Infinicade (fka My Cab Without a Name)

[TAG]

Well, after years of putting it off, I finally started building an arcade cabinet.  

By way of background, I bought Saint’s Project Arcade book at least three years ago, and I’ve been reading (and generally lurking on) the BYOAC forums regularly since before even that.  During all this time, I’ve been working on possible designs (and discarding most of them) and buying the tools I’ll need (using gift cards, coupons, discounts, clearance sales...seriously, I don’t think I paid even close to full price for anything, leaving more money to spend on the actual arcade parts!), all while putting off finally taking the plunge.

Now that I’m finally starting, this will be my little narrative of the planning and building of my cabinet.  Once it’s built, though, I might not be posting anymore...because, with any luck, I’ll be too busy playing games!

Here’s what I’m planning to use as the guts:

Dell Dimension 8300, Pentium 4, 3.0 GHz, 1 GB RAM (eBay)
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128 (thanks for the deal, dweebs0r)
JVC AV-27320 27" television with s-video (Craigslist)
Creative SBS 330 2.1 speakers (eBay)

I’m using Windows XP as the operating system.  I’ll be running MAME for the vast majority of games, along with Daphne, Model 2, Vivanonno, Mjolnir, Zinc, DICE, and some others for the games that don’t run as well (or at all) on MAME.  Maybe I’ll even give AAE a shot for the vector games that don’t look too good on the TV.  For the games that are just way too demanding for the system, as well as the games that aren’t working in any arcade emulators, I’ll be using the Dreamcast/N64/Playstation/etc. ports with the nullDC/Project64/PSX/etc. emulators.  I plan to use MAMEWah as the front end, since I’ve found it to be basic, straightforward, and easy to customize, at least once you get over the learning curve.

I doubt I’ll be doing anything revolutionary in designing and building this thing, but I’ve always enjoyed reading other members’ posts about their projects, so I’m hoping that some of you enjoy reading about mine.

As always, feedback/comments are welcome!

[TAG]

What finally lit the fire under me to get started was buying the wood, which I didn’t even intend to do at the time I did it.  I had decided to make the cab out of MDO, but after calling around to the lumber stores in my area, I discovered that MDO would have to be specially ordered and that it would run around $60 or so per sheet.  One Saturday, pretty much on a whim, I stopped by my local 84 Lumber to ask about the MDO, and maybe, just maybe, actually order it.  When I asked the clerk about it, though, he said that he had recently ordered some for a guy who apparently changed his mind about needing it.  As such, the clerk had it sitting in the back, and I wouldn’t need to specially order it.  Plus, he offered to sell it to me for $30 a sheet, which wasn’t much more than MDF at Home Depot.  Since I didn’t want to pass up such a good deal, I went ahead and bought the wood.

Now, with three big pieces of wood out in the shed taking up space, I definitely had to start building soon.  I went back to my various plans and tried to work out a final design.  I had scrapped ideas for cabinets with rotating panels and the like, since I didn’t think that would be the easiest way to cut my teeth on woodworking!  (Maybe next time around....)  I finally settled on one that I based on the designs for LuSid’s cab, the Neon MAME, and the Neo Geo cabinets. 

Here’s a scan of the final design:

[TAG]

Once I had the cabinet design, I moved on to finalizing the plans for the control panel.  I couldn’t imagine ever having four people around who wanted to play a game, so I went with a typical 2 player design: one joystick for each player, plus 7 buttons each, with the bottom row approximating the Neo Geo layout.  I also put a trackball between them.  Above all that, I put a spinner (with buttons next to it specifically to keep the original Tempest layout), a joystick for the 1 player or alternating 2 player games (intended to be an UltraStik 360, so that I could use it as a 2-way, 4-way, 8-way, and analog stick), more buttons for that joystick (designed to also have a workable layout for Asteroids, Defender, and Vanguard – an old, personal favorite), and, finally, a trigger stick (for M.A.C.H. 3, Zaxxon, and the non-lightcycle Tron levels).  It probably qualifies as a Frankenpanel, but I really thought I’d need all of those controls for the games I wanted to play. 

Here’s a scan of the final CP design (click on it for a bigger version):


(For the record, when I was planning on a rotating CP design, the top and bottom rows of the above design were going to be on separate panels.)

As you can see, I have the player 1 and 2 start buttons and the pause and exit buttons right above the top row of controls, but that plan may eventually change, as I’m considering making a separate administrative panel that would go right under the screen.  I also plan to put some holes in the CP between the first and second row of controls, which can then be covered up by a flap of the vinyl overlay, for attaching modular pieces (steering wheel, Star Wars yoke, etc.), but that idea might evolve (or devolve, maybe), too.

While I’m on the subject of designing a control panel, I can’t recommend highly enough making a simple mock-up using cardboard or some other material.  What looks fine on paper doesn’t always work in practice, and I found that to be the case with my designs.  Testing things out on my cardboard and rolled-up paper model led to the spacing on almost everything getting modified anywhere from a few sixteenths to a couple of inches.  Using the mock-up really let me come up with a final design that seems to take every possible situation into account.  Without it, I’d have been banging my forearms on other joysticks when playing Asteroids and Tempest.  Here's a picture of what was left of it after going through many revisions:



Anyway, with the designs done, all I need to do is pick up a few more supplies at Home Depot and Lowes, and then I'm officially out of excuses (being too cold out doesn't count) and ready to start building!  I figure I’ll deem it a success if (1) I finish up with a cabinet that doesn’t collapse in on itself, and (2) I still have all my fingers (although I suppose that would have allowed me to take a few buttons off the CP design).

[TAG]

Once I had all the materials together, I almost had second thoughts about trying to build this thing.  I mean, look at this pile of wood.  I’m really going to be able to make THIS into a working arcade game???



I mean, I made a pencil box and a lamp in high school shop class, and neither one of those turned out looking all that great. 

Still...I really wanted to play Donkey Kong with a joystick while standing in front of an arcade cabinet, so I figured it was worth a shot.

At any rate, I plan to stay fairly close to the Project Arcade book as far as the construction goes.  A few differences I’m planning are using one long shelf for the TV and the CP; an additional riser for the TV; additional support for the TV/CP shelf; and additional attachment of the sides to the base.

Here’s my work area.  It’s a bit cramped, but all the cutting and painting will be done outside, anyway.



Rather than measure and lay out all the pieces at once, I planned to draw, then cut, draw, then cut.  Since I made a few changes to the Project Arcade plans, I couldn’t use the layout in the book.  So, before I did anything on the wood, I planned it out on paper.  After several attempts, here’s what I came up with:



I figured I’d wind up straying from the plans, but as least this would give me some idea of where things would go before I started cutting.  With only three pieces of MDO, it’s not like I had lots of room for error on the big pieces.

I’ll be doing the cutting this weekend, so wish me luck!

[TAG]

I started by laying out one of the sides.  It seemed to look a lot different there on the MDO than it did on paper, but I figured that I’d be okay, since (as can’t be recommended often enough), I measured several times before I decided I was ready to cut.  For the first side, I used a circular saw and a jig saw (for the curved portions).  Using a sawboard (which is HIGHLY recommended...I made my own following DrewKaree’s guide) and a couple clamps made the process much easier.



Once that was done, I proceeded to lay out the second side on the second piece of wood.  Even though I’d be using the first side as a pattern and tracing it, I wanted to make sure one more time that the original measurements were right.  If it turned out that I was wrong somehow, I’d only have to buy one replacement piece of MDO, rather then two if I went ahead without measuring the second side.  At any rate, once I had it drawn, I put the first piece on top of it, lined up the lines (it fit as expected), and clamped them together.  Using a router and a flush trim bit (a Whiteside #2710 with top and bottom bearings...great bit!), the second side was finished in no time and matched up perfectly with the first side.

Honestly, I’d never used a router before, and reading the directions made it seem like it was going to be really difficult (I pictured the thing picking up speed, jerking out of my hands, and flying across the shop, leaving me standing there staring at the hole in the wall).  Once I got started, though, it was a piece of cake.  I can already imagine using it on a bunch of other projects long after the arcade cabinet is done!  For whatever it’s worth, I tested my skills on a few pieces of scrap wood before working on the actual cab pieces.





Once the sides were done, I went back to measuring, laying out, and cutting the rest of the pieces.  For cutting the angled sections (cabinet top back and CP box back), I used the circular saw set at a 45 degree angle (if I would have bought a chamfer bit for the router, I probably would have used that, instead).  The only things I messed up were the lower supports and baseplates, because their size didn’t allow me to easily use the sawboard.  Rather than get more and more frustrated, I just replaced those pieces with pieces cut from a 10 foot strip of 3 x 1 wood.  It would only require changing the measurements on the front door, so the replacements didn’t significantly affect anything that couldn’t be modified to work.

As I was cutting, I labeled each piece before I set it aside.  After all, why spend all that time being careful about precise measurements, only to risk screwing the wrong pieces together later on?

Finally, I put the slot cutter on the router and cut the t-molding slot along the cabinet sides and the CP top.  I had read that it’s easier to cut the slot in MDF than it is in plywood or MDO due to chipping, etc., but this thing cut the slot in the MDO with no problem at all.



Cutting the slot was so easy that I considered finding more pieces to put t-molding on, just so that I could keep using the router. 

[TAG]

As I suggested was likely in my first couple posts, I decided to go ahead and move the administrative buttons off the control panel and put them on a separate panel under the screen.  This freed up some room at the top of the CP, allowing me to move some things up a little and make for an overall cleaner look.  It also lets me put some extra room between the start, pause, and exit buttons, which should decrease the risk of inadvertent exiting when trying to pause the game!  Plus, I was able to incorporate separate pause and exit buttons for each player, which could also come in handy.

I reworked my plans to fit in the administrative bar between the bottom of the screen and the top of the CP.  The only thing that really changed was the height of the TV riser, and since that hasn’t been built yet, I’m not going to have to redo anything.  Originally, the glass over the monitor was going to rest in a groove on the front of the TV riser, but with the buttons on the panel extending backwards, that won’t work anymore.  To get around this, I designed the panel itself to have a place for the glass to sit, and I would then put a metal upright shelf support strip in that groove to hold the glass securely. 

As an added benefit, this plan let me use the router some more!









With all the pieces cut, it was time to pack up for the day and start putting it all together next time.

[TAG]

Things were a little screwy this past week, as our furnace died on us and we spent a few days/nights without heat.

 

Luckily, it didn't get unbearably cold around here, and since it wasn't much warmer inside than it was outside, it wasn't hard to spend a few hours working on the cab.

Anyway, following Saint’s book, the first step in construction was putting together the base.  Rather than attaching the casters at this stage, I decided to wait until just before I painted it.  Since I was going to need to stand in the cab occasionally while sanding or drilling, I didn’t want the thing to start rolling out from under me.



The next step was attaching the sides to the base. 



Here’s where I went off the Project Arcade plans a bit, as I was paranoid that the method of attaching the sides to the base wouldn’t be strong enough for my cab.  So instead of just screwing the sides into the base and using some L-brackets, I also (1) glued the sides to the base; and (2) placed 2 x 4s in the corners between L-brackets, then glued those to the base and the sides and screwed into them from both the inside and outside/bottom.







Once that was done, I was able to stand the cab skeleton up and get my first idea of how the thing was going to look.  I have to admit, it was a pretty cool feeling!



That’s enough for this time.  Next time I hope to finish the back and the top.  And to have heat long before that point.

[Daniel B.]

Off to a great start man. I would have never guessed you weren't familiar with woodworking. I'm really looking forward to seeing this thing come together!

[fronty]

.

[dkssprs]

I wish i had your space my friend and also your tools.
But for sure you have the talent to make something very very nice.
The bad thing with my project is that the woodwork and the metal work isnt made by me. I just gave the plans and order the parts.... 
Keep up the good work!!!

[andy p]

That looks fantastic!

Keep us posted!

[TAG]

Thanks to everyone for the kind words of encouragement!

The cabinet back was the next point at which I went off the book’s plans.  I wanted a removable door on the back, one that allowed for plenty of ventilation.  But I also wanted the back to be sturdy and to help hold everything together.  So I decided to use two 2 x 6s across the top half and bottom half, with a piece of MDO in the middle.  Then I would use pegboard over the top and bottom openings, and the pegboard would attach to the 2 x 6s with quick release pins.

Here are the progress pics for the back:









I decided to wait to attach the pegboard until after the top parts and the monitor shelf were finished.

For some reason, the back took longer than I had anticipated, even without attaching the pegboard yet, so I’ll have to save the top parts for next time.  I suspect the cold weather will slow my progress even further.  But at least we have a new furnace to keep us warm!

[TAG]

Before attaching the speaker shelf to the cabinet, I wanted to cut the holes for the speakers.  I figured that it had to be easier to do it ahead of time, rather than trying to cut them after the shelf was installed.

With some helpful guidance from Ldsfunaz’s post, I cut out a 2 inch hole in some scrap MDO to use as a template.  The hole was easy to cut with a Dremel and a circular cutting attachment (although I probably should have used a thinner board for the template, and I’ll plan to do that when I cut the template for the trackball hole).  After I had the template, I measured where the holes would go on the speaker shelf, clamped the template to the shelf, and cut out the holes using the router and the flush trim bit. 



Again I have to say, what a marvelous tool that router is!

Once the holes were cut, I mounted the speaker shelf on the supports.



Next up, I attached the top of the cabinet and the back angled piece as per Project Arcade:





The back angled piece wasn’t a perfect fit against the top piece, but it was close enough that testing it with a flashlight inside the marquee area suggested that no significant amount of light would be getting out.  As you can see, I also cut a hole for the power button that will run to the computer.  That way, I won’t have to open the front door to turn on the cabinet!

That’s enough for this time, since I’m guessing that the monitor shelf will be a headache, so I’ll need to save it for when I’m fresh.   Plus, well, it's the Christmas season, I had time off from work, and my family didn't need me spending the whole time building an arcade game!

[TAG]

Happy New Year, everyone!  I hope 2009 is treating everyone well, so far!

Moving on to the cab...The monitor shelf was probably my biggest deviation from the Project Arcade plans, since I wanted to make sure that it was sturdy enough to hold the 27 inch TV I was going to be using.  I decided to use a shelf that went the entire depth of the cab, including the CP support.  Since I planned to attach the CP with bolts, and to be able to remove the CP to attach add-ons like a steering wheel, etc., this seemed to be an ideal way to do it. 

First, I attached 2 x 2s to the sides, then glued and screwed the monitor shelf to the 2 x 2s.



Next, I put a 2 x 4 under the monitor shelf, spanning the width of the cab, and attached it to the sides with glue and screws.





Then I used 12 inch (or were they 14 inch?) shelf brackets under the monitor shelf, as per Saint’s book.



After that, I continued the overkill theme and attached 2 x 4s vertically to the sides, providing still more support for the shelf.



At this point, I suspect that it will take a force of nature for the shelf (and the TV) to collapse, so I feel pretty secure.

As expected, that all took awhile, so further work will have to wait until next time. 

You know, I’m glad I’m not keeping track of the total number of hours I’m spending on this thing, because it might depress me more than keeping track of the money I’m spending on it!

[TAG]

Okay, time to work on the riser for the TV.  The plan was to cut four right triangles out of a 2 x 12, attach a 1/4 in. thick board to them, and attach all that to the monitor shelf.  Sadly, this step took A LOT longer than I had expected it to.  Cutting out those triangles took forever, since the 12 inch width of the board didn’t leave a lot of room for clamping the sawboard.  I’m sure there was an easier way to do it, but I have no idea what it is! 

At any rate, here’s the completed riser, which will raise the front of the TV far enough off the monitor shelf to clear the administrative panel, and the front slope of it should be parallel with the front slope of the cab sides.









I also cut the hole in the monitor stand for the CP cords to go through (before attaching the riser, obviously).  Rather than use a grommet sleeve, I used a round-over router bit on the hole edges, which should eliminate any kind of sharp pressure on the cords.

Before I closed up for the day, I went ahead and cut out the opening for the coin door, using a spade bit for the rounded corners and the flush trim router bit for the edges.



Then, just for kicks, I put the coin door (Thanks, Ponyboy!) in it temporarily just to see how it looks.



I have to admit that I got a real shiver of excitement when I looked at it!  Sure, it was just an unpainted door and a coin door, but the whole was definitely greater than the sum of its parts!!

That’s enough for today.  I hope to get the pegboard back and the administrative panel done next time.  I’ve realized how much longer this is taking than I expected, so I’m setting my sights a little lower as far as what I can finish each time.

[cmoses]

Looking very good indeed.  Did you route out the coin door with a template, free hand or with guides?

[TAG]

Looking very good indeed.  Did you route out the coin door with a template, free hand or with guides?

I measured it, drilled holes in the corners, then "connected the dots" with the flush trim bit, using a spare piece of MDO as a guide.

[Bender]

Great progress so far!

I can't believe this is your first time with a router 

just curious why you decided on MDO?
I love the stuff, but not many other people seem to use it for there cabs

[TAG]

Great progress so far!

I can't believe this is your first time with a router 

just curious why you decided on MDO?
I love the stuff, but not many other people seem to use it for there cabs

Thanks!  As far as the MDO goes, it seemed to be the best of both worlds (MDF and plywood): the paintability of MDF (without as much toxic dust!) coupled with the lightness of plywood.  Plus, I got it as cheap as MDF, so it seemed like a no-brainer.  I'd be willing to bet that MDO isn't used as much because it's harder to find than the more common alternatives, but so far it's been great for building the cab!

[Bender]

Great progress so far!

I can't believe this is your first time with a router 

just curious why you decided on MDO?
I love the stuff, but not many other people seem to use it for there cabs

Thanks!  As far as the MDO goes, it seemed to be the best of both worlds (MDF and plywood): the paintability of MDF (without as much toxic dust!) coupled with the lightness of plywood.  Plus, I got it as cheap as MDF, so it seemed like a no-brainer.  I'd be willing to bet that MDO isn't used as much because it's harder to find than the more common alternatives, but so far it's been great for building the cab!

I concur!

I actually find it easier to paint than MDF
those pesky MDF fibers require at least one more round of painting and sanding to get rid of
I do use MDF for any pieces that have rounded edges as it routes like butter

[thatitalian]

That is why you should laminate!!!

[Bender]

That is why you should laminate!!!

I do

but sometimes you just gatta paint!

but seriously MDO is even better for laminating because the wood grain in plywood can actually show through laminate sometimes
and we've already discounted MDF cause is so freekin' heavy, and I personally don't like that its always soaking up so much moisture, and with the swelling, don't get me started

[TAG]

In order to attach the pegboard to the 2 x 6s, I drilled holes through the boards and then enlarged the matching holes in the pegboard.  From there, I laid the cab down on its front so that I wouldn’t have to fight gravity while trying to fit the back on.  I had to work at the holes a little, but, eventually, I was able to get the quick release pins through.



Once through the 2 x 6, the catches at the end prevent the pins from being pulled out unless the release button is pressed.  I figured that this would give me easy access to the innards while still protecting it from kids, cats, and other curious types.  Plus, it should provide plenty of ventilation for the cab.

I stood the cab back up, and everything held together beautifully.





Then I moved on to attaching the administrative panel with glue and screws.





There were a couple of hairline gaps, so I filled them with some wood filler.  As you can see, I drilled another hole for the CP cords, again rounding the edges with the router and the roundover bit (before I attached it to the cab, naturally).

At that point, I attached the metal upright shelf support strip where the monitor glass will sit.



And here’s a long shot showing the progress so far.



That’s enough for this week.  For those of you who are still following along, thanks for your interest!

[Bender]

Its coming together nicely 

what are those quick release thingies?

[DaOld Man]

Looking good!
I like the peg board for air flow..

[TAG]

Its coming together nicely 

what are those quick release thingies?

Thanks!  I got the pins off eBay, but the manufacturer's website is here)

[TAG]

I got a lot done this weekend, which was a welcome change from recent weeks!

First up, installing the keyboard drawer.











The drawer slides that I picked up from Woodcraft worked beautifully.  I even rounded the bottom edge of the drawer front to minimize injuries to toddlers...and also as an excuse to use the router again.  I added a cabinet lock on the drawer for more protection from toddlers.  I figure I’ll keep the key on the same chain as the key for the coin door and store it on top of the cab or in a drawer in the rec room.

Next up was installing the front door using recessed European hinges that I also found at Woodcraft.  While I thought this might be complicated, it was actually pretty straightforward.











Then I added the sliding bolt on the other side and a stop on the cabinet side to prevent the door from swinging too far in.





Then, figuring that I was done getting into the cab, I turned the cab on its side and installed the casters.  I used swivel casters with brakes up front and fixed casters in the back.



Since it felt like I was on a roll, I went ahead and covered all the countersunk screws with wood filler, then sanded them smooth.  For sleekness and protection from bumps and scrapes, I used a Dremel to round the remaining sharp corners.  I suppose this will also help when installing the t-molding.

And suddenly, there it was: the completed (although still unpainted) arcade cabinet!!!!





Next up is priming and painting, which will probably take quite awhile because, well, it’s cold out and I don’t have anywhere to paint indoors where it’s both warm and well-ventilated.

You know, if I had any sense (and by “sense” I really mean patience) whatsoever, I’d wait a few weeks until it warms up before painting this thing.  I have plenty of other things to do, like getting the software set up, working on the control panel, etc.  I guess I'll just see how the weather is next weekend and wing it.

As always, thanks for reading!

[shags0024]

Your cab looks great.
Excellent descriptions on the build.

thanks

[Ond]

Beautifully documented, with alot of care and patience evident in your wood work, I look forward to seeing more. That's a very nice router too, mine is now the unpredictable beast you feared a router might be 

[ivwshane]

Great progress so far!

I can't believe this is your first time with a router 

just curious why you decided on MDO?
I love the stuff, but not many other people seem to use it for there cabs

That's because you can't find MDO every where! I'd love to use it but I've never seen it in person around my area:(

[TAG]

Beautifully documented, with alot of care and patience evident in your wood work, I look forward to seeing more. That's a very nice router too, mine is now the unpredictable beast you feared a router might be 

Thanks!  I much prefer your phrase "care and patience" over my calling it "obsessive compulsive."  I'm definitely using yours from here on out! 

[TAG]

Thanks to some unusually mild weather this weekend, I was able to proceed with painting as scheduled.  I didn't go with anything fancy, just sem-gloss latex and foam rollers.

First up, two coats of primer (sanding between coats):



Then, three coats of black paint (again, sanding between coats), after which I moved the cab inside:





It has a bit of an orange peel feel about it, but, overall, I think it looks pretty good.

Next up, the control panel.

[Gatsu]

   thats pretty sweet man. what color is the t-molding gonna be?

[TAG]

  thats pretty sweet man. what color is the t-molding gonna be?

Thanks.

I'm going with red for the t-molding.  The marquee will also have a red-lettered design, once I eventually come up with a name for the thing.

[TAG]

With the main part of the cabinet out of the way for now, it was time to turn to the control panel.

I transferred my design (revised to remove the administrative buttons) to giant-sized graph paper and taped it to the CP top.  Then, with an awl, I drove holes marking the center of the button, joystick, trackball, and spinner holes.  After I made sure that the holes went through okay, I removed the graph paper.



Once I had my guide holes, I used Forstner bits to drill the holes.  I used a 1-1/8 inch bit for the buttons, spinner, and three joysticks, and a slightly larger one for the flight stick.  Then I made a template for the trackball hole, just like I did for the speaker holes (only I used a thinner piece of wood this time around), drilled and jigsawed out the majority of the hole, then cleaned it all up with the flush trim router bit.  Here’s the finished CP top.





From there, I put together the CP box, rounding the bottom edges with the round over router bit.  Sticking with Saint’s book, I used velcro to hold the top onto the box.





And the finished (again, unpainted) CP panel





Hopefully I can get the box painted next week, then start taking care of the details (t-molding, coin door, installing controls, etc.)

[TAG]

Well, I discovered my first significant mistake/mis-measurement of the project (hopefully not the first of many).  Since I couldn’t wait to see how it’d look, I put the TV in the cabinet for a test fitting.  It just fit, with the front right up against the administrative panel.  Unfortunately, that left no room for the backside of the buttons and microswitches.  I guess that’s what happens when you change plans midstream after spending so much time designing and making calculations.

To correct the problem, I decided that my only viable option was to open up space in the back.  I didn’t want to get rid of the 2x6 brace altogether, though, since it added stability to the cabinet.  So what I did was drag the cab back out to the workshop, lay it on its back, grab my router, and route out half the depth of a good portion of the 2x6 brace.  That would allow the TV to sit back an additional 3/4", which should be just enough for the TV and the administrative buttons to peacefully coexist. 

Before I did the routering, though, I put the control panel box on the cabinet to see what it’ll look like.



Okay, maybe it’s too soon, but it was strangely satisfying to stand in front of it pretending like I was playing games.

Once I got to the routering, it only took awhile to get the opening cut out.  In fact, it probably took me longer to clean the cabinet up again (remember, the router kicks out A LOT of debris)!  Once it was all done, though, I took the cabinet back inside and put the TV back in.  This time, it fit perfectly, right up into the routed area with room up front for the buttons.  Plus, the routed area in turn provides additional support so that the TV won’t move back and forth or side to side.  Here's a close-up shot from the back:



Here’s how it looks from the front:



Oh, during all this I also found time to prime and paint the CP box, as well as to prime the top of the control panel.  Once that was all done and the cab was back inside, I attached the CP box to the cabinet by drilling holes through the box and monitor/CP shelf, then inserting bolts and threading nuts on from underneath.







Once that was done, I attached the Creative SBS 330 speakers (based off of Ldsfunaz’s guide).




 
Then I installed the red t-molding all the way around.



Next week, the control panel top: making joystick mounts, applying the vinyl overlay, and installing the t-molding.  And no more mistakes, hopefully (but not likely!).

[TAG]

My family was out of town last week, which gave me a little extra free time to work on the cabinet.  Unfortunately, it also meant that I was left without a digital camera, so I had to take some using a disposable one.  In other words, sorry for the low quality and lack of detail in the pictures this time around.

The first step was making the mounts for the four joysticks.  I planned to bottom mount all of them and attach them with bolts threaded from below through top-mounted t-nuts.

For the joysticks, there’s an UltraStik up top for single player/alternating two player games, and a M.A.C.H. 3 style trigger stick on the right that uses leaf switches.  For the bottom 2-player section, I had originally intended to use the ball-top Happ Supers available from Tornado Terry’s, but I got a great deal on two Happ Perfect 360s and went with them, instead.  Finally, all the game buttons use Groovy Game Gear’s microleaf switches.  As a result, I should have a control panel that’s pretty close to click-less!

First, I drilled holes all the way through the CP top at the corners of the joysticks, then flipped the CP over and used a forstner bit to drill out enough room for the t-nuts to be recessed.  Once that was done, I pushed the t-nuts in, drew them deeper using a bolt screwed in from underneath, then pounded them down a little further.







I flipped the CP back over and test fit one of the Perfect 360s, and it fit, well, perfectly.



For the trigger stick, I had to make a couple more holes, as the stick had bolts on the top plate that needed to be recessed into the bottom of the CP.



For the U-Trak, I used the inserts that Ultimarc supplies.  These things are easy to install, but the placement has to be dead on if they’re going to work as intended!



As I was test-fitting the trigger stick, I realized my second significant mistake/mis-measurement.  Namely, the bottom of the trigger joystick was too deep to fit into the CP box!  I have no idea how I messed that measurement up, unless I forgot that the CP box sides go on the OUTside of the CP box bottom, rather than sitting on top of the bottom.  That makes a 3/4" difference, so that may very well have been my mistake.  At any rate, I needed more room, and routering out 1/4" from the mount on the bottom of the CP top wasn’t going to be enough.  I couldn’t router out the space from the CP box bottom, either, since the area that needed extra depth was too close to the corner for the router to fit.  My only other option (that I could see through my growing frustration) was to cut a space out of the box bottom, router out a little shelf on the underside, and glue a scrap piece of 1/4" thick wood to the shelf.  That would open up an extra 1/2" of depth for the joystick, which should be enough for it to fit.

I didn’t take any pictures of the process until the end, but here’s the patch from the underside, with the space on the sides filled up with wood putty:



And here it is from the other side:



Then I painted the patch, let it dry, and reattached the CP box to the cabinet.

While the paint was drying, I covered over the recessed t-nuts with wood putty, being careful not to get any too far down into the holes (I wasn’t careful enough, as it turned out, since I wound up having to scratch some out from the underside of some of the holes).



Once that was done, I covered the CP with black vinyl from Parts Express, then installed the t-molding around the edges.



Next up, I installed all the buttons.



Then I attached all the joystick bases, the U-Trak, and the SpinTrak.



I attached the IPAC to the underside of the CP and put in a couple wiring blocks to try and make the grounds neater.  The I daisychained all the grounds and hooked them into the IPAC.  I used wire clips to try and keep things neat (but was ultimately unsuccessful, as you’ll soon see).



Then I wired up all the switches and the Perfect 360s (using another wiring block), then installed the joystick handles.







(See what I mean about the “neat” wiring??)

Finally, I installed the marquee light (an LED strip from SuperbrightLEDS.com).  Man, is that thing bright!  I didn’t even try to take a picture of it lit up, since I know it won’t translate very well with the disposable camera.



That does it for this time around.  Unfortunately, the P360s I picked up were missing the proper sleeves, and one of them was missing the pivot bushing.  I put in an order for those parts, but I can’t do anything more with the CP stuff until they arrive.

Again, for those still following, thanks for the interest, and your comments are always welcome!

[TAG]

Ever since I started this project, I've been trying to come up with a good, unique name for it.  Unfortunately, I seem to be creatively tapped out, so I'm probably going to go with something admittedly generic like Arcade Overload.

I could wait until the perfect name pops into my head, but I really want to get the marquee ordered and put up ASAP.

Other possibilities included variants of Neverending/Infinite/Endless combined with Quarters/Tokens/Arcade.  And the popular combined names like Infinicade, Electrocade, and Forevercade. 

If I had only used white t-molding, I could have gone all the way and called it Genericade.

Anyway, no progress update, just sharing some stream of consciousness ramblings.

[TAG]

No real update, as I'm still waiting on parts for the P360s, but I thought I'd post a better picture of the CP top now that my family's back and I have access to the digital camera, again.



As far as the name goes, my wife really likes Infinicade, and she's been wonderful enough to let me do this crazy project, so that might wind up as the choice.

[TAG]

Well, I finally got the P360 parts this past week and was all set to get back to work on the CP...but then non-arcade cab problems arose.  Our water heater decided to dump water out, leaving us with a big puddle of water under the rec room's wood floor.  So the arcade's gonna have to wait until that rather more substantial project is taken care of.