Custom Build Atari themed cabinet

karmathing

I've been itching to build a cabinet for years, and as I approach 50 the mid-life crisis gland flared up. So off I went around the internet ordering cheap parts from China, and followed that with a few trips to Wickes. A scullion years later, things are starting to come together! As I've been taking pics all the way, I thought I'd post a few progress pictures. More to follow.

karmathing

Jigsawing out one side. Mind that garden table!

karmathing

Replicating with a router.

karmathing

Making the CP.

karmathing

Lego for adults.

karmathing

You could almost play it!

karmathing

Suddenly... a drawer appeared.

karmathing

Spaghetti... with plenty more to add.

karmathing

"You haven't finished building it Dave"

"I need to test it darling."

Featuring guest appearance by very cheap Chinese coin door.

karmathing

Prepping the vinyl for the CP. The printer that did me a favour printing for free, supplied my vinyl... but not self-adhesive like I had wanted! Helpful. Cue some 3M77.

Masked it on one side so I could lift and drop. Carefully does it with the spray adhesive - outside with face protection. I was careful not to get too close while spraying - 3M 77 can blob if you're too near your surface.

karmathing

Buttons and sticks in place. Looking tasty.
I'm going to try to be super disciplined and not wire it up until I've assembled the whole project.

karmathing

Front panel finished. Now a slight pause while I find the time to do the perspex and resite the monitor. Still not sure how to do a bezel between the monitor and perspex. how do others approach it? I'm aiming for black I guess.

karmathing

What a lovely day to finish the vinyl. I've already routed out a 2mm slot, so t-molding may be next. Still pondering the inside of the perspex; maybe two colours of mounting board - I wanted black but I'm thinking a touch of red would really look good...

I bet my wife wonders why the decorating is taking so long.

karmathing

This post is deleted!

karmathing

Well, after a burst of activity this week, I got 99% of the way there. The T-molding really looks good. Externally just the marquee to do, But I can't seem to come up with a design I'm happy with.

I've made the bezel with some red mounting board, but I now feel that the monitor is too high. I had planned on putting a strip of hotkey button combos instructions under it, but I'm now not so sure. Your ideas, please!

Inside, tons of wiring tidy up, and I'm now going to try and sort out player 2... I understand that's a bit of a challenge with a Xin Mo encoder, so wish me luck! On top of that I need to figure some kind of switch in each coin slot as I don't have any coin validator mech's behind the door. Maybe just pushing the coin reject to avoid actual coins? Mind you I'll never make money off the kids that way 😁

backstander

@karmathing

I've made the bezel with some red mounting board, but I now feel that the monitor is too high. I had planned on putting a strip of hotkey button combos instructions under it, but I'm now not so sure. Your ideas, please!

In that picture it does look a little high but try putting some mock up hotkey button combos instructions under it and see if it still looks too high.

It's looking really cool btw!

Clyde

I second @backstander: Looks too high, but the space below it may be used for instructions etc. But if you want to keep the plain colour below, you should consider lowering the screen.

All in all, it looks great! 👍

What do you plan to put in the marquee space?

By the way, I like the little balloon in the background. 🎈

Knowcontrol

Awesome work on that cabinet! Great job!

VitroLight

https://www.ebay.com/str/vitrolightlcdmodulestore

makes an LCD that would fit your marquee space. It would be controlled by Hyper Marquee and Event Dispatch System.

chubsta

looks very nice except I'm afraid, the monitor... what size is it, you may find that a 4:3 would look much better in there if you can get a large one, after all the games are generally designed to be played in that aspect ratio.

Clyde

I second @chubsta about 4:3. You may get refurbished 21-22" TFTs from specialized shops for relatively little money. For example, the monitor of my own DIY upright cabinet from 2006 is in perfect condition and only cost me 60€.