Statsman1 - you did an awesome job. I like the way the PC is sitting below it is easy to take it out and replace it with a more powerful machine if needed. You could even use a laptop with your cab. You're far from hopeless at woodworking - this looks great!
So what paint did you use on it - did you cover the surface of the paint with some sort of varnish?
A very cool sit-down cabinet with all controls ready to be used. Do you use some sort of front end to access all the emulators and programs?
I lack the space for a cabinet like that as I have created a TV-set/console lounge like thing in my study.
Thank you! It took a long time to get this thing to this point, including one aborted attempt (I'll spare you the gory details), that set me back about 3 weeks.
Yes, the computer comes out without dismantling too much - everything above it is hooked up via USB (Ipac, Opti-Pac and direct USB hookups), so it's really easy if the computer suffers a problem (or you need more RAM or HD space because you've got too much going on down there - ahem). Wireless networking comes in really handy too.
The paint is just this stuff that Home Depot said is good for MDF - 2 layer coats of primer (actually, I sanded them in between), and then 5 or 6 cots of that red stuff (just a water-based paint, not really semi-gloss). As I mentioned, I wasn't very happy with the way the paint turned out - I had taken my time with every thing else, but then I hurried through the painting a bit. With MDF, you have to do a LOT more sanding than I did. Live and learn.
There are many front-end programs to access the emulators, but the problem with using one of those with MY setup is that the control panel needs to be specifically configured for each emulator (for instance, the MAME programming for the control panel is different than the Commodore 64 emulator), and the software that programs the control panel needs to be loaded every time you want to change emulators. So I just created a bunch of shortcuts to run all the emulators, and different key assignments for the control panel.
Perhaps not as elegant as using the front-ends, but it works for me!
There are certainly a ton of different plans out there for space-limited setups, should you want to investigate this kind of thing. One of my friends built one into his laundry room door (the door still operates like a door, no less), and though I wonder about all that weight on it, it really seems to work. (I would definitely recommend the flat screen for that, though!)
Statsman1 - you did an awesome job. I like the way the PC is sitting below it is easy to take it out and replace it with a more powerful machine if needed. You could even use a laptop with your cab. You're far from hopeless at woodworking - this looks great!
So what paint did you use on it - did you cover the surface of the paint with some sort of varnish?
A very cool sit-down cabinet with all controls ready to be used. Do you use some sort of front end to access all the emulators and programs?
I lack the space for a cabinet like that as I have created a TV-set/console lounge like thing in my study.
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Thank you! It took a long time to get this thing to this point, including one aborted attempt (I'll spare you the gory details), that set me back about 3 weeks.
Yes, the computer comes out without dismantling too much - everything above it is hooked up via USB (Ipac, Opti-Pac and direct USB hookups), so it's really easy if the computer suffers a problem (or you need more RAM or HD space because you've got too much going on down there - ahem). Wireless networking comes in really handy too.
The paint is just this stuff that Home Depot said is good for MDF - 2 layer coats of primer (actually, I sanded them in between), and then 5 or 6 cots of that red stuff (just a water-based paint, not really semi-gloss). As I mentioned, I wasn't very happy with the way the paint turned out - I had taken my time with every thing else, but then I hurried through the painting a bit. With MDF, you have to do a LOT more sanding than I did. Live and learn.
There are many front-end programs to access the emulators, but the problem with using one of those with MY setup is that the control panel needs to be specifically configured for each emulator (for instance, the MAME programming for the control panel is different than the Commodore 64 emulator), and the software that programs the control panel needs to be loaded every time you want to change emulators. So I just created a bunch of shortcuts to run all the emulators, and different key assignments for the control panel.
Perhaps not as elegant as using the front-ends, but it works for me!
There are certainly a ton of different plans out there for space-limited setups, should you want to investigate this kind of thing. One of my friends built one into his laundry room door (the door still operates like a door, no less), and though I wonder about all that weight on it, it really seems to work. (I would definitely recommend the flat screen for that, though!)