After my house burned down recently , I needed something to unwind me and take away the stress of daily work. the endless paperwork for insurance or thinking about what needs to be done in order to build our next house . to me. This kind of stress is normal currently, which I have seen many people identify with in these tense times! Since a while, I’ve been contemplating making an Arcade Cabinet but haven’t had the time to build it. Since I am at a point in my life, where I have nothing, and because it’s amusing to do, I started taking a look at YouTube videos, talking with friends , and looking online to find out how to put it together and what I’d require. I discovered my stress-relief project! This blog post isn’t to say that I am an expert on building Arcade cabinets It’s not the case but rather to share my experiences, as I was not have any experience and I had questions I was faced with that I had to research in various places for answers. This should hopefully give someone valuable information and assist them. It was apparent from talking to other people that I needed to know what I desired from an Arcade machine. There are some who take their work seriously! It’s their main pastime or even their main source of income. While I was aware that it was not something I’d be able to commit to, I had some goals. Easy to build given that I didn’t have any tools less, yet I wanted to construct something that was fun. Many games for various old systems as a kid. I had everything from the ZX Spectrum to a Commodore 64, Amiga 500, 600 1200, CD32, Super Nintendo, Master System, Megadrive (Genesis) and many more. It didn’t look like a toy and I didn’t have to bend my body at an awkward angle in order to play. Unique design, and something original. My objectives helped me make key decisions regarding the design of my cabinet. You should also be asking similar questions when building your cabinet. What type of cabinet would you like to build? There are numerous types of cabinets, from pre-built 1up arcade machines and bar-top cabinets to full size arcade machines and a myriad of variations of them. I decided to build a full-size arcade cabinet. I wanted something that I could stand to play with, something that had a nostalgic feeling. Since I didn’t own any tools whatsoever and HomeArcadeCenter did not want to spend the money purchasing wood cutting equipment, I decided to go with an Arcade Cabinet Kit. There are many companies who offer these products, a quick Google search will show a multitude and you will be able to find the type of cabinet you’re looking for a lot closer to the place you live, or at least shipped to the location you live in. I bought the LVL32J 2 Player Arcade Upright Cabinet Kit with 32” screen. These are the steps I completed to build my cabinet, along with some photos to assist you The most important factor to be aware of is to be patient and enjoy yourself, but double examine everything prior to you start it… 1. Verify that you have everything that you need in your cabinet. 2. Place one side on the ground (on the floor with a blanket) and then place each support beam to ensure that you have them in the right places Once you’re sure, using the wood glue stick them to the floor. 5. This model is MDF So I added a few layers of primer to the unit. I also took some time sanding the unit to ensure everything was smooth before I applied the final coat of primer. 7. Then I used a roller and paint brush to cover the cabinet black. This was to make sure that if I did have problems with my design, it would be the black color and not reveal wood beneath. It also is a good way to cover edges when you aren’t planning to apply T Molding. 8. And now, let’s get to the fun part: creating artwork. I was looking for Tron Legacy for my cabinet. The cabinet maker was very cautious about his designs, therefore I measured and created my own measurements. I then sent them to Fiverr with a brief description of how I wanted my artwork designed. 9. The work was delivered quickly and, after a few changes, it precisely what I wanted when I downloaded the raw files and searched for an area near me where I could print them onto the following Material: 3M IJ35 Laminate 3M 8510 Matte I chose this option to support local businesses in this challenging period and also to make sure I had the ability to ask questions about the process, as it was my first experience. Cattos Graphics was super helpful. They helped me every step of the way and they made a few tweaks to ensure that it was exactly as I wanted it.
