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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

ThereIs0nly0ne · 23 Nov 2021 at 18:13

Thank you. Appreciate the feedback and I'll continue to update!

ThereIs0nly0ne · 26 Nov 2021 at 19:21

Just one more coat of black needed ... hopefully.

I'm happy with the speaker grill I made.

Edit:

Final coat done.

`

ThereIs0nly0ne · 28 Nov 2021 at 11:21

Well I managed to drop / scratch the marquee acrylic (on both sides). I did mistakenly order 3 pieces so all good.

I've been itching to see what this looks like so balanced the marquee on top of the mid section - it has some pads placed temporarily underneath the unpainted piece to it's higher than it should be. Pleased with how this is turning out ....

I want to get the filling and painting on the spacer between the 2 sections started today.

ThereIs0nly0ne · 29 Nov 2021 at 14:43

I made a template and cut the acrylic for the control panel.

The weather's been pretty awful so I've not managed to make any progress on the woodworking - I do everything outdoors on a small workbench.

ThereIs0nly0ne · 30 Nov 2021 at 12:01

I've managed to drill the holes in the CP and check that everything lines up. I need to trim a couple of mm off the side panels and then I can glue and screw them into place before sanding it down and filling it.

Dry assembled:

Back:

You can see the chamfered sections to act as guides to make slotting this in as easy as possible. The middle chamfered piece has a threaded insert to allow the panel to be attached to the base section.

I've left about 1mm around the perimeter of the acrylic to allow for the layers of paint.

Edit: trimmed, and glued.

ThereIs0nly0ne · 30 Nov 2021 at 17:24

Thought I'd have a quick peek at what it currently looks like.

ThereIs0nly0ne · 3 Dec 2021 at 15:21

Control panel filled, sanded and primed, There'll be a bit more to do to get some of the angles consistent across the front, angled pieces.

I'll need to sand back the 'furry' bits of MDF to get it nice and flat once it's dry.

Like the other cabinet sections, the intention is to make this look like its been carved out of a single piece of wood.

ThereIs0nly0ne · 5 Dec 2021 at 13:45

I'm pretty much done with the main sanding and filling and have got the second coat of black on after some vigorous sanding back. As usual, it's still drying when the picture was taken.

ThereIs0nly0ne · 9 Dec 2021 at 16:01

KraniX said:
How's it looking, following the thread with interest.

Wish I could do this but don't have the time or the patience

This coat of paint is having a real problem drying for some reason

Currently waiting patiently and considering other options.