The Vewlix Fighter Cabinet - WIP. The cab is dead my friends.

[Bender]

The problem is there isn't enough material to clamp the piece down once its been cut free of the main board for the router to sit on.

I'll try a few other things this afternoon and we'll see how it goes. Also gonna be trying to get the control panel built and the bottom box assembled.

Photos to come later.

if you have a template you can use double sided tape or even screw the template down, also I have had to use scraps of wood the same width laid all out on a flat surface to support the router

does that make any sense?

[Franco B]

Either buy or build yourself a router table. If you thought routers were versitle a router table will at least quadruple that. I'm routing things less than 1/2" diameter at the moment, something you couldnt do with a router on its own.

[Gatsu]

I've got a router table...its kinda small but should do the trick I guess.

Managed to get the base control panel box built. Just gotta add the sides and front decorative white pieces, and then route out the sections for the move list art and the plexi.

Gonna take a break for a couple of days to work on some artwork I've promised for other people here on the forum. Don't want to keep them waiting.

I'll get back on it Thursday.

[Gatsu]

alright here's another update. (with photos)

Put the bottom box together. Thats where all the guts will go obviously. Also started putting the control panel together.


Base of the case




front of the case...minus the front piece...that I dropped and broke by accident. so I gotta re-cut that piece tomorrow.


The control panel baseboard with the sides attached. Thats not all of it. There are some angled pieces that need to be cut out and mounted as well.


Test fit of the control panel on the base box.


Test fit with the top of the CP on. I'm also testing a theory on how to may the CP stable, but easily swappable.

Anyway. Any questions or input feel free.

[Gatsu]

Yet another update, quite a bit of progress today.

Recut the front of the main box and screwed it in place. I haven't cut the access door out yet, Im gonna wait to do that just before I permanently put the box together. Right now its just screwed together, no glue. When its all finalized and assembled, I'll be putting some wood glue on the screws to help solidify the hold.

Glued the side pieces together and routed out the television resting holes. Did a test clamp fit of the sides on the box, slapped the monitor in place and set the control panel up. Its looking mighty fine right now.















Might take a break tomorrow...not sure yet. Theres still so much I need to do.
The speaker box along the top of the television needs to be done. The side pieces & front of the control panel need to be cut out and glued in place. The top bars need to be cut out and glued together....and then the painting can begin.

Thats just before I can start priming and painting....

Also gotta build the interior shelves for all the PC components to mount to, and the 360.

What do you guys think of it so far?

[Sosetsuken]

Holy crap Gats!

That looks amazing dude!  Can't wait to see the frame finished and assembled, although I feel for you as you still have to paint it

Keep it up man!

[Gatsu]

glad you dig it. I must admit I was scared for the first few weeks that none of it would come together right, I'd screw up the tv mounting or something. So yesterday was a real huge relief for me when we test fit the tv and it sat all nice and pretty. So all the clencher work is done. Now I can relax a little and take care of the rest which won't be so bad.

I've got a couple more things to buy (including artwork) which I forgot to include in my budget so Im having to scrape some extra cash together for that. Hopefully I won't have to cheap out on it. Most of its gonna be vinyl decal type stuff....but I wanna get the control panel done through mame marquees if possible. Just gotta get a quote from them.

There are gonna be some holes in the side panels that will need to be covered up. But instead of puttying them up, I wanna leave them functional so I can take the cabinet apart incase I have to move again. So I need to find some white and black screw hole covers. Do those even exist? I need a good many of them Im sure.

[thatitalian]

DUDE! That is crazy! I really like that! A LOT!

Would one mind if one built a cab similar to ones cab?

[drventure]

I like it! Nice and slim with good lines and proportions.

And that's a great use for that big flat screen! 

[Gatsu]

Thanks for the kind words guys. Im really happy with how its turning out as well.

@ thatitalian - be my guest. Im basing my design off of someone elses. PM me your email and I can send you the google sketchup file.

@ drventure - yeah Im glad I decided on the Vewlix design instead of the Lindberg. The Vewlix is just so much sexy.

[thatitalian]

@ thatitalian - be my guest. Im basing my design off of someone elses. PM me your email and I can send you the google sketchup file.

NO FRIGGING WAY! PM SENT!

[Gatsu]

cool. I'll email it to you this evening when I get home from work.

This week Im hoping to get it to the point where its ready to prime. But gonna be taking a day off today to chill out and catch up on some episodes of True Blood.

[CthulhuLuke]

That cabinet is looking really slick Gatsu. I've always been a fan of the japanese arcades. Are you going to go with sanwa's or seimitsu's to match the cab and everything?

Also is there any problems so far with the tippy-ness of the cabinet? I know a lot of Japanese cabinets get away with not tipping during intense SF4 by being so damn heavy, and MDF should be heavy enough but I could imagine someone with a little muscle could have that thing topple on them.

I think another very cool thing about that cabinet is you'll definitely be able to fit it in the doorway. Cabinet designs like the UAII are really beefy and I've seen a lot of people here have troubles just getting the arcade into their basement.

Great job so far!

[Gatsu]

Thanks for the kind words Cthulhu.

I am still debating on the style joysticks to go in the cab. I can order Sanwas and wait 2-3 weeks to get them in, or modify the happ sticks I've got to have balltops instead of teardrop. I know I want ball top sticks...just not sure on happ or sanwa. Because I like both. So cost and availability are the only factors.

But for buttons Im going with Happ for now. I can always widen the holes and use Sanwa buttons later. But all the colors will be white to match the original Vewlix.

With the tippy-ness. None whatsoever. Once the control panel is bolted down this bad boy will not move. Like you said, the MDF makes it heavy.

As for the size and moving it around, I'm not puttying up the screw holes for the major components of the cab so it is easily taken apart for moving purposes. So I've gotta find some white and black screw hole covers to take care of that.

*EDIT/UPDATE:
Actually...I just ordered 2 Sanwa JLW sticks from LizardLick. So it'll be sanwa sticks & happ buttons. So not 100% accurate. But I'll probably upgrade to sanwa buttons later on after I finish paying for the other parts.

[Gatsu]

I ordered some sanwa white buttons as well for the control panel. Dunno what came over me....just felt the insane urge to order some...so I did.

So my cab will be more accurate to the official vewlix.

[Kaytrim]

Looking good there buddy.  Keep cracking you'll get it done soon.

Michael

[Sosetsuken]

cool. I'll email it to you this evening when I get home from work.

This week Im hoping to get it to the point where its ready to prime. But gonna be taking a day off today to chill out and catch up on some episodes of True Blood.

Zomg, Sam's the man eh!  Can't wait to see what Season 2 brings

[Gatsu]

Yeah the shows awesome. I've watched the whole first season in like 2 nights.

[Sosetsuken]

nice move on the Joysticks and Buttons.  I was a bit worried about the happ controls on the cab, not to say that happ controls aren't great, just saying that you're trying to recreate the vewlix cab (and doing a sweet job if i do say so!) so you need the sanwas

Oh btw I figured out the joysticks in my Astro City panel are Seimitsu's not sanwas?  But they still feel great so i'm not too worried.  I just thought the astro control panel used sanwa sticks.

Anyways, this post needs more 

please?

[Gatsu]

yeah that decision had been tormenting me since I started working on the cab. So much in fact that I have 2 sets of controls for the cabinet. One set of happ, one set of sanwa. lol. I already had the happ parts ordered and waiting....but then I got the urge to buy the sanwa parts. so....lol.

Sanwa is going in it for sure though.

Thats interesting about your CP though. I think Sanwa & Seimitsu are pretty much the same thing as far as look and feel. The more options the merrier I guess. Since arcades are still money makers in japan 2 companies can thrive over there selling arcade parts. Too bad the american arcades are all but dead.

And I promise I'll get more pics this weekend when I get back working on it again.

[Gatsu]

Sadly no progress this weekend. I've been feeling under the weather. So i've been figuring out how all the guts are going to be wired and whatnot. But I hit a snag.

I've got 2 100watt car speakers. And the 2 main audio sources will be an Xbox 360 and a PC. I need at least a 2.1 system in the cab so it'll have some bass. So the 2 speakers (a sub I havent gotten yet) wired to the 360 and PC.

Getting a full stereo receiver is out of the question because of cost and ease of use. It'd be a pain to turn it on and off and all that in the cab.

So I need a small 2.1 audio amp that has its own power supply...and can hook up to 100watt speakers.

Looking around on ebay I found this:
LINK

But I don't know if that will be ideal for those speakers and the subwoofer. Or will I even need a subwoofer If I have a good set of speakers?
 
What do I need to get? And what kind of cost am I looking at?

[Gatsu]

nevermind. I looked around and found another thread that answered my speaker questions.

I decided that I will wait on building a New PC to run SFIV until later on when I can really afford it. Since Ive got a 360 going in the cab, that'll run SFIV just as well. So Im gonna use my mini-pc for Mame to run 3rd Strike and the Mortal Kombat games.

[Kaytrim]

Get feeling better buddy.  There is a lot of weird stuff flying around.

[SNAAKE]

is the control panel gonna be square box? could be more "stylish". cabinet itself looking good and accurate. not digging the panel. add some angles or something. [/constructive criticism]

[Gatsu]

the the front and side angle pieces haven't been cut out yet for the control panel. Thats just the base box. So no worries. The control panel will look like the vewlix original...not just a square box.

It ain't done yet.

here's an example image of what it'll hopefully look like when its done.

[Ond]

But I don't know if that will be ideal for those speakers and the subwoofer. Or will I even need a subwoofer If I have a good set of speakers?
 
What do I need to get? And what kind of cost am I looking at?

Speakers with good cone travel, even smaller ones can produce quite acceptable bass (in a good enclosure).  You can pair quality home speakers with a decent car amp even though home speakers are rated at about 8 ohms and car stuff is rated at about 4 ohms - no problem.  The main issue is supplying power to a car amp - you need to source a power supply that's noise free and can put out 12volts at high enough amperage (at least 5 ampere) to drive those quality speakers.

There are quite a few good car speakers with pretty good bass as well, sounds like you might already have found some.

I'm replying to this one because that is exactly what I 'll be doing in my cab. I haven't picked out my parts yet but I can let you know when I do.  Subbies are great but not always convenient, same with home audio gear.  Just so you know, I have used the combo I've described before and I do run a home subby as well (for home cinema).  My home subby runs a plate amp custom built for it (powered by mains supply) and rated at 1100W continuous.

[Sosetsuken]

Hey Gats,  you feeling better mate?

Will ya be working on the Vewy this weekend?

[Gatsu]

feeling somewhat better. Now its dealing with the southern weather. lol.

Yeah I'm gonna be working on it for the next 4 days. Hopefully will get the rest of it cut out, glued together and puttied up...then will hopefully (crosses fingers) start painting it this weekend.

Gonna have to wait on drilling the control panel holes and whatnot until I can get the art printed. So that may be one of the last steps.

[Gatsu]

Control Panel update! Angles mutha f$&^@cka! Do you speak it! 


rear of the control panel, sitting on the bottom box.


underside of the control panel.....thats basically the board that mounts to the main box.


Front shot of the box and control panel. Lookin sexy with its angles. And notice the access door hole has been cut out too.


closer shot of the angled sexy.


Oh look....the top and front come off in one nice piece so that swapping panels or making repairs is easier! w00t.

Now all thats left is the speaker box, pieces to cover the outer edges of the television and the marquee holder top. Then it shall be 100% cut out and assembled. And priming can begin. MUWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

So close now.....so close.

That control panel is damn heavy though....I will probably use bolts to mount it instead of wood screws because I don't think the screws would hold well enough.

Only thing really left to do to the CP now is rout out the mounting area for the control plate, and the area for the move list artwork. Sand a few edges to make it smooth and then its ready to get primed.

[Bender]

Looking great Gatsu

love the angles on that cp

[Gatsu]

thanks man.

I was really worried that the angles wouldn't meet up at all. Even though they aren't 100%....they are a lot better than I thought they would be. Some light sanding will make it perfect. Just as long as I don't go too crazy with the belt sander. lol.

[Sosetsuken]

very nice Gats!

I used bolts in the side of my cab to hold the giant monitor, I was a bit worried they'd look bad but I found the shiny round looking ones and they fit right in.  I was like you thinking that wood screws might not be strong enough.

Nearly there mate, keep it up, GO FOR BROKE!

[Gatsu]

hehe. Oh Im going for broke alright. Cuz I'm gonna be damn broke by the time I finish this thing.

But I came to some realizations about what my choices of hardware are and what that will limit me to.

Ultimately....what do I expect out of this cabinet and what it can really deliver. And sadly I'm going to have to cut the mame pc out of the equation for now. Running Mame on an LCD to me just doesn't yield the true-arcade results I want. So until I can afford a 2nd cab, its gonna have to wait.

So all that PC hardware I just bought is gonna collect dust. lol. I can get some use out of it. But not what I was expecting.

Anyway. So what IS going in my cabinet. For right now just an Xbox 360. With that, I can cover a lot of the newer fighters (and some of the older ones) through Live Arcade, and the newer titles like Street Fighter IV and Dead or Alive.

And because Im a stickler for punishment...and am never content with 1 thing. I'm looking into getting a Naomi & GD-Rom system so I can run Capcom vs. SNK 2 and some of the other sweet-ass fighters on that system.

[Sosetsuken]

Don't forget Marvel Vs Capcom 2 is coming to xbox live, and Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix.  Theres also a handful of arcade classics that have HD upgrades, like Gauntlet and Double Dragon that would look nice on an LCD.  Not to mention that Tekken 6 and Kof XII are coming out fairly soon .

Either a naomi or a dreamcast with a VGA cable?  Which ever is cheaper is suppose but I agree you need Capcom Vs SNK 2 on that bad boy.  One of my mates came over last night and we played Cvs2 for about 3 hours straight haha.

[Gatsu]

did they make capcom vs. snk 2 for the dreamcast? If so Im gonna have to find that and slap a dreamcast in my cab for now till I can afford a Naomi kit.

[Namco]

Wow Gatsu, the wood working is coming along great! You did a great job with all those angles and pieces. TV fits beautifully.

[Gatsu]

thanks for the kind words Namco.

The angles were the most difficult part. They aren't perfect, but some sanding will make them look better.

[Sosetsuken]

did they make capcom vs. snk 2 for the dreamcast? If so Im gonna have to find that and slap a dreamcast in my cab for now till I can afford a Naomi kit.

Yeah Gats, "Capcom Vs. SNK 2 - Millionaire Fighting 2001" it was only ever released in Japan on Dreamcast.  The US/PAL version was only released on Xbox / PS2 and Gamecube. [ Xbox & Gamecube versions were EO, which sucked, cause when you select your character, you also have to select EO or AO Mode.  EO was the mode where all specials could be done with like Fwd+P, and supers done by D,DF,F+P ] It was subtitled "Mark of the Millenium 2001" instead of millionaire fighting.

Anyways, get a Dreamcast+VGA Cable, and Cvs1/pro & Cvs2, Guilty Gear XX, and a few of the other dreamcast games.  Probably a lot cheaper than a naomi kit + gd's/carts.

[HaRuMaN]

Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 is on the Dreamcast...  and the best part is, if you have the know-how, you can edit the disk and use your own custom music, and get rid of that "Take you for a ride" crap.  I have a few custom rock mixes for mine.

[Gatsu]

I've got MVSC 2 and 3rd Strike. Just need CvSNK2 and Guilty Gear and I'll be set. And I know where I can find those. 

so now all I need are 2 more controllers and a vga cable. w00t.