Mortal Kombat Vewlix style. Fresh design.

[lukensteinz]

Hi all.

I completed this cab a little while back, but thought I might share my build pics.

The cab is custom designed by me. I liked the kind of cabinet the Vewlix is, but didn't quite like the shape of it, or more precisely, the proportions.

Using Alibre Design, I came up with this;

As you will see later, I modified it a little as I built it.

On to the construction!

So there I marked out the shape.

Then ripped it out with the jigsaw, did both sides and then used a copy bit in the router to get them the same.

What you don't see is the mess up I made because the router bit can't do a sharp inside right angle. I ended up making three sides.

Worked out good in the end for putting the t-moulding on.

While I was at it, I also cut the sides for another project which may pop up on here later (Doom arcade)

And don't forget to cut the inside shapes. These were done from 16mm MDF. The outsides are 18mm MDF.

And don't forget to eyeball them.

Drilling holes for doweling. I recommend using a Jig if you can.

And start gluing together. Yep, it was fully clamped up.

Ahhhh!

Better run, I'll continue the thread tomorrow.

[ebarlow99]

looks good so far!

[HazzardActual]

would love to see more of this build, very interested in plans for either this cab or the vewlix

[ebarlow99]

would love to see more of this build, very interested in plans for either this cab or the vewlix

ask and you shall receive!

http://s110.photobucket.com/user/ebarlow99/slideshow/Arcade%20Plans/Viewlix

[HazzardActual]

ask and you shall receive!

http://s110.photobucket.com/user/ebarlow99/slideshow/Arcade%20Plans/Viewlix

well hell yeah! some jackass a few towns over was trying to sell wood vewlix cabs for 1900 for just the cab..... I can have a brand new one shipped to my door with a tv for like 200 more... so I told him to suck it. I'll just cut my own!

[lukensteinz]

I think those are the plans I based my own plans off of. Mostly only used them to get a few width/height/depth dimensions overall, and the basic outer shape.

The biggest thing for me was to try and K.I.S.S.

So I quickly trial fitted the outer sides. Looked good.

Started clamping and gluing the inner parts of the cabinet section. I'll probably assemble some parts outside the cabinet next time.

And a trial fit of the pc. Later you'll see I changed this quite a bit. Worked out very well in the end. The case in the pic is cut almost in half as a test.

Next up, fit and glue the sides on.

What I would do differently, is perhaps use doweling to locate them. Also for something like this, a large flat surface is an absolute must to be able to get everything square. As it is I think it is about 1 degree out to the right, which equates to being almost 3mm of center at the top of the cab. It isn't noticeable though.

I quite quickly started to attach the back sections.

But first (and not shown) I attached the 25mm square wood to the sides to help align the back MDF properly.

Also something I should have done much earlier in the project.

And trial fit the TV. It had around 2mm clearance! Not that it mattered since I ripped it out of the bezel

More shots of attaching the back parts.

And also gluing in the framework which will be used to hold the TV.

Making some fine cuts!!! I was mounting 4" speakers. Turned out this can of "Fine Cuts" helped me cut some "Fine Cuts".

I drilled a hole near the edge, screwed the can in the center, then ran my router copy bit around the edge.

Ta da!!! A quick trial fit.

And here you see how I mounted the TV once it was stripped of it's casing. The chassis itself felt rather flimsy to be honest. But once it was bolted in place it seemed fine.

As a bonus, I kept the front control board which had the touch controls and remote sensor. I later mounted that to the perspex that protects the screen. Works a charm!

I can never remember what these screw in things are called. But they are excellent!

I ended up ditching the front washer. There wasn't enough space. The back washer and hose over the threaded rod are used to space the TV out the right distance.

That's all for now. Thanks for viewing this thread

[AlexDC22]

awesome work...just make sure you have Kung Lao not Noob on the side art xD jk

keep up the good work brother

[lukensteinz]

Haha thanks Alex!

No side art on this beast.

I didn't get many pics of the progress on the control panel unfortunately.

Cut and holesawed 1.2mm sheet steel, zinc coated. Originally it was going to be both the perspex and steel recessed into the cp box.

Test fitting and glue + clamp the bits together. What you don't see is that a few odds and ends of MDF were joined together.

Why waste it? The trick is to get it perfectly flat and seamless.

And lastly, the trial fit to see how it's coming along. I never decided on a final distance from the screen for the CP in the initial design, so about here I started to experiment.

Quickest easiest way to mask out the perspex for painting. Leave the protective crap on, and cut your shape with a sharp knife. You won't see the cut marks as long as you don't go past your corners.

Another quick trial fit.

Drilling the holes. it's best to use the spade bit. Easier to control. Use light pressure, fast speed. Too much pressure causes it to bite and chip the perspex off. Not cool.

And a trial fit of the screen perspex and also the control panel perspex.

[lukensteinz]

Back again for a hefty and final update.

As you can see, the control panel design changed a lot from the initial design. Much more rounded and blended, very aesthetically pleasing.

Another trial fit. Looking very good! BossLevel is an NZ small business who specialize in retrogaming.

I also ended up redoing the perspex halfway through. I wasn't quite happy with the layout or fit. Lots of little minor adjustments all round until it felt right.

Actually feels natural to use.

A quick artwork test. It looked quite cool, except it didn't really feel like the right theme for the cab.

I also put the metal panel base to one side, and completely redid it with an alloy sheet. 1.2mm. Can easily drill the holes with a spade bit too.

Another artwork trial. I just grabbed a pretty MK wallpaper and vectorised the bits I wanted.

Marquee test as well. I had also trialed it with "MORTAL KOMBAT" on it's own, with the fighters in the foreground, and background. I ended up settling on this because it was clean.

Button colour trial. This changed in the end.

Painting.... Painting was a B**CH! I bought an electric spray gun. Except I was sold the wrong one for the job.

The result was many nights of sanding, spraying, and cursing. Not cool.

In the end I took that gun back to the shop and did my nut. I came back home with the next-next model up for next to no extra cost. It is a "Wagner 180P" and well worth the cost of admission as you will see.

After the painting was done, things progressed extremely quickly.

Above you'll see a coil of foam stuff. I used this to edge around the screen. This combined with the painted perspex ensures no chassis metal is seen, and also keeps dust out as it is a very tight fit. Stops vibration too.

Here you can see almost everything is installed. You'll also see that I hinged the control panel. The reason being that it made it much easier to roll it through doorways. Folded up, the unit depth is quite shallow. The cab also sits on 4 swivel castors for extremely easy moving.

And finally. Mortal Kombat playing off a PS3. The cables and console are in the little cubby hole off to the left there. The control panel uses an Xin Mo PS3/PC board. Not the best, but works well. Also have Hyperspin running, and quite a few different games. Unfortunately I didn't get any pics of the inside.

The pc is mounted in a chopped down case, which is really just a motherboard tray and PSU holder now.

PC runs an AMD dual core, and an Nvidia 8600GT, which is quite decent for MAME and HLSL enabled. Looks fantastic.

Thanks for viewing. I'm sorry I missed quite a few details out. But hopefully I'll get time to go through and fill in the gaps soon.

[lukensteinz]

Just some more pics.

As you can see, the back door MDF has a grill routed out of it, which has a fan screwed in behind to help provide some airflow through the cab.

These photos will hopefully help to give a sense of proportion and dimension. I find the final shape to be quite pleasing in the proportions and angles used.

Funny how the Doom theme seems to always be on it...

[Polemicist]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]37754[/ATTACH]

Nice work bro. Understand what you mean about the Sanding and Swearing.

Just one little thing. Next time take a picture with a scantly clad female for your last pic. Much more attractive than a dude in shorts and work boots.

[zero dreams]

Something a little more like this.

[Polemicist]

LOL... Yeah like that.

[HazzardActual]

Something a little more like this.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]37787[/ATTACH]

next time less tara reid (least i think thats her)

all joking aside, that cab is pretty bitchin.

[lukensteinz]

Haha oh my, that's classic!

Thanks guys!

My own scantily clad model was busy swearing at Dark Souls at the time

Sent from my LT26w using Tapatalk

[Polemicist]

Haha oh my, that's classic!

Thanks guys!

My own scantily clad model was busy swearing at Dark Souls at the time

Sent from my LT26w using Tapatalk

Actually her doing that as a video would have been funny as hell.

[SORHP]

Just some more pics.

As you can see, the back door MDF has a grill routed out of it, which has a fan screwed in behind to help provide some airflow through the cab.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]37755[/ATTACH]

These photos will hopefully help to give a sense of proportion and dimension. I find the final shape to be quite pleasing in the proportions and angles used.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]37756[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]37757[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]37758[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]37759[/ATTACH]

Funny how the Doom theme seems to always be on it...

Nice, now bro, just admit it, you built this because playing doom with joys and buttons is awesome

[lukensteinz]

Hell yes! But my next cabinet will be a real Doomfest. Gonna be using a trackball too

Sent from my LT26w using Tapatalk