I thought I’d start a log on the new Vewlix style cabinet I’m building. It’s called a ‘slim’ because it will house a 24" rather than a 32" monitor; this may be useful to the many people who have a similar size monitor who want to build a cab. The overall width of the machine will be around 65cms asoposed to the Vewlix’s 80. The depth and height will also be marginally smaller but not by too much. I’m intending to keep with the original design look as much as practically possible.
Having built an arcade machine and a race simulator pod before, I’m not going to kid myself that this is going to take less than 3 months to fully complete.
Here’s some rather uninspiring views of the base. I’ve included some beveling on the front panel. This has taken me a couple of days to build so far and I’m intending to take my time to get it all right. The base will need to be cut further once the main side panels have been prepared.
I’m only going to be able to work on this at the weekends so progress will be slow. Finished a template for the sides this morning but still getting used to my new router. Made a mistake which I had to correct so it’s not quite perfect. The edges are nice and straight though.
Well I managed to completely balls up cutting the second side using the first as a template and ruined the template in the process. Nevermind, it gave me an opportunity to redo the template to get it just right. Managed to cut the second side without any mishaps. Now I have to add another 18mm layer to each side to make each side 30mm thick.
The monitor fits nicely! Must clean the lens on my camera …
I’ve invested in some new tools, but I won’t count those because I’ll be making new versions of my existing MAME cab and racing pod. The monitor (LG 16:9, HDMI, VGA and DVI - 1080p) was about 180 and the Logitech Z-5400 5.1 sound system just over 100. The materials will run to about 120 or so (MDF, various other pieces of wood, acrylic, vinyl, screws, paint, varnish, levelling feet etc). Then there’s the parts for the control panel; pad (ebay), buttons and joystick which would be another 50 or so. In all, I’d estimate about 450. I reckon probably not too far off that in dollars.
Gotta say that is pretty cool. I was thinking about making something very similar. Figured I would even use 24mm buttons instead of 30mm buttons and a person could put a 30mm ball top on instead of the 35mm. nice…
Ok, I’ve cut the remaining pieces for the sides and stuck them together. Each is now 30mm thick. The edges will need to be bevelled but I won’t do that until the top is complete. I’ve spent most of the day creating the first rounded piece for the top. I can now use this as a template for the remaining 3 pieces. One thing I’ve noticed is that this design is very wasteful of MDF.
Bought some levelling feet this morning and some speaker cloth. This machine will have an interchangeable contol panel so it can be used for a PC as well. This means I have to implement the speakers slightly differently (3 at the front) but I think the finished look will be just as good as the Vewlix.
The top will still require a trim towards its base to fit correctly with the sides. Both will need to be angled slightly to get the bevelling to line up correctly.
Yeah man when you get yours done, I was going to do somthing similar. Im not going to do a viewlix clone Just make a stand for my arcade sticks to put in front of a couch for an HD TV. Something that can be folded away to not disturb the living room.
Thanks for the encouragement and the positive comments guys! Not supposed to be working on this during the week but am doing so for a short time today. Here’s a picture of the completed front. The base of the top piece needs to be trimmed down to fit on the top of the sides. The inside pieces of the top section, particularly the second one from the front, are thinner on the inside. This will allow the marquee to fit properly. I also routed out the back 3 pieces at the bottom so they will align with the sides of the cab. I can then use another couple of pieces of wood on the insides the secure the top to the sides. I’m hoping everything will line up perfectly so I can paint it to look like one single piece. I’m really pleased with how this is going and the speed at which it is happening. I’m not pleased with how filthy it is and wasteful of MDF it is though.
Fairly soon I’ll be thinking about spraying it (just bought an Earlex SprayStation 3000; not the best in the business by any means but I’m sure it will be better than spray cans or paint and a roller. If anyone has any tips for this, please feel free to chip in!
Only thing I can suggest is maybe thermoforming it as opposed to painting it. I will be doing something similar and have a big assed vacformer here at work to play with, maybe look into that instead. I know painting MDF is a long task to make it look good, maybe somewhere local to you will do it. In fact, where in the UK are you?
Sounds interesting! I’ve never heard of thermoforming before. Can you provide some details on the process and what it does? I’d also be curious as to the price involved. I’m in in Surrey, near Croydon.
It’s a process that involves plastic like sheeting, not unlike laminate, heated up and vaccumed around the MDF which is covered in a thin layer of glue. It lies on a suction bed which sucks air out of it, and is basically heatshrunk around it. I have a stick in my sig which shows what it looks like. The black covered MDF is thermoformed…
doomy, do they make cylinders of plastic sheet for thermoforming? Seems that would be ideal for something like this.
eric, if you wanted to reduce the MDF loss you could have cut the curves in two parts, like interlocking Ls and just glued them together. Alternating leg lengths would have allowed better contact between pieces as well.
