Homemade Arcade Cabinet for Hyperspin (by Stinow)

[crustyasp46]

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And that is all I can say

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[Hot Trout]

Nice post Crusty ,

I have to say that this thread is the best on the site and the cabinet project is just awesome. I can wait for more pictures and details.

Excellent work with real skill involved.

[stinow]

Thank you, everyone, for the kind words. It's what motivates us!!

Last saturday, we continued our work on the:

• Control panel
• Drawer / slide for the keyboard & mouse
• Cable management

First we had to fire up the heater and the radiators, so it would be a little comforatable while working


My friend already had made the replacement panel for above the keyboard & mouse, which had to be removed last time because of issues.


He also strengthened the rear board so the removable rear panels could safely be attached to it.


Then we started building further on the control panel. First we put a carefully broken plexiglass panel on top of the controlpanel and a wooden panel on top of that, just to keep if firm and so the plexiglass (hopefully) wouldn't break while heating and bending it.


Next my mate did the heating and I did the bending. This is something that comes quite close and is best done by two persons. But, good preparation is half of the work. Especially lining out the wood & plexiglass and holding it firmly by ''klemmen'' (what are these called in English?).


The result of the first bend, which I was very pleased with:


Meanwhile, I started lengthening the audio- and 12v cables


Also, I will propably order the (selfmade) control panel artwork and an original, but printed, marquee:



A quick pre-fit of the artwork on the control panel, without the plexiglass, and printed on three A4 sheets in black and white (but we just couldn't resist it anymore!).



We started drilling the holes in the plexiglass. Did some testruns on a simple sheet first, and then continued on the real deal. Again, couldn't resist test fitting the buttons. Had to actually, because the holes had to be 'filed' out a bit more:


Then we started on drawing and then drilling out the holes of the control panel -wood-. The toughest part by far being the lowering of the stick's later on:



We also had to 'deepen' out the holes in the stick panels because the screws would otherwise be see-able through the control panel artwork (and we don't want that! ).


Putting in the drawer sides for the keyboard & mouse was also quite a job, since it had to be level and at the same height on both sides. Also, I'm quite tall (1.90m) and I had to sit inside the cabinet "getting inside from the rear" . But eventually it worked out after drawing quite some lines on the panels.


Quickly made a round hole in my spare PC sideboard because the default fan (HP.. ) made way too much noise, so I wanted to place an other fan in the sideboard instead. It's not by far a perfect circle, but since the case will be inside the cabinet... who cares .


Placing all the buttons (test)...


And finding out two of the front buttons won't fit with the switch & lighting also placed!!
So we will have to figure out something else for those. We will propably leave them there, but just unconnected. They will light up however.


And finally... what I've been personally been waiting for a 'long' time; the (temporary) placement of the control panel (without artwork for now)!!



As the project is evolving, it's becoming more and more pleasing work.
I also noticed myself getting more emotionally involed than expected... after calling it ''my baby''!

Thanks for all the support so far guys, you rock!

[Hot Trout]

Loving it

[stinow]

Hi everyone!

Yesterday we took a day off from work so we could continue on our 1st (of hopefully more to come) arcade cabinets.

We have made a list of most important things that we have to do before we can put the machine on it's final location:

(most is in Dutch, but some stuff is readable I hope: left = todo, right = shopping list)

We started off by making small 'lines' with a frees inside the front of the side panels. This will be for the T-molding!


Especially the corners are hard to get right, because you have to keep the 'bovenfrees' at the right angle in comparison to the panel you are doing.


When that was done, I started doing putting in the T-molding. It was a very tight fit, but with some rough handwork (since I couldn't find a rubber hammer) one side was done in 10-15 minutes.


Once my friend was back, he showed me where the hammer lay, and I did the other side in < 5 minutes . The only problem we had here, as you can see on the photograph, is the T-molding near the location of the control panel. Since there are two bends quite next to eachother, the T-molding tempts to bend easily. Which makes it hard to keep in place between the corners. We had to use some glue and clamps to hold it in place. That too, the first time failed, but secondly, with some other glue, worked out.

Mind that actually the 'inside' corners are the toughest. It is impossible to not leave a little space undone with the T-molding there. So that will have to be filled and at the end, painted. Nothing will be noticable .


After that, before we put it "back on solid ground" (awesome song btw ), we nailed in some feet for our cabinet, so the floor wouldn't get too much damage from it lateron. And also because the cabinet will be quite a lot more portable with the feet underneath it.


Then we drilled to quite large holes for a few computer extention possibilities (LAN, Powercord). We made the holes large so we could fit a plate behind it where the connections could easily be clicked into.


The powerbutton (with lighting)! Had to move it a little from the design as you can see. That's because the saw couldn't be made so close to the edge of the cabinet. Fortunately this appears to be the most common location power buttons were placed back in the arcade days. Note that we first had to cut a 220v block so we could connect and solder two of the cables to the switch and connect the other end, which goes to the inverted outlet we are going to make on the rear of the cabinet (photo above).


Next we started on fitting the rear panels in the cabinet. We want them to be easily clampable and also easily removable, for easy access... . First screwed a small strip onto the panel so it would be held in place on the bottom.


Next, we screwed in a small plank on both sides and for both panels, where they could rest against.
Also you can see the 220v block where we will connect the PC, monitor, speakers and lighting to.


Rear panels in place, but not holded yet so they can sill fall out now . Made some holes in them for cooling the monitor and for easy opening.


Mind the black cornerpiece. Had to make a few of those to hold the marquee in place when it arrives .


And (yes!! ), the new location (added actually) for the two buttons that couldn't be connected. So now they are in a nice position to also do some pinball with them.


Now, when trying to fit the control panel again before making the 'scharnier' (bending piece), it appeared the plexiglass was a little too wide, so we had to carefully shave off some of the edges.


After that was done, we could put the control panel in place (or hang it for now since we didn't have place holders laying around.. I will be getting those this afternoon).


The control panel has to, ofcourse be able to open and close because we will have to put the artwork underneath and in case of failure of any kind, it will be easily accesible this way.

Final job of the day, was putting in place the volume control (which comes from the subwoofer). I wanted to make this a non-visible feature, so we decided to place it behind the coindoor. So once you open that, voilá!


'Till next time TOC folks

[crustyasp46]

Every time I see an update here stinow I have to find a bucket and tie it under my chin, as my drooling is uncontrollable

[stinow]

Every time I see an update here stinow I have to find a bucket and tie it under my chin, as my drooling is uncontrollable

Mate, I'm touched, seriously!

Thanks, you guys are -always- welcome to cross the water to here and do some gaming .

[Hot Trout]

A retro gaming mashup sounds like a lot of fun. Back in the amiga days i founded and ran a monthly computer club. We met in a local hall and played, swapped disks, ate biscuits and generally had a laugh. We even managed to organise an annual gameoff with trophie and everything.

Thinking of doing this reminds me of the club.

This project is superb and i for one cant wait for the next installment.

[stinow]

[..]

This project is superb and i for one cant wait for the next installment.

Thanks, and, that makes two

[stinow]

A retro gaming mashup sounds like a lot of fun. Back in the amiga days i founded and ran a monthly computer club. We met in a local hall and played, swapped disks, ate biscuits and generally had a laugh. We even managed to organise an annual gameoff with trophie and everything.
[..]

If you are thinking of doing this again, for retro consoles ''overall'', you got yourself a loyal follower (be it in Europe somewhere once every X months).