The NEW Build Your Own Arcade Controls
Main => Project Announcements => Topic started by: bigtimes on February 01, 2006, 12:10:23 pm
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For the last 4 years I've wanted to build a showcase-style cabinet, very much like the DreamAuthentic's Eladius.
http://www.dreamauthentics.com/gallery/el/big/img8.jpg
I searched all over the 'net, and couldn't find plans for one anywhere. So, being the kind of self-motivated guy that would post on a forum like this, I made my own plans. I've been sketching and planning and dreaming for the last 4 years, and now I'm ready to start building.
I've got all the MDF I'll need, all the tools and other hardware I'll need, and I'm ordering the CP parts today.
After I get off of work, I'll post the plans, and shots of the first cuts.
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Welcome.
I've got all the MDF I'll need, all the tools and other hardware I'll need, and I'm ordering the CP parts today.
After I get off of work, I'll post the plans, and shots of the first cuts.
... and I wanna see the #$!%$!@#% who'll try and stop me ...
lol live your dream. good luck
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actually if you search the threads for jakobud's site he has the plans for a 33" showcase cabinet I'm in the middle of building on too you can see it's progress in the middle of this project announcements thread, search for "red samurai" thats the name of my cab im to lazy to look for you right now but good luck its fun times.
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I think he just balanced the universe by becoming the inverse of this guy (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=49268.0).
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I think he just balanced the universe by becoming the inverse of this guy (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=49268.0).
Oh wow. Yeah, I've been making several smaller woodworking projects, along with purchasing lots of books on the subject matter (which is why I'm here, in a way. Thank you Project Arcade.) Not to mention researching different tools, finding out what I needed, and enlisting the help of my friends.
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So, basically, you're actually reading up on what you want to do so you can figure out how to do it.
A novel approach. ;D
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I'm actually working on planning out a cab such as this as well for a 31" Sanyo TV I've got here... The problem I have though is I have limited space, and of course this style cab tends to take up a lot of real estate. So I'm trying to figure out a way to make the control panel collapse up against the monitor pedistal when it's not in use so I can at least save some space. So, I'm anxious to see your plans and progress as well, and if you have any ideas about how to make the CP retract, I wouldn't mind a suggestion... ;)
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Oh man, Warborg. I have no idea. I've been working on my design for so long, I wouldn't know where to begin with something like that.
Today I start cutting and building.
Here's the plans, along with a sketch of what it's going to look like:
http://static.flickr.com/26/95094550_55c60bd506_o.gif (http://static.flickr.com/26/95094550_55c60bd506_o.gif)
http://static.flickr.com/32/95094541_44db42bc5f_o.gif (http://static.flickr.com/32/95094541_44db42bc5f_o.gif)
http://static.flickr.com/24/95094525_875826cb1d_o.gif (http://static.flickr.com/24/95094525_875826cb1d_o.gif)
http://static.flickr.com/41/95387537_6b4d4ffc8d.jpg (http://static.flickr.com/41/95387537_6b4d4ffc8d.jpg)
OOF that's a rough sketch. No big deal, though, for the support and the monitor box will be finished today.
I'll post pictures as I go through the stages.
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Bigtimes,
Very nice Cant wait to see it done :D
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Okay, a friend of mine and I have done a bit of work on the cab, which you can see here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/canterbury_arcade (http://www.flickr.com/photos/canterbury_arcade)
I'm serious about that T2 Machine. Does anybody have a 27" Monitor they'd be willing to get rid of?
By the way, Canterbury is the name of the apartment complex I live in. Almost all my friends live here, we're like a huge family. A lot of my friends came together to make this happen, so the name of the Cab is going to be Canterbury Arcade.
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I've done a lot of work on the cab this past few days, and it's progressing nicely. I've got the controls in, except for the joysticks (I left them out of the order form for some reason). I've just gotta get in the ipac4 and a couple of other small things.
The base is completed, and it looks fairly nice. a couple of measurements were off, but I guess that's bound to happen when you're starting out with your own plans.
I'll have pictures tomorrow.
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It is exciting! Good luck with your showcase cab. It must be nice to build this with a bunch of friends. I wouldn't trust most of my buddies with my MDF and power tools. Looking forward to seeing it done.
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i don't even trust my own brother. he has no sense of pace and hurries through it all. i'm the opposite and try to get things perfect while being slow.
i hope you have better luck then me. yesterday i caught him soldering a connection between wires and then electrical taping it up. i yelled at him and now he won't help me at all.
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Got some pictures for you guys.
Here's a test fitting with a guy who's done as much work on it as I have, Matt:
(http://static.flickr.com/23/97295440_afa5caefaf.jpg?v=1139436438) (http://static.flickr.com/23/97295440_afa5caefaf.jpg?v=1139436438)
I ended up rough cutting some bracers to hold it with screws as the wood glue dried:
(http://static.flickr.com/30/97295402_2588854ac1.jpg?v=1139436466) (http://static.flickr.com/30/97295402_2588854ac1.jpg?v=1139436466)
The base plate didn't fit at all when we were ready to screw it in, so we ended up taking a couple inches off the back end. This will be covered by the monitor support front anyway, so no big deal:
(http://static.flickr.com/38/97295379_1ce4d673f0.jpg) (http://static.flickr.com/38/97295379_1ce4d673f0.jpg)
This is what we've gotten done so far. Everything fits really well. Remember, kids, measure twice (or three or four times) and cut once.
(http://static.flickr.com/35/97295362_5b3369618b.jpg?v=1139436489) (http://static.flickr.com/35/97295362_5b3369618b.jpg?v=1139436489)
I got my Happ stuff in the other day, and I forgot to purchase joysticks! I did get my buttons, trackball, and PCB mounting brackets in, though. My Ultimarc stuff came in today, check this out:
51vcxx
Oh yes. I typed that in using my new Ipac4. ;D
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Get your joys from ponyboy. I haven't purchased anything from him yet, but I will be. His prices on joys - you'll end up almost 2-1 from him.
I like the design fo sho! How many sheets of MDF have you used? I haven't taken more than a cursory look at your website yet, but if you have measurements there, and don't mind, I'll make a cut list if others want to use it, or if you have the measurements, drop 'em off to me. The program is designed to maximize the sheets of material you use, so mebbe someone following in your footsteps might be able to shave the cost of (possibly) excess materials.
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How Heavy is the Screen you plan to use? I plan to put a 33" wells gardner monitor in my showcase hence i made a solid 2x4 frame, or else it may be to wobbly unsafe for the monitor.... Somethign to think about
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Drew: I've got the complete plans a little bit less than halfway through this post. We made a couple of mistakes on those, though, so pending the revision, I wouldn't worry about it too much. The number one goal was to build this cab, but the number two goal was making the plans available along with instructions and a compete parts/tools list. Give me and Matt some time to fix the plans, and I'll pass them to you. I've used 4 sheets of MDF so far.
Negativecreep: I've actually stood on top of where the monitor is going to go. I'm a little bit more than 200 pounds. I'm not sure how heavy the 33" TV is I'm using, but it's pretty slim and svelt, I carried it upstairs to my bedroom by myself. The base is very sturdy as I've got screws and glue holding everything together, and I've sanded everything down so it fits perfectly, very snug, no wiggle room. No worries. ;D
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I gotcha. There were so many measurements in that diagram and without knowing what it was looking like, I didn't bother trying to figure out what was what, and totally forgot about the diagrams.
I'd suggest throwing one of those semi-completed pics in this thread into that post along with your sketch pic.
*edited to make sense ;) *
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In what thread?
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Time for a smallish update.
Here's a side view with the control panel sitting where it's going to go. The control panel is finished, I just need to work on the artwork, and I can go from there.
(http://static.flickr.com/27/97833272_f513c6b027.jpg)
Here's Matt standing on the monitor base. The secret is that the side panels go all the way to the ground, in an L shape. Screws and glue, guys, screws and glue.
(http://static.flickr.com/42/97833216_f9213f1edb.jpg)
My girlfriend is out of town this weekend, so hell, it could be finished by the time monday rolls around.
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are you going to make the access door on the back or front? What do you plan on fixing it to the cab with? Hinges? Velcro? Magnets? Its looking good knocked it out pretty fast too. Been taking me 6+ months for mine now, working six days a week suckssssss.....
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I work 6 days a week, too. It's hard, but for the past few weeks it's been work and the cabinet. That's about it. It's taking up too much room in my apartment to build it, and it's been driving me nuts how much of a mess the place is.
I'm going to have a 7 inch tall door directly below the monitor box that will flip down. It'll be as wide as the base. The only reason I'm going to have that there is because the monitor box will be removable so I can move the beast around. Four carriage bolts will run from the bottom monitor box into four holes that will be drilled into the top of the monitor suppport. The door provides access to these bolts.
Furthermore, the CP will be removable. I've got 3/4 of an inch tabs sticking out of the top of the CP support stand. I'm going to jigsaw out slots into the bottom of the cp where these tabs will fit into. Then I'll have 4 twist latches holding the CP so it'll attach solidly and release quickly. There's going to be one USB plug mounted to the bottom that will go into a USB hub inside the CP, so the whole thing will plug in with just that one USB plug. I hope I can power the trackball with just the USB power, but we'll see.
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I've got the monitor box built, all I need to do now is install the carrage bolts to hold it to the base.
Later tonight I'm going to cut the slots for the CP box, then spend the rest of the night designing artwork.
I'm a graphic designer by trade, so that will probably go pretty quickly. I've got a few ideas, but nothing's down on paper yet.
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Painted and primer'd:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/canterbury_arcade/
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Ohhhhhhhhh yeahhhhhhh looking good ! 8)
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Welcome to BYOAC.
Looks awesome man! Let us know if you have any questions on finishing styles or hardware configurations. There's a wealth of knowledge floating around these forums and with a project like this, I can see it gaining popularity very quickly.
Keep it up!
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just a thought.....you might want to give your cp a little more overhang from the base. have you tried getting a bar stool or something and then sitting at your cab? the reason i ask is because unless you have nubs for legs, you'll be banging your knees against the front of the cab every time you want to sit down to play.
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The CP isn't attached just yet. The pictures show it much closer to the front edge than what it's going to be when it's complete.
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I love the painted picture. There is a sawdust covered xbox in the background. I heard that they actually work beter that way. ;D
Keep it goin. BTW are you doing latex or oil based paint?
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Keep it goin. BTW are you doing latex or oil based paint?
Good gravy, don't tell ANYONE what you're doing. You're liable to incite a riot from the anti-latex or anti-oil factions ::)
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"Viva la Vinyl Rolls!"
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Not only is that a sawdust-covered X-Box, it's my roomate's sawdust covered X-Box.
Seriously, it goes without saying. Don't cut wood inside. I'm not a patient person, however, and it was raining (and snowing) all week, so TOO BAD.
It's all cleaned up now, anyways.
As far as the paint goes, I'm already taking a chance with the anti-black crowd, I'm not going to tempt the anti-oil or anti-latex crowd, too. :P
How about an actual update? I've got the t-molding and my joysticks in, making only one thing left to get done:artwork.
I want to do a Graffiti-inspired theme, and I've collected some artwork from my favorite artists. I'm still not sure I'm I'm going to just re-do their work in Illustrator, or make some new stuff in the same vein as them. I've gotten started tonight, but I don't have much. I'll show you guys some mockups in a day or so.
Over the next couple of days, and definately over the weekend, I'll have a lot to post. Hopefully, she'll be done soon.
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Hey guys!
Work on the cab has been slow but steady for the last few weeks. My job in television production has been more and more demanding lately, so I haven't the free time I've enjoyed before.
Hey, whatever. The important part is this: I've completed the monitor box, control panel box, t-molding, and paint. The only thing I have left to do is replace the monitor front plexiglass (it split in the corner. It's hardly noticeable, but I see it every time), get some kind of monitor bezel, and have my control panel artwork printed and shipped to me so I can install the controls.
I'm very excited, and everybody I show it to is impressed with the progress I've made.
As a matter of fact, I'm posting from the machine right now. ;D
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Pictures, and a little side project I'm throwing together that might go in a little something for my mom. (the love of the arcade runs strong in my family)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/canterbury_arcade/
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Lookin very nice!
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Big Update!
What I've done in the last few weeks:
*Finished the Monitor box
*Finished the artwork, and had it printed out
*Finished the control panel, wired and everything
*Mounted the computer inside the control panel support box
*Wired the S-Video and audio cables
IT'S BASICALLY FINISHED NOW
Check it out, everybody:
(http://static.flickr.com/40/114510902_0bcb66649b_o.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/canterbury_arcade)
Beauty shots coming later this week!
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I also like that I somehow managed to finish it in one page.
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very nice and anouther cabinet to reashure my self that a 36" television can be held up by mdf and 2x4s ^_^ of course this tv does wegh more then i do.......
post some pics when you finish (joys and running)
Also nice color scheme on the cp is that hand painted?
oh yeah and a question how high is the cp from the floor and how high is the monitor off the floor?
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I really like the invisible joysticks - nice touch...
;D
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I love the control panel art. What inspired that? Is it painte don the back of plexi?
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I really like the invisible joysticks - nice touch...
;D
:laugh2:
I like the looks of this. I want one!