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Building my own arcade cabinet - a photo diary

This has been in the making for 1.5 years and I'm thrilled to share it with you. But instead of writing a long post with boring details, I'll just add short comments to the pictures.

Enjoy!

The beginning: RasPi3 and RetroPie started for the first time.

Buttons & joystick from AliExpress for $20. Neat!

Testing the buttons.

The first box.

Version 2 of the box, much cleaner.


Should be something like this, when it's finished

Temporary solution: ATX power supply from an old PC.

The amplifier arrived, too!

Learning to solder: if your tip looks like this, you're doing something wrong.


Visual concept number two: controller and speaker box.


The messy insides of the controller box.

A friend helped me out cutting the wood for the final controller box.


That's not the final box, just another test run.



This is more like it. Made from an old office desk.

Button layout on paper...

...and on wood.

Gluing the walls and the top part. The bottom plate is fixed with screws.

Making a hole for the speaker.

Just messing around on a piece of wood (painting, masking).

The painted controller box.

Testing the speakers and the RCA connectors.

What a mess...

Soldering the speaker cables, crimping the power cables.



How will everything fit in the box?

Closeup of the RasPi, HDMI->VGA adapter and RCA terminal.

The bottom of the box.


Fooling around with masking.


It's coming together slowly.




The hole on the right side is way to high - measuring error.

Not bad, but it didn't come out as good as I'd have liked.

Speaker housing.


I think this was the first time it was standing.



Painting the inner wall of the speaker hole.

Starting the final assembly.

The volume knob will be 3D printed and fitted on the amp's knob.


Almost everything in place.




The cabinet from behind. The controller box can be taken out and used on it's own.

Almost done! A proper volume knob and speaker grille are still to be done.


Hand-made speaker grille.

And the 3D printed volume knob is also in it's place.

Finished! :)

 Here are also some videos I've made along the way:





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