Arcade Controls made from scrap wood

lovelyhead · 1 Sep 2022 at 20:18

I was visiting my Mum and saw an old piece of scrap scaffolding board lying at the back of her garden and thought "I could make that into an arcade control panel and use it in my kitchen!". I didn't want to spend much money on the project so I am using the tools I have and I have a monitor, raspberry pi etc already.

Here is the scrap piece of wood as I found it:

First step is to cut it to size:

I then marked out where I wanted the holes for the buttons and joysticks. I am going with a classic six button design on the top of the control panel with two buttons per player on the edge for 'insert coin' and 'start' buttons. I think this will result in a pretty clean and uncluttered look. I used a hole saw on my pillar drill to make the cuts:

Now that the joystick and button holes are cut I started with the laborious task of hollowing out the wood to fit everything in:

Once that was done I figured out that I will have the Raspberry Pi external to the control panel and will route all the cables into the wall, out into the control panel then back into the wall again and up to the monitor. I will need two holes in the back edge of the control panel for that:

It was now time to start making the wood a bit more pretty. Out with the sandpaper. The back of the wood started off like this:

and then ended up like this:

and the front ended up looking like this:

I had a tin of varnish kicking about so after a few coats it is now a bit shiny:

It is now ready for the buttons to be mounted into the control panel but I am still waiting on them being delivered. I will update this post when they arrive.

ANDARIAL · 2 Sep 2022 at 08:30

nice project.looking forward to the updates

lovelyhead · 4 Sep 2022 at 12:13

I installed the monitor I'm going to use. A brand new 5:4 19" Dell with a dell sound bar that attaches to and is powered by the monitor. I just so happened to come across a wall mount in a charity shop which I picked up for £2. It's really good because it fits the monitor as close to the wall as is physically possible. I also fitted some shelf brackets to the controls and mounted it into position. The arcade controls are level but the radiator is not. I don't think who ever installed it owned a spirit level!

The buttons and joysticks have now arrived which I promptly fitted. The buttons still have the plastic on them to keep them clean until I finish the project.

I am going to cover the underside of the control panel with a piece of black acrylic held on with magnets.

Now I am just waiting on the last few things to finish the project off. A power extension cable, a heatsink for the Raspberry Pi and some brush plates to cover the holes in the wall where the cables will be run. I will also need to repaint the wall.

lovelyhead · 11 Sep 2022 at 12:18

I have now completed the project (apart from the acrylic cover for the bottom of the controls). Painted the wall, pulled the cables through the wall covering the holes with brush plates and re-mounted everything. I am really pleased with the way it has turned out. I estimate the total cost of the project to be in the region of £160 if anyone else fancied trying something similar. Next thing to do is I plan on curating a list of the best arcade games possible. All killer no filler!

ANDARIAL · 11 Sep 2022 at 12:46

Nice.make sure not to burn the dinner when playing

Lucifurr · 14 Sep 2022 at 11:37

That is fantastic! An arcade machine that doesn't take up any space. Great idea and execution.

Fluffybob · 14 Sep 2022 at 11:46

Nice work, love it

lovelyhead · 14 Sep 2022 at 13:03

Thanks guys.

I knew going into making it that it won't be something I used all the time. So I wanted it to not take up much room but also for me to be able to play a game within 10 seconds of wanting to. I leave the Raspberry Pi switched on all the time so all I need to do is switch the monitor on and I can select a game to play right away. Had a quick go of Mortal Kombat between feeding the fish and getting my cereal this morning!

Showboat · 14 Sep 2022 at 17:04

Saw the first pic and thought.. ffs throw that in the bin!

Well played looks awesome!

What size is the wood? 8"x2"?

lovelyhead · 14 Sep 2022 at 19:06

Thanks. The size is approx 20cm x 5cm.

Deleted member 77746 · 22 Sep 2022 at 09:47

that's awesome! Great work. Very neat cable management of the buttons as well.

Thekwango · 22 Sep 2022 at 09:50

gotta agree, that's brilliant - can i come round for dinner and some games!!

StonedPenguin · 22 Sep 2022 at 10:20

Nice work

SPG · 22 Sep 2022 at 11:36

That's awesome but, my gaming anger at some point would rip that right off the wall

Kurgen · 22 Sep 2022 at 18:27

looks amazing......... but.... with your woodwork skills why didnt you make some matching brackets... those cheapo ones let it down imo

lovelyhead · 22 Sep 2022 at 20:37

Kurgen said:
looks amazing......... but.... with your woodwork skills why didnt you make some matching brackets... those cheapo ones let it down imo

In a word, rigidity.

I could have made wooden ones but they would have to have been much larger to get the same rigidity as the metal ones. I also tried using more aesthetcally pleasing black steel brackets but those had to much flex.

It was a compromise but I honestly think the brackets I ended up using look fine and are very rigid.

lovelyhead · 24 Oct 2022 at 17:05

Finally got round to making the cover for the bottom of the controls. Piece of acrylic held on with magnets. That is the project complete. It was quite fund putting it together.

SupraWez · 24 Oct 2022 at 17:08

Nice one, looks great

BS Dave · 13 Nov 2022 at 10:48

I love this!

Cyber-Mav · 1 Dec 2022 at 18:51

lovelyhead said:
Piece of acrylic held on with magnets.

what witchcraft is these magnets made from that stick acrylic to wood? also id get 1 extra support in the middle since people usually tend to lean on the controls a fair bit.