Build Log (Part 1)
For over a year I've been working on this arcade machine. Technically that's not really true - I put about two weekends of effort into reaching this point, and then broke the original PC that was to go in it, so the project sat in the garage for over a year. Since I've taken off a bit of time for Christmas (and have sourced a new PC in the meantime), I am determined that this will be the week that I get the project playable. The project itself is based off of Kyle Lindstrom's excellent Ms. Pac-Man cocktail table plans. They are sketched out in great detail and by following along, it's easy to build a replica machine (in that you don't have to figure any measurements out yourself). I made two major changes to Kyle's plans, though (in addition to scrapping the feet and widening the control panels):
I chose a 3/4" thick top instead of a 1". The idea was to save on wood. This was a good change, and one I made spur-of-the-moment at the hardware store when it became clear I could not fit a 4'x8' sheet of plywood in my Ford Focus. It is actually possible, by creatively rearranging the provided cutting layout, to build the whole machine and top out of two 4'x4' sheets of 3/4" plywood (or a single 4'x8' cut in half by the helpful hardware store employees). This works out well for me as the glass sheet I have on hand is actually 1/4" thick - thicker than most arcade glass - so the overall top thickness should be "close enough".
Curbfeeler at BYOAC reminded me that I lowered the control boxes, too. This is probably necessary anyway if you go for the shortened top, as you lose an additional 1/4" clearance from controls to glass.
I swapped the hinged side-and-top for a hinged side with fixed top. DO NOT DO THIS, because it makes monitor mounting a total nightmare. I still haven't solved this yet, which is another reason why I am still working on the project. Hinged side-and-top is sturdy and gives you lots of clearance to install the monitor, after which you just swing the whole thing shut and you're good to go. My solution... sucks. See picture below.
Sadly I took no construction photos up to this point, so with a lot of hand-waving my instructions begin "Have a partially built arcade cabinet on hand". I wanted to build this machine at the least possible expense, so the inputs are all rigged up to a hacked up keyboard (look for Tiger-Heli's excellent keyboard hack guide to learn how to eke the most non-blocking inputs out of a keyboard as possible). Buttons were cheap $7.50/10 jobbies I bought off eBay. Joysticks are the cheap Happ (Competition, was it?) set to 8-way. And so here we are today where I try to mount a 19" TV to the inside of this. It is obvious all the stuff won't fit without decasing the TV, and even then things are going to be extremely tight. First order of business was to take the case off. TV had been sitting in the garage for months, so I tempted fate and didn't attempt to zap it, and mostly prayed I wouldn't touch anything high voltage and kill myself. TVS, MONITORS AND OTHER CRTS CAN HOLD UP TO 20,000 VOLTS AND KILL YOU INSTANTLY IF YOU ARE NOT CAREFUL. Don't be stupid like me and look up the proper way to discharge a TV.
Case off, I could now go about figuring out just how the heck I would mount this. An hour later I bought a long 1.5"x1.5" for the job plus some nails, and cut a beam across the back so I'd have something to support the weight. I had no good ideas until I came up with the solution to just put short blocks in, and then rest the four corners of the CRT metal brace on top. With enough additional wood, L brackets, screws and wood glue I figured I could secure the blocks in place and the TV was not about to go anywhere. I hammered some blocks in place temporarily.
A dry fit looks promising, except that the blocks are too big and bump up against the back of the CRT, preventing it from sinking in to the proper height. Tomorrow I am taking a skil-saw to the blocks to shape them properly.
More tomorrow.