This weekend saw some more progress with the construction of the new cabinet. The hold up this week had been getting access to the super saws to chew through those massive 2400×1200 MDF sheets into the required panels needed. Late last week, my father in law dropped off some of his awesome saws for a loan. These things make the job of cutting up those 2400×1200 sheets easy as – plus fun (It’s not visible, but there is a saw that sits up from below on the orange table. With the correct sizes marked on the sheets, its just a matter of pushing them through to get a nice straight cut).
construction
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My second project is now starting to gather some momentum, so I thought it time to post something more than just a few pictures to share my thoughts, plans and progress.
After being very happy with the results on my Galaga cab, it was inevitable I would begin another at some point. Thanks to an Aussie Arcade member it was sooner than expected with his sale (and my purchase) of an original Wonderboy board. This means the cabinet will be fitted with a horizontal screen. Given the number of games I’ve been playing of my 60in1 board on the Galaga cab, I plan to also install one of those 19 in 1 horizontal game boards also. The thought of twin sticks for Robotron is very appealing 🙂
My first thoughts were to research a cab shape I liked. I couldn’t find anything for Wonderboy that impressed me. I actually can’t recall the cab shape I used to play on all those years ago. I love my Galaga cab – I love the Galaxian cab – and I can’t help but love a good PacMan cab. The colour and artwork is top notch – and a hot looking cab means it will be allowed to live in the home :). Given my experience with putting together a cab with that shape, I decided that was the direction to take. There will be some modifications though which will mean it’s not a proper PacMan cab:
– Horizontal screen
– Screen artwork (will be custom pac man themed)
– Control panel (again pac man themed, not authentic)
It’s also an opportunity to do things a little different this time by addressing some of the issues I encountered last time.
After that was decided, I went through my Galaga plans, and mapped out a purchase list along with a plan. Given I’m on limited funds at the moment, the plan will help get the parts purchased in a good order to keep me working on it and not held up.
First purchase was the wonderboy board:
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I came into Day 2 excited after the great progress that was made on Day 1. We didnt get as much done as I had hoped, but I think that’s mainly due to the stage we are at. Time seems to fly while doing this, but at least we continued to move forward. Starting the day out, I installed the IEC switch at the back, along with the filter. A rectangular shaped cover was made for the power wiring, that will enclose it and protect anyone leaning into the cab (should they do so with the power on).
A coin door was also cut – although I think we will need to use some of the offcuts to cut a better door for the cab. I plan to use MDF, covered in some contact I had originally planned for the control panel. The door will feature a coin mech and lock. On the inside it will also have a counter and a tray to catch coins. This should feature in day 3’s work.
After two and a half months of planning and waiting, I have finally been able to start building the arcade cabinet (with help from my father in law). Using the Galaga cab plans from Jakobud, we started by marking out the desired side panel shape on one of the MDF sheets (Note: We purchased 3 1200 x 2400 x 18mm MDF sheets). Once this was cut out, the edges were sanded flatten out and improve smoothness of the corners and curves. We then used this as a stencil on the second MDF sheet to cut out the second side panel. Again edges were sanded. The results of this can be seen in the first image below.
