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....
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