Building another arcade cabinet

ThereIs0nly0ne · 17 Oct 2021 at 17:19

Not sure where to put this tbh but I figured some of you may be interested.

This will have swap-able control panels for various configurations and will be used for both Retro and more modern games using LaunchBox / BigBox as a front-end. I'm aiming for a more modern looking cabinet and this will be finished in an (almost) flat black paint. I have a 27inch G Synch monitor fitted at the moment and it's using a Creative Soundbar with a sub for the audio.

Current state of affairs:

Design for the marquee:

One other point to note is that it's modular - it splits into sections (base, mid section for the monitor and audio, the marquee and detachable control panels).

I've just finished the artwork and sent that off to be printed and the acrylic should be here soon.

If anyone's remotely interested in this, I'll post some more pictures as things progress.

MrWhippy · 17 Oct 2021 at 19:06

Please do, had a crack at building a cab about 10 years ago. Never got it beyond the proof of concept stage but still got a box of buttons and a joystick somewhere. One day I'll have another go.

Though thinking about it, I could probably put something a lot more compact together using an rPi and 3d printing a case. Hmmm, might have to think about that.

Good luck anyway, can't wait to see the progress.

Cyber-Mav · 17 Oct 2021 at 23:46

Keep this thread update. Ever since i was given a bartop cabinet iv gotten a big surge of interest to build a bigger one. Looking forward for some ideas.

Psycho Sonny · 17 Oct 2021 at 23:51

MrWhippy said:
Please do, had a crack at building a cab about 10 years ago. Never got it beyond the proof of concept stage but still got a box of buttons and a joystick somewhere. One day I'll have another go.

Though thinking about it, I could probably put something a lot more compact together using an rPi and 3d printing a case. Hmmm, might have to think about that.

Good luck anyway, can't wait to see the progress.

I thought about doing a cab then decided just to hook up a raspberry pi to a TV and use 2 arcade sticks.

That means you don't need to take up any additional floorspace than what you already have at home. It costs 1/10th of the price and you can play from the comfort of your couch/bed.

A dedicated cabinet would be great I bought one for the family home last Christmas but prefer a much tidier set up at my own place.

Ravenger · 18 Oct 2021 at 13:52

I had a cab built for me by an amusement machine manufacturer some years ago. It's based on the classic Jamma cabinet design. I don't really have the construction skills to make a good job of it myself, though I did eventually remove the built in board and replaced it with a PC.

I've never regretted getting it, in fact when we had our dining room and kitchen combined I made them design around the Arcade cab location, 'cause it wasn't moving! The only thing I don't like is the control panel is pretty small. It's a two player machine with 6 buttons for each player, so no room for other controls without making it cluttered and awkward to play. Though I've got around that by buying separate trackballs and spinners that I can temporarily place on top of the panel, though it does prevent usage of one of the player's controls.

ThereIs0nly0ne · 18 Oct 2021 at 17:17

Thanks for the responses! Seems like there's some interest.

As mentioned, the cabinet is designed to have multiple control panels so it will give me some flexibility. I got the idea to build another cabinet when I started playing some twin stick shooters recently - always loved Robotron back in the day.

This was the prototype for that - I wanted to make sure I could make something with twin analog stick set-up that was recognisable in Steam. I used vJoy and Joystick gremlin for that to create a virtual joystick device.

Panel artwork which I sent off to be printed:

All buttons will be white.

ThereIs0nly0ne · 24 Oct 2021 at 14:30

I completed the shroud to cover the space in between the CP and the main cabinet (I had to redo this a couple of times as it was too large). I also managed to get the side pieces cut for the CP. Still waiting for my artwork to arrive unfortunately.

Cyber-Mav · 24 Oct 2021 at 19:26

dunno why but as soon as i saw that car an image of a dalek came to mind lol.

ThereIs0nly0ne · 24 Oct 2021 at 20:08

It’s because it does look like a dalek!

ThereIs0nly0ne · 25 Oct 2021 at 18:10

Artwork arrived. There's some visible banding on it so may get it done on vinyl instead.

Emlyn_Dewar · 26 Oct 2021 at 04:27

Looking great!

goldy6660 · 26 Oct 2021 at 07:44

Yeah this looks amazing really looking forward to seeing the progress

ThereIs0nly0ne · 26 Oct 2021 at 12:20

Emlyn_Dewar said:
Looking great!

goldy6660 said:
Yeah this looks amazing really looking forward to seeing the progress

Thanks for the feedback guys! Will post more progress as I go.

ThereIs0nly0ne · 7 Nov 2021 at 17:34

So now comes the laborious part - trimming, filling, painting, sanding etc. I've managed to get the first undercoat on which helps to identify all the inconsistencies. At this point, I'm really happy with how everything is lined up and flush which is half the battle. One noticeable thing is the 9mm MDF (used on the front part of the marquee) is significantly more fibrous - again, shouldn't be a problem, will just require a little more prep.

Cyber-Mav · 11 Nov 2021 at 18:42

Could have used pine?

ThereIs0nly0ne · 11 Nov 2021 at 22:12

Cyber-Mav said:
Could have used pine?

I had considered plywood but settled on MDF - the finish I'm going for will need to be as flat as possible before painting. I think anything other than MDF would be really difficult / time consuming to get a decent finish.

A shame as MDF is really heavy (one of several reasons that this build is modular tbh).

ThereIs0nly0ne · 16 Nov 2021 at 17:10

So this is taking a while as expected. I estimate each of the sections will take about 10 days to complete, largely due to all the prep work required. Current state of the marquee section - I have a couple more layers to do but the filling is done.

The top of this is still drying so currently the finish looks to be a little inconsistent.

ikra · 17 Nov 2021 at 00:13

By any chance are you able to share the CAD? (That's if you modelled it)

Really dig the design

ThereIs0nly0ne · 17 Nov 2021 at 08:03

ikra said:
By any chance are you able to share the CAD? (That's if you modelled it)

Really dig the design

I don't have it modelled atm unfortunately - I am intending on putting some plans together once complete (and probably an 'Instructable').

Thanks for the feedback on the design, it's appreciated!

ThereIs0nly0ne · 21 Nov 2021 at 14:01

The marquee section is now finished.

I spent a good amount of time cutting some pieces for the back sections of the cabinet. I've attached a couple of those to the mid section. I also spent a few hours filling and sanding everything.

Also managed to get a couple of layers of undercoat on. I may find time to sand this back and get the first thin layer of black on later.