The Control Panel Top

OK, I finally found some free time this past week to cut out the CP top. I decided to go with the standard 2 player 6-button layout. It will also have a trackball and spinner - obviously I haven't cut the trackball hole yet. The top row will go something like this: P1 Start, P1 Coin, Spinner, Spinner Button 1, Spinner Button 2, P2 Coin, P2 Start.

This last shot shows roughly where the trackball will go:

If you are interested in the button layout check one of my older posts.

I hope to really make some progress on this thing now that the summer is here. The main thing holding me up is finding an entire afternoon to apply the stain and poly. Once that part is out of the way I will be able to work on it in smaller time increments which means after work and on the weekends when I have a free hour or so...

65°? It's About Time

OK, after the painfully long winter it finally looks as though warmer weather is headed my way. I'm going to have a long weekend coming up in April where I will hopefully be able to make some progress. I've been a bit discouraged lately since the colossal failure of a CP box mocks me every time I'm in my workshop.

Over the next two weeks I am going to:

• Re-cut all 5 pieces for the CP box and do a dry fit
• Stain all of the pieces for the CP box FIRST
  
• Glue it up
  
• Seal/finish with poly
• Cut out panels for front door and kickplate
• Make keyboard drawer

I also want to stain the actual cabinet (I better not screw it up) but I'm not sure how to go about it. I'm thinking about laying the cabinet flat and doing one side at a time. I would have the most control over the staining process if I did that and I wouldn't have to worry about runs. I should be able to apply a nice even stain. The only problem is that eventually I'll have to stain the interior and the cabinet will have to be upright for that. This way will also take a few days per side instead of doing it all in one day. Oh well - no need to rush...

Noooooooo!!!!!!!

Well, I ruined the CP box over the weekend. I tried staining it and it came out splotchy as hell and I have to redo the entire thing. I'm also apparently blind because there are several spots where I didn't sand all of the glue off (even though I swore I did). I'm so pissed because the box itself came out quite nice. You can be the judge but the CP box is now a shitbox.

I should have stained each piece before assembly and waited until it was warmer outside.

I'll save it and possibly cover it with some black laminate - the shape is still good and it might make a nice CP down the road but just not for this cabinet.

The Control Panel (Box: Part 1)

I finally got Bella's Arcade to the point where I can work on this one and not feel guilty about having unfinished projects laying around the house. The next thing on the list was building the control panel box and top. It was quite complicated since I decided to miter every single joint including the bottom panel.

The overall dimensions are:

• Bottom panel: 12" x 32"
• Side panels: 12" on the bottom edge; 5-1/4" on the back edge; 4-1/4" on the front edge (it's exactly a 5 degree slope).
• Front panel: 4-1/4" x 32"
• Back panel: 5-1/4" x 32"
• Every corner is mitered at 45 degrees
• The top edges of the front and back panels are mitered at 5 degrees to match the slope of the side panels so the control panel top will sit flush
  
• The two holes in the side panels are for pinball flippers
  

After cutting all of the pieces I did a dry fit for the side panels to check for squareness and if everything was going to fit together properly. Note that the box is upside down in this picture.

Once I decided everything was lined up properly it was time to cut the slots for the biscuits to hold everything together. I could have probably used just wood glue and nothing else but the biscuits will provide a very secure bond between the panels. Here's a shot of the side panel without the slot:

Next you can see a shot of the biscuit joiner lined up with the mitered edge. All I had to do was set the fence to 45 degrees to cut all of the biscuit slots. I am not familiar with this tool at all but it was really easy to do.

The next shot shows the slot:

The next shot shows the biscuit in the slot. It's a #10 size biscuit - I tried 20s but the slot went all the way through the wood on my test cut so that wasn't going to work.

This process was repeated on all of the mitered edges. I used one biscuit in the corners and ten of them on the bottom panel (three on the 32" long edges and two on the 12" shorter ones). In my next post I'll show the glue up and the final results. Overall I'm pleased although it's not as *perfect* as I was hoping to get everything. I'm hoping the finishing process will eliminate any visual imperfections/gaps in the construction. If not, since the control panel is completely separate I can always try again!

Sneak Peek (I'm not dead!)

The reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated or something like that. After about 2 months of inactivity I'm finally gearing up to work on the arcade again. Next up is the Control Panel - It's basically just a box that the joysticks, buttons and other controls sit on top of but building it is going to be very difficult because I'm planning on mitering every single joint.

Below is a sneak peek at one of the sides to the control panel base. The two holes that are cut out are for buttons (as you can see) - this is the short side of the control panel base and the buttons will eventually be used to simulate flippers on a pinball machine. There are several great programs out there such as Visual Pinball which recreates tons of different pinball tables. This is really going to be one arcade to rule them all!

This is going to be fun.

Clamps are OFF!!!

Check it out people - the clamps are OFF. The cabinet is VERY sturdy and everything came together evenly and square. I'm really happy. After standing it up I realized how nice a full-sized cabinet is going to feel (well, at least height-wise). The CP area and marquee are set perfectly for someone of average size like me (6ft.). Overall the cabinet just feels right.

Enjoy the pictures:

I was hoping to make more progress this month but with the holidays and work kicking my ass lately I just couldn't find the time. Hopefully I'll make some more progress before the New Year while I'm off but I doubt it.

Clamping It Down!!

Alright people - check it out. I'm finally getting somewhere and from now on I'll actually have "something to work on" instead of random sheets of plywood sitting in the garage. I glued up all of the panels I cut and everything came together pretty nicely - angles and all. The joints are all quite tight and I'm happy so far. The cabinet was put together using #20 biscuits to help me line everything up.

This first picture shows how the base I built earlier out of a 2x4 interacts with the various plywood panels. You can also get a good look at the cauls I used for each clamp - these are used so the clamps don't damage the workpiece upon tightening.

The next pictures gives you a good idea how many clamps I needed in order to secure everything - a lot! It also looks like some of the clamps are bent or things aren't square but I assure you that isn't the case. It must look that way due to the odd angle I snapped the picture at - everything is nice and square.

This next picture shows the bottom interior panel set in place where the computer will eventually sit as well as how the marquee area came together.

This last picture is for shits and giggles because there's nothing else I can really say:

Putting everything together by myself was tough. I had to apply the glue to all surfaces, clamp it together and then wipe up any squeeze out. I LOVE my biscuit joiner - it saved me a ton of time and helped me align everything in order to glue it together. On my last project I installed 3/4" x 1.5" cleats along all of the lines where interior panels were going to be placed for support. It was difficult lining everything up and required many extra hours of work. The biscuit joiner cut all of that out - plus it gives me added strength on all of the joints.

Anyway, not much more to say other than enjoy the pics and stay tuned for the unclamping!!!