Since my childhood I was fascinated with video games. And I loved the arcades, whereever I could get to one. So one of my dreams was owning a cabinet for my room. Well they are big, heavy and expensive. And my wife and I just got a house a recently. But now, I have room for it and a workshop.
So one of my first projects was this arcade cabinet build. I took inspiration from the cabinets Bob build from I like to make stuff on YT. I started designing my cabinet in SketchUp and then went to build it.
Following are pics from the process. Feel free to ask questions and I hope it will inspire you to build one yourself. (maybe more of a bartop, if you are not having too much space )
At first, I build the base of the cabinet. (I went with a 3 piece design, so it would be easier to transport the whole thing)
I made it from plywood and with pocket holes. It isn’t beautiful, but it works in the end and is hidden inside the cabinet.
I found a controller layout online from existing cabinets and took one, which I liked for my machine. I printed it out and used some spray glue to adhere it to the cover, so I could drill out the holes.
For the big side panels I put all three parts on the sheet of mdf and marked around it with some space (approx. 1-2 cm) from the body. Later I was lucky that I did that, because it ended fitting nicely and didn’t end up to short. To make sure I have two exactly identical pieces, I used a flush trim bit in my router.
For the door in front of the cabinet, I wanted something more interesting then just a flat rectangular one, so I introduced some angles… which made me curse myself in the process . Because the first version didn’t match the angles on the cabinet, since I did the math wrong.
The monitor is basically press fitted in the bezel part. I saw that Bob from ILTMS build an elaborate monitor holder inside his cabinet, but since it is basically stationary and the stand from the monitor is adjustable, I just used it.
I also added some metal meshing in the top, to allow the warm air to escape the cabinet. (It isn’t necessary I guess, since the raspberrypi4 and the monitor don’t generate that much heat inside that kinda volume. But it looks nice.