Right, seeing as nothing much is happening with the car, I’ve decided to build an arcade cabinet!

Well I say a cabinet, but it is actually more like a gaming station. Anyway, here are the design goals.

– Single player slim cabinet
– Make use of the Hori Real Arcade Pro Premium VLX joystick as the control panel
– Space for a keyboard (for online hate mails) and a drink holder, behind the control panel
– Same control panel height as the real Vewlix, as it is the most natural
– Make use of the Asus VH228H 22″ LED monitor as the screen
– Visual style inspired by the Taito Vewlix arcade cabinet
– Open front cabinet (with shelves) for easier access and maintenance instead of the usual closed cabinet design. Eventually I may or may not do a door
– Top and bottom parts separatable for easier transportation
– Very simple and straightforward construction

And the main material is going to be 18mm thick MDF boards, with (probably) acrylic perspex marquee. I want to have steel feet too but not sure if I can source it in the right shape and size. The main tools are a drill, a circular saw, a router & table, a compressor/spray gun plus acrylic paint. Another thing needed is a mount for the monitor.

As it is to be placed in the hallway or living room, the dimensions are very limited. The current design is mostly like a mini version of the Vewlix.

This is more of an experiment. If everything goes smoothly, I hope to produce a life size 2-player Vewlix replica cabinet and put it in the garage.

I anticipate the construction to be done quite quickly, but the painting process will take up the majority of time (probably weeks). As I can only work on it in the weekends, I hope to be able to finish it by the end of Jan 2012.

This is the plan I created in Google Sketchup. Unfortunately I am rubbish at it so I gave up half way through 🙁 But it does show the overall concept.