IKEA Lack 2 player arcade table

caver01

So that's what that is--a volume knob. I was wondering about that!
It's funny how complicated we can make these things. One idea leads to another idea, and before you know it, it's more than just mounting buttons in a table top--you are making external USB ports, adding a headphone jack and volume, dedicated admin buttons. . . and it seemingly never ends!

If you look at my original blueprint, I only had two admin buttons--one in the top left and one in the top right. Well, I had a total of six black buttons so I simply installed two more. I am glad I did--so now I have four admin buttons. There's also the IPAC "shift" function that we can leverage. I don't really use it, but it's good to know that it is there if needed.

Rok

@caver01 : It's funny - I want to make another table of some sort now even though I don't need another one. It was just such a fun process building it!

And with regards to the I-PAC shift controls, I'm trying to disable mine now!

caver01

@Rok I was thinking I would disable mine too, but the default shift button is P1 Start, if I recall, and you need to hold it down before the shift is activated. So, I don't really worry about someone accidentally triggering the shift functions. You just don't hold that button down in typical gameplay--even when using Start. If anything, you press start once, or repeatedly, and when you do hold it for any reason (even by mistake) it's not intuitive for anyone to consider hitting another button at the same time.

Now, I did disable the RetroArch hotkey function as we have discussed. This gets triggered immediately, so you can easily (and accidentally) exit a game when trying to drop coins and hit start. That's not an issue with the IPAC shift function.

Rok

@caver01 : Funnily enough I had more problems with the shift button when I was using non-LibRetro versions of Mame. The combination of Player 1 start and Player 2 start at the same time would press escape and exit back to the main menu - this had quite unfortunate results when two people were both desperately jabbing at the start buttons to continue a game at the same time. With LibRetro, and having the hotkeys disabled, it isn't such a big deal. It's just that... well... it's the only thing left that I'm not really happy with (until I think of the next thing).

igillen

I'm making a similar build from the same table, but black. I'm putting mine together this weekend when my last part comes in. I did have a couple of questions when/if you would be willing to answer:

How did you bezel the edges of your monitor? I was planning in just covering the metal edges of mine but I was curiuous what you did.
How thick is your acrylic top and did you cut it yourself? I got a step drill bit and a hole saw for that step but again, I am hoping to learn from the experience of others

mattchoo

Love your project. Would like to do the same. Do you have the measurement/ blueprint for the acrylic board? Position for joystick, buttons & screw at corner? I am trying to ask the supplier to cut it directly for me.

igillen

@mattchoo
This site has several layouts to consider
http://www.slagcoin.com/joystick/layout.html

mattchoo

@igillen Thanks. For the acrylic corner where you need to place screws, do we need to pre-drill holes there?

igillen

@mattchoo
I bought a step drill bit for the button holes (a hole saw works too but is less clean). Don't try and put a screw through acrylic without a hole. for the joystick screws, i would reccomend countersink screws that sit level with the table surface and then placing the acrylic surface over them. You'll want one hole for the joystick, hols for the buttons, and a small hole near each corner of the table to keep the acrylic down

I used a smaller regular drill bit to make pilot holes for the step drill and for the corners

TheTrustedOne

There is a great video series started on creating a table like this over at http://www.youtube.com/MikeysLab It really helps fill in some of the blanks!