Arcade Build: Building Begins

4. Building Begins

"We built this city on Rock and Roll" but the cabinet was mainly me...

Now we're at the fun part where I get to customize the cabinet.  I planned on adding a larger control panel than the original to hold joysticks and buttons, and adding a bit more storage.

First I had to measure out the internals to figure out the length and width of the control panel.  I kinda went with what felt comfortable, but was still compact enough to fit in the room.  It turned into one of those "when I want to fix part A, I end up working on B and C" things.  No worries though, because I was customizing it.

The most difficult part with this was figuring out the angles without the an angle measuring tool (or even a protractor)- plenty of measuring, sketching and cutting and re-measuring.  But after some time it worked out pretty well and feels comfortable.

Next, I decided to work on the cabinet front.  I purchased some hinges and decided to make the bottom half a storage space.  I figured I could put all out board games in this space (get it, because it is a video game cabinet, and I am putting other games... Ok enough, enough...)

The challenge here was to make it look as a normal cabinet and stand out as a door.  So it just took a little time to make sure the hinges were installed flush and tight.  I also added some brackets for support.  

Finally I installed the original coin slot back to its original spot.  I was worried about the weight of the metal coin box pulling down on the hinges, so I bought some 1.5" screws to install the hinges with to support it.  I have to say I am pretty happy with how it is turning out so far.  

Up next: building continues with monitor & speakers.