Custom Arcade Cabinet Build by Lotharian

[lotharian]

So today is another day of cutting and poking around. Remember this is the very first build for me, I have made other things but nothing on this scale. This has not been difficult but more of a learning to do things, and if I could go back I would do a couple things a little different. I'm not done yet so I'll save what I would have done different till the end, who knows I may be more right in over thinking things a bit.

Well here is what was finished today;

Built the base unit with some 1x6 on the bottom of the base to reinforce the coasters. Found a couple pieces of scrap lumber at Home Depot with a 3/4" route cut in them (used for banding) for a cost of 0.51 each, they are a god sent, will be using them for a couple things first off it went over the back coaster bolts so I could set the back brace. Saved us setting up 2x4s for the same route cut.





Using that same "scrap" as the base for my monitor board. I have already mounted the arm assembly to the plywood and here you will see it resting in the scrap board (it hasn't been for cut yet). I got the monitor arm mount at a Ross for $9.99 , its perfect. This mount will allow me to build this unit sturdy with upgrade ability latter down the road. I stuck with the 19" due to it being the biggest square but if latter I want to put a larger unit in there I can adjust for it.





Well outside all that everything else is cut to fit, just not fitted yet. Final adjustments and a few more design on the fly decisions were made. Oh and I made a total disaster out of my garage . The biggest thing is keeping this strong and safe to use while looking good. Keeping the main load to the center of balance is the key. without MDF you need to build with braces, as much to keep it from warping as to keep it stable and funny enough do it right and it does both.






Well with that, the one thing I did 100% right is chose Plywood over MDF. My father being almost 80 came from an era where safety was pulling your fingers out of the cutting path of a saw just before it would cut your fingers off, back then saw safety was taught by 3 finger Frank and the entire lesson was him waving at you. I doubt I would get him to wear a safety mask or goggles, men don't do those kind of things.

Its all good and I'm learning things. Never hurts to listen to someone who had to cut their own lumber from a forest to build a house at the age of 8. He may not be able to teach a safety class but he can still teach me a thing or two about cutting a good straight line ( and how to use a sander to fix the F-ups).


Post more tomorrow!

[PMJPlay]

Had to get a few other things done, will resume work tomorrow, have measured everything twice and made the preparations to make tomorrows work faster, I should have something very much resembling a arcade machine tomorrow or firewood eh either way

[lotharian]

well I will have plenty left over for a bit of a bonfire... or a new shelving unit in the closet.... hmmm fire good!

I know I know this is taking longer than expected. The big problem is a skill saw and a jig saw can only do so much in a day. I have more equipment than most people but not enough to make this job fast and making it all work in the end is more work. I'm getting about 7 hrs a day into this project, some of it is stories from my father of building projects from long forgotten times but the end is worth the journey.


While Im not building the system I'm loading up the frontend of the system that will run the emulator. No fun taking pics there.



weeeeeee.

[PMJPlay]

No worries my friend! We love that you are sharing your experience with us

[Hot Trout]

I love the posts and pictures, it is great following a project like this. It is also great to hear you are doing it with your dad. It is only when you get older that you realise how much you learned from your mum and dad. Times like this are precious.

Keep the posts and pictures coming. I am also going to slightly change the topic description for this topic to better reflect your input.

[lotharian]

Its pretty cool, its up and standing, not nearly what I wanted by this time frame..... ran into a major problem... outside angels. Interesting how 1/2" on a bad cut can almost bust a entire project! Sadly it was on the base and it was my fault. I fixed the problem, it took some time and some abstract thinking. I expected this but hoped it wouldn't happen.

Issue: Freehand cuts - -

Skill Saws are not a oxymoron. Getting a straight cut is paramount. It is a bit of a guess with offset teeth, but I got a almost fool proof aim now. That is what it takes... without the aid of industry standard items such as table saws, radial arm saws and the such (things I have owned in the past) it takes true skill, skill gained from mistakes. Oh my brothers and sisters mistakes were made, and now overcome. Sadly an entire day was made of fixing the issue. My father and I had words on how to fix the issue, sadly I inherited some stubbornness from my father.... oh interesting was the dilemma.

In the end we both laughed it off. Fixed the issue and moved on. It took an entire day (7hrs) to do this. Thus not a dang thing was done. On the plus though the hardest part by far is done, the base is connected and the sides are a true square both outside and in. I am gaining respect for carpenters, ohhh and I have a taste for it now... watch out =).

All being said, my world events are going to prevent me from a fast finish. My lady returns from a work trip tomorrow and thus I will be busy, I will have Tuesday... but I don't have high hopes for much being done. Sadly I return to work there after. I will finish this but you will need to check updates weekly and not daily. I will get it done, oh yes it will be done.

Oh and if anyone has a finished Maximus Arcade art config... save me much time you will.

[lotharian]

Wow got some stuff done today!
The inside frame is completed and braces set

[lotharian]

Installed a keyboard tray just deep enough for the keyboard.





Tested stick placement -



Yup all good....

Its getting there, got a ton done today for once. Will tinker for the next 5 days after work when possible but nothing huge. Getting to the fun stuff now, starting to look like an arcade cabinet. Its sturdy as heck and then some.

Not a super easy project but not that hard either. I would do it again for sure.

[Kherr]

That's awesome stuff! I wish I had the money to do something like this. I never got to go to arcades when I was younger. Only ever visited one for about 2 hours. Played coin-op machines in laundry mats and whatnot, so I could actually really use something like this.

[lotharian]

Kherr,

Thanks first off man, this is a trial by fire for me on the build. My father is letting me quite a few of his tools but all and all its not expensive to build a cabinet. I'm in about $450 but if you had to get everything you would be in about $750... look at it like this.. its an X-Box 1 with a couple games.... but you would have thousands of games.... No contest.