First Cabinet 95% complete

[wave8]

Well, it’s about 95% complete.  Let me tell you tell you how it went.

First I did a lot of reading and decided what I wanted. 

1.   I wanted a smaller cabinet.  I found some cabinet plans I liked, they were for a conventional CRT so I modified them for just a platform on top.
2.   I ordered my controls from Ultimarc,
3.   Designed my control panel out of ¾” mdf, covered it with contact paper and then a ¼” Plexiglas top.  Installed and wired the controls.  I had to router out over ¼” of material from the bottoms so the controls fit just right.
4.   I built the cabinet; I wanted a Irish theme so I jig sawed a shamrock in the middle.
5.   It’s a 2 piece cabinet, the top just slides and locks into the bottom.  I installed a back panel for access.
6.   I wired a leaf switch to the power switch of the PC for 1 push button operation
7.   I wired in a standard female 3 prong receptacle for easy access.
8.   I also wired in a RJ45 keystone that connects to the PC
9.   I used a smart strip so when the PC is powered it powers the other plugs and turns on the Plasma and florescent light.  The same goes when the pc is powered down, everything turns off.
10.   For the PC, I went with a Mini ITX – Atom processor, 2GB ram and a 500GB hard drive.  Space was a factor.
11.   I wired in a florescent flood to light up the shamrock green when powered on
12.   Here’s a look, the control panel is hinged to reveal the keyboard and mouse and access to wiring and components.
13.   I found a VisonQuest 32” EDTV 840x480 plasma.  Research found it was the closest to a CRT and it looks great.
14.   Finally the finished product turned off and on. 
15.   I tried a pile of frontends and the only thing left is deciding to stick with Mala and finishing my game lists or go with Hyperspin?

Hope you like it!

Wave8

[wave8]

More Pics

[Namco]

Wow, very nice cabinet design. At first I thought your base was a bartop where you look through a club to see the screen  . It's screaming for some artwork though.

[wave8]

Thanks,

I know it lacks artwork, im not really the artistic type.  Do you have any ideas?

[Gatsu]

thats a pretty cool design. I really dig it.

[severdhed]

very cool...i too thought it was a bartop at first, and didn't quite understand the shamrock....

i like that design very much, gives you the feeling of a full size upright cabinet, without the bulk.   very cool

[meany]

Sweet design.  It looks like the new games I have been seeing at the arcades.  Very modern.

[Ond]

I like it too, very nice, the green and black is cool some artwork with those colors would suit very well.

[Namco]

Good God man, Is that a halogen light in there backlighting the shamrock? It's going to get really hot in there.

As for artwork, I'm not a very artistic guy myself. Some neat gray/white/green control panel overlay under the plexi. A nice isometric, stylized raster drawing of an arkanoid playfield with some exploding blocks maybe? Ask in the artwork forum for some ideas. Green T-molding around the control panel with maybe a green pinstripe around the monitor.

[wave8]

I thought it would heat as well, but it's only a 16 watt bulb and it's actually luke warm to the touch. 

I think I will work on some artwork.  Does anyone know the best process for a larger print design?  Get a print shop to print or possibly some other method?  I haven't read much on this topic.

wave8

[pinballwizard79]

sweet. looks great

[Midway81]

very slick!

[Shortbus]

Fan-friggin Tastic, Love the Shamrock, Go Celtics! Go Irish!

Nice work for a 1st build. I'm impressed with your work!

[Pinball Wizard]

Very nice design. Its clean, modern and looks good. very nice.