Author Topic: Bob's Arcade Cabinet 2nd attempt! (Read 9961 times)

BobtheAddict · « **on:** August 04, 2008, 10:55:13 pm »

Hello everyone,

As many here have already stated, I would not be able to build a cabinet without the help of this site and it's members. I have been in the arcade scene since 2000 "Maybe longer, I can't remember" and I decided that my cabinet needs an upgrade.

The first cabinet I build in 2001 was based off a Gauntlet style cabinet I saw at a local nickle nickle arcade. I really liked how the cabinet was designed with the 4 player control panel being a big plus. My Friends and I took a stroll over to the local arcade during a lunch break and started taking measurements of the cab "Height, Depth, Width, Etc" and jotted them down on a legal pad for future reference. I know the owner of the arcade shop was tripping out because here are a bunch of guys with a legal pad and a measurement tape writting stuff down and not even dropping a single quarter to play a game. In our defense, we only had a half hour lunch so we needed to get the dimensions and head back to work.

The next couple of weeks I started researching BYOAC website examples and starting complying a list of materials, encorders, buttons and joysticks to purchase. Back in the day, everyone was using 1/2" or 3/4" particle wood "At least this is what I remembered" so that was the material I choose to build my cabinet. As for the controls, I decided to go with Happs competitor buttons with micro switches, Happ's 8 way joysticks and a Hagstrom KE72 keyboard encoder.

Here are a couple of pictures of my control panel:

I will post some additional pictures tomorrow. It's late and I feel like having a cold beer.

BobTheAddict

severdhed · « **Reply #1 on:** August 05, 2008, 11:40:09 am »

looks good...keep those pics coming.

BobtheAddict · « **Reply #2 on:** August 05, 2008, 09:32:45 pm »

Last night after throwing back several cold beverages I went thru my photo album and came across some pictures of the actual cabinet itself in development. I do apologize in advance for the quality of the pictures as I had to take digital pictures of the old Kodak pictures to be able to upload them here.

As you can see from the pictures, I decided to paint the cabinet with a textured paint that was conveniently located at my local Home Depot. If I remember correctly, i must have went thru 12 cans of paint "$3.99 a pop". Oh, those were the days.

For the video portion, I had an old TV laying around and decided to hook it up with my old school 486 dell computer via RCA cables. At the time is was pretty because we could watch TV in the garage or bust out a Robotron tournament.

I will post some additional pictures of my new control panel shortly.

BobtheAddict · « **Reply #3 on:** August 08, 2008, 08:46:24 pm »

Sorry guys, I travel most of the year so it is hard to keep on top of this. So let's get down to business shall we?

After building my first cabinet, I decided the control panel needed some extra elbow room between player 1 and play 2. I have look at 1000 control panel examples build by other members and nothing really stood out that I wanted to build. I enjoy the Frankenstein panels, but it not my cup of tee. So, I decided to pick and choose some really cool features others members have utilized in their control panel.

Before doing any cutting, I started off with a cardboard box "As most everyone does" to tweak out the layout. After several tries, I finally decided on a layout. I took the design and laid it out on a piece of birch, cut it to length, drilled the holes and routed the trackball and joystick mounts.

Man, it come out like crap! It is very difficult to cut birch and not have the wood splinter. Oh well, at least I didn't spend any money on the wood. Here is a couple of pictures that show the template I used.

After reading so many post about what type of wood to use, I came to the conclusion that MDF was the winner. So, I went down to my local Home Depot and pick up a 4'x8' of MDF.

BobtheAddict · « **Reply #4 on:** August 16, 2008, 08:00:27 pm »

Here is an update on my Arcade project. Since I built the control panel out of Birch and it came out like crap, I decided to use it as a template for the new top made from 3/4 MDF.

I took a piece of MDF and cut to size and laid the Birch template on top. All I needed to do now is to bust out my router with a flush bit and route out the template. Here are a couple of pictures.

BobTheAddict

BobtheAddict · « **Reply #5 on:** August 18, 2008, 02:22:00 pm »

After making a new top and routing out such things as the joysticks and roller ball mounts, I decided to work on the base.

The base of my first cabinet was square and as it served a purpose, but I wanted to do something different with the front edge on the new base. After seeing Mountains control panel base, I decided to go with a curved front edge to match the curved control panel I have already cutout.

As you can see from the pictures, I started out with a piece of 3/4" MDF and ripped it in half on my table saw. This allowed me to glue the two pieces together and clamp it down to a template I made to make the curved front.

Here are a couple of pictures of the base.

Neilyboy · « **Reply #6 on:** August 18, 2008, 04:22:30 pm »

Looking very awesome man! I love seeing just how well these CP's are being built these days. I really need to get a start on mine and get a router haha..

Keep the pics coming man they are looking very nice!

Neil

BobtheAddict · « **Reply #7 on:** August 24, 2008, 09:53:37 pm »

Thanks Neil,

I put a lot of sweat into this build. I hope it comes out good.

Here is another update on my project. Once I had the base completed to measurements, I started on looking for hinges that would allow the top of the control panel to open from the front. The hinge I decided to go with was the Euro hinge. The only problem with a Euro hinge is that it does not work well when there is not a 90 degree edge.

With a little help from some members of this site, I came up with an idea to route out a groove on the control panel to allow the top to open.

Here are some pictures I took during the process.

soup · « **Reply #8 on:** August 25, 2008, 05:25:46 am »

[quote author=BobtheAddict link=topic=83013.msg875022#msg875022 date=1219629217

With a little help from some members of this site, I came up with an idea to route out a groove on the control panel to allow the top to open.

[/quote]

Bob, that groove thing could sort out my issue - I use a CP top that is curved like yours and have been trying to figure out how to have the thing hinge open without the overhang stopping it.
I am using a 'square' CP box with a curved CP top edge, so would I just have to run a straight groove all the way along (as opposed to your curved groove)?

BTW - that CP is looking very clean!!!!! Good stuff in going to the effort in getting the curved look too

BobtheAddict · « **Reply #9 on:** August 25, 2008, 09:27:39 pm »

Soup,

It is quite possible routing a grove will resolve your hinge / opening issue. What I would do is get a thin piece of MDF or some scrap wood laying around and mount your hinges as high as you can without the hinge being exposed.

Then get a thick piece of cardboard and cut out your grove. Once the cut is completed, tape the hinges to the cardboard and see if it will open.

BobTheAddict

BobtheAddict · « **Reply #10 on:** August 31, 2008, 02:24:58 pm »

This weekend I wanted to paint the control panel to protect it from the elements. I went to Lowe's and started looking for primer and semigloss black paint and came across a couple of Rust-Oleum products that fit my needs.

I ended up buying two Quarts of Rust-Oleum Painter's Touch N1974 Semigloss Black and N1980
Grey Primer.

The concern I had with the paint was how to apply it. My last project I used spay cans and it did not come out as nice as I wanted.

I had a scrap piece of wood laying around the garage, so I decided to test a roller and a sponge brush to see what would happen. Once the paint was dry, I could tell the roller and the sponge brush were not cutting it. So I decided to go out and buy a Husky Gravity Feed Hvlp Spray gun.

I am not a painter by trade, but this spray gun made me feel like one. I just can't believe I waited all this time to buy a paint gun.

Here are some pictures, enjoy.

BobtheAddict · « **Reply #11 on:** September 01, 2008, 12:09:27 pm »

I just finished putting on three coats of primer and started with the semigloss black paint when I realized that I forgot to mount the pinball plunger. I think the problem was I was sober this weekend.

Oh well, back to the drawing board. Here are a couple of pictures of the revised panel.

BobtheAddict · « **Reply #12 on:** September 06, 2008, 01:31:46 pm »

Good afternoon everyone,

The last couple of days I have been working on the base of the control panel. After my little incident with the pinpall plunger, I made an executive decision to throw back a couple of cold beers to help calm my nerves. And boy, did it help!

Here are some pictures of the base with the pinball plunger temporally installed.

Bender · « **Reply #13 on:** September 07, 2008, 12:01:19 am »

wow! that plunger looks great!

what kind of paint did you use on that cp? looks awesome
how about some details on that plunger

punxrus · « **Reply #14 on:** September 07, 2008, 12:09:53 am »

That looks freakin' sweet! I had no idea you could rig up a plunger!

BobtheAddict · « **Reply #15 on:** September 07, 2008, 12:58:58 pm »

Thanks guys for the compliments.

For the plunger, I wish I took additional pictures to show the mount before I used Bondo and paint to cover it up, but I will try to explain the process for everyone.

First things first, I cannot take credit for the idea about mounting the pinball plunger to the base, as I got the idea from Mountains control panel. With that said, here is the process.

The first thing I did was route out a groove on the base so I could mount a metal plate for strength. Next, I took the back of the pinball plunger and cut it down to size "See picture below for details" so it was not so bulky. In addition, I flipped the pinball plunger upside down in order to mount it to the base.

Next, I used some nylon washers to mount the plunger. It was a little tricky to mount because of the radius, so I had to cut the nylon washers at different angles to make the plunger level and to be able to bolt it down.

That is all I did really to get the plunger installed. Of course, I am so anal about everything being perfect, that I must have spent 4 days making sure the mount was straight and the Bondo surrounding the plunger was smooth.

For the paint portion, I started with a good primer. I decided to go with a quart of Rust-Oleum Painter's Touch N1980 Grey Primer. I would say that I put on about 4 coats of primer that was applied from a spray gun I just picked up. I did all the normal stuff like sanding in-between coats "220 all the way up to 400 sand paper". Next, I used Rust-Oleum Painter's Touch N1974 Semi gloss Black. Because I wanted the black paint to be perfect, I must have put on 10 coats or more. LOL

Well, that is it for now. Football is about to begin and you know what that means, an excuse to pop open a beer before noon.

BobtheAddict · « **Reply #16 on:** September 12, 2008, 12:33:57 am »

Good evening everyone, I just finished putting the last coat of black paint on the control panel and wanted to share with you where my project stands.

All I need to do now is route out the groove for the T-Molding and spray on a couple of clear coats to complete the top portion.

thatitalian · « **Reply #17 on:** September 12, 2008, 04:51:23 am »

Would you mind describing the painting process you used, it looks like laminate it is that smooth!

BobtheAddict · « **Reply #18 on:** September 13, 2008, 12:22:51 am »

Sure thing thatitalian! I mentioned the painting process above but I can elaborate a little more.

I started with a good base coat of primer "Rust-Oleum Painter's Touch N1980 Grey Primer". If I recall correctly, I put four coats of primer down and sanded in-between coats. Typically, you would use 220 sand paper to sand in-between coats but I used several different grits of sand paper in-between. Most, if not everyone here will tell you it is over kill to use anything more than 220, but I went up to 600 grit.

Between coats of primer, I let the paint dry for at least 18-24 hours before I sanded.

This allowed me to get that smooth silk finish I was hoping for. The real key with my paint job was that I used a Gravity Feed Hvlp Spray gun.

I hope that answers your question.

BobTheAddict

thatitalian · « **Reply #19 on:** September 14, 2008, 03:40:40 pm »

Great answer! Thanks very much!

BobtheAddict · « **Reply #20 on:** September 14, 2008, 04:04:27 pm »

I forgot to mention one additional step.

After I sprayed the final coat of black paint, I let it dry and spayed a 3mil layer of clear to seal the final coat. The product I decided to go with was DEFT Clear Wood Finish Gloss Waterborne Acrylic Finish. I went with this particular product because I could apply the clear coat with my Spray Gun.

OK, back to watching football and throwing back a couple of brews.

BobtheAddict · « **Reply #21 on:** September 19, 2008, 09:15:26 pm »

Here is a little update on my control panel project.

This week I decided to work on the groove for the T-Molding. I knew it was going to be tricky to cut the groove out with my router because the joystick bases were mounted to the base of the control panel. I could have taken them off, but I decided to work around the mounts.

The first thing I did was switch out the flush trim bit from my router and replaced it with the slot cutter I ordered from harbor freight. Next, I took the control panel and clamp it down to a sturdy surface and then I realized that the control panel was warped.

At this point, I couldn't believe my eyes. I had to walk away, I was so pissed after all my hard work making sure everything was perfect from paint to the bondo. I just couldn't believe my eyes. In a million years, I never thought MDF would warp but I stand corrected.

So after a few beers and a couple of smokes, I came up with the idea of mounting the router to a piece of wood and building a fence that would allow me to cut out an even groove all away around the top.

To my suprise it work out perfectly. To all of you out there working with MDF, make sure you don't do the same thing as me and cut the groove as soon as possible.

Here are a couple of pictures of the jig I made to cut the groove.

BobtheAddict · « **Reply #22 on:** September 21, 2008, 02:08:37 pm »

Today I am getting ready to hand over the control panel to my friend so it can be airbrushed and I thought I should take some pictures before it comes back.

Temporally installed the rollerball, joysticks, buttons and spinner to see how it looks. I'll post updates once my buddy finishes the paint job.

Back to foolball Sunday and throwing down a couple of cold ones.

BobtheAddict · « **Reply #23 on:** September 27, 2008, 08:24:50 pm »

Today my buddy called me and let me know he finished paining the control panel. Here are some pictures of the final control panel.

NiteWalker · « **Reply #24 on:** December 16, 2008, 08:08:46 pm »

Your bud did an awesome job with the airbrush, as did you with the construction. I have a few questions about your HVLP gun. Where did you get it and what model; and what compressor are you running?

TIA.

Resurrecting the thread because it's a good build and because of my questions.

Hunk_4TH · « **Reply #25 on:** December 16, 2008, 10:57:31 pm »

I agree, the cp art is amazingly cool!

cmoses · « **Reply #26 on:** December 17, 2008, 09:58:45 am »

Looking great. How did you get the top where the trackball mount went to look so smooth?

andy p · « **Reply #27 on:** December 17, 2008, 08:52:40 pm »

Love the paint job.

What an excellent idea!

Look forward to more pics soon!

BobtheAddict · « **Reply #28 on:** December 18, 2008, 08:30:32 pm »

Greetings everyone from the dead!

I cannot believe it has been three month since I last updated my project. It is mostly due to getting frustrated with not be able to wrap the T-Molding around the control panel correctly. I have tried cutting grooves so the molding will flex around the corners, tried hot glue and nothing seem to be working out.

Anyone out there have any tricks of the trade that might help me with my T-Molding dilemma?
If need be, I can post some close up pictures of the panel if that would help out.

Anyhow, let me try and answer your questions:

HVLP gun was purchased from my local Home Depot. Here is the exact make and model number of the gun "Husky
Gravity Feed Hvlp Spray Gun Model HDS79000AV".

Regarding the rollerball mount, I used a plunge router to route out a very thin layer of wood so the rollerball plate would sit flush with the MDF. Once I had the wood routed, I used bondo and a lot of TLC to make it smooth.

mahalos · « **Reply #29 on:** December 20, 2008, 05:02:04 am »

Try heating the t-moulding with a hair dryer. It makes very flexible.

BobtheAddict · « **Reply #30 on:** January 20, 2009, 09:53:40 pm »

Hello everyone,

This weekend I decided to take everones advise and apply the T-Molding to my control panel. I attempted to apply the molding myself and I was unable to stretch and apply the molding. So I called up one of my buddies for assistance. We ended up using a razor blade and cutting v's in the molding so that the molding would curve the corners. Next, we used a heat gun and applied it to the bent corners and it worked like a charm.

I will post some pictures tomorrow but I wanted to thank everyone for their assistance.

BobTheAddict

BobtheAddict · « **Reply #31 on:** January 31, 2009, 02:54:38 pm »

I finally got around to taking a couple of pictures and wouldn't you know only one picture came out good.

Oh well, here you go. Now all is left is to start the wiring process.

BobtheAddict · « **Reply #32 on:** April 27, 2009, 12:02:28 am »

Good evening everyone,

This weekend I decided to tackle the wiring harness for the control panel. I have spent a lot of time looking at examples from other members and I finally came up with a game plan. I can see every member put a lot of time into their wiring job and I wanted to make sure I do the same.

The first thing I did before wiring the control panel, I grabbed a roil of wire I had laying around and started laying the wire. I used 22 AWG wire and I could tell since the wire was pretty stiff, I was going to run into an issue with keeping all the wires together.

Here are a couple of pictures of my original wire job and some new mock up wire examples.

BobtheAddict · « **Reply #33 on:** April 27, 2009, 12:21:52 am »

Now that I had the layout completed, I wanted to reduce the bulky wire with a thinner gauge so I could control the bend. I decided on going with 26 AWG wire. The next issue I ran into was keeping all the wire neat and clean while hooking up the quick disconnects to the micro switches.

My buddy gave me the idea of cutting the wire in 2 foot length and zip tying in place. This allowed me to keep the wire harness tight and allowing me to pull the slack out to hook up to the micro switch. Here are a couple of pictures of the wire in zip ties and hooked up to the micro switches.

BobtheAddict · « **Reply #34 on:** May 04, 2009, 11:00:52 pm »

I have been working on the wiring now for the last two weeks and have about 8 hours into it so far. Can't believe it is taking me so long to hook up the wires, but it will be well worth it once it is completed. Here is a picture with the control panel mounted to the base and the wiring job almost complete.

Time to quit for the night and have a few brews and watch the lakers game.

BobTheAddict

sayitaintjonas · « **Reply #35 on:** May 05, 2009, 08:55:57 am »

Quote from: BobtheAddict on April 27, 2009, 12:21:52 am

My buddy gave me the idea of cutting the wire in 2 foot length and zip tying in place. This allowed me to keep the wire harness tight and allowing me to pull the slack out to hook up to the micro switch. Here are a couple of pictures of the wire in zip ties and hooked up to the micro switches.

Good advice! I'd say all that time spent on the wiring was well worth it. Looks great

BobtheAddict · « **Reply #36 on:** May 07, 2009, 08:14:52 pm »

Thanks for the compliment sayitaintjonas, it is coming along slowly but it is getting there. I am afraid that if I do not spend the time on the wiring, something might go wrong and then I will have to fix it later on.

I will post some new updated pictures tonight of the wiring job. I am 85% done and all that is left is to build a pinball plunger circit and wire up the side pinball buttons.

Ond · « **Reply #37 on:** May 07, 2009, 10:28:07 pm »

I really like the fact that you've airbrushed your CP artwork, and you have a pinball plunger as well. Very neat work. I have zero experience with an airbrush but that will be my choice too (when I reach that stage).

BobtheAddict · « **Reply #38 on:** May 12, 2009, 12:01:26 am »

I finally got around to taking some additional pictures of the wiring. All that is left is ground a couple of buttons and wire up the pinball plunger.

Enjoy

BobtheAddict · « **Reply #39 on:** August 07, 2009, 12:12:37 am »

Wow,

I just looked at the last time I posted updates to my project and it has been more than three months. I do apologize, I ran into a difficult situation and needed a break to think about how I was going to over come the challenge.

In any event, I have finished up the wiring portion of the control panel and the next challenge is to build the pinball plunger circut. Here are some updated pictures of the insides on the panel itself. Although it took me over several months to complete, I am pretty happy with the end results.

Enjoy!


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