Construction Begins!

I have listed the dates on this website when work was performed on this project. These are the days I had time to work on the project. Some days I just had a couple of hours. Others days where I worked on it for 7-12 hours. This can be considered more of a journal and how I approached the cabinet construction.

Sometimes I jump around a bit (i.e., I paint and finish the control panel way before the finishing of the cabinet. I did this to test out the look and feel for the paint selection for the final cabinet.

The next few pictures are shots of where I will be building/constructing the MAME Cabinet. All pictures taken are from thios space I've outlined here! .

We just moved into a new house and all the construction of my MAME will take place in the unfinished basement. I plan on sectioning the area off with tarps to contain the voluminous amounts of saw dust the construction phase will generate. This should keep me in good standing with the better half. A shop vac is a must!

I found an old cabinet from another house we used to live in. The picture does not show it well, but it is shown below, this the white cabinet the computer is in. I fixed a piece of MDF on the top of the cabinet and turned it into a temporary place to hold the MAME machine. This way, I can keep the project together in the work-room and be able to fine tune/test the control panel as I build this project. I do cover the computer monitor with plastic while I’m working. Don’t want to damage the monitor or the computer!

On December 27, 2003, I Went to Home Depot to buy the wood. Here it is in its raw state. These are 3 semi-cut sheets of 4x8 5/8” thick MDF. I went with 5/8” to keep the weight down a little. I had Home depot make three cuts, 2 22” x 48” cuts for the side cabinet pieces, and a 26” x 48” on the third. This made it easier to fit in the Mini-Van plus a bonus in that it gives me a head start into the construction of the Cabinet…

The Materials you will need for this stage of the project include…

I initially bough three sheets and followed the cutting pattern in Lusid's design. Something wasn't right so I had to an extra one. As the width of my cabinet is 26" (inside panels),

I recommend you have Home Depot cut the last piece into 3 26" pieces. It is very awkward (and dangerous unless you have a panel jig) cutting these  on your table saw (if you have one).

Just make sure the guy at Home Depot measures in front of you. Sometimes they are off by a 1/4 inch! Take your tape measure along just to be safe.

This is where I will be spending a lot of time during the construction of the MAME cabinet. This is a bench I built many years ago based on a solid-core door design. I have assembled and dissembled this bench 10 times and its still as tight as the first day I built it. A solid wood clamp on the front of the bench acts as a welcome third hand. Some of the other basic tools I used in putting this cabinet include (some of it on the bench).

Here are some of the tools I used during my project. I have been dabbling with woodworking for the last fifteen years and have accumulated a lot of tools. I will place an asterisk (*) beside the ones I think you really should use/buy if at all possible. This will make the job go much easier).

This is my Delta Table Saw. I’ve had this puppy for at least 10 years and still works great! If fitted the saw with a 80 tooth Freud MDF blade. This will be used to do all the straight cuts for this project including the Control Panel cuts and the Back and Front Panel cuts. All cuts for the side panels were performed freehand (safest) using a Circular Saw, Hand Saw and a Belt Sander.

 Tip: I do not recommend a jig saw as it is difficult to adjust a 90 degree cut for the edges. Use a circular saw instead (assuming you have one). If you do use a jigsaw, make doubly sure the fence is square and check it often.

 I always cut outside the line (by 1/16 – 1/8), and used the Belt Sander (with 80 grit) to sand to the line. The MDF really holds an edge well and can almost be “carved/shaped” with the belt sander.

Based on what every one else said regarding the amount of dust generated from the MAME project, I decided to create myself a dust curtain to surround the work area. I bought 3 tarps from Canadian Tire. They were each 8 x 10 feet. I tacked a few nails into the floor joists and hung the tarps by the grommets on the nails, and voila, instant dust curtain. This will keep the dust contained in my workroom and not settle throughout the house. Pity those other MAME Projects that did not do this (I cannot believe some of these guys actually built it in their living room. They must have been vacuuming for months afterwards...J . . I think this dust system alone will save me a lot of work  as I progress.

The saw horses came in real handy when cutting out the side pieces. I bought these cheapie ones (plastic) at Canadian Tire for 10 bucks each. Good investment!

(Note the blue sheets of tarps in the bacground surrounding the project. If you can do it, I highly recommend it.)

I just finished laying out the lines for the side Panel. If you look closely, you will seethe lines laid out (picture is showing top of cabinet). To do the layout, I used Lusid’s Arcade Flashback plans for my MAME machine with a very minor change. See Lusid's Design for an a good start on the panel layout. For this stage of the project, I used a tape measure, drywall T-square, Hand-Square, 12” Ruler and a couple of sharp pencils.

 Tip: Keep your pencils sharp. A dull pencil will create a dull line and will not be as precise as a sharp pencil

I made sure to cut 1/16” outside of the pencil line and finish the edge up with the belt sander. The tools I used on this part of the project was a Circular Saw fitted with a sixty tooth blade, Belt Sander fitted with #80 sand paper and an hand saw. Start out by cutting out the straight lines with a circular saw, then cut out the close lines using the Handsaw and then finish up all edges with the belt saner. MDF shapes very easily and does not splinter, just make sure to keep a straight edge.

Tip: At the start of my MAME project, I started out using my jigsaw. I figured I could get around the angled parts easier. Well, as it turned out, the Jigsaw was not creating a perpendicular cut. It was a little angled. I tried adjusting the jigsaw, but could not. Everything I did, it was still making horrible cuts (on scrap MDF of course!). It must be getting old, time for a new one!.

I used a circular saw instead, and used my belt sander to sand down to the pencil line. Much cleaner!

Here the finish panel after sanding the edges. It is still a little rough, but it definitely has that cool arcade look I was going after. The only change I made to Lusid’s design was to carve out the lower bottom-right corner. This I feel gives it a little more style.

Thats it. Time for a break. Tomorrow, I will start on side panel #2

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