Build log for an arcade cabinet I built in spring 2020. About 3 months work from design to functioning machine.
Based most of the design on the full-size cabinet by Mike at webuildstuff:
holbrooktech.weebly.com/full-size-arcade-cabinet.html
and the wiring/lighting/electronics from Bob Clagett's I Like To Make Stuff cabinet build:
iliketomakestuff.com/how-to-make-an-arcade-cabinet-part-1
First time building an arcade cabinet so a bit of trial-an-error as it went.
Initial model design
Went through 3-4 iterations of the design testing out some different monitor sizes and panel cut-sheet layouts. Initially had the front panel as one piece but ended up designing a half-height hinged panel to make some storage space.
Panel cuts and rough assembly
Printed a full-size template for the outline of the sides. Kept the overall cabinet width and depth just below 24" so I would be able to get 2 sets of panels out of a standard 4x8 sheet.
Assembly and monitor test fit
Material consists of 3/4" ply for the sides and lower front panel, 3/4" poplar for anywhere edge-of-board would be exposed and/or routered without t-molding, and some combination of 3/8" to 3/4" MDF or particle board for all of the internal panels (mostly depending on what I had laying around). In general kept heavier MDF to the lower portion and lighter boards to the top. Seemed to keep the weight down but still be sturdy enough not to move around.
Monitor is a refurb HP25F that was thin and very light, and has almost no bezel once the lower plastic shroud is removed. No front buttons visible for an even cleaner look. Screen can also be set to auto-power on. I originally was planning on adding some wood bezel for a few inches around the screen, but decided to tighten the cabinet width to go flush against the screen. Not really a true retro size set-up with a big 4:3 CRT stuffed in there, but seems to work for what I wanted.
Final test fit assembly and marquee
Lower hinged panel roughed in and control panel sides/top cut. Marquee routered out of poplar board with a basic jig and routered again to get a lip for the acrylic to sit inside. Another test fit for all the pieces, then totally dissembled to do the stain & paint, control panel, T-molding.
Tried to pay attention to having no exposed fasteners, as well as having it be relatively easy to take apart if needed. The only 'permanent' pieces are the panel cleats inside the right and left sides which are glued/screwed. Everything else can be broken back down into panels
Turns out this control panel layout would be too small since I didn't do a very good test of the CP in actual size before cutting the pieces. Note to self: print your CP on paper at 100% scale and see if all the stuff fits.. :)
Stain & Finish
Wanted to do wood stained finish everywhere there was grained wood but didn't want to go the traditional colors (oak, maple, etc...) Decided to try and make a homemade stain with some bold color. After doing some research, found Keda wood dye kits that seemed to fit the bill (https://www.kedadyeinc.com) and purchased 25g of the Royal Blue powder. For the stain the powder gets mixed with water and alcohol in about a 50/50 blend. I mixed it with about 10g of some pearlescent blue flake I had from a totally different project to try and come up with some interesting shades.
Final (re)assembly
T-molding applied to outer panels and stained pieces reassembled. Control panel front and top built out ...and now seems way too small for 2 6-button layouts, a roller-ball with 2 buttons, and 8 miscellaneous buttons...
Time for an on-the-fly redesign...
Testing 1/2/3 coats + clear on some scrap to see how it would look before moving on to all the panels. Tried to use some spray clear, but just good 'ol polyurethane clear in a can with a brush turned out to be the best.
Doing it again I would probably thin the clear and use a sprayer to get a smoother finish
Stain on all the grained wood parts; both side panels, top and bottom monitor panel, marquee, front panel.
The pearlescent add quite a bit to the finish that doesn't really show up in the stills. The clearcoat obviously makes it look great and was pretty close to the finish I was going for considering I was mostly making it up as I went.
Control Panel v.2
Once I laid out the control panel I saw there was not nearly enough room. Printing a 100% scale layout helped a lot in figuring out the size it needed to be. I extended out the top plate and squared off the design instead of the arc that was there previously, adding about 6-8" of new space
The front I just extended straight out and re-cut the 5° angled sides to accommodate the longer panel. I trimmed up two 1/8" pieces to act as caps for the extended CP and glued them on the sides.
Control Panel v.2
Once I reconfigured the panel for the layout, I trimmed the sandwiched panel and acrylic and went town with the drill press. For the joysticks I routered a recess so the bottom of the joystick plate would sit flush with the bottom of the panel and hold it a bit firmer.
Marquee
Cut two pieces of 1/8" acrylic to sandwich two sheets of translucent backlit film printed on my inkjet. Seems to be similar to vellum from what I can tell but easier to print on without smearing the ink. Dried easily and lets a good amount of light through. The black/dark areas block the light surprisingly well; I was expecting a lot of bleed or blotchyness through the darker areas. The graphic is just the generic 'ARCADE Emulator' image we've all seen around. I wasn't even sure my DIY marquee would work, so didn't want to spend a bunch of time designing something. Easy enough to change out now for future revisions after I come up with some better in-theme graphics.
Control Panel v.2
For the graphics I found some interesting looking blue cloud cg artwork . Added in the control layout borders and some labeling and printed on two 13x19 sheets of photopaper. There is a tiny bit of seam, but I haven't had anybody notice it that didn't already know it was there.
Control Panel v.2
sandwiched everything together and tightened down, then trimmed the print and added the T-molding to the front.
set into the revised control panel and everything fits. Painted lower hinged panel and side extensions gloss black.
Electronics
Starting in on the wiring, first test was to try out the blackout LED buttons. Looked good once I remembered the LED's are directional +/- and half of the LED's weren't actually burnt out. After that it was full wiring mode between the IPac and buttons/joysticks and LED connections. Tried to keep things as semi-clean as possible, wire ferrules and crimp connectors for all. Crimping tools are your friend!
Lighting
Using the I Like To Make Stuff cabinet wiring design almost point for point. A single strip of 5V addressable LEDs and an Arduino Uno to control the lights. Motion sensor activated so that when you get close to the cabinet the lights fade up and the monitor and speakers power up via 120v relay. After that one large wiring harness to connect everything together. LED light board to mount behind the marquee, and a lower strip to light blue below the control panel.
Speaker Panel
Used the sub and volume control from a Logitech Z333 2.1 speaker set, but replaced the speaker with a set of 4" Pioneer coaxials. Custom designed 3D printed cup to hold the volume knob inside it's recessed opening and some gloss black paint for the panel. Small cutout for the motion sensor that activates the monitor and marquee & panel lighting.
Final Assembly
Electronics installed in the back and top with subwoofer, speakers, Raspberry Pi, Arduino, power supply, lighting override switch, and wiring to the control panel (shown pre wire management, lol)
120v relay controls the motion activated lighting which runs off a master for constant power to the Pi and arduino.
Ready to Play!
Buttoned up and plugged in. For games, running a Pi4 version of RetroPi and EmulationStation with a little bit of customization. Using the MAME2003 romset and currently have about 700 games based on some of the 'all killer/no filler' game lists from forum.arcadecontrols.com to keep it down to a playable number of choices.
Planning to add in the Daphne games soon (Drangon's Lair, Space Ace, etc) which should mostly complete the system other than maybe a few of my favorite NES/SNES games.
