The NEW Build Your Own Arcade Controls
Main => Project Announcements => Topic started by: Tilzs on February 23, 2004, 01:11:35 pm
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I finished up my oak cocktail comments and questions welcome
I based my design off of Kyle's Ms Pac-Man Plans along with a bit of inspiration from arcade depots cocktail kits. I then added some design changes of my own. It's constructed out of 3/4" oak plywood with the control panels being solid oak. It's stained with Minwax Polyshades. The top is an extra 3/4" piece of birch plywood that I had around painted flat black.
(http://cocktail.hagelstrom.com/albums/Arcade/DSC01559.sized.jpg)
One thing I did was to increase the size of the control panels on the ends. I made the end control panels extend all the way to the sides of the cab. This was accomplished by leaving the sides of the control panels as part of the cabinet instead of cutting them and attaching them to the cabinet.
(http://cocktail.hagelstrom.com/albums/Arcade/DSC01117.sized.jpg)
Another mod I made is I didn't want to flip the monitor out to get inside at the computer , also I figured the monitor would be easier to mount if it wasn
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Looks really sharp...Really like the Oak look. Great job :)
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Beautiful! Please don't show my wife or she'll make me redo my cabinet :)
--JamIt
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Wow dude, that's clean. Good job!
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Absolutely gorgeous!!! I am very impressed with the furniture-grade quality of that cocktail.
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one word---WOW!
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That is really great looking! I like the extended control panels. I hope to do a full oak cocktail cabinet one of these days too :).
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I really like the look. You did a great job.
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Excellent Cabinet - That is very clean!
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WOW! Excellent clean work! :) The only thing I would change are the button colors, probably go with all black and white for your machine... the blue isn't bad at all though. ;D
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Awesome job!
Nice clean lines. Professionally done.
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WOW! Excellent clean work! :) The only thing I would change are the button colors, probably go with all black and white for your machine... the blue isn't bad at all though. ;D
Thanks all :)
The major reason the buttons are blue is the room it's in also has a bunch of blue stuff in it, so it kind of goes with the room. Helps keep the wife happy and also helps me from haveing to move it from the room.
Originally she didn't want it in the room but when it was done she though it looked pretty good and let it stay. She said it looks like a table with joysticks.
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spectacular. i only wish i had that kind of wood working skill
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Very, very nice! I haven't been a big fan of the upright wood cabinets I've seen, but you've certainly demonstrated that it can look quite nice on cocktail tables.
Great job!
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Any chance you can provide a little write-up on the CPs? Specifically how did you join the top to the face, what angle, etc. Just a regular roundover bit to make that amazing edge? I really like the piano hinge for the flip-forward on the CP. Did you use a template for cutting out the speaker grills? Thanks for sharing your fine work.
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On the Control Panels
First I cut up some 3/4" solid oak boards to the size I needed. I used solid on the CP because it can take more wear and tear than the plywood and feels more solid.
I think drilled my button/joystick holes in the top piece. I used a 3/4" round over bit and rounded the front panel both the top and bottom edges that are exposed outward. I then used a 5/32" slot cutting bit in my router that was set up for #10 biscuits. I could have used a plate jointer but I don't have one. I used #10 biscuits because I was afraid that the #20 might be a bit large considering I had part of the board already cut away with the round over edge.
I did some test slots on some scraps with the slot cutting bit and dry fit a biscuit in there to make sure the boards lined up even. If you have the right depth using the biscuits will not only give you a very strong joint, but it will also auto align your joint up perfectly. :)
Once I had it all looking good, I cut my biscuit slots. I cut slots for 2 biscuits on the end panels and 3 slots on the long 3rd cp. I then glued and fit the biscuits and clamped them up overnight.
More info on using your router as a plate jointer look here:
http://www.mlcswoodworking.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/smarthtml/pages/biscuits.html (http://www.mlcswoodworking.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/smarthtml/pages/biscuits.html)
If you want to cut #10 biscuits you need to get the #20 cutter and a different bearing. Mail them about what bearing you need exactly for #10.
For the Vent and Speaker slots, I didn't use a template but I could have, might have made it a little easier. I first figured out where I wanted the slots and marked the center. I then used a compass and drew a 4" circle. I then drew 4 lines across the circle using a straight edge spacing them out equally. I then used a straight edge and lined/squared it up so that my plunge router would route along the line that I just drew. I clamped down the straight edge and then used a plunge router with a 3/8" straight cutting plunge bit and routed along the line up to the edge of the circle. (do this step in a few passes) Tip: don't start routeing from the exact place you want one line to stop.
Might sound kind of hard but it was pretty simple. If you are worried about screwing up, do a practice on a piece of scrap. If you have your straight edge clamped down tight so it won't move you shouldn't have any problem. It was actually harder to stain the slots than it was to cut them.
Only thing I'm going to need to do sometime is to put some screening on the inside of the cab to guard against a little person sticking their little fingers though the slots and into the fan.
The whole cab was constructed using 4 power tools, circle saw, drill, router, dremel advantage rotary saw.
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Tilzs,
Very nice job, I agree that the quarter round turned out looking better. What monitor did you end up using? I need to decide on a cocktail monitor.
For the 4 player games, it would be cool if the side panels were hinged in the corner between the horizontal game CP and the vertical game CPs. That way, it would be a more natural setup. The hinge would only have to allow the panel to swing so that it is diagonal to the long CP above the coin door. Of course, I'm not suggesting you do that, yours looks great.
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I see A LOT of joysticks, tell me, are they all 8-way, or are some of them 4-way?
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Geez, I've done it now. My wife was in our computer room and I said, "Hey honey, take a look at this guys cabinet." She quickly responded with, "Why don't you do something like that!" I don't even have my first cabinet yet and she's already hassling me. LOL. This should be interesting when she sees how much larger my stand-up cabinet is going to be. Mwahahaha!
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Tilzs,
Very nice job, I agree that the quarter round turned out looking better. What monitor did you end up using? I need to decide on a cocktail monitor.
For the 4 player games, it would be cool if the side panels were hinged in the corner between the horizontal game CP and the vertical game CPs. That way, it would be a more natural setup. The hinge would only have to allow the panel to swing so that it is diagonal to the long CP above the coin door. Of course, I'm not suggesting you do that, yours looks great.
I used a 19" computer monitor. optiquest 95 to be exact. I had to yoke flip the monitor however because the circuit board hung down too low and interfeared with the coin door's coin mechs.
As for the hinged side pannels that is a good idea. It wouldn't work for this particular design since the Control pannel sides are one in the same with the sides of the rest of the cab. If one did a more traditional design, you might be able to pull it off.
It'd be interesing to see a cocktail with that design though, it'd be pretty inovative.
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I see A LOT of joysticks, tell me, are they all 8-way, or are some of them 4-way?
Right now they are all 8 way, I plan to replace 2 of them with a switchable 4/8 way in the future. Most likey the ultimarcs but right now I can't afford to do so.
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That really is a super-clean cocktail. Congratulations.