RxBrad.com – Page 2 – Nerd / Pharmacist. Hi. This is my WordPress blog.

Arcade Cabinet: Control Panel

July 5, 2023October 26, 2016 by Brad

Arcade cabinet, sitting outdoors, with photo focusing on two-player control panel

Here, I outline how I assembled the control panel for my arcade cabinet.

Arcade Cabinet: Marquee

July 5, 2023October 21, 2016 by Brad

The marquee serves no real functional purpose except to look really freakin’ cool. Building this part wasn’t exactly rocket surgery (although I had a couple struggles)

Arcade Cabinet: Screen Panel

July 5, 2023October 19, 2016 by Brad

Section of arcade cabinet which serves as the bezel for the screen.

The screen area is made primarily of 1/2″ MDF, with several trim pieces to keep a glass panel in place.

Arcade Cabinet: Speaker Panel

July 5, 2023February 7, 2016 by Brad

A speaker grill, above the monitor on an arcade cabinet. The grill is a rectangonal panel covered completely in black speaker fabric. On the right side of the panel is a cutout, giving access to the volume & power controls for the speakers mounted behind the panel.

I just realized that I’ve been seriously negligent on my arcade cabinet updates. I actually finished it a few months ago!

Next up: The speaker panel.

Arcade Cabinet: Administration Panel

July 5, 2023August 6, 2015 by Brad

An administration panel for an arcade machine. It is covered in protective Plexiglass, and has four buttons on it: Select, Exit, Menu, and Pause. There is a 7-inch screen in the center with a label beneath it reading "Information".

My cabinet has an administration panel below the monitor, which offers basic navigation functions for starting / stopping games. It also has a 7″ LCD that displays the controls for the current game.

Arcade Cabinet: Side Panel Cutouts

July 5, 2023May 19, 2015 by Brad

Close-up of using a piece of quarter-inch MDF template to create a copy on three-quarter inch MDF using a hand router

Here, I detail how I used a paper template to create the two identical side panels for my arcade cabinet.

Arcade Cabinet: Frame Construction

July 5, 2023April 19, 2015 by Brad

Close-up of base portion of arcade frame

Some would argue that an arcade cabinet doesn’t need a frame, or that it makes it too heavy. I disagree. The frame will give additional weight on the bottom, to prevent the machine from being too top-heavy. Also, it’ll provide a skeleton that should make it less likely that I’ll build a crooked cabinet.