Wood types

[wIrEs]

what type of wood do i have to buy ? i know nothing (almost nothing) about it..

A very good wood for working/sanding/painting etc.. i want to have a wood-like paint over it too.. like this..
http://bazzman.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/



i found it very hard also with measurements.. is there a full assembly measurements cabinet out there ?

I have the X-Arcade 2 players control panel. I might get another one and try to dissemble them to make my own 4 players control panel.

[sstorkel]

Sounds like you need to buy saint's book "Project Arcade" and perhaps do some more reading on this site. I'm sure you can find the answers to all of your questions, if you take some time to look...

FYI, if you want your cabinet to look like wood you do not paint it! You use wood to build it, you stain the wood until it is the color you want, and then you seal the stain with a clear topcoat (e.g. polyurethane, lacquer, etc).

[fjl]

Building an arcade is really a daunting task. Everything needs to be planned out ahead of time including sketching things out. Requires many tools and knowledge on using them. A lot of your free time will be spent on it. And unless you're a wood master then you'll spend a lot of time learning from your mistakes and end up having a lot of scrap wood. That's my case.

Unless you really feel up to the challenge then I say go for it. For me it turned out to be a really fun, neat project and hobby. When I'm not working in my woodshop, I'm usually day dreaming about making a better cut or how to improve my techniques. It's been a blast so far!

Just take into account that it can also become an expensive hobby.

[jrmitch]

Building an arcade is really a daunting task. Everything needs to be planned out ahead of time including sketching things out. Requires many tools and knowledge on using them.

Just take into account that it can also become an expensive hobby.

Amen brother.  90% preperation, 9.5% building, .5% cussing.  These boards are a great source of information!  Don't be afraid to use the search at the top.  You'll find posts on just about any situation that you can think of.

Check out arcadeparadise.org.  He's got a nicely done set of plans for his Arcade Paradise 3.

The type of stock is a subject of debate.  Common types are furniture grade plywood, mdf, and melamine.

[wIrEs]

Thanks, i've printed out the Arcade Paradise 3 plan, hopefully when i get all the parts cut and done, i will be able to assemble them without a problem..

I am kinda of prepared already, the only big part was the arcade plans lol.. for a newbie in wood and building an arcade cabinet everything is twice expensive... so having the plans for others is really important, but of course when i understand the logic behind all this i will be able to create my own

since i don't want to spend money for the tools, i will pay a local shop to do the cutting it will end up less expensive.

About the Saint's book for sure it's good to have that in hand, but he said almost everything in the book can be found here on the site.

thanks for all the suggestions.

[fjl]

I would still recommend getting Saint's book. It's outdated but you get a lot of the basic knowledge on cabs and not just on how to buiild the. Sure you can get most of that info here but its still a good read.

[ChadTower]

That guy has seriously understated the amount of cussing.

[unclet]

ChadTower:
I agree with you about the cussing ....... I am in the process of building my jukebox cabinet and when I went to put on the front panel, the bottom part of the wooden hit the wheels protruding out from underneath the cabinet.   It never occurred to me that would happen. since the wheels were turned inward when I was planning the front panel.  The moment I moved the cabinet around and the wheels tried to spin around 360 degrees then they hit the front panel.  A lot of cussing went on in my garage last night ....... I ended up fixing the problem but lost the night trying to work out and construct the fix.   I never got to do what I wanted to do last night ..... but I guess that is what tonight will be for   

[wIrEs]

That guy has seriously understated the amount of cussing.

uh, maybe ..lol

[wIrEs]

I found these 2 videos on building a cabinet, you can download the videos in higher quality too, about 100+mb each.

http://revision3.com/systm/mamecase
http://revision3.com/systm/mamecase2

new videos will be about soon since the cabinet is not yet complete on those 2 videos..

And there's also these video.. which you can also download, 250mb each.
quote "In this episode of Hak.5 Wess builds a mini arcade cabinet for under $100,"
- Episode 1×04
- Episode 1×05
link: http://www.hak5.org/episodes/

edit: everything has an end.. , lol..