Austin DIY HT Projects - Page 34

Okay, I'm sold... Oct. 1 it is. Can we shoot for an early start?

I'm going to try to make a run to Home Depot during the week to pick up some sheet goods w/ the big oranage HD rental truck. The only thing I really don't have is a good jigsaw.

Dave and Jay, what would be a convenient lunch area for yall?

Yeah, I used a Sony 19" trinitron CRT monitor. If you use a similar setup, plan on leaving the back open. A 19" CRT is too deep to fit in the depth of the standard Defender cabinet, plus it puts out some heat. You could tilt it downward and make it fit though.

Also, I'd recommend getting some uber heavy duty casters to mount to the bottom of the cabinets so that you can move them.

Jeff is almost done with the discs and the hole saw and I have the slotting bit in the car so perhaps we can meet for lunch tomorrow or weds. It would have to be in North Austin for me to be able to fit it in my schedule.

-Dave

I can do lunch tomorrow (Tuesday) and bring the discs for Jay.

Sounds good to me. How about high noon?

I'm probably going to go with a 19" CRT as well. How hard would it be to modify the Defender cabinet? Hmmm, wonder if I could save some depth by removing the case from my monitor?

Jay, I'm planning to pick up a 1" flush trimming bit from Woodcraft. So we should be good there.

You can email it to me, but my HTF email is invalid. Instead, use jeff at boxybutgood. com.

If I can get out of work I'll meet you guys there.

I have the slotting bit in the car too. Look for the excessively dirty black Evo.

-Dave

Jay,

Here is the link to that monitor I told you about. $80 for a 21" Trinitron CRT. Not a bad deal at all for you MAMErs.

http://www.surpluscomputers.com/stor...&item=MON10136

Also, for cheap Dell PCs, check these sites daily:

www.gotapex.com
www.techbargains.com

You should be able to find a basic PC with a 15" LCD for around $299 if you keep checking daily as the deals cycle through. Then you can sell the LCD for $100-150 on ebay. They also get more enticing as Dell's quarter end nears (end of October).

Chad -- Jay now has the ROM DVDs, the DIY CD, the hole saw and the router bit. So you guys should be all set for your DIY day.

-Dave

Jay,

I have a 1" flush trim bit with a 1/4" shank you guys can use. Unfortunately, my jig saw is at my son's house in Wimberley, so I guess we're out of luck on the jig saw. If push comes to shove, I do have a reciprocating saw, however, that's a pretty crude way to go. I also have a couple of jasper jigs for cutting circles with a router if you need it, as well as a few other assorted hand tools and stationary tools. Let me know if you need anything else.

Chad,

Would you please PM me with your address. I've been to your place a couple of times, but at my age, I lucky to remember which car is mine in my own driveway, so I don't recall the exact address. I'm not sure how long I can stay Saturday, but I'll at least drop off the flush trim bit and any other tools you may need. Thanks.

Rich

I'm in too. So if you are already picking up wood Chad please pick up enough for me as well. In a pinch I can always use my wagon for 4x8's it just requires I have some help to load it.

I was hoping we get these pretty far along via 2 build days if possible. I'm hoping we'd have a pretty much painted and partially assembled raw cabinet before we called it a day. After all most everyone isn't going to be able to put the partial pieces in their car anyway. So a truck could do delivery duty on a 2nd day, and nobody has to hassel with assembly once they get it home. Just finishing touches like control panel wiring and the monitor surround (which also could be done as a mass project). We have plenty of time saturday to discuss these things though.

I did some testing last night, and confirmed that my little EPIA M9000 system just doesn't have the balls to do MAME. And believe me, I've tried everything. My P4 1.8, on the other hand, can play just about anything. It doesn't start dropping frames until you get to modern 3D stuff like Tekken III.

The problem is, I've spent hours and hours and hours building this gorgeous little MAME console box around the EPIA board. And the effort is wasted. Argh!!

Lesson learned: "Measure twice, cut once". Oops... I mean "test before you build". This is a cautionary tale for all of you soon-to-be-MAMEers. Test your PC and monitor combo. Download the emulators and 5 or 6 of your favorite games and TEST it before you make any cabinet customizations based on the assumption that it will work.

Jeff's tips for getting a smooth painted finish on MDF.

1. Don't invest too much time sanding the MDF until it has been primed. You will never ever get rid of the fuzzy texture. If you have to sand something, sand the edges smooth.

2. Prime it with nothing but regular original plain-jane rattle can Kilz. Not Kilz II / latex / odor-free / or any other variant. And not with a brush.

3. Depending on the MDF stock, it can take a ridiculous number of primer coats to get the edges primed. It just keeps soaking it in. Keep priming, though, until it's WHITE.

4. After it's primed, your sanding will be effective.

4a. I start with a 100-grit or so sheet pressed against the surface with the palm of my hand. I then knock off the bigger fuzzies with a motion similar to that of wiping off a table with a rag. Really, this is more 'wiping' than 'sanding. No more than 10 seconds spent here.

4b. Use an ultra-fine-grit finishing sandpaper in a power sander for the 'real' sanding. The fine sandpaper will load up quickly, so you have to use a lot of it.


Item 4b leaves room for interpretation. You have to choose your own level of anal-retentitude. Lately, I've gotten tired of woodworking and painting after putting so much (wasted) effort into my little MAME console box. So I haven't put a lot of TLC into the controllers. I've taken lots of shortcuts. They're kinda thrown together, and I certainly didn't sand like I coulda. But I don't think it's really going to matter...

Rustoleum Hammered spraypaint is the best thing since sliced bread. You can still get good results even without getting super anal about it. Plus, it just looks freakin' cool!

Or, as Dave, Jay and I were discussing yesterday, you can just punt and not paint at all. Nothing could be easier than applying vinyl veneer. I'm not sure where you can get rolls wide enough for an arcade cabinet, but I'm sure they're out there. Vinyl will save you unspeakable amounts of time vs. painting.

Jay,

CAD drawing? HA! You give me way too much credit. I just pulled a Meininger and threw planning out the window and figured it out along the way. Fortunately I only had 1 minor "do-over" when I realized that a 1-1/8th hole is a fraction too big for the buttons.

The control panel is 24" x 10". Thats about the minimum you'll need for a 2P joystick + trackball setup.

My layout has the trackball dead center, and a joystick on each side. Each joystick has 3 fire buttons to the right of the stick, curving upward in an arc. At the top, from left to right, are -- ESC, 1 Coin, 1P, Mouse 1, Mouse 2, 2P, 2 Coin, Enter.

I'll try to take a closeup pic of it for you, but the best thing is to just lay them out on a piece of 10"x24" paper.

-Dave

Okay, fess up... who bought all the 3/4" MDF from the Bee Caves Home Depot?!

Luckily, the one near Hank @ 2222 & 620 had some in stock! I bought enough for myself, Jay H, Humphrey and my friend David, and rented the big orange HD truck to get everything home. I'll have a final tally for materials on Saturday, but it'll likely come a little less than $90.

We're pretty much at a critical mass as far as builders go. Rich, you're more than welcome to come watch some/all of the festivities.

Chad,

Thanks for offer, I can certainly be a "gofer" for you while I watch, I mean "assist". How are you fixed for tools? If you need anything, let me know and I'll see what I can bring. What time does the fun begin?

Rich

Tool-wise, the only thing I think we're missing is a good jigsaw. I've got serviceable $40 Skil jigsaw, but have had my eye on a nice Bosch model. All of the reviews rave about it cutting through things "like butter." With my Skil, it sure doesn't feel like butter.

We're going to try to kick off around 9am. I've got to meet a contractor with my wife upstairs for 30-40 minutes starting at 10:30, but I'm sure Jay and Ken will be keeping themselves busy downstairs in the shop.

Chad,

Unfortunately, my timing is bad, my son has my jigsaw, and he's in Wimberley, so I can't just pick it up on the way to the meet tomorrow. I have a DeWalt jigsaw, and am very pleased with it. Not sure how it stacks up to the Bosch, but it certainly works for me. I'd be interested in your "review" of the Bosch when you get it. I'll throw my reciprocating saw in the truck as a backup. Not exactly a precision tool, but it's easier to put in the truck then my bandsaw. :-)

Pelan and I are going to Colton's after the Mame meet. Let me know if you want me to swing by.

Chad, I have a good Makita jigsaw. Do you want me to bring it tonight?

GUYS: Do you know about the Texas Classic Car Show at Rudy's on 183 today (9:00 - 4:00)?:
http://texasccs.com/

So guys.... how'd the MAME DIY day go?

Lets hear it!

-Dave

It looks like you guys made great progress... that's a lot of cabinets! They're gonna look great.

I wrapped up my own MAME project over the weekend. Instead of a cabinet, I built a pair of controllers.



The boxes are built out of 1/4" MDF painted black with Rustoleum Hammered spraypaint. The bottoms of the boxes are permanently attached. The control panels are made of 5/8" dark-gray shelving material. They lower into the top of the box and rest on little rails mounted on the inside of the box. They are gravity/friction fit (and quite snug). This means there are no fasteners at all.

Did you ever use one of those old Nintendo arcade style controllers? Well, they sucked bigtime. They weren't big and heavy enough, so any kind of enthusiastic movement of the joystick simply moved the whole controller unless you had it nailed to a table. That's why I built these things so insanely oversized. If you put it on your lap, you have a very solid, stable base for joystick waggling and button pounding. No nails required.

Each controller has a DB-25 cable coming out of it. 15 pins would have done the trick, but I wanted some degree of future-proofing in case I later decided to add more buttons or perhaps a trackball or spinner. They each plug into a little "junction box" that contains the KeyWiz PS/2 dealie. That, in turn, plugs into a computer that's connected to the TV (s-video output on the video card). I got tired of woodworking, so the junction box is just a plastic Radio Shack style project box.

Anyway, it works great! Big thanks to Dave for helping me out!