richie_jones Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 Hi Been working on this for a few days and just thought i`d share some progress pics, would appreciate any comments, good or bad!!! First side cut with a jigsaw using rail guides. Then clamped to another piece of MDF and routered an exact copy using the flush cutting bit.. The two sides with the base and back board Even though i`m using a full size ATX board and full size PSU, i`m trying to keep the size of the cab as small as possible. This is the reason i`ve decided to mount the speakers in the top panel and not under the marquee. Control panel cut and ready to mark up for the joystick/buttons Buttons in place, but suffered some blow out on the MDF so will have to make up a new CP Dell 19inch Moniter mount in place, I can unhook the moniter from the mount without removing any screws, Video of the finished Bartop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johndarc Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 oh nice man! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trublu289 Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 looks nice so far. One thing that concerns me is a place for a fan. I know your not finished I was just wondering where you were going to place the fan. Those things get pretty hot in there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azzbarb Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 looking good, i've got one of them dell monitors and was thinking of putting it in a bartop aswell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mackdaddi Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 Looking good. Welcome to the bartop cab gang. I just finished a very similar cab, yours looks like you'll be running into the same issues with space as mine. If I was you i'd put a shelf in behind the monitor for hard drives and cables etc, your board and psu as well as the panel, switches, and encoder and all the cables will take a lot of space up, more than you think. You can mount fans on the back panel too. I'd advise you to think about some grilles, air filters, or some other kind of ventilation on it, bartops have precious little room for air flow inside them. Also have you given any thought to how you plan to control the volume on the cab? I know youve already seen this, you posted in the thread, but for the benefit of anyone who hasn't here's a link to some pics of my cab, feel free to "borrow" any of my ideas. We're all friends here after all http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/forum/showpost.php?p=169630&postcount=1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikekim Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 Richie, looking good so far a little tip for mounting items inside the case... i used sticky velcro tape to mount things like the hd's and the PSU. (also the cable tie mounting pads are great for keeping cables nice and neat) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mackdaddi Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 One more tip, you've probably figured it out already, but drill in to your cab or control panel from the outside rather than the other way around. Blow out isn't a problem when it's on the inside. Best thing of all to do is mark it up and drill your pilot holes, and then use clamps or tape to sandwich some scrap wood behind where your drill or hole saw or whatever will exit. Nice smooth holes every time. Great work so far, keep us updated!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richie_jones Posted March 23, 2012 Author Share Posted March 23, 2012 looks nice so far. One thing that concerns me is a place for a fan. I know your not finished I was just wondering where you were going to place the fan. Those things get pretty hot in there. Yeah the fan placement is something that's concerning me at the moment. I'm planning on using the back panel to house two 120mm fans in the top sucking air out of the case, with a series of groves cut into the bottom part of the panel covered in some sort of mesh to allow air to enter the case. My other problem is mounting the exhaust from the psu into this panel somehow, my sesonic psu has a fan on the top which blows down and out the back of the psu so I'll need to have the whole back plate of the psu uncovered... looking good, i've got one of them dell monitors and was thinking of putting it in a bartop aswell Was a cheap deal off eBay, I've yet to turn it on!!! Just hope it works.. Looking good. Welcome to the bartop cab gang. I just finished a very similar cab, yours looks like you'll be running into the same issues with space as mine. If I was you i'd put a shelf in behind the monitor for hard drives and cables etc, your board and psu as well as the panel, switches, and encoder and all the cables will take a lot of space up, more than you think. You can mount fans on the back panel too. I'd advise you to think about some grilles, air filters, or some other kind of ventilation on it, bartops have precious little room for air flow inside them. Also have you given any thought to how you plan to control the volume on the cab? I know youve already seen this, you posted in the thread, but for the benefit of anyone who hasn't here's a link to some pics of my cab, feel free to "borrow" any of my ideas. We're all friends here after all http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/forum/showpost.php?p=169630&postcount=1 Thanks, great idea on the shelf not thought of that one. I could possibly cut some vent groves in the base panel to encourage airflow from the bottom up... I'm definitely swinging towards the shifted volume control, I've bought a mini amp from china tha I will have to use to power the car speakers, but I had intended on extending the volume shaft through the case and controlling the volume this way but I think it's going to look a bit odd sticking through the case. So maybe I'll leave this set on half volume in the case and just use the shift function... Richie,looking good so far a little tip for mounting items inside the case... i used sticky velcro tape to mount things like the hd's and the PSU. (also the cable tie mounting pads are great for keeping cables nice and neat) Thanks mike, I've been studying your pics and was looking at your hard drive mountings, I thought you'd somehow used long bolts into the underside hard drive mounts, but I'd never be able to drill that accurately. Cable tie mounts a definite also One more tip, you've probably figured it out already, but drill in to your cab or control panel from the outside rather than the other way around. Blow out isn't a problem when it's on the inside. Best thing of all to do is mark it up and drill your pilot holes, and then use clamps or tape to sandwich some scrap wood behind where your drill or hole saw or whatever will exit. Nice smooth holes every time. Great work so far, keep us updated!! Learnt that one the hard way... Also is anyone suffering from dust collecting on the screen behind the Perspex/glass, I can see this being an issue, I'm toying with the idea of getting some sticky back foam around the monitors bezel that the glass will press against hopefully sealing it against dust.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trublu289 Posted March 24, 2012 Share Posted March 24, 2012 The previous build I did I had 1 120mm fan at 12v. Every thing was nice and cool inside. Have you thought about putting a door on the back. I thought of omitting it but ever so often something has to get changed around. I never thought of mounting the speakers on the top of the cabinet I'm really leaning towards this on my next build if space permits. As far as mounting hard drives I just use L brackets and secure it somewhere or hanger strapping works pretty well. here is my latest build for any type of ideas. http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16952&highlight=streetfighter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mackdaddi Posted March 24, 2012 Share Posted March 24, 2012 Yeah the fan placement is something that's concerning me at the moment. I'm planning on using the back panel to house two 120mm fans in the top sucking air out of the case, with a series of groves cut into the bottom part of the panel covered in some sort of mesh to allow air to enter the case Good plan. My bartop has 2x 120mm fans mounted on the top of the back panel, against a grille, as well as an air intake fan for the cpu at the bottom of the panel and an exhaust for the psu (i went over the top with cooling fans, lol), but it also has an air hole in the underside of the cab, at the front, below the control panel, to allow air to be drawn in and over the system board. If you want to do this, make sure you buy rubber feet for your cab that are as deep as you can find, ideally a quarter to a half an inch, to raise the cab up a little and allow clearance for air to flow in from underneath. If you do this you can even mount an intake fan horizontally inside the cab if you want to to pull cold air in through the hole. Depends how OCD you want to get My other problem is mounting the exhaust from the psu into this panel somehow, my sesonic psu has a fan on the top which blows down and out the back of the psu so I'll need to have the whole back plate of the psu uncovered... Check out a bartop project called weecade (google weecade) for an idea on this. I only saw it after i had done most of the work on my cab, i would have probably borrowed some ideas from it otherwise, but the guy routed a square hole out of the back panel of his cab and had the whole PSU, fan included, protruding flush from the back panel. It looks really well and allows him to plug/unplug his power lead from the cab and also means he has no problem with psu fans because his psu exhaust is blowing air directly out of his back panel. You could also look at trunking or air vent tubing. You can get it from a plumbing supplies place. Just duck tape it to the PSU exhaust and run it to a hole on your back panel. That way your PSU is inside the cab, but is blowing its air out the hole, thus not heating things up inside. PS, if you like the idea about being able to plug/unplug your power lead from the back panel, you can get 3-pin euro type mains adaptors in maplins, or on www.maplin.co.uk that allow you to flush mount a kettle lead type socket on the back panel that runs to either your PSU or your power strip. The idea is the same as i've done with my flush mounted USB ports on my build (see pics in my earlier post). Thanks, great idea on the shelf not thought of that one. I could possibly cut some vent groves in the base panel to encourage airflow from the bottom up... Re the holes, that's exactly what i did, it allows air to rise past the CPU & heatsink(which is directly underneath the shelf) and be pulled towards the exhaust fans at the top of the back panel. Take a close look at some of the pics of my build. The shelf itself really gives you a lot of extra space to work with, which is very handy in a bartop. I mounted my HDD and some USB and audio ports there for ease of access, as well as using the space to strap down the excess cables from the power supply, fans, usb ports, speakers, etc, with cable ties and stick-on loops. I'm definitely swinging towards the shifted volume control.... I had intended on extending the volume shaft through the case and controlling the volume this way but I think it's going to look a bit odd sticking through the case. So maybe I'll leave this set on half volume in the case and just use the shift function... Again, this is exactly the thought process i had here, you seem like you're about 3 months behind me, and encountering all the exact same issues i had along the way, lol. I would advise you against physically extending the volume shaft, it's messy and even on the best builds i've seen with it you get the impression that it's a bit of a hack job. Go the software route instead. I'll save you some time searching for tools here. I found a great little freeware app called "volume tray" for this, just google for it. Its a more fully featured volume control than the standard windows one, and allows you to designate hotkeys for any of the usual range of volume control functions. I just picked two dedicated keys that i knew weren't being used by any of my emulators or hyperspin, and assigned them as volume up and volume down hotkeys, then programmed my minipac's shifted inputs for the player one joystick up and down switches to the same keys. I then set hyperspin to run the volume tray app when hyperspin starts (it's in the options menu in Hyper HQ), and presto, once hyperspin is running, holding the "shift" key (1P Start) and using the joystick controls the volume. I just leave my physical volume knob inside the cab at about 50% (to minimise hiss and interference to the speakers) and control the sounds via the control panel. I've been studying your pics and was looking at your hard drive mountings, I thought you'd somehow used long bolts into the underside hard drive mounts, but I'd never be able to drill that accurately. Cable tie mounts a definite also You can get a set of 3.5 to 5.25 bay hard drive mounting brackets in maplin or any other electronics store for under a tenner that will solve this problem for you. They're designed for mounting a sata drive or floppy into an optical drive bay, which is a wider space. They bolt on to the side of the hard drive, and have all sorts of holes and slots in them which lets you mount your drive wherever you like. I screwed mine to a vertical, upright piece of wood on the shelf i mentioned i built behind the monitor. Again, take a close look at the pics i posted earlier and you'll get the idea. If you're going to go this route, you'll want to buy a packet of rubber anti-vibration washers to cushion the hard drive from any bumps or shocks the cab might get. Stick one or two under each screw you use to secure the brackets on whatever surface you're mounting to. I found them handy for mounting the motherboard too, along with a couple of sets of PCB feet. is anyone suffering from dust collecting on the screen behind the Perspex/glass, I can see this being an issue, I'm toying with the idea of getting some sticky back foam around the monitors bezel that the glass will press against hopefully sealing it against dust.... Duck tape is your best friend here. It realy should be in every bloke's toolbox at all times, there are a million and one uses for it. I was thinking about doing this, but i found that once the machine was up and running, and the cooling fans were doing their job of pulling air out of the case, dust settling on the screen just wasn't a problem anymore, it was all sucked out of the exhausts or into the air filters i installed. Make sure you give your screen and the inside of your monitor plexiglass a good clean and a buff with a soft cloth last thing before you secure them down too, cos fingerprints and bits of dirt on the inside of the screen will do your head in if you have to look at them for months on end. I managed to get a little b*ast*rd of a fly inside my monitor compartment after i'd sealed it all up, and spent the first two weeks of using my cab waiting for him to die because i didn't want to open it all up again. Haven't seen him for a while now, here's hoping he's brown bread...lol..... 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richie_jones Posted March 27, 2012 Author Share Posted March 27, 2012 mackdaddi Thanks for the detailed reply... I will today be cutting the holes for 2 120mm fans at the top and one under the control panel, hopefully this will be enough for cooling, but i will be monitering the internal temps closely.... Good tip on the rubber feet thanks, i dont think mine (stolen from my babys highchair), will be deep enough... I have a plan for the PSU mounting into the back board, pics to follow soon. Regards the volume shaft extension, i`ve completely given up on this and will definately be using the joystick method, thanks for the link to the volume programme. Hard drive mounting is now sorted, i just pulled a spare drive tray out of my main pc case... Haha i love your fly story....I wonder how many have perrished in arcade machines over the years.... Will hopefully have more pics up tonight... Oh ive just shelled out for a complete set of RGB buttons (12) from ultimarc and a PacLED64, so i`m hopeing it will look really good when set up... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richie_jones Posted March 27, 2012 Author Share Posted March 27, 2012 Bit more progress today... got the two 120mm fans up top...Plus cut a bottom air intake and a power supply hole... Also cut a 120mm fan into the underside of the cab, to draw air in over the CP and out through the top of the case...This one glows blue also so hopefully will give a blue glow under the Cab.. Have ordered new RGB buttons for the control panel so am doing away with the multi colours. Also got an pacled64 on the way... Im going to have to re cut the CP as i didn`t realise how deep the RGB led buttons are, i think they`ll interfere with the ones along the bottom... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SubZero Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 Real nice!! love these bartops! think ill start one before ill tackle the big one, nice work on the back to i will steal that idea for mine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richie_jones Posted March 27, 2012 Author Share Posted March 27, 2012 Steal away...glad i could help.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trublu289 Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 That's very nice indeed. What color are you going to pain it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richie_jones Posted April 7, 2012 Author Share Posted April 7, 2012 Have spent the last few days spraying the cab Matt Black.. Its been difficult to be honest, i`m not keen on spraying just seems to take ages between coats, waiting for the last one to dry... Its not perfect but i am pleased with it, theres a couple of small runs on the back..The sides and CP will be covered with artwork... The top came out quite well I`ve also modified the power supply by soldering on the monitor cable to the incoming mains. *This will leave me with only the one lead out the back to power the Cab.. Currently spraying the monitor bracket and Control panel then hopefully i`ll be able to put it all together and enjoy some serious gaming... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richie_jones Posted April 7, 2012 Author Share Posted April 7, 2012 Slowly taking shape Even though I can`t wait till its finished i feel i`ll miss working on it when its finished..I`ve really enjoyed every minute...Maybe i`ll try a jukebox next... Motherboard tray installed. *I cut this out of an old Coolermaster case i had laying around Wiring most of the components up...I still need a marquee light..I cut a load of molex`s off the end of one of the PSU wires and wired the amp direct to 12v.. Even though its a standard PSU, i was surprised how short the cables were, maybe i`m missing an extension or something..See the main cable running over the GFX card... Thanks for looking.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richie_jones Posted April 7, 2012 Author Share Posted April 7, 2012 Does anybody know if I can run the power switch led off the pins on the motherboard header, the ones next to the switch wires are they 5volt..suppose I can check the manual.. Turned it on yesterday, just with no moniter and wow them 3 fans are noisy..there all wired to the motherboard so I'm hoping I can ramp them down in the bios, if not I'll have to disconnect a couple, if the heat allows.. I've also bought RGB LEDs from ultimarc for all the player buttons, had some issues with there design and have sent them back, currently awaiting a modified version...so hopefully she'll be up and running soon.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepperami Posted April 8, 2012 Share Posted April 8, 2012 Nice build mate well impressed!! Yes, you can run the power switch LED off the pins, its only a low voltage and wont blow it should you get it the wrong way around What paint did you use to paint it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richie_jones Posted April 8, 2012 Author Share Posted April 8, 2012 Its spray painted using 3 coats of plasticote primer, then four coats of plasticote Matt black then 2 coats of clear plasticote laquer . Sanding with 600 grit between coats... To be honest think spraying is a waste of time. Ill be using a foam roller on the next one. Spraying takes ages and i really struggled to get it half decent... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikekim Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 Richie, the on/off power led can be run off the motherboard header, this is where mine is run from. looking really good btw... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richie_jones Posted April 9, 2012 Author Share Posted April 9, 2012 Thanks Mike, got the power led up and running ok, Currently trying to limit the amount of interferance i`m getting from my amp through the speakers. I`ve just run a cable from the motherboard standoff to the casing of the amp, i reckon its halfed the noise but its still definately there. I`m awaiting my RGB buttons from ultimarc then all i need to do is wire up the Control panel and she`ll be up and running... Let my lad play on donkey kong last night using the keyboard he`s only 4...He loved it..There were some tears when he accidently stuck his finger in the bottom fan. Stopped it dead!!! Was spinning at low revs luckily so the tears were just from the shock....Poor lad. He`s not been put off though still asking me all the time when will it be finished!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mackdaddi Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 Turned it on yesterday, just with no moniter and wow them 3 fans are noisy..there all wired to the motherboard so I'm hoping I can ramp them down in the bios, if not I'll have to disconnect a couple, if the heat allows.. I haven't been on the forum in a couple of weeks, just want to say WOW, great job on the cab so far. Glad my earlier posts were of use. I love what you've done with the air intakes on the back panel and bottom, and i like how you've protruded the PSU out the back panel. It's a really nice, neat, and professional looking finish. I would definitely go the same route if i was to build another cab. Re your fan noise, you can get fans online with speed selector switches on them fairly cheaply. I have 3 altec low-noise fans on my back panel with the low/med/hi speed selector switches on them set to the "medium" setting. Along with the PC's processor intake fan (of which the RPM is regulated by the mobo) the sound levels out of my cab are fine, nice and low. The altec switched fans cost me under a fiver each i think. If you have any spare power outs on your PSU cable you can get adaptors to power them off of those instead of the mobo, and just set your speed/noise levels on the fans directly, rather than letting your mobo regulate their RPM or run them full tilt, or have to mess with your BIOS. Just don't use the same power point on your cable to run the fans as your HDD uses if possible, make sure the drive has a steady power supply with as little drain as possible. My altec fans all piggyback onto each other's power plugs and connect into one drive power connector on the cable (the one my DVD drive used to be on before i removed it because of lack of space). Nice and simple, and if you're having problems with your fan noise it won't cost you a bomb to change them out for switchable ones. EDIT-Great work on the PSU mod, that's genius. I was thinking about a way to do this on my cab but as my electronics skills are fairly basic i didn't want to attempt what you've done and a dual supply PSU was way out of my budget for my build. I came up with the idea (after i'd finished, doh') of wiring the power strip inside the cab to one of those female kettle lead sockets mounted on the back panel, which a standard kettle lead plugs into on the outside. I still may do that to my cab (someday) but yours just cuts straight through all that hassle. It will make all the difference in terms of neatness to just be able to plug in a kettle lead and power up. Very, VERY nice work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trublu289 Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 Thanks Mike, got the power led up and running ok, Currently trying to limit the amount of interferance i`m getting from my amp through the speakers. I`ve just run a cable from the motherboard standoff to the casing of the amp, i reckon its halfed the noise but its still definately there. I`m awaiting my RGB buttons from ultimarc then all i need to do is wire up the Control panel and she`ll be up and running... Let my lad play on donkey kong last night using the keyboard he`s only 4...He loved it..There were some tears when he accidently stuck his finger in the bottom fan. Stopped it dead!!! Was spinning at low revs luckily so the tears were just from the shock....Poor lad. He`s not been put off though still asking me all the time when will it be finished!!! I wonder why my amps always have zero interference once I ground them. The only thing that I really think is the problem now is the power supply cable placement. One thing that comes to mine is the way some cables have that ferrite choke around them. Try looking that up it reduces noise in the lines but not sure what all noises it helps to filter out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richie_jones Posted April 18, 2012 Author Share Posted April 18, 2012 I haven't been on the forum in a couple of weeks, just want to say WOW, great job on the cab so far. Glad my earlier posts were of use. I love what you've done with the air intakes on the back panel and bottom, and i like how you've protruded the PSU out the back panel. It's a really nice, neat, and professional looking finish. I would definitely go the same route if i was to build another cab.Re your fan noise, you can get fans online with speed selector switches on them fairly cheaply. I have 3 altec low-noise fans on my back panel with the low/med/hi speed selector switches on them set to the "medium" setting. Along with the PC's processor intake fan (of which the RPM is regulated by the mobo) the sound levels out of my cab are fine, nice and low. The altec switched fans cost me under a fiver each i think. If you have any spare power outs on your PSU cable you can get adaptors to power them off of those instead of the mobo, and just set your speed/noise levels on the fans directly, rather than letting your mobo regulate their RPM or run them full tilt, or have to mess with your BIOS. Just don't use the same power point on your cable to run the fans as your HDD uses if possible, make sure the drive has a steady power supply with as little drain as possible. My altec fans all piggyback onto each other's power plugs and connect into one drive power connector on the cable (the one my DVD drive used to be on before i removed it because of lack of space). Nice and simple, and if you're having problems with your fan noise it won't cost you a bomb to change them out for switchable ones. EDIT-Great work on the PSU mod, that's genius. I was thinking about a way to do this on my cab but as my electronics skills are fairly basic i didn't want to attempt what you've done and a dual supply PSU was way out of my budget for my build. I came up with the idea (after i'd finished, doh') of wiring the power strip inside the cab to one of those female kettle lead sockets mounted on the back panel, which a standard kettle lead plugs into on the outside. I still may do that to my cab (someday) but yours just cuts straight through all that hassle. It will make all the difference in terms of neatness to just be able to plug in a kettle lead and power up. Very, VERY nice work Thanks for the kind comments mate.. The fans are all running great now, i`ve plugged all 4 fans into the motherboard headers and enabled ASUS Q FAN control. I think its meant to work in conjunction with a case temp probe but i`ve been able to ramp them all down to a very low level. I can just hear them ticking over. I won`t know any real temps untill my marquee is in and the glass is in. So i`ll have to wait and see if they need ramping up. The PSU mod idea i borrowed from another build, its pretty straight forward and keeps the back looking really tidy. I have nearly finished the control panel and powered up the 12 RGB buttons wow there bright, its gonna take some playing around with the LED Blinky app. Again thanks for the comments people, Hope to have more pics up soon.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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