Custom Sit-Down Cabinet Project

[Esom]

Hiya folks!

I decided to go ahead with my cabinet build! I thought seeing the work in progress might drum up more feedback than my plans would. Feel free to tell me all the things I'm doing wrong!

This is the basic concept. Some of the design was tweaked, but you get the idea
.

And the rest is how far I've got in the couple days since I began.



Took about half a sheet of MDF to make the "IKEA version." Some assembly required.



Another half sheet to make what I'm pretending is a structural face.



I got excited that my big ol' plus sign could hold its own weight, and decided to test fate by sticking my hardware in it temporarily.



Made an enclosure for the control panel. I'll be making two of them, 2-player and 4-player, so they just get bolted on.



Also made the monitor mount. This will eventually be sandwiched by the front bezel and the vertical beams.



Access hatches ploped on. They'll eventually get a little twist knob to secure them.



A little experiment with vents. Not sure I like the look (or accuracy of cut) on this one. Problem for later, I suppose!


Well, that's where we're at for now! Would appreciate notes, if you've got 'em.

Ciao!

 

[Esom]

Another weekend, another leap towards completion.


Had some trouble finding a suitable position for the speakers that wouldn't interfere with the internals. Landed on under the control panel. They'll double as a rumble feature!


Printed a mock-up of the artwork I'll be using. Not total in love with the gold buttons, but Paradise is just down the street. Plenty of time to explore options.


Made a few looms for kick harnesses and speakers and such. Eventually I want all connections to terminate in dedicated molex clusters.


Monitor surround coming together. I might end up making two - one for 16:9 games and one for 4:3 games. We'll see how motivated I am.



Made a little marquee! The LEDs were much brighter than I expected. I'll either use fewer, or more likely, add a resistor to dim them a bit.

And that's that for this week!

Ciao!

 

[astro_zombie138]

I'm very curious to see how this turns out in the end. You can tell it's a labor of love here. Very cool man! One question, is there enough space for your legs under the control panel?

 

[Esom]

Thanks!

I hope there is room! I took my measurements from a Sega Versus City cab I'm babysitting. The CP depth is the same, minus the outer curves. I did raise it about two inches because I always bump my knees when I play at the Vs. cab.

 

[astro_zombie138]

Just something I noticed, might be the perspective of the pictures. It looks shallow as far as front to back of the cp on the underside. A profile shot would answer that. Sounds like it's more in line with a vewlix as far as the height, which is nice.

 

[jermz1]

I'm curious about the leg room since it's a sit down cab

 

[Esom]

From the floor to the bottom of the CP is 27", and from the face of the pedestal to the front of the CP is 11". This is slightly more generous than the Sega Vs. cab I took measurements from.

 

[Esom]

Back to the project! I wasn't able to put in as much work this weekend, life comes at 'cha, y'know?



I started routing the wires here and there. Nothing is quite final, but the plan so far is to have a Namco System 246 on one side, a CPS2 system on the other, and a PC in the middle for MAME gaming.



Testing out my color scheme. I think I'm partial to the Silver 1P / Gold 2P. Gunmetal kinda gets lost in the mix.



She lives! I had some unknown issue with the buttons not quite responding. But Coin Up and 1P start worked and that's all I needed for now.



A profile shot for those who were curious. Got the legs glued on and I like the illusion of the uprights continuing through the body to the top of the marquee. I'm not super happy with the flat CP, but I am making another one eventually, so it is what it is for now.



Finally cone with the fabrication phase, on to filling gaps and preping for paint!

Unfortunately she'll have to wait for her glow up. Painting next weekend!

Ciao!

 

[jermz1]

That side profile really puts it into perspective.

 

[Esom]

Well my weekend was not MY weekend this weekend, if ya get my drift. But, some painting has begun!



A particular song by Cream comes to mind.



Working on my stencil skills. My old eyes suffer for the craft.



Voila! Guess I didn't press hard enough in a few spots, but nothing the next layer won't fix.

Here's hoping this is done soon and I can get to stomping n00bs again!

Ciao!

 

[Esom]

Back at it and nearing the finish line!



I may have mentioned, but I am a cabinet maker and woodworker by trade. I try to expand my skills with each new project and this one is no different. I was getting really poor lines while masking and was at a loss. I don't do a lot of painting, but I was determined to make this work. I found a new technique for getting clean lines while browsing YouTube: after your initial color is set, mask off the opposing color space, repaint with the ORIGINAL color and then lay down the new color on top. It allows the old color to fill in any gaps on the tape and the new color won't get in! Well, turned out a peach!



Made myself a new loom, as the previous one I was not long enough on certain leads, and had a bunch of superfluous (to me) leads. New one is much cleaner and will mount nicely where I need it to.



Slowly routing and bundling all the cables. I didn't really have a clear plan as to where everything would go, so it's a few steps forward, one step back sort of endeavor.



For instance, the marquee looks like craaaaap. After some experimentation I did find a solution, but I haven't set it up yet. One more item on the "make it better on ver.2" list.



Aaaaaaand, she liiiiiiiives! The CP art turned out pretty ok! Got all the buttons and sticks wired up and played a few games before I had to call it a day.

All that remains now is to fit the bezel, put the doors back on, and wire the IPac to the PC for the MAME portion to function.

So close!