Multi-purpose bartop

[glonq]

This weekend, I started building a bartop that will primarily serve as a mame cab, but could also be a decent TV or PC.  My main concern was to accommodate the fact that you'd expect a different viewing angle for each role (straight for TV or PC, tilted back for gaming).  The design constraint is the fact that I'm not a mechanical engineer, nor do I have aspirations of becoming one.  I'm sticking to noob-friendly woodworking.  Here's the plan:

Cab in 'straight' orientation:


Cab in 'tilted' orientation:


Here's the guts.  3/4" MDF + 2x2 frame:


Note that the front panel (acting as an LCD bezel) will actually be made of wood, not plexi as shown.

[glonq]

After a couple clumsy attempts at making straight cuts using a skill saw or a jig saw (w/ guide), I gave up and hauled all my MDF to a workshop that has a table saw and other proper tools.  Wow, having the right tools for the job makes all the difference!

Clamping and gluing the frame onto the front panel:


Fully assembled CP next to a fully cut/routed front panel:


For sound, I'll sacrifice a couple low-end dell speakers:


Installed the under-mount joystick kit from GGG:


Cut the piano hinge using a jig saw + metal blade:


Here's how the cab will look in 'straight view':


Here's how it'll look in 'tilted' view (excuse the bad angle.  and the hairy arm ):

[NiN^_^NiN]

thats a smart idea with the angles for tv then arcade nice i like it

Good job keeping an eye on this

[IG-88]

Very cool!  This gives me a few ideas for my own. What kind of dimensions are we looking at? (width, height & depth)

Also are you going to have a DVD player coming out the side maybe? That'd be sweet.

[glonq]

Very cool!  This gives me a few ideas for my own. What kind of dimensions are we looking at? (width, height & depth)

Also are you going to have a DVD player coming out the side maybe? That'd be sweet.

Roughly 25" wide, 21" high, 16" deep.  Big enough to fit a 22" LCD plus a bunch of PC parts.

I still haven't decided if (or where) the DVD player will be exposed.

[Bender]

I really like the design

I know it's a little late but you could angle the left and right edges as well so you could do horizontal AND vertical orientation

[gonzo90017]

Smart design. Looking forward to seeing your progress.

[glonq]

Slow progress this week:

Since it's cold and windy outside now, I built a ghetto-style enclosure in the garage for spraying the primer:


After spraying the primer, I realized that I hate spray painting.  Eff it, I'm gonna roll this sucker.  Latex too, since oil is a PITA.


3 primer + 3 paint + 3 clear coat = durable finish?


A test fit of all the panels before I start gluing and screwing.


A long weekend approaches (Canadian Thanksgiving), so I hope to finish off the CP (buttons, sticks, mini-pac), and then resume work on the cab.

[glonq]

Halfway through wiring up the mini-pac harness (a nice time saver!)


The finished product.


Time to finish the cab now...

[koinsatx]

Looking really good. 

 So did you use latex based paint?  and then clear coat it? 

 Any thoughts on this?

 I used latex based and am not happy with the durability of it I think.


Kevin

[slasherman]

What about also making it tilt vertikal. Nice idea by the way

[glonq]

Looking really good. 

 So did you use latex based paint?  and then clear coat it? 

 Any thoughts on this?

 I used latex based and am not happy with the durability of it I think.


Kevin

I'm sure the durability will be okay for the cab.  Not quite sure about the CP, though.  If 3 coats of polyurethane aren't enough, then I'll strip the sucker down and resurface it with shelf paper or vinyl or linoleum or something.

[glonq]

Back to the cab.  I wanted to make more progress on this, but a car decided to slam into my bike and dog and myself this week, and that slowed me down a bit. 

Fully assembled (glued and screwed).  Monitor seems to fit nicely.  Piano hinges fit well enough.


Painting the cab

[glonq]

No updates for a few weeks, but lots of progress.  The thing is all painted now, and I stuck a $200 barebones PC inside.  I haven't put the hinged top/back panels on yet.

Here's the guts:


This is the cab in upright mode, pretending to be a PC:


...and here it is tilted back, running Hyperspin and my fave classic game, Elevator Action:


Okay, I'm definitely throught the woods on this project.  My to-do list includes:
- Use piano hinges to attach top and back panels
- Build a little panel on the back for power cable, USB hub, power button, etc
- Decide on a front end (check out Mala and others)
- Figure a way to add sturdy handles that don't look crappy
- roms roms roms.
- Turn it into a Vista Media Center (TV tuner, remote control)
- Repeatedly spray all painted surfaces with clear coat until the bottle runs dry

FYI, cab specs are:
- AMD Sempron
- Geforce 6100 (onboard)
- 2GB RAM
- 500GB HDD
- Vista ultimate
- Acer 22" LCD
- Mini-pac encoder
- Hauppauage PVR-150 tuner
- Microsoft MCE remote

[DaOld Man]

looking real good!
Clever idea with the dual purpose too.