Building an Arcade Machine - Part 5

At this point of the project it feels like a lot of the hard work is over. Figuring out the shape of the side panels, cutting them out, and routing in the t-molding slot is a lot of work. Getting both sides to match can be a little stressful too. So now the rest of the build should be very straight forward... well except for figuring out how to mount the 19" Acer LCD monitor, but we'll worry about that later.

With these two heavy side panels I really need to worry about attaching them together in a manner that will not only provide strength, but allow for attaching the rest of the paneling.

I started by attaching a series of 24" long 2x3's. Why 24" you might be asking? Well, it's a very good number when you are buying wood. Mostly sheets come in 48" widths, so cutting in half gives me two pieces. It really keeps the cost of wood down to a minimum. I also attached two long 2x3's done the length of the back, on either side. This is for attaching the real panel. I could have used 1x2's, but I want to screw on a nice thick 5/8th rear panel to help keep this thing solid.

The back panel raises above the hight of the rear supports so that it covers the back of the marquee box. The marquee box is where we add the cabinet artwork, which is backlit. It's also where the speakers will go, just over the screen area. This lets the sound of the games come down off the screen and right to the player. I'll go over the marquee details in a latter post.

Once the rear panel was installed, I fitted in the floor. The computer and the sound system base unit will sit on it. I'll also be cutting in a hole for the base sound to go down under the cabinet.

Finally you can see the marquee box in place, minus the front part where the artwork will go. I'm saving the marquee artwork for last because I'm not sure what to put up there, and I'll have to spend time designing it and getting it printed out.

It's really starting to look like something now.

Next time I'll fill in the last of the framing and start on the rest of the body panels.