Trying artwork

For another test of the sidepanel, I am learning the language of graffiti art. What a lot of fun to do! The angles of the lines are the tricky part. The red and white colors will fit my appartement nicely.

More paper

First control panel test. I think the colors could be done better, more blue en yellow. I like how the position of the monkey eyes worked out. Right behind the two black admin buttons. Maybe there are more "jokes" possible.

Paper Marquee

Just checking some marquee's out :)

Let there be light.

I found a cheaply prized 8w 12 volt tube light in a campingstore and I connected it to one of the leftover molex cables from the powersupply.

Wires, part2

Test driving. All the buttons work!!

Soldering all the wires to microswitches and i-pac.

From the ground up.

Wires, part1

Had some difficulties sticking all the controlpanel wires through 2 tiny holes. Allready al lot of wires, and I haven't even wired the buttons, joystick and i-pac yet.

Mounting the buttons and joystick

Just to see if everything fits. The control panel art will come last. Got some unforeseen situations, that allmost didnt work out, but I got lucky. Check out the space between the speaker and the mounting hook :)

Goodies, part2

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, the t-stick has arrived :)

(i put it together quickly, that's why the shaft is upside down )

Put together for the first time

The first assembly test worked out great, all the hardware seems to fit :)

Audio/usb Panel, part 2

Testing how it wil fit.

Some sanding, cutting, filling, painting and polishing. Thnx Tim, for lending me your dremel kit.

Spinner, part 2

The harddisk axe is screwed in the control panel board and the opened mouse is mounted on top of it. I now only have to connect the inner spinning axe to the black encoder disk.

Paint it black

I used some spraypaint to paint all the panels black. It took a couple of layers to make the paint stick. If I could do it again I would skip the mdf primer and paint black layers with a paint roller and finish of with a brush. Some of the holes are cut and adjusted by Jan, big shout out to you.

Mounting strips

I found some strips at the local do-it-yourself store, which can be bend easily. Ideal for random folding. The fan is placed on top of the coolerblades. I have to make sure that the total wil fit inbetween the monitor and the roof of the cabinet. Fingers crossed...

Motherboard issues

The board and power supply fit on a board, which will be placed on top of the monitor, once it is inside. I still have to find a solution to mount the fan and harddisk. I also have to think about possible noise issues. Between the wood and the power supply I mounted some double-side isolation tape for absorbing the vibrations.

Trackball

On ebay I found an old trackball. I took the top off, so i can place it directly underneath the hole, which was cut in the controlpanel. Because of the old connector (mac ADB) i also had to buy an usb adapter on marktplaats. I tested it and played some bowling games :)

Spinner, part 1

For the spinner, I use an old mouse, flip one of the axis and let the long side point outwards. Later on, this will be connected to the center spinning wheel, taken from an old WD harddisk. Thnx Jan, lending me your harddisk :)

Audio/usb Panel, part 1

For the volume knob, headphone plug and usb input I want to make a small panel on the front side. I just used an old casette-tape holder, some wood and a lot of filler.

Goodies, part 1

The first part of the arcade controls have arrived. I'm still deciding on the joystick and admin buttons.

First layer of paint

MDF primer is white. This isn't the best colour if you want to continue in black.

Working with MDF

The first cut using an adjusting saw worked out great.There's 15 degrees off, at both ends. Great shout out to Lammetje's tools. The first time of many uses of filler.

Testing in 3D Studio Max

I found a nice bartop on one of the do-it-yourself arcade fora. I first rebuild it in 3D and i adjusted the model to fit al my old computer stuff in. Quite handy to see how the model would look like, before I get started. I had to adjust the position of the buttons and monitor many times, because I want to make the cabinet as small as possible and still fit a 17 inch monitor. Also tried some sideart and control panel design.

Start

Old pc, old monitor, old speakers, old, old, old, waiting for a second life as a kick-ass retro arcade machine!