I have finally started my cabinet!!! (Now With Pictures! 13-APR-2008)

[Jdurg]

December 9th, 2007.  A day that will live in infamy.  I have finally begun the process of building my own arcade cabinet.  The transaction that started it all was with Happ controls for two Competition 8-Way Joysticks, and a whole slew of Competition Convex pushbuttons!  I have been working on a control panel design for a while now, and have settled on a panel which will have two 8-ways with seven buttons each.  (Set up in the classic SF2 set up with the seventh button to the bottom left of the low-kick button.  This will be used for Neo-Geo games, and as the run button in the MK games).  I will have a player one and player two start button, a trackball with two buttons, a spinner, and a four-way stick with two buttons.  I haven't ordered the trackball, spinner, or fourway stick yet as I'll wait until my next paycheck.

Sadly, this project will take a lot of time to finish.  I hope to have it done by August of next year.  I have ZERO space to construct a cabinet and need to either find a friend who will let me take his garage for a few weeks, or have one custom built.  I have found someone who will custom build me one, but right before I placed the order a friend of mine saw my Project Arcade book and said "I want to do this!!!"  So we've been figuring out the plans and I said I'll buy the MDF for my cabinet and his if he'll be able to store them during the construction/painting phase.  Once we figure out the logistics, we'll start building.  I'll photograph everything so that the process will be documented.

One thing I do have in mind is to have a cabinet with the basic LuSiD design.  I like the fairly simple design of it, and it will work well with the 27" arcade monitor I plan on putting in.  Not quite sure what brand I'll get, but it will be a 27" Multisync so it will work easiest with the games I plan on running.  I also plan on getting a coin door for the cabinet and hooking up the coin-inputs to register as coins in MAME.  I'll leave it unlocked so you can just pull your coins right out and keep using them, or I'll even get a ton of the BYOAC Tokens and just use them.  I just want that experience and feeling of dropping a coin in, hearing the sound and having it register. 

For the name of the arcade and the artwork, I'm still not sure yet.  One thing running through my mind is "Heavenly Hell".  The artwork at the bottom will be mostly black with flames and the arm of the devil reaching up to the middle of the cabinet.  The top will be bluish with clouds and the arm of God reaching down towards the middle.  Where the two arms meet will be a lightening ball and electric cloud with arcade icons flying out of it in a blur.  (Characters like Pac-Man, Ryu, Donkey Kong, Bubble Bobble, etc.).  I really need to work on the art, but that overall idea sounded kind of cool to me.  Artistically, however, i'm not sure if I can do it. 

The Marquee would just be "Heavenly Hell" with the blue-cloud top and the black flaming bottom met in the middle with the lightning burst and the words "Heavenly Hell" on the foreground. 

So what do you guys think?  It only hurts me that it will take so long and it might be a while before i have anything to post.  At the minimum, I'll at least have the control panel built within a month or two. 

[Jdurg]

Just to add a photo of some very rough mock artwork, but here's the gist of what I'm thinking of.  I decided that having arcade characters coming out of the lightning burst was kind of dumb, so that has been nixed.  As has the blue coloring at the top.  I'll leave it all black.  PLEASE remember that I created this mock in about an hour using a cheap IBM laptop with a thumbstick and no mouse.  This was all done in Paint.  When I get the time to fire up my desktop computer, I'll create a more "professional" looking artwork.  For now, this is just the gist of it.

[fjl]

And Dec 10th 2007, the day you gave up.
j/k

I like the art. I'd like to see what he final art piece will look like.

[Jdurg]

And Dec 10th 2007, the day you gave up.
j/k

I like the art. I'd like to see what he final art piece will look like.

   Perhaps.  But this is something I've been planning for a while, just needed to do a few things such as buy a house so I'd have a place to put it.  Now that the house purchase is out of the way (still pissed that I couldn't wait any longer and get a place with a garage, but oh well) I just needed to wait and see how the funds were holding up.  Each month I found that I have enough spare cash to pick up various parts and over the course of a few months have everything I need.  The computer that runs it all will be last since it's crazy to get the computer first if the cabinet isn't going to be ready for a few months.

With the art, I need to get on my desktop computer and fire up Photoshop and some of the other art programs I have.  MS Paint let me get a mock-up together, but it looks like crap in paint.  I'll post the final art when I get it all cleaned up.  The other side of the cabinet will have the same art, but mirrored for that side.  The flames will extend around to the front, and the control panel will have the lightning streaks going across it.  That will keep the CP art fairly simple, but will have nice continuity for it.

Now that I have a general idea of my control panel and my artwork, I can really see the cabinet in my head and can't wait to make further progress.   

[Jdurg]

Okay, below is an out of scale, quickly thrown together mock-up of the control panel.  Just imagine the light blue lightning bolts as purple/blue lightning with a nice haze effect around it.  That would be what I'm looking for.  I'm going to need to download some software to make sure I have it scaled properly, but any comments would be welcomed.

Once I get the proper scale, then I'll have a better idea on how everything fits.  Right now, I think I have the buttons quite a bit too small in relation to everything else.

[DaOld Man]

...  But this is something I've been planning for a while, just needed to do a few things such as buy a house so I'd have a place to put it.  ....

I cant think of a better reason to buy a house..
 

[leapinlew]

Okay, below is an out of scale, quickly thrown together mock-up of the control panel.  Just imagine the light blue lightning bolts as purple/blue lightning with a nice haze effect around it.  That would be what I'm looking for.  I'm going to need to download some software to make sure I have it scaled properly, but any comments would be welcomed.

Once I get the proper scale, then I'll have a better idea on how everything fits.  Right now, I think I have the buttons quite a bit too small in relation to everything else.

You'll want a coin button for both players. Also - you have a lot of buttons... I would get rid of some of the buttons so you only need an ipac2 and even if your plan is to double up the buttons you may want to consider less buttons. You can easily remap the mouse buttons and share buttons.

You don't want other people getting to the menus so I would hide the service buttons. Once you have everything setup - your rarely in the menus again.

[Jdurg]

Okay, below is an out of scale, quickly thrown together mock-up of the control panel.  Just imagine the light blue lightning bolts as purple/blue lightning with a nice haze effect around it.  That would be what I'm looking for.  I'm going to need to download some software to make sure I have it scaled properly, but any comments would be welcomed.

Once I get the proper scale, then I'll have a better idea on how everything fits.  Right now, I think I have the buttons quite a bit too small in relation to everything else.

You'll want a coin button for both players. Also - you have a lot of buttons... I would get rid of some of the buttons so you only need an ipac2 and even if your plan is to double up the buttons you may want to consider less buttons. You can easily remap the mouse buttons and share buttons.

You don't want other people getting to the menus so I would hide the service buttons. Once you have everything setup - your rarely in the menus again.

Good point, but I plan on hooking up the coin door to have that be the coin input.  I think it really ruins the whole aspect of having an arcade cabinet if you "insert coins" by tapping a button.  The only button I would keep would be the service coin button.

For the other buttons I've included, there are some reasons;

Esc - To exit the game
Service Mode - A lot of games I play I tend to meddle around with the service mode quite a bit.  I may, however, move this button off of the control panel and put it someplace else.
Dip Switches - I think, like the service mode, I might move this button elsewhere for easy access to the Dip Switches.
Cheat Menu - I love to cheat. 
Service Coins - For when I just don't feel like putting coins in the coin slots, or don't have any handy.
Pause - Just in case I need to pause the game while playing

So some of these i'll wind up moving off of the panel.  For the 4-way joystick and the spinner, I honestly don't know how many buttons I'll need for those.  I can probably get by with two each.  I will need to look and see how many buttons games that use those controls actually use.

[Jdurg]

Woohoo!  The order from Happ Controls came in today.  Took less than a week!  I've been sitting here watching TV and just pressing the buttons because it feels so good.  The only thing I wonder is if I should have gotten the actual control buttons to be the same style as the player one and two buttons, but when I laid everything out on my carpet in the living room I realized that I like the very slight differences in style.

Sadly, the weather has decided to ruin my ability to work on the actual cab.  We're currently getting HAMMERED with snow out there.  I spent about 45 minutes clearing the snow out with my snowblower, and by the time I had finished I couldn't even tell that I had started.   

Anyway, I've actually gone and bought some MDF and all I can say is "Holy Cow this stuff is HEAVY!"  No matter how many times you hear someone say it's heavy, you never realize it until you actually lift it up yourself.

My buddy and I decided to build the cabinet in two parts with the base and the monitor/control panel area being built separately.  We'll secure the top to the bottom with some pretty big bolts and solid 2x4's, but by making it separately it will be easier to move to my place.  Also, the artwork I'll use will wind up covering the seam so that's not a problem at all.  I just can't wait to get started.  Now that I have the buttons and joysticks in my hand I want to play!

[Stobe]

I just can't wait to get started.  Now that I have the buttons and joysticks in my hand I want to play!

Keep that motivation going!  Also, set deadlines for yourself.  That's the ONLY way I can finish anything. 

Good luck!
-Stobe

[Jdurg]

I was digging around in my closet today and saw that I had a lot of cardboard hanging around doing nothing.  So I got out my exacto knife, scissors, tape, and parts and built a real sized mockup.  (With no actual measurements or specifics).  I decided that I like my layout, but can move a lot of the admin buttons to hidden areas on the sides of the cabinet.  If I build my control panel to the same height and width as my cardboard mock-up, there will plenty of room to include all the admin buttons inside recessed areas with a door hiding them when not in use.  All you'll see is a little thumb slot where you will stick your thumb in and open the door up when needed.  I'll put my cheat button, service mode button, dip switch button, etc. in the hidden area, and to exit I'll press one of the hidden buttons and Player 1 Start.

Also, I'll be able to shrink the panel down a little bit in size from my mock-up and still have it work.  (Right now, the cardboard panel is about 35 inches wide.  I can shrink it down by about 6 inches probably and still have plenty of space.  My spinner will be able to use Player 2 controls for its buttons, and my 4-Way will have three buttons of it's own.  (I'll set it up so it can have four if it wants with the fourth being the left trackball button).

But seeing it in person really made me want to play with it.  I've been messing around with the joysticks and buttons and just drooling to have it up on my cabinet.  Once the end of the month hits and I get paid again, i'll pick up my trackball and keyboard encoder and then actually start building the control panel.  (Though there might be a delay since it looks like I'll need to fill my oil tank soon.    )

[Jdurg]

This is too cool.  My father stopped by the house today to pick up some of the items I'm letting him store here, and while we were talking he saw my mock-up control panel.  He took a look at it and said "Wow, that's pretty neat.  Is that a control panel for video games?"  I then told him of my plans for building the cabinet and how that was just a mock-up.  He then said "That sound really cool.  If you need any help with anything, let me know.  I can cut the MDF for you since I've got the table saw and all the tools you might need."

When I was a kid, I recall on occassions going to an arcade and my dad coming with me to "watch over me".  We'd play Mortal Kombat and SF2 every now and then.  I showed him my plans for the cabinet and he seemed really interested in it. 

So now i have even more help available to me.  Sweet!!!!   

[Jdurg]

A very small update here.  The small MDF panel that I bought for only about $8 is no more.  It got a bit wet and has started crumbling apart.  You get what you pay for, I guess.  Besides, I now realize that with my limited space and work area using MDF would only create a massive mess that I just don't want to deal with.

I went to Home Depot yesterday and took a look at their plywood selection.  I saw a 2' x 4' panel of 0.75" Poplar Cabinet Grade Plywood.  The sheet cost $16 but it is very smooth, VERY straight, and it's about 8 or 9 ply from what I could count.  I got it as 0.75" for the CP top since I plan on top mounting the joysticks now and couldn't imagine the 1/2" plywood being able to stand up to heavy use.  The 0.75" plywood will make routing for the T-Molding much easier, and for a cover I'll just use a very thin 1/8" layer of Lexan/Plexiglass.  I'm just very happy with the fact that the board is very light, very straight, and appears to be quite durable.  If I'm able to get the tools I asked for for Christmas, I should be able to get the CP built by New Years.

Now for the frustrating part.  Based upon the size of the panel I picked up, I'm now wondering if I should add two more joysticks to my CP and make this a four player panel for games like Ninja Turtles, Simpsons, X-Men and two player for Smash TV?  My CP is already going to be fairly big, so why not just add these couple of controls to it? 

Anyway, the MDF that has been looking like crap will probably wind up just being thrown in the shed and not worried about, or have someone else cut it into little blocks which will be glued in as support blocks.

[Jdurg]

Okay, all the controls have been ordered!     I went on E-Bay today and found a Happs 3" USB Blue Translucent Trackball w/ USB/PS2 connectors, plus a mounting plate for only $101 including shipping.  The trackball alone goes for $165+ on Happs' website.  I then went out and got me a Tornado Spinner w/ USB/PS2 connectors as well.  By getting both of these parts with the USB/PS2 connector I'm able to avoid having to purchase an Opti-Pac for my cabinet.  Plus, each of these parts can connect to three buttons, so I'll be able to connect the Trackball buttons to the trackball itself and use them as mouse buttons if I want.  For the spinner, I could mount buttons to that as well, but it will all depend on location. 

I also picked up a couple of other buttons for the cabinet since I plan on putting a shift button on the left side and another button on the right.  This way I won't need special admin buttons.  I can just hold the shift button on the side and press one of the buttons on the CP top to get to the rarely used admin areas.  (Though I may still have the F2 Service Menu button and F3 Reset button mounted on the top of the cabinet where they can't be easily pushed).  Now to hope that Santa brings me the power tools I asked for.   

[Jdurg]

Okay, attached to this post are the dimensions of my final control panel layout.  I don't have the locations of the joysticks and buttons/etc. on this layout, only the dimensions.  I just want to run this out there to see if anybody has any suggestions or comments.  My big concern right now is if 16" is deep enough for the CP if the trackball is going to be used.  I think it will be just fine as long as the trackball is used appropriately.  It's just that on my layout everything seems really comfortable and I didn't want to have a huge amount of empty space if I could avoid it.

[Jdurg]

Just a quick update here.  I've gone to Home Depot and picked up a router, jigsaw, and shopvac.  I've had some "issues" learning the jigsaw, but the router and some quick re-draws of the layout have made a very nice recovery from it.  Some more routing and hand-plane work will straighten out all edges.  I'm going to take my first photos once the entire layout has been cut and smoothed, the button holes drilled, and the joystick/trackball/spinner areas routed out.  I nearly shed a tear tonight when I saw the first rough outline of my CP come into fruition.  Before I start work again on the 2nd of January, I believe that I will have my CP top all cut out and complete.  Then I'll work on the sides and bottom, get my I-Pac4, wire it up and have a fully functional CP that I'll test out on my laptop.

This is way too much fun, and I'm learning a lot about woodworking.  I now understand the "bug" that states "1 cabinet is never enough".  I'm seriously thinking of working on a cocktail cabinet when I get done with this one.  I think I need a pay-raise. 

[Jdurg]

Finally, the CP has been cut out and smoothed.  I have learned that my jigsaw isn't nearly as bad as I thought it was.  I just needed to learn how to use it properly.  Now, I am very confident in cutting a straight line with it and cut the entire outside of the panel with the jigsaw. 

For the rough part that was left after cutting close with the jigsaw, I cleaned it out with a hand planer.  The hand planer was an incredible pickup.  The edges of my CP are now ultra flat and smooth and any imperfections that exist will be covered by the t-molding.  The hand planer brought me right up to the line that I had previously drawn out.

I also bought a new spade bit for cutting out the button holes.  This new bit is razor sharp on the middle point, the edges, and the side parts.  Therefore, it rips right through the plywood like it's nothing.  The other set of spade bits I have are fine for small holes up to about 1/2 an inch wide, but anything larger and they just don't have the cutting ability.  They'll probably be great for when the Plexiglass/Lexan needs to be cut.

Now I do have some "fears".  One of my button holes ended up kind of elliptical thanks to the spade bit getting dull and me trying to figure out a way to cut through the wood.  Thankfully, it shouldn't be too much of a problem since I'll be putting a flat overlay on top of the controls and the elliptical button hole won't be seen.  (I plan on getting some poster board to put over the CP top and then the artwork on top of that, and a thin layer of Lexan/Plexiglass over that). 

The measurements, however, of the CP aren't exactly what I'm hoping they'd be.  They seem to be about 1/8" off in areas.  I really hope this won't be too much of a problem when everything is built.  Especially since cutting out this CP is a very time consuming process.

So yes, the CP does look like something a first-timer has done but it's not horrible. 

[Jdurg]

Ahhhh...........  It feels good to pretty much be done.     All of my button holes are cut out, the bolt holes have been drilled, the edges have been straightened out and cleaned, and the damn thing looks like a CP now.    I still need to cut out the area for the trackball and the spinner, but I have to wait for those to arrive before I start.  As a result, I'm taking a bit of a hiatus on the CP until the rest of the parts get here.  Once they arrive, I'll draw the outlines onto the CP, cut out the parts that need to be cut, then break out the router and start recessing the joystick and trackball area.  I have to say, the thing looks pretty damned good.

I am a bit pissed, however, that when I measured out the location of the P1 and P2 button, I somehow measured off of the wrong line for the P2 button so it is sitting about 1/2" lower than the P1 button.  I'm thinking about taking the router and "moving" the hole up a little bit, then using some bondo to fill in the part of the hole that's too low.  I'm going to be putting a thin layer of posterboard over the top of the CP, then the artwork, then the Lexan/Plexi so in the end it won't be seen.  I just want to ensure that the button is secure.  The other option is to completely fill in the hole with Bondo, let it cure for a few weeks, then redrill the button hole.

Pictures will come once it is all cut out.    (As I can't find my camera right now).

[Jdurg]

Well, a little bit more has been done.  I STILL can't find my camera, so sadly there are no pictures yet.     Still, I was able to get some more clamps and with the clamps, a straight piece of lumber and my router, I routed out the opening for the 4-way joystick!!!!!     The joystick fits nice and smoothly inside the opening, and the four bolt holes line up nicely.  I did screw up pretty bad on the recessing, however.  The bit worked a little bit loose so on two of the sides the inside routing wound up being about 1/8" deeper than on the other sides.  The joystick still fits in there nice and securely, but it looks pretty ugly inside.  Thankfully, nobody will ever see that.  To correct the mistake, I've taken some thin strips of wood and this stuff called "Plastic Wood" to build up a layer for the joystick to rest on.  I'll then seal the filler and woodstrip with a strong material to make sure it doesn't work its way loose and mess up my electronics.  Again, it's all going to be internal and won't be seen so I don't think it will be a problem.  I just need to make sure that the "Plastic Wood" doesn't crumble away with all the jostling it will get.  As it's drying, it's getting more and more like a piece of MDF so my fears are slowly going away.

It was kind of emotional for me when I dropped the joystick in there and it fit properly.  I then went and put in a few buttons and for the first time ever had the makings of a functional control panel.  Also, I realized that I didn't route deep enough so I need to remove some plastic from the corners of the 4-way so that the bolt heads can be recessed and below the surface.

Before I routed out the 8-way joystick holes, I decided to make a jig in order to make the routed out areas more consistant and clean.  That jig is currently in the basement drying and I'll attempt the routing tomorrow.  I really hope my measurements were right.  I should probably try this out on some scrap wood first.  That would probably be a good idea.  heh.

[Jdurg]

A few little updates.  The trackball, spinner, and trackball mounting plate still haven't arrived yet so I haven't been able to route out those areas and drill a hole for the spinner shaft.  I also still need to fill in the one button hole that I kind of messed up on.  Otherwise, the CP is in good shape. 

The slot-cutting bit for my router arrived the other day, so I'll need to go out and practice using it on some scrap wood to get the feel for it.

I also ordered some 1/16" Lexan for the top.  I figured that since I'm using 3/4" Plywood for the panel itself, I can just put the thin 1/16" Lexan on top of that and not worry about how much higher than the edge it will be.  (Though I could feasibly get 1" thick T-Molding and just trim where needed).  I also hope that the 1/16" thickness will make the Lexan more workable for me.  I ordered enough to have plenty of scrap to work with so I'll get my practice in.

Finally, I still need to work out how I want to cut the bottom and sides of the CP.  Should I cut the bottom panel the exact same size as the CP Top using a pattern cutting bit on my router, or should I trace the outline of my CP Top onto the other 3/4" plywood sheet and then measure in 3/4" on each side and cut the bottom part so that it will bond to the CP sides?  I'm thinking that if my CP bottom is the same size as my CP Top that it will be a bit stronger and if I use a good putty and sanding job on the seams, when the CP is primed and painted it will look seamless.

[pacmandude]

Hey, Jdrug!

Congratulations on starting your project. 
I'm getting ready to begin mine soon.

I think you are going in with the wrong mindset. It's not a bad thing that it will take some time to complete. The journey can be just as fun as the destination. And think of the nice cabinet that you'll have when you finish!

Just my two......tokens. Keep up the good work. I'm looking forward to the pictures, too!

[Jdurg]

Thanks.  I'm really enjoying the build process more than I thought I would.  Seeing a piece of bare lumber turn into the top of my CP is pretty sweet.  Plus, it gave me an excuse to pick up some woodworking tools and learn how to use them.  I'm now really comfortable using my router and jigsaw.  Still need to pick up a circular saw, but for now I'm all set.

The Lexan arrived yesterday and will be pretty simple to trace out and cut with an exacto knife.  It's very easy to cut with the exacto knife since it's only 1/16" thick and it will do the job it needs to which is protecting the artwork that will eventually go on.

I also got some practice in with my slot cutting bit and cut the t-molding groove around the outside of my CP.  (Except for the back which won't have T-molding in it).  I also ordered some 3/4" and 13/16" T-Molding samples from T-molding.com.  I'm happy to see that they are only a 25 minute drive from where I live so I'm going to see if I can just drive there to pick up my full order instead of paying for shipping costs.  I hope to receive the samples early next week.

Today, I'm going to hope that my trackball, trackball plate, and spinner have arrived so I can route out/drill those holes.  Then I'll probably give everything a good sanding with my hand sander and finally get a picture taken.  (So everyone can gasp at the horrid look of the holes that the base of the joysticks sit in.    The recess that was routed out is nice and square and smooth, but the actual larger holes that had to be cut to top mount the joystick look kind of nasty.  lol ).

[Jdurg]

Well, not much to update so far.  I've gotten in touch with the person I bought my trackball and mounting plate off of on E-Bay, and he says that he can not find any record of it shipping so he'll look through his inventory and try and work something out.  It's a little bothersome that it's taking him almost a month to get this shipped out, but I'll make sure I make mention of it in my feedback.  I don't take this as being "screwed" because his feedback is otherwise quite good and there's a LOT of it.  Sometimes things just don't go right.  (Sadly, in my life, that always seems to be the case).

I also heard back from Happ regarding my spinner, and apparently SlikStik has screwed them too.  I'm giving them until the end of the month and then I'm cancelling my order.

In the meantime, I found a good way to "fix" the problem I had with one of my start button holes being 1/2" too low in comparison to my other Start Button hole.  A friend of mine suggested going to a woodworking store and purchasing a dowel that is 1 1/8" in diameter, and have them cut off 3/4" for me.  Then I take the dowel, put wood glue in the hole, pound the dowel in, apply wood filler/putty where needed, and just let it dry.  After some sanding, it will be as good as new.  I can then re-drill the hole and nobody will ever know the difference.  Nice idea!

[Jdurg]

Okay.  The trackball arrived today and it's incredible.  I already hooked it up to my laptop to test it out and play some trackball games.  MUCH better than using a mouse.  I'm very happy I got the 3" trackball, and the translucent blue looks really cool.  I'll need to replace the lamp they have with it and put an LED in its place to avoid having to change it.

I still don't have the spinner since SlikStik ---fouled up beyond all recognition--- over Happ as well, so I'll start looking elsewhere for a good spinner.  I can probably drill the hole for the spinner now and once everything is cut out, I'll take a picture and finally have some photos of my work.   

[tommy]

Where are the pictures? I don't respond well without pictures. 

[psychotech]

Where are the pictures? I don't respond well without pictures. 

Oh...

Pictures?

Builds?

What?

What is this thread about?

Surprise me?!?!!

No pictures = No build.

oh well, BEER

 

PS. Sorry. Can't comment. Have built nothing.

PPS. Another BEER!

[Jdurg]

Pictures are waiting for the sun to come up tomorrow.  The lighting in my basement at night is HORRIBLE.  Pictures I've already taken have looked horrible!

Now that the trackball plate recess has been routed out, and the jigsaw opened up the trackball "football-shaped" opening, it's almost done.  Just the spinner needs to be located and drilled out.  I'm still debating if I want to put it to the left of the Player 2 Joystick for aesthetic reasons, or if I should put it on the right side for comfort and ease of use reasons?  Oh well.  Either way, I'm sure once it's fully built and up and running I'll figure out better ideas.  I guess that's why the CP is separate from the rest of the cab.

[Jdurg]

Okay, I broke out the camera and here are a few pictures.  First, this is the trackball that just came today, the pushbutton test that has been the bane of my existance, and a competition joystick that I just wanted to play around with.  (I'm so close that I want to finish it now!).  The next picture is of the Lexan I bought that arrived a little while ago, and the final photo is of the original mock-up I used to test out some control locations.  As you'll see later, the actual Control Panel isn't a whole lot like the mock-up.

[Jdurg]

The next series of photos are the "tool storage area" where I've just layed out my spade bits, my plunge router base, power drill, battery, slot-cutting bit, jigsaw, basically anything I've been using that I haven't built a cabinet yet for.     The next photo is a nice shot of all the junk and scraps I've accumulated.  Nice and messy.     Next, you'll find, finally, my CP all cut out.  I still need to patch up the P2 Start Button hole so it lines up with P1, and figure out exactly where the spinner will go.  I will have to wait for it to arrive and to test-mount my P2 joystick to get a good idea on where it should go.

Still, I like the way it's turning out and it's hard to believe that before this project I had NEVER touched a power tool.  Now, I'm getting a bit better each time I use it.  In fact, the trackball mounting plate area was routed freehand!  It's not super perfect straight, but it will do.

Finally, the last picture just shows that I've already cut the t-molding slot and did a passable job.     This is too much fun.   

[Jdurg]

Okay.  The P2 Start Button hole has been filled with a wood plug, carpenter's glue, and wood putty.  The plywood is soaking up the moisture from the glue pretty good, and the plug I made to fill the hole fits it pretty snugly.  I need to use a bit of force to get it in there.  With the wood putty put on the top to even up the top and fill in the paper-thin gap on the sides, this plug will be quite strong when I go to re-drill the hole next weekend.  I'm giving it a good week to dry out and strengthen.  I just want it to hold up to the spade bit as I re-drill the hole.

I'm also deciding whether or not to drill two button holes in the top center of the panel for admin style buttons.  The two buttons won't add too much mess to the panel, and with the shift button on the side of the panel two more buttons on top should give me everything I need.

1 - Cheat.  I like cheating so a button to bring up the cheat menu would be nice.
2 - Enter.  If someone hits Enter by accident, nothing will happen.  However for using the cheat menu or the artwork menus, etc., having an enter key readily available is nice.

With the shift key, I can have the following functions;
Shift+P1Start = Coin 1
Shift+Cheat = Tab
Shift+Enter = Exit
Shift+P2Start = Coin 2

So I think this will be a good compromise.

[Jdurg]

Well, I couldn't hold off and I decided to re-drill the P2 start button today.  It drilled just fine and is now on the same level as the P1 Start Button.  The wood plug I cut out, combined with the glue and putty, made for one solid plug. 

I now have a dilemma.  In the photo of the control panel I posted a couple posts ago, there are the two buttons on the top left and top right of the trackball.  On top of these buttons are two more buttons.  Two of which will work with the 4-way joystick on the left, and another two that will work with the spiner on the right.  After testing how it feels, I decided that the spinner would feel best if it was over on the right hand side of the P2 joystick above the P2 buttons.  This puts it quite far to the right of the two buttons on the right hand side of the trackball.

I'm wondering if I should just fill thost two holes above the right trackball button, or leave them there?  I guess I'll see how it looks once I put my mock artwork up.  If it looks okay, then I'll leave them. 

[Jdurg]

Sadly, no updates yet.  I'm sitll waiting for some parts to arrive, but in the meantime I did get some more plywood and cut out the bottom of the CP and one of the sides.  I need to wait for my pattern cutting bit to arrive so that I can clean up that rough bottom cut, but once that happens I'll start putting the sides on.

I also got a nice surprise today.  My father called me and asked if I had bought any t-molding yet.  I was shocked that he knew what t-molding was, but then he started mentioning how he knows the guy who runs t-molding.com out in Colchester.  The owner's father is routinely at the same sporting club that my dad is a member of and made mention of my sample request to my dad.  So when I go to get my t-molding, he said that he could just bring it down to the club and give it to my dad instead of me having to pay for shipping.  Sweet! 

[Jdurg]

The spinner arrived a few days ago as did my pattern cutting bit.  I have cut out the base of the control panel as well as the front side of it.  I've begun gluing and screwing support blocks to the base and this weekend I should have most of the base completely cut out.

More pictures will be coming this weekend.   

[Jdurg]

My first big mistake.     It looks like I'll need to start over from scratch on my CP box.  Even though I was able to screw in the support pieces, the front, and the two sides, there was one thing I forgot to do and that was check the sides for squareness before gluing and screwing them to the bottom piece.  When I went and test fit the top piece on there, it didn't match up.   

Since the glue has dried and the screws are in place, there's no saving the bottom panel and the side pieces.  Looks like a $16 plywood panel put to waste.  Damn.  I'll have to go back to home depot and get a few more panels of plywood and recut the bottom and the sides.

Maybe this time I'll have some better luck.   

[sparcade]

Jdurg,

No biggie on the CP... Think of it as a $16 woodworking lesson

Looking froward to your pics.

sparcade

[Jdurg]

Jdurg,

No biggie on the CP... Think of it as a $16 woodworking lesson

Looking froward to your pics.

sparcade

Thanks.  I'm probably going to head to home depot today and pick up another couple slabs of plywood and maybe pick up a circular saw to help keep my cuts straight.  Just frustrating as all hell that I didn't bother checking for squareness when building this thing.

On the other hand, I have figured out a better way to get the sides attached to the bottom and the screwed up bottom is now a very good piece of scrap.

[Jdurg]

Sorry to have kind of wasted time here with this thread, but I think I'm going to start over from scratch.  I've learned quite a bit with the progress I've made thus far, and figure that I'd be better off starting over from scratch instead of trying to repair what I've already done.

In addition, I've learned that I need a few more tools in order to do this right.  I just went and bought a miter saw to help make straight cuts a bit easier and when I get my plywood blanks I'll have Home Depot cut the straight parts for me so all I have to do is use my miter saw to cut the angled corners.

Basically, I figure that by starting over from scratch I'll wind up with a much better cabinet than if I tried to fix my mistakes thus far.  In addition, the screw ups I've made so far are great examples of how not to proceed.

Since I have no real "deadline" for when this has to be done, I decided that I'd be better off doing this right and taking a longer time than doing it wrong just to get it done.

I'll probably start a new thread with more pictures once I get everything done right.     On the bright side, I have all the parts I need already so building this second CP won't take nearly as long.   

[Jdurg]

Went to Home Depot and got them to cut me out two 37" x 16" panels for my CP top and bottom.  (37" since the angles start at 4" in from each side).  The nice thing is that after telling the guy cutting it what the panels were for, he seemed very interested and made sure my cuts were exactly on the mark.  When I got home and measured them, they were spot on! 

I also bought a square and a miter angle device to measure angles accurately.  I have a 10" Compound Miter Saw coming to me in the mail, and I'll use that to cut the angles on the corners of the CP. 

All I can say is that the square is critical to me and the newly cut pieces look fantastic.  This go around will turn out MUCH better than my first attempt, and now my first attempt gives me a "test right" for controllers, trackballs, buttons and spinners.   

[Jdurg]

I've got all the angles cut and the top and bottom flushed out with the router.  This time, as I laid everything out on the panel, I measured everything so that I'll have good numbers to go off of when designing my artwork.  Much easier to measure it out now than to try and measure it out later.  It will also let me start working on the artwork since I know where everything will now go.

I also saw that the board I got for my top has warped a little bit, so I've clamped it down to my straight bottom piece and have been applying some water "mist" to it in order to soften up the wood.  I hope this will straighten in out for me.

One thing's for sure, it moves along a lot quicker the second time through.   

[Jdurg]

Been a while since the last update, but I have finally finished CP Version 2.  I think it came out okay, though I will need to use some 1" thick T-Molding since the CP top is a bit warped/twisted.  Not anything huge, but enough so that it's not dead flat. 

I also noticed that my P1 buttons didn't line up as nicely as I thought they would have, but I think when the artwork goes on it won't bug me as much.  I just know that the spacing works out just fine.  At the top I have three admin buttons, but I think the center one will go away since I only see the need for Pause and Cheat to be up there.  The service menu and other junk will be handled by the panel behind the coin door.  I can also use the shift button on the bottom left side panel to handle escape and whatnot.  (Shift + Pause = Exit, Shift + Cheat = Reset).

So everything is now primed up, I have all the wiring stuff I need, I've got my Lexan ready, but I still need to finalize my artwork.  This is taking me a while because this is the most critical part.  I'm just happy to have the construction done with.  My first woodworking project and it came out nice.  My buddy asked me why I didn't just make it a simple box to make things easy, and granted that probably would have worked out better.  But hey, I got a lesson in woodoworking, miter angles, Bondo use, etc.   

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that the spinner isn't installed yet and the buttons are only placed in there for a quick preview.  The only thing actually attached is the Trackball plate.  I'll be putting a thin posterboard over this, then the artwork, then the lexan.  I also need to get one more blue convex button for the right side.  I just need to find other things I have to spend money on first to make the shipping charges worth it for "one" button.

My apologies for the poor picture quality.  I just used my cell-phone to grab this image.