Hi everybody!
Thanks for visiting my blog!
I recently finished my custom coffeetable arcade and decided to write a blog about the design and build process.
My fiancee and I both really love retro gaming, brings back all those sweet memories of childhood (and spending all your weekly wages in the aracadehall or the games shop)
Unfortunately we do not have enough room to fit a full sized arcade cabinet in our home. After doing some research, thinking, sketching I decided embedding the machine in a coffeetable would be perfect!
I stumbled upon Surface Tensions “Nucleus” and decided to base my design on this awesome machine. See http://surface-tension.net/product/nucleus/
For both practical and aesthetic reasons I decided to go easy on the carpentry. I am not an expert carpenter and I lack professional equipment. Also we have a wooden floor, a table in a slightly different tint wouldn’t match that well with our interior. Thus I decided to build the frame for the table out of stainless steel.
This was a surprise gift for my fiancee’s birthday so I had to keep it secret for a long time. I had to built the table at my dad’s place. Thanks for the endless support, the food, the coffee and being the most awesome dad in the world, dad!
Hardware specs:
– Raspberry Pi 2B running Retropie (3.6)
– Sanwa JLF-TP-8YT joysticks
– 22 convex buttons with Cherry microswitches and LED’s
– iPac 2 (programmed as joypad)
– Benq GL2760H 27″ screen
– 1000N 12V lineair actuator for electric drawer
– 3″ speakers + grills
– 15w 12V amp with tone control
– 3 pulse relays for switching on/ off of system and control of drawer
I ordered most of my stuff at http://www.arcadewinkel.nl/ A most excellent source for your geekery! Also Arno is a terrific guy. Very helpful, excellent customer service. Thanks again Arno!
First step: I need technical drawings so I can go to the metal shop and weld the frame. I’ve spent quite some evenings sketching and making sure everything was right.
Ok, looking good, let’s do some welding!
Basic frame is done
Me wearing a silly hat.
PS: The shirt reads: “Shaving is for pussies!” AMEN! You can get your shirt here: http://www.blueboost.nl/shop
Inner frame in place to support the panels
SWEET!!! And now what? Let’s build a test-panel for all our buttons and joysticks. Let’s see if we can get it up & running.
Drillin’ some holes
Do I love to drill holes😀 (…)
Doing some wiring.
Front view of the test panel
Looking good, but will it work?
O yessss. Look at all those pretty lights!
(that’s my dad holding the panel)
(yes, that is Metal Gear running on an MSX emulator in the background!)
Excellent. Now, let the construction of the table commence.
Doing some measurements.
Sawing that shit!
Apparently I was very happy with this piece of wood at the time.
Doing some grinding.
Behold!! It’s starting to look like a coffee table arcade!
As you can see the panels are still raw unfinished wood – but at least they all fit. So now we can take her apart again and start painting the panels.
In the meanwhile the glass plate had arrived – it fitted!
Wow! Look at that. It’s so sexy!!!
Panels are painted. The vinyl sticker for the control panel had arrived. Also looking good!
Setting up the lineair actuator here. Endless testing to get placement and reach right.
What does the actuator do, you ask? Check this out:
Finished panels!
Now that’s HOT!
Here you can clearly see the speakers, buttons for power on/ off of the system and control of the electric drawer, and the knobs of the amplifier.
Let’s finish the control panel!
Late night cutting of the vinyl sticker
Putting all the buttons and wiring in place.
Now that’s pretty clean! I love it!
The 3 wires you see at the bottom of the panel are USB of the iPac and power for the LED’s in the buttons. These are the only wires running from the panel to the Pi/ table🙂
O yes! The control panel is finished! Sweeeeeet!!
Let’s put it all together and finish up!
The heart of the beast.
Visible here are (from L to R):
– 12V power supply
– 120m fan
– Pi (screwed to the back panel)
– Impulse relay for switching 230V AC
– Linear actuator
– 2 impulse relays for switching polarity of 12V DC for the actuator
The finished table!
My very happy fiancee playing with her new toy!
Late night DOOM session!
That’s it people! Thank you for reading this blog!
I had so much fun creating this project, if you need any help with your project please don’t hesitate to contact me!
A huge thanks to the endless support of my awesome dad Jaap, the help of Arno from arcadewinkel.nl and to my fiancee Marije. I love you babe!
Cheers!
Nico
PS: I am currently prototyping for a commercial project which I hope to release later this year. A retro gaming box, controls only, no screen, you connect it to your own TV. If you are interested in this project please contact me!
