XCVG
ModRetro Legend
Re: XCVG's Bartop Candy Cab
A bit of a progress update. It's coming along nicely. It might be finished before the end of the summer, we'll see.
The stripe is on the CP now. A bit different than what I envisioned but it looks pretty good. My dad did this. It's not perfect- there's some bleed and a bit of blue paint near one of the screwholes but it's okay. It looks fine from a few feet away, and all the attention will be on the screen while you're playing anyway.
Modded power supply. It was tricky getting the wires onto the switch- it was hard to get at and even harder to hold everything in place. I think I did a good enough job- remember this is AC and there will be a significant amount of power flowing through it. The ground wire was easy- I soldered a ring connector on it and put it on the existing ground post (grounds the case) with another nut. Thankfully I remembered to feed the cable through the hole FIRST, or I would have had to redo it. If I do this again, I think I'll either use suitcase connectors or cut the wire and solder them all together.
The port panel. This pic is a bit outdate as it now has the USB ports installed and is mounted to the back of the cab. The USB jacks were fairly easy, though the holes are huge and inaccurate and I had to add a washer since the screws won't go all the way through (one is still a bit wobbly). The network jack was a bit more challenging. It's just an RJ45 coupler- there is literally no way to mount it. So I cut and filed a more accurate hole, jammed it in from the back as far as it would go, and then added an L-shaped piece of plastic screwed to the panel and glued and zip-tied to the jack. It's pretty solid now. The reset button is just hot-glued in to a semi-tight hole. Hopefully it won't be used much. The USB cables are BARELY long enough to reach the motherboard, but the LAN and reset cables are fine. In addition to this panel, the power button and monitor control board will be mounted under the CP box and there will be a USB extension dangling under one of the wings (hidden of course). The volume control is still on the audio amp, which will be mounted on one side of the back.
The original speaker grille idea. It's a drain cover for a sink. These are dollar store junk- really easy to bend. It doesn't look bad in this picture.
This is one of the speaker grilles off of the speakers. It's a nice shape, and the colour is perfect. A side effect is that it will have a larger but trapezoidal marquee. That will be fun to mount.
We did find a use for it, though. This is a 120mm fan, which will be mounted to the back. It's just about a perfect fit. Fan on the inside, cover on the outside (hole in the middle). The back will have two drawer handles on it, to keep it away from the wall.
The monitor mounted easily. It doesn't look like this anymore- the monitor has been removed for building the bezel or something and the control panel has been taken out so I can mount and wire the controls. That should be fun.
So, at this point we have to build the bezel, back cover, and the bottom of the CP box. The top piece with the speakers and marquee hasn't even been started yet. I have to mount and wire the controls. Somewhere in or after that we have to round the edges and paint the thing. There's a ways to go still, but it's getting there.
A bit of a progress update. It's coming along nicely. It might be finished before the end of the summer, we'll see.
The stripe is on the CP now. A bit different than what I envisioned but it looks pretty good. My dad did this. It's not perfect- there's some bleed and a bit of blue paint near one of the screwholes but it's okay. It looks fine from a few feet away, and all the attention will be on the screen while you're playing anyway.
Modded power supply. It was tricky getting the wires onto the switch- it was hard to get at and even harder to hold everything in place. I think I did a good enough job- remember this is AC and there will be a significant amount of power flowing through it. The ground wire was easy- I soldered a ring connector on it and put it on the existing ground post (grounds the case) with another nut. Thankfully I remembered to feed the cable through the hole FIRST, or I would have had to redo it. If I do this again, I think I'll either use suitcase connectors or cut the wire and solder them all together.
The port panel. This pic is a bit outdate as it now has the USB ports installed and is mounted to the back of the cab. The USB jacks were fairly easy, though the holes are huge and inaccurate and I had to add a washer since the screws won't go all the way through (one is still a bit wobbly). The network jack was a bit more challenging. It's just an RJ45 coupler- there is literally no way to mount it. So I cut and filed a more accurate hole, jammed it in from the back as far as it would go, and then added an L-shaped piece of plastic screwed to the panel and glued and zip-tied to the jack. It's pretty solid now. The reset button is just hot-glued in to a semi-tight hole. Hopefully it won't be used much. The USB cables are BARELY long enough to reach the motherboard, but the LAN and reset cables are fine. In addition to this panel, the power button and monitor control board will be mounted under the CP box and there will be a USB extension dangling under one of the wings (hidden of course). The volume control is still on the audio amp, which will be mounted on one side of the back.
The original speaker grille idea. It's a drain cover for a sink. These are dollar store junk- really easy to bend. It doesn't look bad in this picture.
This is one of the speaker grilles off of the speakers. It's a nice shape, and the colour is perfect. A side effect is that it will have a larger but trapezoidal marquee. That will be fun to mount.
We did find a use for it, though. This is a 120mm fan, which will be mounted to the back. It's just about a perfect fit. Fan on the inside, cover on the outside (hole in the middle). The back will have two drawer handles on it, to keep it away from the wall.
The monitor mounted easily. It doesn't look like this anymore- the monitor has been removed for building the bezel or something and the control panel has been taken out so I can mount and wire the controls. That should be fun.
So, at this point we have to build the bezel, back cover, and the bottom of the CP box. The top piece with the speakers and marquee hasn't even been started yet. I have to mount and wire the controls. Somewhere in or after that we have to round the edges and paint the thing. There's a ways to go still, but it's getting there.
