My new arcade table

[Gwen]

Ok so my arcade table that I posted earlier finally broke. I ended up taking too much support out of the table and since it was cheap Ikea furniture it collapsed on itself.

So now I'm starting on a new project. I am building a pedestal arcade cabinet. Im going to have a tv mounted on my wall and you stand at the pedestal to play the games. It is not finished yet, but i'll get pics of it when I'm fully done. For now here is the build process.

I cut all of the wood with a jig saw. I'm pretty impressed with how well it came out considering a jig saw is a squirrely saw. 
It will kind of look like a tank, and it's built like one too.

Sorry for the large pics… i usually use spoilers, but i was too lazy this time.

Here is the inside of one of the "tank" tread feet things.

Here is the back (which i scrapped) and bottom of the center column.. plus more wood

Here is the side panel of the center column

Here is the side of the foot thing

Attaching the foot to the center column

Another view

Here is the foot thing with it's top on.

Inside of the foot thing

Inside of the center console. This is where the computer equipment will reside.

I did finally get the feet finished. I just need to put the back on the center part, and build the control panel part.
When it is done it will look similar to this.

[Mal]

That's pretty awesome. Gwen. :)

[Marsh]

Wish I had the skills or non lazyness to do something like this. Very cool.

[Growlith1223]

god damn, that looks beautiful

[Mohenjo Daro]

Nice job, but dang that looks heavy, what's the weight?

[Gwen]

It's HEAVY! it is 3/4 in MDF board. I had to have the home depot guys load it in a truck for me. I dont have the control panel attached yet, and right now I can carry it if someone helps me, but at least it's not going anywhere when you play on it. It's not meant to be mobile, but i am thinking maybe i'll put caster wheels on it so i can move it if needed, but it might make it weird, or move around when playing.

LOL Marsh, this should have only taken a week… it's been going on a month now building it. :P

[Gwen]

if anyone is interested here is a small update to my cabinet. i have the base finished. I just need to mount the innards. Next i'll be working on the actual control panel part itself.

I installed inside walls, and a floor to make it look nicer. Also it worked out perfectly so i can install a slide rail to slide my computer in and out of the cabinet easily.

Top down look


from the front


I filled in all the cracks made from my wobbly hand cutting with the jigsaw. I also filled in my screw holes so it looks flush.

Side with foot attached


Back


Here is the base painted black. It is the same paint i used to paing my Street Fighter cabinet.

I cut two holes out in the back to attach fans. I'll have intake at the bottom, and exhaust at the top.


Here is the front. The slot at the top is for a usb hub so i can attach a keyboard and mouse if needed, and to attach light guns for shooting arcade games.


Here is the side of the base. there is still some white showing in this pic, but I did get all of it painted.


Now to build the control panel!!!! ;D

[bone]

Gwenny dear

[Gwen]

Ok, so I have my arcade cabinet almost done. I just need to put the door on the front panel, order my controller for the lights, do a little touch up painting, and get my light guns. I do want to put some artwork on it, but I'm not that artsy, so I'm not sure how i'll get that done. I'm also getting light guns. 8)

Here it is with the old Star Wars game running.


.

The screen can rotate, and the games are set to auto rotate between landscape and portrait. Here is Pac-Man in portrait mode.


Kind of a dark pic, but you can see the layout of the buttons. All of the buttons light up except for the green and yellow ones. They will be changed later. I have 4 player capability.


Here is the inside. I do have the motherboard, and hard drive cage on a sliding drawer that i can pull out for easy maintenance.


closeup of Launchbox running.


All my storage space. I do have a little bit of cleaning left to do. I have 5 drives in the cage, and 4 external drives.

One day i'll have everything sorted and can then actually play games!


As a bonus… my Street Fighter II cab, and cat!


Here it is turned on.


Ohh i have to get a pic of the wiring and inside of the top. I'll get that soon.

Let me know what you guys think!

[PD]

I need that SF2 cabinet! How much has this project cost you so far?

[Gwen]

It is an expensive hobby. The computer and hard drives i had lying around. The speaker i got from work.. Work was getting rid of it.

It was about $100 in wood. probably $100 for the buttons, but they are light up ones so you can get them cheaper. The player 1 and 2 joystick were $50 each i think, but they are programmable. Player 3 and 4 are normal joysticks, and they are like $10 i think. The trackball was $50 i think. I've probably spent about $500 or so so far. You could probably do it for less, or build a smaller bar top type cab.

My dad got the street fighter cab from an arcade that was going out of business for like $100 a long time ago.