Initial Building

So one weekend, after the final corrections were made and bound thesis submitted, I made a deal with my friend to help move several tons of sand, cement and blocks through his house for the extension on his house. In exchange he got me a delivery of three sheets of 18mm MDF and several meters of 25x25mm baton.

A bit of a break

So for about a month there was little time to do much on the actual cabinet, so it sat in the corner and proved to be an interesting distraction for the cat. However I did manage to wire the control panel and install mame on an old machine I had. This was good fun for when our friend Alex came to visit from Berlin.

A free weekend!

So after a few busy weeks we finally got the time to sort out some more of the cabinet. The first thing I did was to tackle the front door/kick plate situation. I purchased a couple of hinges from the local DIY store that I thought would work although I was a little skeptical. Since so much work had gone into the cabinet thus far, I was very reluctant to do something that would mess it up. So with a little messing around, I created a 'test door'.

I was very pleased with this result, so with that in mind I started with the door. I had already cut the door out to size several months before, when I first got the MDF. So the first task was to paint it, I used MDF paint rather than trying to prime it and then paint it. It dried overnight and then I cut out a hole for the coin slot and fitted it.

Coin slot

With my successful test of the hinges, and the coin slot fitted after taking it apart to fit it through the hole, I was able to put it together along with the speaks I had recently purchased. The speakers were a little bit of a faff since I originally intended to have the speakers on another board lower down. However I mounted the monitor higher to be comfortable due to my height (6"2).

There we are, the end of another weekend. Since I have graduation this week and family visiting, I doubt that I will be able to get much more done on it for a couple of weeks.

Final Push

I was very pleased with this result, so with that in mind I started with the door. I had already cut the door out to size several months before, when I first got the MDF. So the first task was to paint it, I used MDF paint rather than trying to prime it and then paint it. It dried overnight and then I cut out a hole for the coin slot and fitted it.

The side panels were measured by my partner Sarah, who set about researching superhero themed images for the Aberystwyth Fresher’s Fair. Her vision involved likening students to superheroes with a sense of humour; strong, independent and resilient with only one self-proclaimed “weakness”: 9am lectures. She printed large-format posters of male and female superhero graphics and hand-cut them to size for the side panels of the cabinet, to demonstrate the print quality of the company she worked for.

Freshers Fayre

It’s not often you see a full-sized retro arcade cabinet complete with all the favourites such as Street Fighter, Pac Man, Spiderman etc. so it’s fair to say it attracted a lot of attention! Gaming really does bring people together and the cabinet really created a great atmosphere as people crowded together and cheered each other’s high scores.