Arcade Cabinet design and build

[EricSchimel]

I've designed and started a build of an arcade cabinet:

https://goo.gl/photos/XfGuz2F3owKbyraYA (This is a quick walk through video)

It's all connected with weld nuts and furniture bolts so it goes together really easily. This one is obviously for SketchUp, but it could be used as a generic MAME cabinet if someone wished.

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After it's all sanded it'll be sprayed with paint and then crated to it's final destination!

Here's the rest of the photos: https://goo.gl/photos/bxVHvLK32QgMP7ay6 (this will get updated as the build moves along)

[robtown]

Here's a good use for that.
https://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/awesome_of_the_day/2013/02/a-beer-dispensing-video-arcade-game.html

[EricSchimel]

Here's a good use for that.
https://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/awesome_of_the_day/2013/02/a-beer-dispensing-video-arcade-game.html

That's awesome!

[bleeth]

You can always tell a real pro. When they cut their finger they reach for the nearest roll of blue tape.
Looking good Eric.

[EricSchimel]

HA! Yeah, that was one of those "this might hurt... yup, it did" moments. :)

I'm pretty excited about this one. It's headed to the spray booth next week so after that I'll have a good update. I'm working on tuning the computer now. It's going to have video games that you can actually play in SketchUp running in it.

As a CNC nerd, the thing I was really excited about was how fast this went together. I use these connectors I came up with:

https://goo.gl/photos/g4RNMqNpLWgzXnyGA

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I also did a moritse and tenon joint everywhere there's a bolt to keep everything lined up. The tenons are tapered slightly on the end so they go in easily, but as they get near flush you give them a good whack with your palm and they seat nicely. The bolts obviously keep eveything permanatly tight.

I designed these this way so that the bolt holes and the slots can all be done on a regular 3 axis machine without the need for indexing and flipping parts, which I can do, but takes time and is always another chance for a mistake.

I also did all of the cup hinge drillings on the CNC too. The doors are framless inset and they lined up perfectly.

The raised letters on the side were milled in reverse and I drilled dowel holes in them so that they line up perfectly on the cabinet, which should make glue-ups easy:

https://goo.gl/photos/d7TgVscnY29V8BG78

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[EricSchimel]

Here are some video updates of the project... Getting to the home stretch!

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkuhFAL89nGyf051y8QNeXkUMUnAN3nwu

[Joe Porter]

That is really neat, Eric...joe

[James M]

Eric,

I like how you think. Your plan is to make it easy to cut out and assemble. I like the bolt idea combined with mortise and tenon to ensure a easy line-up.

J

[EricSchimel]

I spend a lot of time modeling these things up so that I can assemble them fast in the shop. This means that if I make 1x of something it goes fast, and also if I make multiples I'm not spending endless amounts of time sanding and fitting.

Here's another more complex joint I came up with:

https://youtu.be/k3YuQWuNP0w

I designed this particular joint because I had to make 12 of these legs. Doing a joint like this is not only fast to put together, but also makes it so I can grab any 3/4 sheet of plywood, zero off the table and just cut and cut until I have all of my parts.

This X Table I made has a similar setup:

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https://goo.gl/photos/nt7c4g2UcjBS3hTi9

I have some files posted of similar joints if anyone's interested.

[barrowj]

That looks really awesome, I am interested in the files please.

Joe
joe@joebarrow.com

[myxpykalix]

Very clever Eric.

[EricSchimel]

Joe, the actual arcade cabinet files aren't ready to be published just yet... I've got to clean them up before I do that. If you just want that connector you can get the exact connector here:

https://blog.sketchup.com/article/get-started-cnc-sketchup-sawhorse

That guide shows how to make my sawhorses which use that exact same weld nut. It's pretty simple actually, it just a .6" deep T shaped slot with an opposing hole drilled in the adjacent panel. If you're clever, you can make the bolt slot long enough to accomodate different bolts. I make these sawhorses for my shop out of scrap so I end up using different bolts I've got lying around...

[EricSchimel]

Alright folks, I've shared a few bits and pieces of this build, but here you can see it in it's entirety. It's headed to a shipping crate and off to Texas tomorrow.


https://youtu.be/yK8T7HLZfgs

This was definitely the most fun thing I've built in a long time. All the hours spent hacking a fog machine, tweaking a computer, and all of the other work was absolutely worth it!

[khaos]

This is a cool implementation. This is the kind of kiosk you mark as a must visit in a trade show when you see it.

Nicely done.

[chiloquinruss]

What smoke unit did you hack. I have similar needs for smoke! ;) Russ

[EricSchimel]

What smoke unit did you hack. I have similar needs for smoke! ;) Russ

I just used a cheap one off of Amazon. I paid under 40 bucks for it.

The one I used had a long cabled remote to activate it. I took apart the remote and found that all that it was was a low voltage normally open button. I soldered some wires into it and connected them to the relay.

Getting the fog to go though the pipe was way harder. Fog doesn't like to turn corners. It also doesn't like to travel down pipe very far. I had to put an Inline fan in the pipe to force the fog through the tubes. I also had to drill air inlet holes in between the fog machine and the fan to make it all work. It's not hard but it took a lot of fooling around on the bench to get to dialed in.

[scottp55]

Wonderful job Eric!! :)
You brought it together VERY neatly!
scott

[EricSchimel]

Thanks Kahos and Scott! I can't wait to do another!

[bleeth]

Well I thought it would end up cool but I guess I was wrong.
It is waaaaaay cool!

[chiloquinruss]

Eric, thanks for the reply. I'm 'da train guy' so always looking for ways to make smoke (without the flames!). ;) Russ