coming over.  They went nuts (both men and woman) over the cabinet.  They couldn't quite grasp the concept that I made it myself... out of wood, paint, plaste, ect... I gave credit to Knievel of course for the control panel top and graphics and overall design.  I think most still think it was a kit or something I ordered off the internet.

[Gutshot]

I'm just looking for help with the basics. I dont even know how tall, how deep, what height the CP should be. Once I know the basics I have enough woodworking skills to go from there. But since I never have built a arcade machine I dont know where to start. Plus I really like this design and would work so well in my house.

[Arcades R Fun]

If you are looking for cabinet/control panel buidling basics try the Wiki first.
The link is just below the "Message Baords" on the bottom left hand side of the site page.

http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Basics

[BLah247]

If you plan on buying a control panel top from Knievel he'll email you the size of the box including the slope.  I used the dimensions he gave me and it's turned out great.

[ElKootcho]

another great resource is http://www.jakobud.com/

He's got a couple dozen cabinet dimensions on his site