Fade to Black

Now this $h!t gets real!

I was never big on shopping as a kid and avoid the mall at all costs (even to this day), but there was something about the prospect of picking up the paint and brushes that really made me excited. My wife and I picked the kids up from school and headed to Home Depot to get the paint.  The sales guy was very helpful and even though I went in there with a plan in mind to buy primer (tinted grey as the plans prescribed), in the end he steered me towards a beautiful primer and paint in one.  Once we chose the finish we wanted we poured over swatches in various shades of dark grey and black until we found THE one.

Paint and brushes in hand we headed home.  It was at this point we decided on which graphic we would use for the marquee. The machine was going to be black there really was no other choice for me, but it is nicely set off by the light and bold marquee that Missy suggested we use.  The two I had printed were polar opposites.  The first was a stark black image with MAME in the standard font surrounded by characters from the various games, but the image below just said so much more in its simplicity.  We both loved the font that was used in it and it maintains a retro-feel through it's use of the Galaxian colors and font style.

All day long I was pacing like a lost puppy -- threatening to paint this cabinet before the day was through.  When in the early afternoon my wife said to me: "What is the reason why you want to paint it?  Is it because you want to have done the whole thing yourself?"  I thought for a moment and replied that no, it wasn't that.  Instead it was just that I wanted to do it right then and there; even though we had so many other things around the house that needed doing.  It was at that moment that Missy offered to paint the whole thing for me if I could put the kids to bed.  And she did.  In all she must have spent 6 hours painting it.  I felt like Miyagi in the Karate kid watching her technique and bellowing encouragement.  I kept the kids at bay and put them to sleep as promised and kept her coffee mug topped up and in return she took this chunk of wood (or several I guess) and transformed them into a living, breathing thing that surpassed my wildest hopes for this project when I started.

The early evening consisted of setting out drop cloths and painting the remaining pieces that were not yet attached to the cabinet:  the speaker grill, the front panel and the rear panel. While these dried Missy proceeded to paint the entire cabinet top to bottom, inside and out and despite the fact that I told her that some parts that were getting paint didn't need it, as they would be covered up by other pieces anyway, she insisted that every nook and cranny be painted.  It was at this point that I shut my big mouth and let the master work.

When the loose pieces had got a 2nd coat and dried I proceeded to affix the speakers to the grill piece.  I took some cloth from an old pair of black dress pants and stretched it over each grill and stapled them in place.  Once the squares of fabric were tacked down I screwed one end of an L bracket into the speaker and the other end into the wood.

Next I started to install the remaining pieces and then step back and look at my handiwork and Missy's Sistene Chapel.  Wow!  I could not believe how much difference the paint made. I couldn't help but snap a bunch of pictures of the process including a before/after shot of one side.  

Once I was satisfied the paint had dried I test fit the controller again and then put the tower and monitor back in place and fired it up for another software preview. The system stayed this way for about another week before the final few steps were undertaken. But that... is a blog for another time.

My wife worked diligently on this project until the wee hours of the morning and I think when she took a step back and looked at her paint job I think she fell in love with the project too.  The fact that she is going to let it reside in our dining room until it finds a permanent home out in my workshop speaks volumes on how much she believes in what we created and how cool she is.  Thank you!

The final push before painting

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind of activity (despite the fact my blog hasn`t been updated in awhile). Between entries I have been studying the cabinet design plans and tweaking the software. In the last few weeks I received the coin-box I ordered from X-gaming.com, got the marquee printed at work and  finished the cuts on the remaining pieces.

Last Wednesday I had high hopes of painting but as is the case with first-time DIY projects I had to fix a few oversights as well as finish building the keyboard drawer, cutting and fitting the coin-box and cutting the grill for the speakers.

The cabinet plans called for a drawer about 20x16 inches deep, but I simplified this a little bit because I happened to find a pair of drawer sliders in the garage that would work fine.  In the end, the keyboard drawer is about 9 inches deep and when pulled out I have access to a standard sized keyboard and that is good enough for my use.  I forgot to take pictures of this process but it was a little bit tedious to get the measurements just so.  You want the keyboard drawer (when recessed) to be flush with the strip that resides under the controller and so you need to eyeball where the sliders that attach to the inside of the cabinet should be screwed in place to achieve this.  It took some time but the end result is well worth it.

The coin-box actually went alot smoother than I thought.  The outside edge has a lip around it that hides jigsaw cuts that suffer from too much caffeine.  I had a good look at cabinets online for placement and improvised a bit.  The model of coin-box I purchased was a single slot variety so I decided the best thing to do was to center it into the bottom front panel of my machine.  I also at this time decided I wouldn`t put the piano hinge on the front.  The coin-box is made of cast iron and quite heavy and so I wanted a solid plane to install it to.

So once I got my placement I proceeded to cut the 10x7inch hole for the coin-box.  I sanded out the rough spots and did a couple of test fitments.  I wanted a very snug fit for the coin-box so I was a little frugal with the blade.  In the picture below you can see both the fitment of the coin-box as well as the keyboard drawer in place.

Next I took my cut of wood for the speaker area and measured equal distance from the top and sides and traced two CD-sized circles into the wood.  I then lightly measured a grid across each and colored in the grill    
(rounding the edges of each cut I was going to make).   After both sides were traced into the wood I drilled a hole with a half inch bit into the end of each cut I was going to make and used the jigsaw for the rest.  If you are like me you`ll find that it can be very difficult to get the cuts straight in such a confined area, but once sanded and painted the inconsistencies tend to disappear.

After I had all the pieces cut to spec I could prepare for Thursday`s painting extravaganza. To so do, Melissa and I wrestled this beast into the house.  Since I forgot to take pictures of the speaker grill cuts I offer a few more shots below from in the house with all the hardware installed. (It stayed like this until the next evening when the painting began -- the kids got a sneak peek of the games they will hopefully enjoy playing in the future).

P.S.  My daughter was really taken with Frogger....