Building an Arcade Machine - Design and Build

Since last time, I've got the control board setup and working now. I've been working on setting up the software side of this project - which I'll go into later. I wanted to see how well my controller worked. And as you can see from the picture, it works perfectly. So now I have something to play with while I build the rest of my machine.

I've started laying out my design for this new cabinet. I wanted to go with a Galaga style cabinet, but I also want to modify it slightly. These things can be huge monsters, and I wanted to make sure the it would fit in my house, and that I could actually move the sucker.

My last builds where a two man job if I wanted to move them. I started out by roughing out a style that matched what was in my head.

As you can see, it's pretty close. The original cabinet is about 30 inches deep. I wanted this one to be no more than 24 inches. This means less wood to buy, and it'll fit in my house. Since I am using an LCD panel monitor, I wouldn't need all that extra depth anyway.

Next I cut out both the side panels, and using a slot cutter bit on my router, I cut the slots for the T-molding. I had a short piece left over from my old build, so I was able to try it out for size. At this point I wasn't sure on what colour to pick, but I always liked this Galaga green.

Once the groove was cut I could start attaching my supporting framing.

Even though my intention was to build a lighter cabinet, I decided to use particle-board for the sides for a few reasons. Even though it is very heavy and adds a great deal of weight to the overall cabinet, it's cheap, and very smooth. It requires almost no finishing work. Just sand the edges, prime it, and paint. It's also a good deal cheaper than the plywood equivalent. I don't regret the decision.

Next time I'll show you how I framed and added supports.