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My build of Capcom BigBlue

Is your subwoofer sitting on the base of the cabinet with the speaker pointed towards the front panel, set back from the coin door? Trying to get some ideas where I'd squeeze one in while protecting the rest of the equipment.
 
Original cabs have enough space for a subwoofer under the PCB support shelf. The cabs didn’t come with one originally afaik, but it makes modern titles sound a lot better.

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Makes sense, thanks! Separate question: what color paint did you use? The Valspar Deep Space Blue?
 
kcade said:
Makes sense, thanks! Separate question: what color paint did you use? The Valspar Deep Space Blue?
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after looking back through your photos, I saw a comment that you used Rustins ASAP quick dry water based paint in Satin Blue. Will you describe your painting process a little more and what you might do differently to speed it up? So, what type of roller, were you sanding at 220 each time, maybe you’d do a different type of paint? I had been thinking about laminate, but it’s very expensive at about $70 a sheet, and I’d still have to paint the inside of the side panels because there’s a little of it that shows on the back of the cabinet.
 
kcade said:
Is your subwoofer sitting on the base of the cabinet with the speaker pointed towards the front panel, set back from the coin door? Trying to get some ideas where I'd squeeze one in while protecting the rest of the equipment.
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Yes it is I built this one though styled on the big blue cab, the big blue never came with a sub but it makes a hell of difference to the sound.
 
kcade said:
after looking back through your photos, I saw a comment that you used Rustins ASAP quick dry water based paint in Satin Blue. Will you describe your painting process a little more and what you might do differently to speed it up? So, what type of roller, were you sanding at 220 each time, maybe you’d do a different type of paint? I had been thinking about laminate, but it’s very expensive at about $70 a sheet, and I’d still have to paint the inside of the side panels because there’s a little of it that shows on the back of the cabinet.
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Yea I was going to go down the laminate route but the trouble with that is if you scratch it or damage it the whole panel needs to be replaced that's why I opted for paint, rustins asap paint was very good and it's the closest I could find to the original colour, went on very easy, one problem I found with using plywood is wood grain, I sanded the cab back quite a bit then put a thinlayer of wood filler like a light skimming like plastering a wall so it would hide the grain it actually came out really well with no grain coming through at all also the cab is very easy to touch up if you scratch it which I did when moving it into the game room it touched up without any visible marks, rustins paint was a good choice for me I also used a roller and lightly sanded between coats, it's been nearly 2 years since I built it the wood and paint have remained fine no cracks, warping or paint peeling in fact its solid.
 
Megalocade said:
Yea I was going to go down the laminate route but the trouble with that is if you scratch it or damage it the whole panel needs to be replaced that's why I opted for paint, rustins asap paint was very good and it's the closest I could find to the original colour, went on very easy, one problem I found with using plywood is wood grain, I sanded the cab back quite a bit then put a thinlayer of wood filler like a light skimming like plastering a wall so it would hide the grain it actually came out really well with no grain coming through at all also the cab is very easy to touch up if you scratch it which I did when moving it into the game room it touched up without any visible marks, rustins paint was a good choice for me I also used a roller and lightly sanded between coats, it's been nearly 2 years since I built it the wood and paint have remained fine no cracks, warping or paint peeling in fact its solid.
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Thank you for the detail. Your cab results look great. I'm going to do plywood, but I'm hoping to buy painter's grade. Does this sound like what you did, or did I skip / add things?
  1. Sand (maybe 220 grit?) to get down the grain.
  2. Woodfiller with something like a drywall knife.
  3. Kilz (?) or another primer? Not sure you did this.
  4. Paint with roller (foam or nap roller?)
  5. Sand (maybe 220).
  6. Repeat #4 and #5 (2 coats in all? 3?)
 
kcade said:
Thank you for the detail. Your cab results look great. I'm going to do plywood, but I'm hoping to buy painter's grade. Does this sound like what you did, or did I skip / add things?
  1. Sand (maybe 220 grit?) to get down the grain.
  2. Woodfiller with something like a drywall knife.
  3. Kilz (?) or another primer? Not sure you did this.
  4. Paint with roller (foam or nap roller?)
  5. Sand (maybe 220).
  6. Repeat #4 and #5 (2 coats in all? 3?)
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Yea good quality 18mm plywood, there is a lot rubbish out there I went for what we call in the UK construction grade plywood able to take a lot of weight and doesn't separate with changing conditions, I read a lot of horror stories about a guy who use general purpose plywood and he had many voids in between the layers and some of it was lifting of the glue when he painted it.

No I didn't primer I I should of done really but the filler I used to skim the cab with acted as a good base to put my paint on, also I painted this cab up to hill it has about about 7 coats of paint on I wanted a thicker coat on to protect against knocks and chips, regarding sand paper yea 220 is fine between coats though I used about 300 as it gave a nice surface for the next coat.

Rollers I used were just a narrow foam roller stay away from standard rollers they leave bits of fluff on the paint I made that mistake with my dynamo cab pain to sand back, the foam roller gives an even coat and doesn't leave roller lines everywhere like standards rollers do.
 
Fantastic, thank you. I'm basing the following on the photos. Does this sound right?
  • You assembled the cabinet by connecting blocking to panels with screws and maybe wood glue. So, once the side panel and the back panel are attached, they aren't meant to be disassembled after that.
  • After the cabinet was assembled, you skimmed with filler, painted, and sanded the interior and exterior. (That didn't include the marquee and the control panel.)
  • Separately, you assembled the control panel, maybe just with screws. Then you disassembled and filled/painted/sanded the pieces. Then, you reassembled the control panel.
I'm trying to decide whether to paint before assembly, whether to paint the interior, and whether to paint the edges after routing for t-molding, so thank you in advance for your advice!
 
kcade said:
Fantastic, thank you. I'm basing the following on the photos. Does this sound right?
  • You assembled the cabinet by connecting blocking to panels with screws and maybe wood glue. So, once the side panel and the back panel are attached, they aren't meant to be disassembled after that.
  • After the cabinet was assembled, you skimmed with filler, painted, and sanded the interior and exterior. (That didn't include the marquee and the control panel.)
  • Separately, you assembled the control panel, maybe just with screws. Then you disassembled and filled/painted/sanded the pieces. Then, you reassembled the control panel.
I'm trying to decide whether to paint before assembly, whether to paint the interior, and whether to paint the edges after routing for t-molding, so thank you in advance for your advice!
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Yea the cab is put together with wood blocks screwed and glued from the inside as I didn't want screw heads on the outside, everything is glued and screwed even the control panel as I didn't want it falling to bits or wobbling over time the control panel is separate though it comes off leaving just the cab it's held on with 3 x M10 bolts like the original bigblue is though the original has smaller bolts I also put in molex style connectors on the control panel wiring harness so the whole box could come off without any hassle, I would never of got it through my door without a removable control box the big blue is quite wide even without the control box on.

Regards the sanding no I didn't skim the inside only exterior of both the cab, box and marquee as no one but me is going to see the inside I just sanded ithe insides down smooth and painted it, I don't plan ever selling this machine.

The only thing I didn't glue is the rear panel for the speaker box I left that so I could take it off if ever I needed to change the speakers etc, I have since changed the speaker design and gone for how the original speaker design is on the original big blue with individual speakers boxes this is the one part of the cab I was never happy about, those speaker grills I made were the hardest part as they had to be hand made to look like the originals and they both had to match eachother.
 
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Yes, I thought that was a great idea with the speakers. You never notice how these things make a difference until they're in place! Did you go with 1"x1" for your blocking, or another dimension (looks almost like 2x2)? If you used 1x1, did you rip it to that size, or did you just buy as is?
 
What is the black material that you used for the transition between the glass over the screen and the speaker box? I don't think it's angle iron, but maybe vinyl? Did you bend it with heat or something?
 
kcade said:
What is the black material that you used for the transition between the glass over the screen and the speaker box? I don't think it's angle iron, but maybe vinyl? Did you bend it with heat or something?
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Its a strip of angled aluminium edging I sprayed black, I skimmed it so it was the same angle where it meets the glass so no untidy gaps, it keeps the glass in and screwed to the speaker box and because of this the glass lifts upwards if I ever need to clean the crt screen and inner glass.
 
Thanks! Do you use a power on-off switch that's accessible to players? Or a volume control? If so, where do you locate them? It looks like you don't have any excess buttons on the CP or coin door area. Also, how are you handling game switching? Do you just connect the PC to a wireless keyboard, or do you have an admin button like pause / exit?
 
kcade said:
Thanks! Do you use a power on-off switch that's accessible to players? Or a volume control? If so, where do you locate them? It looks like you don't have any excess buttons on the CP or coin door area. Also, how are you handling game switching? Do you just connect the PC to a wireless keyboard, or do you have an admin button like pause / exit?
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I have an on off switch located at the top of the cab that I can access with ease, regards the cp access the whole control panel lifts up to gain entry to the buttons and q sound amp with has it's own volume controls also the whole control panel and box can be taken away to gain access to the crt, the coin doors are real and work they just swing out for servicing or getting the money box out.
Regards to using emulators / pc my pc is hooked up to a VGA to CGA adaptor and a switch that switches my crt from RGB to VGA, for control I use an I-Pac which all my joystick buttons go to and that convertersto usb, works rather well.
 
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