More on the MAME Cabinet construction

chackney

I think your MAME cabinet is awesome and I wanted to get a few more details on the constructions before I attempt something similar. 

Regarding the lower front cabinet door. In one of the pictures it looks like the door is not flush with the sides of the cabinet but rather recessed by about an inch, is this correct? Also regarding the door, could you elaborate a little more on how the hinges were attached? I also have a similar question regarding the upper rear door.

When cutting the speaker board, it looks like you performed an angle cut in order to have connect nicely with the marquee, were there any other places were an angle cut was required?

Final question (for now), when installing the T-molding, did you install it on the top and back of the cabinet or just the front? And, on the front, did you use one continuous strip or two strips separated by the tankstick? (I know that was two questions).

Thanks!

tech_admin

Thanks for the questions (and they are good questions). It's been many years since I built my original cabinet. Last year, I had a friend ask me to build a cabinet for him. I decided to update the cabinet to use a 24" widescreen monitor and I decided to build my own control panel. The cabinet turned out very nice. I've since decided to create more detailed plans along with a step-by-step guide for others who want to build the cabinet. I hope to have the new plans posted within a month or two. If anybody is interested, and is starting a build before soon, let me know and I'll try to help.

To answer your questions:

The front door is recessed about an inch from the front edge of the cabinet. I did this for aesthetic reasons. I've seen many cabinets that are simply square boxes and I wanted something that had some depth and angles to it.

The front door (and the rear door) use European cabinet hinges (the kind that require a 35 mm "cup" drilled in the back side of the door). Drilling the cup for this type of hinge will require a Forstner bit or hinge boring bit. Basically, it drills a hole with a flat bottom. There are several types of these hinges (depending on how the door attaches to the cabinet side. I use "inset" hinges. This means that the hinge connects to the door on one side and the inside of the cabinet wall on the other side.

The speaker panel does have an angled cut on the front edge. It is a 60 degree angle. Most table saws will only tilt the blade to 45 degrees. In order to get a 60 degree cut, you need to set the blade to 30 degrees and then run the board through standing on its edge (i.e. the board will be standing up vertically instead of laying flat on the table saw deck). This requires creating a temporary guide that sits up against the saw fence in order to help keep the panel standing straight up as it is pushed through.

The T-molding is installed as once continuous piece. I didn't place any molding under the tank stick. The T-molding starts on the front of the cabinet directly under the tank stick (where the tank stick overhangs the front of the cabinet. I then run the T-molding down the front of the cabinet, under the bottom, up the back and all the way down the front until it stops at the back of the tank stick.

I hope that helps!