Loving what Donovan Myers did with his wooden Vewlix TE cab, I used his sketchup files to have one made for myself.
Note that I didn’t do the woodworking on this one, I had it done by a local professional cabinet maker. I used the sketchup files to make the plans into PDF (available in Donovan’s site). This made it easy for the guy to cut the pieces. This was a very unique project for him but he said the very detailed plans made it easier, and cheaper to boot.
Since I didn’t have enough tools or even enough skills to cut MDF like this, I searched around Craigslist for a woodworker to see if this can be done cheaply. I’ve gotten quotes from local wood workers and even those professional arcade cabinet makers reaching $800 and above referencing just the pictures. I was then able to negotiate a quote from a local cabinet maker cheap enough to make me decide (and by me I meant my wife :wgrin:) to have one done. His quote was around the same $800 price point (assembled, finished and delivered) but with me providing detailed plans, only having the woodwork done, no finish or paint, and doing only a local pickup, brought it down to $500. Decent enough for me at least. You might save more money if you know someone. Here are the pics he sent me when they were done:
It took him about a month or so to build it. Rather long for a small job like this but he basically just did it on the side since he’s normally on-site working on cabinet contracts. I wasn’t in a rush anyway.
I had him make it into three major pieces and be assembled and disassembled. This way, if I need to move the cab, I can just take it apart and lift each myself. I also added leveling feet just so it would be easier to me to move it around the floor, plus to help keep it from rocking in case the base is not level.
For paint, I used Kilz2 odorless primer/sealer, Rustoleum ready made black paint, and some white wall paint I had lying around the house. I then used Minwax semi-gloss lacquer to finish it, pretty much what Donovan Myers used. I personally did an ok paintjob, although the pictures show it nicer than it looks. I guess having it spraypainted would make it better. After applying the lacquer it looked good enough for me. Since I am going to use Round2 TE sticks on it, I painted the control panel all black.
I’ll be installing the TE stick next and also installing a 22" TV for now, until the budget for a 32" comes up. I’ll probably finish the panel covers when the 32" is installed.
I don’t have a lot of build pics since I didn’t do the woodwork myself but some pics not posted here are in a flickr set: click me!
