Arcade Kitchen Update

  As you can see, the arcade cabinet has been coming along nicely.  It is now in the kitchen and almost functioning.  We moved it up just after we had people over.  Luckily, it was not as heavy as I had feared it might be.  The top part comes off and then it can be moved in two main pieces, with the control box, monitor, etc. being moved separately.  The bottom portion is a complete square and quite easy to handle.  The upper portion is a bit more finicky for where you can hold it, but has several convenient hand holds.  L and I managed to get it up the stairs and into the kitchen without too much trouble at all.

I’m loving the side decoration!  We still need to stencil some graphics on.  We’ll see how that goes, since I’m sure we’ll need several coats of paint to cover the gold and black.

I think the control panel top looks awesome!  L designed the graphic himself and had it printed out at a local print shop.  Then holes had to be drilled in sheet of lexan to cover it up and protect it.

Now all of those computery bits have to be connected up to the computer that is sitting in the bottom of the cabinet.  L made some progress on it today while I was studying.  Once those bits are hooked up, it’s basically functional, but not finished.  Here’s what we will still have to do after the electronics get wired:

• Create a stencil for the side art and actually stencil it all in.  We have the graphic, but will need to print it out, cut it out, buy paint, etc.
• Create a bezel.  This will prevent you from actually seeing inside the cabinet on top.  L has some ideas and it looks like we’ll be doing a wooden one and painting it instead of using poster paper.
• Create a marquee across the top.  We’ve tossed some ideas around for how it will look, but I’m not sure if anything has been decided.
• Get a splitter for the speakers so they will all have sound or upgrade the sound card in the computer.
• Get a stool to sit on while we play.  Actually, we’ll probably need two or so.