I have been wanting an arcade machine for a long time. These days there are a lot of options out there that make it easier to build your own. I purchased the Bartop Arcade plans from The Geek Pub http://www.thegeekpub.com He has several different plans, from a full sized stand up unit to a tabletop design, as well as the Bartop design that I went with. So you can pick which you want to go with, but be sure to buy the one you want.

It has been a lot of work. I used a 50 Inch Clamp Edge And Saw Guide from Harbor Freight and circular saw to cut the strait cuts out of the pieces. For the arc cuts on the sides I clamped both sides together and used a jig saw to cut them out at the time time to match the cuts. It is hard to see in the picture below, but I rough cut the “upper right corner side” leaving the line and a tiny bit to spare. That let me sperate the two Side “A” parts. I then clamped them together and did the final cut right to the line. I had to go slow with the Jig Saw as to keep the blade making a nice vertical cut. With a table saw it would be much faster for the strait cuts. I optimized the cut layout from the original to help me get some larger extra bits to work with in case I needed them. Below you can see the layout I went with as I laid all the parts back onto the extra half of the 4’x8′ sheet to so that.

I essentially cut out the parts the same as the plans. In the end I found there was an issue with the Marquee Top (B) and Top Door Frame (F). The Marquee Top and Top Door Frame should have been cut at an angle to meet nicely in the back. To correct this, I shortened the Top Door Frame a bit so that it just let the Marquee Top clear it. I then also added T molding to the back side of the Marquee Top, as it was now going to be an exposed edge. If I made another Arcade, I will be changing how I end up cutting that out (Note: See the “Another Bartop Arcade” which the correction was made by having the pieces cut with the proper angles to fit). I may also make some other alterations to make it easier to put in the Marquee itself.

After cutting out all of the pieces, I did sand them all on both sides. You can see in the picture above that I laid them out on top of the second half of the 4’x8′ Sheet of 3/4″ MDF. This does only take half a sheet to make this unit. Depending how you build it though, you do need a bit of corner blocking to glue it up easily. In my case I could have used the “spare for lcd sides” cut into strips for the blocking. I also didn’t use the VESA mount on this build due to the monitor I used not having a VESA Mount option. I did use blocking in the corners, partly the bit off the Door side, and mostly some old pine strips I had around.

Before assembly I used a slot cutter in a router for all of the T molding areas. I used a 1/16″ slot cutter. I took the pieces outside and used a clamp to clamp them down to my saw horse. Then it only took a couple seconds for each on to put in the slot. The biggest thing being to get the slot bit set perfectly center, which you have to get it adjusted properly, which I tested on a scrap. The other thing, use a mask for this, it was awful the first one blew back right at me. Beyond that it is easy to put in the slot.

I assembled the unit with corner blocking, glue and brads like was done by Mike at The Geek Pub in his video on his Youtube Channel (which I believe are also linked on his website where you can buy his plans). Other methods could be used, if you want you can use screws. He mentioned Pocket screws, which I do have, but I didn’t feel like trying. I figured if I wasn’t careful they could split the mdf as well. If I used them I was probably going to still use glue too.. The blocking made it very easy to assemble. I was looking at trying to do it without putting in the blocking, but that made it more difficult to get good alignment. The blocking makes it stronger too with more surface area for the glue. The “Another Bartop” build Gray cabinet is assembled with pocket holes and screws, it isn’t mdf though, it is coarser flakeboard with the Gray factory top coat, like Arcade machines were often built from.

I realized that I had not drilled for the speakers in the Marquee bottom board until after I had it installed. I used some Logitech 2 piece speakers for the arcade. Removing them from the shell, they have some 2″ speakers in them. I used a 2″ hole saw to make the holes in the board. I also had to drill for the volume control access. I removed the power Led from the board. While the board also had a Headphone jack on it, I decided it wasn’t practical to do anything with it. I needed a longer knob than the one it came with. Had I not already glued the board in, I may have carved out the back so I could have used a more standard length knob (For the Gray Bartop I 3d printed a customized long knob for it).

I then rewired the speakers for installation in the cabinet. I was going to reuse the original AC power unit so I setup to be able to put it in as well. Below you can see the speakers rewired to fit the cabinet.

These speakers operate off of 5Volts DC. In the end I didn’t like the exposed AC board inside the cabinet. I went with a Meanwell dual voltage power supply for the cabinet. This let me run the Raspberry Pi and the Speakers both off of the 5Volt DC on it. It also provides 12Volts DC, which is for the Fan and the Marquee lights.

The next part was the primer. I used the recommended Rustoleum Filler Primer. This is pretty neat stuff. It has a filler product in the paint. It looks like it is fuzzy, but it sands out amazing.

Don’t skip primer, It just won’t work if you are using MDF. I waited until the next day to sand it. I used 220 grit paper to take off the fuzz. I then followed up with some finer paper. From there I wiped it down with paper towels and brushed it well, then used a microfiber cloth to wipe it down. I painted it with Rustoleum Gloss Black. I let that dry a day and took some 3000 grit to lightly sand any little bits that were in the paint. The paint I used is the 15 minute dry type to help keep the dust, bugs etc from blowing into while it was wet. I found that it was good to do a coat that caught most of the dust that got in it. Then I came back and did 2 more light coats after the 3000 grit. That later paint didn’t end up with as much dust in it. The last thing I did with the paint was put on a coat of Rustoleum Clear Gloss. The Clear Gloss dried very fast, it was quite different and had a lot of over spray. When I was doing the painting I was wearing a mask as well. I was thinking of trying to polish it, but I decided I wasn’t going to be that crazy about it, and I wasn’t sure I had the clear on thick enough. I used 2 cans of primer and about 2 cans of the black. The clear coat was less than a full can. I did end up with some runs on the top back door frame piece. I used one of the spray handles for the cans, as seen in the picture below. That makes it much easier for me to get a decent finish and better control a well as saving my wrist.

Well, there were two other things I didn’t get drilled before the initial assembly. The first being the “safe shutdown button” for the Pi on the back beside the power jack. The other being the USB ports in the front right there.

I had to backbore the Shutdown button here by the power port due to the type of button I used. The USB on the front “nearly” needed to be backbored as well. The USB port insert I used goes into a 30mm hole it barely has any threading with the 3/4″ MDF, but it was just enough.

The T molding is not too bad to do, but I wish it had went a little better. I got a section of 20′ and used all but about 18′ on this cabinet. There would have been that bit more if I had not put that additional piece on the back side of the Marquee Top. I am assuming I had the full 20′ I was to have received, but I can see how it did use that much. I just did it like Mike showed in his video, back cutting at the corners, and put it in with a rubber mallet. I had a few issues here and there. I had some problem with snagging on the bottom and pulling it back out when moving the cabinet. I added some rubber feet and that should help to prevent it from dragging the edges too much in the future. I put a bit of glue toward the ends to help hold it incase it snags a bit.

Here I have the control panel assembled and the USB ports installed after finishing the Clear Coat. I am using a Dell LCD that I had around. It was almost a perfect fit, and had HDMI input and audio output (no speakers internally). The control panel layout is in the plans as well, the template prints out on multiple pages that get taped together. I used a spray adhesive to hold it on like Mike suggested. It was a bit of a pain to remove all of the adhesive after the fact ( I used a different product than he had, so maybe it is harder to get off?). The paper came off fine, but some of the spray stayed behind. I later used more of the templates in other areas and was careful to use as little spray as I could, that turned out better. I used the 2 player template and omitted 2 buttons, 8 was enough for me. You can choose to use the buttons you want. He also includes a 1 player layout template. The buttons I used are the pop in kind. I used a 30mm forstner bit for the hole with the 6 primary buttons, they went right in a perfect fit. For the Joysticks I used a slightly smaller sized bit, this didn’t cause issues in the travel of the stick. If I had used the 30mm bit, then the joystick washers wouldn’t have kept the holes covered at the maximum travel. For the smaller 24mm buttons I didn’t have the perfect drill bit for, so they were slightly loose, and a little glue on the bottom edge in a couple places to ensure they don’t move on me. The forstner bits do a very nice job, the butterfly bits I have are way too aggressive, but they are a weird type. The butterfly bits may be just fine if you are careful, mine are of a very aggressive verity that have a screw start point on them. I can’t hold them back or take it easy to get them started.. I used the bits in my cheap Harbor Freight Drill Press, which made the work go very nice with the forstner bits.

The one trick with the controls is they need to be wired identically, as the Pi (or any computer) can get confused if it has two of the same model of controllers with different layouts. I previously built a USB arcade joystick, with the same type of controls. I have wired both of the controllers on the Arcade as well as the separate USB arcade joystick the same so I can use it as a third player on the Arcade.

This was the first time I tried it out inside the cabinet. It is all together except the marquee and front plexi on the monitor. You can see the speakers in the top.

Here I worked on the Marquee light. I am using 12Volt White LED Strip light. I decided to build an Aluminum Light Box for it. I really didn’t have a good way to mount the LEDs otherwise, and I didn’t want the light going out other areas of the cabinet. The light box is made of a spare piece of flat stock aluminum used for flashing, boxing/facia, and around windows etc on a house from Lowes etc. I made it about 1″ deep, and rests against the corner blocking, and almost against the speakers.

Above you can see the LED Strip. I put it on the Sides not the bottom. This helps with Hotspots. In such a close space the points of light off of the LEDs would make hotspots all of the Marquee otherwise. Below you can also see the Speaker grills and volume knob installed. The Speaker grills are made from some 2″ desk grommets from the hardware store, and then covered in some speaker cloth (salvaged from an old speaker box I had).

Above you can see the back door. The door was slightly taller than it should have been, possibly a little wave and variation in my cuts for the back. The bigger thing was the that it turned out to be somewhat narrow, I am not sure if was my marking or cutting or what. The door Frame pieces seemed to all go just fine, but there is a bit more gap left and right. So I would watch for that if I make another. I wasn’t going to use a piano hinge for it, but due to the gap that was the only way I was going to be able to hide it well. I also decided to get a lock, not that I wanted to lock it, but that was the most elegant looking latching method, and also when moving I didn’t want a “semi-secure” latch that may flip open accidentally. The holes were drilled with other templates in the plans. The bottom is the 80mm fan pattern while the top two are the hole patterns for the suggested speakers. I used the speaker pattern holes just for additional venting on the door though. Here you can also see the door once it was installed with the 80mm fan 12Volt and latch assembly. The modification to the door frame top that I mentioned above did have the added benefit of adding some ventilation as well as there is a small gap there now. I like that bit of the change, as heat would have caught in the top had it been sealed up. You can also see the wiring going to the power strip I put in there. It is wired directly to the rear power jack. I had it around and it was easy to work with. I really did not want to get an electrical box like the plans suggested. This was a bit easier and I think did a nice job. It also has the added benefit that in my case it is a surge protector and not just a temporary “power tap” as well, not just a power strip.

The power jack includes a switch and fuse. I like it, but some have had it has issues with melting. I could see that if the connections were a bit loose, that would cause the conductors to get hot. The Safe Shutdown button for the Pi is also installed there. The button is wired up to the gpio on the Pi and the Pi is setup to use do a safe shutdown if it is pressed. It will wake the Pi after shutdown if pressed again. I will cover that in Part 2, it is quite easy with the Pi 3 (and pi4b).

The Marquee just has some paper in it behind the Plexiglass to test the brightness.

I have to finish the Marquee. I am also going to put Plexiglas in front of the monitor to hide it. Once I have the Plexiglas cut for the front of the monitor I will be able to mount the monitor in the cabinet. The Monitor I have does not have a VESA mount, so I have secured it to a built up block that I will secure with some brackets to the bottom of the cabinet. I don’t know the exact final position until the Plexiglas is in. The Marquee top needs secured as well, but I have to finish the Marquee first. The Pi is also floating free in there. I have been thinking of pulling it out of the case and mounting to the cabinet as a bare board, but I do want to put a fan on it still if I do that. To start with the Marquee I will probably finish a design for it and reprint it on my inkjet printer instead for some color. I may get proper marquee made professionally later on.. I may get some side graphics for the cabinet as well, but not full side covering graphics (not after the T molding is installed).