Build a Rustic Mantel from Reclaimed Wood
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(This article is part 3 of our Fireplace Makeover series.)
We built this mantel entirely from a few pieces of rough-sawn lumber pulled out of a recycled building materials yard. Part of the fun of building it was deciding how to combine the pieces while keeping the rustic charm of the wood. Our local yard is great, and you can probably find lots of reclaimed wood sources in your area to build your own mantel.
Build Notes
The mantel is composed of three pieces of reclaimed wood:
- A 6 x 6 post, cut in half to make the legs
- A 2 x 12 board, with a piece cut out to fit around the brick. We then used the cutout as a cross-piece below the top, and
- A 4 x 3 post, to run underneath the shelf, for another cross-piece
Keeping The Rustic Look of Reclaimed Wood
We chose to preserve the rough look of the wood — there were holes, gouges and visible saw marks that provided lots of character. The wood needed some cleaning, but otherwise we only performed a little sanding areas that would be dangerous to the touch. before putting a dark stain and some polyurethane on the wood.
Use Lag Screws for Solid Attachments
We attached the mantel to the wall on either side of the fireplace with lag bolts. Those bolts sit an inch or so deep in the post and are covered with a decorative dowel. The top shelf is also attached to the posts with countersunk lag screws. The two cross-pieces are attached to the shelf through the bottom of the pieces, again with recessed lag screws. Finally, we put some felt furniture pads on the bottom of the posts to protect the floor. With all the hardware, this was still less than $10 to build. It’s been in place for more than 10 years now and we still love it.
Making the Cutout in the Top Shelf
In order to make the cutout, you’ll need to make a plunge cut with a circular saw, then finish the corners with either a handsaw or a jigsaw (and you’ll want to sand down the inside corners afterward). A plunge cut can be a little nerve-wracking if you’re not used to holding up the blade guard of your saw while you lower it into the cut. Lining it up to start is also critical — if you’ve got a laser guide, that’ll make it easier to check your line before you drop the blade into the wood. Otherwise, clamp a guide to the piece and set the nose of your saw’s base plate against the guide while you lower the blade.
Last bit of advice: Know where the back of your blade is going to hit! It’s easy to drop the blade in and wind up cutting past the corner. It’s better to start with plenty of room behind the saw to avoid this mistake. You have to finish the cuts anyway.
Don’t Stop with the Reclaimed Wood Mantel
The mantel was just the first step in a very satisfying fireplace makeover. Read our other posts on the rest of the process:
Trading (Fire) Places—A Weekend Fireplace Makeover
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Okay, I admit it. It was my fault it took 10 years to finish our fireplace makeover. I was nervous about putting paint on brick. Fortunately, Vag is persistent—very persistent—and I finally relented. The whitewash looks beautiful and maintains the character of the brick.
Not counting the guitar and Japanese wood block print, this cost us around $100. You probably can’t create this fireplace look as cheaply as we did, but you can have fun trying. We got lucky at our local recycled building supplies yard and found some old timber with big enough dimensions to use for the mantel.
Anyway, the point is that you can completely transform the look of a tired fireplace with used lumber, a little paint, and elbow grease.
This is what we started with: a functional, 40-year-old red brick fireplace surrounded by painted wood paneling. Ugly, but lots of potential.
Four Steps to a Fireplace Makeover
While it took us 10 years to do all this, the actual work could have been accomplished in a weekend, so go for it. The makeover boils down to 4 simple steps:
Step 1: Side Accent Panels
We painted an 18-inch (46 cm) wide stripe on each side of the fireplace, and defined the space with a vertical piece of LWM 266 lattice molding.
Paint: Behr Premium Plus Interior Satin Enamel. Color: Dark Ash. [Shop here]
Total cost: $25
Step 2: Clean and Whitewash Brick
Cleaning and whitewashing the brick. Dick was nervous about painting brick, but check out Vag’s post on how she did it.
Paint: Behr Premium Plus Interior Semi-Gloss Enamel. Color: Gallery White [Shop here]
Total cost: $15 (assuming you have cleaning supplies on hand)
Step 3: Build a Rustic Mantel from Reclaimed Wood
Building a rustic mantel from lumber we scavenged at our local recycled building materials yard. Check out the post here on how we built it.
Total cost: $10
Step 4: Decorate the Firebox
While our fireplace could be functional, we live in a mild climate and wood fires contribute to air pollution, so we don’t have the desire or the need to build fires. Because the inside of the fireplace was already naturally black from a few decades of fires, we had a ready made backdrop for a warm and comforting lightbox.
We saw the retaining wall brick used to display plants this way at one of our local home and garden stores. The brick cavities are perfect for holding 4-inch pots, making it easy to rotate in a fresh look whenever the plants get tired. Just make sure to choose muted lighting and good low-light houseplants. Your cost will vary depending on your choice of plant, ranging from about $10 to $30.
Shop rattan ball lights
Shop retaining wall brick
Total cost: about $40 (depending upon your choice of plants)
Other items shown in our fireplace makeover
Yamaha acoustic-electric guitar
More Details on This Project
Easy DIY Pool Cue Rack
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About 15 seconds after we got our pool table set up, we both looked around the room and realized something was missing. We had made sure to get everything we needed to shoot pool, right down to the chalk, but danged if we hadn’t thought about where we’d put the cues. Fortunately, the old scrap pile was just a few steps away, and about an hour and a half later, we had the stain drying on this beauty.
This pool cue rack is easy and cheap to build, plus it’s simple to install with standard plastic drywall anchors. If you choose nice wood for the project, you’ll have an elegant-looking piece of furniture for your billiards room. I happened to have the cap moulding laying around, but you may not be able to find it at your local big box hardware store. Try your local lumber yard or recycled building materials store — you only need 28″ of material, so you’re likely to find it in a leftovers bin.
Pool Cue Rack: Materials
| Part | Qty. |
|---|---|
| 1×6 whitewood board | 3′ (92 cm) |
| header cap moulding* | 28″ (71 cm) |
| 1½” (38 mm) felt furniture pads | 6 |
| plastic wall anchors | 4 |
| ~2″ (5 cm) wood screws | 4 |
| red mahogany stain | |
| semi-gloss polyurethane | |
| wood glue |
Tools
Jigsaw |Router and bottom-following ogee bit | Drill with standard bits and a 1½” (38 mm) spade bit | Table saw or circular saw (optional)
Construction
- Cut two 17″ (43 cm) long pieces from a 1×6 board for the top and bottom shelves. Using a table saw or circular saw, trim he shelves to 5″ (12.7 cm) wide (this is optional if you don’t mind a slightly wider rack). The rack will hold six cues, and you can use a whitewood board or any hardwood you prefer.
- Set a compass to a 2½” radius, or exactly half the board width. Draw a half circle at both ends of each shelf and then cut out the curves with a jigsaw.
- Choose which board will be the top shelf and which will be the bottom — you’ll be looking at the underside of the top shelf, and the topside of the bottom shelf — and mark the center points of the cue holes. Space the holes 2½” (63 mm) apart, and 1½” (38 mm) from the front edge. The holes are closer to the front, leaving space behind the cues for your ball rack, brush and chalk.
- Use a 1½” (38 mm) spade bit to drill holes through the top shelf. Use the same bit on the bottom shelf to make a depression about ¼” (5 mm) deep. Note that you can’t use a hole saw for this!
- With an ogee bit, rout a decorative edge on both shelves. You want to rout the edges that will be visible: the bottom side of the top shelf and the top side of the bottom shelf. Do not rout the back edge of either shelf.
- Cut a notch with your jigsaw in the front of the top shelf to one of the holes. This is for your bridge. The notch needs to be slightly wider than the narrowest part of the stick. That way, the bridge will not fall out of the rack, but can be removed by lowering it until the stick fits through the gap.
- Now cut two 14″ (35.6 cm) pieces of the header cap moulding and glue them to the bottom of each shelf. Mark the locations for your wall mount screws on the moulding and drill pilot holes at each point. Use a 3/8″ drill bit to create a shallow hole, about ½” deep in each hole. This allows you to “hide” your screws in the moulding. If you like, you can cap these holes with wooden plugs after you mount the rack.
- Finish the rack. I used Minwax Red Mahogany and semi-gloss polyurethane here.
- Place 1½” round felt furniture pads in the depressions on the bottom shelf for the cues to rest on (check your kitchen junk drawer — you might already have them).
Mounting the cue rack
The shelves are spaced 47″ (1.2 m) apart here — that’s as far apart as they could go and still hold the short cue. The bottom shelf needs to support about as much weight as a light bookshelf, so hollow wall anchors rated at 50 lbs. (22.7 kg) should be sufficient. (If you’ve got rugrats who’re liable to be rougher on the rack, then upgrade to sturdier anchors). Also, make sure to use wood screws that are long enough — they’ll need to go through the header cap moulding and deep enough in to the wall for a good hold. 2″ (5 cm) screws should do the trick.
Now, stop staring at the beautiful cue rack you just made and go shoot some pool!
Arcade Configuration
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(this is the fifth and final article in the series on building a retro arcade table)
Now that the construction is finished, it’s time to finally make this game table work. The arcade configuration should really begin before you fully assemble the cabinet, so that you can check that your controls are wired up properly. Fortunately, RetroPie makes most of the setup very beginner friendly. You can think of RetroPie as a single-package for your Raspberry Pi that includes
- an operating system (a flavor of linux called Raspian)
- several emulators that are virtual versions of game consoles and arcade machine hardware (like Super Nintendo and MAME – Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator)
- A software package that ties all of the components together to provide a cool-looking and easy-to-use interface
The installation guide at RetroPie provides the entire system in a single download, along with excellent documentation.
The only thing you need to get separately are ROMs — the actual game software. While these ROMs are available on the internet, they are usually hacked from the original arcade machine boards or game cartridges. That means it may be a violation of copyright and/or trademark to share them. For that reason, instructions for obtaining ROM’s is not provided in this blog. Check out this article on legal ROMs.
There are a wonderland of customizations you can make to your RetroPie setup, but only a few that are required to make the cocktail operate nicely. As long as you have some basic computer skills, these tweaks are simple.
Set up remote command-line access via SSH
SSH allows you to access your Pi from another computer and will simplify your arcade configuration. With SSH you don’t have to plug a keyboard in to the Pi every time you want to change something. It also allows you to have reference docs and troubleshooting info open on a computer while you tweak your arcade configuration.
In order for this to work, you do need to have your Pi connected to the internet on your home wifi, and you’ll need to find the IP address that it’s using. (This is typically shown in the administration page for your home wifi.) Logging in via SSH takes you directly to a command line prompt for your Pi. While that may be intimidating, you only need to learn a few simple commands to make the necessary configuration changes.
For more help:
- This article at RetroPie explains how to enable SSH on your system, and provides some basic commands.
- Here’s how to set up SSH access using a free tool called Putty.
- Another guide that walks you through the SSH setup
Rotate the Display
The first change to make in your arcade configuration is to rotate your display because you’ll be sitting at the end of the cocktail table, essentially looking at the monitor from the side. This is easy to do. Log in to your Pi via SSH, and from the command line, type
sudo nano /boot/config.txt
This command opens the main configuration file for your Pi in an editor and gives you permission to make changes. Use your arrow keys to scroll through the file until you find this line:
Display_rotate = 0
Change the value to 1 or 3, depending on whether you want the display rotated 90 degrees clockwise (1) or 270 degrees clockwise (3).
Press ctrl+x to exit the editor
Press Y when prompted to save your changes, and press Enter to save with the same filename.
Now, back at the command line, type
sudo reboot
This will reboot your Pi with the display rotated. (Note that this will also terminate your SSH session, so if you have more changes to make, you’ll need to start a new session).
Tip: If you find that your games are shifted to one side of the monitor or cut off, you can also edit the overscan values in the same config.txt file to correct this.
Use Advance MAME for Dual Trackballs
There are several different flavors of emulators for playing classic arcade games. Generally, MAME 2003 is recommended for the Raspberry Pi (and it automatically installed in RetroPie) because it doesn’t require as much processor power as later versions of MAME. (MAME stands for Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator and was first released in 1997). Unfortunately, MAME 2003 does not support two separate trackballs…at least not easily. Another flavor of MAME, called Advance MAME does support this feature, and it also works well on the Raspberry Pi 3. Advance MAME is not installed automatically in RetroPie, but it easy to add after you have installed RetroPie:
- Go to your RetroPie Options menu
- Select RetroPie Setup
- Select Manage Packages,
- Select Manage Optional Packages
- Select Advance MAME (You may see options for different versions of Advance MAME, but select the one just labeled “Advance MAME” which should be version 3)
Notes:
Advance MAME three requires a different version of game ROMs than MAME 2003. Look for version 0.106 ROMs.
If you’re lucky, both trackballs will work automatically in Advance MAME. If they don’t, here are a couple of places you can start troubleshooting
- RetroPie Spinners and Trackballs page
- Advance MAME site here
Vertical Emulation Station Theme
You can change the theme of your system to make it easier to navigate through the list of games for a given emulator. There are dozens of themes available; however, most are designed for landscape-oriented monitors. We used the appropriately named theme VERTICAL_ARCADE in this build. You can find out more about themes on the RetroPie site. To change a theme, go to your RetropPie Options menu and select ES Themes.
Enabling Cocktail Mode in a Game
The whole point of building a cocktail arcade table is to play a 2-person game where the screen flips from player 1 to player 2. To enable this mode, you have to access the dip switches for the individual game. The term “dip switch” refers to physical switches that could be changed on actual arcade games, such as the points required for an extra life. To do this
- Start the game that you want to play in cocktail mode
- Press the TAB key (you should have a hotkey sequence mapped to your controls for this, such as SELECT+Joystick Right)
- Select Dip Switches from the menu
- Look for the menu item “Cabinet.” It will be set to “upright” be default. Use the joystick to change this to “cocktail”
- Exit the menus to get back to the game.
That’s it, but be aware that cocktail mode is not supported in every game, so some trial-and-error is required to find the ones that do.
Other posts in this series
How to Build Arcade Controllers for a Cocktail Table
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(This is the fourth article in the series on how to build a retro arcade cocktail table)
The controllers for this arcade table consist of a plywood top to which the controls are mounted and a housing box that hides the wiring. The top panel is mounted directly to the internal support rails, providing a super stable playing surface. The construction is pretty simple, but the design process takes a lot of thought because you have tons of options for components, and nailing the layout of those components makes a big difference in playability. The design is (mostly) dictated by three factors: the cabinet structure and controller parts, playability, and visual appeal.
The construction process for these arcade controllers and the controller housing breaks down as follows:
- Select your arcade controller components.
- Cut out the top panels.
- Finalize the layout of the components.
- Drill holes and make cuts in the top panel for components. Attach components to the panel.
- Attach the top panel to cabinet support rails and wire up components to USB board. Test controllers.
- Cut and assemble the arcade controller housing boxes. Attach the boxes to the top panels.
- Attach T-molding and stickers.
Materials
Complete material lists to build these arcade controllers are at the bottom of this post and have been split into two categories:
Materials: Arcade Controller Top Panel and Housing Box
Materials: Arcade Controls and Electronics
Tools
- 3¼” (83 mm) hole saw
- 1 1/8″ Forstner bit (or hole saw or spade bit)
- 1/16″ slot-cutting router bit
- ¼” straight router bit (for cutting out joystick cavity)
- Router
- Jig saw
- Table saw
- Miter saw
- Soldering kit
- Utility knife
- Rubber mallet
Selecting Arcade Controller Parts
While you can find cheap parts that will do the job, investing a little bit more money in quality controls will pay off when it’s time to sit down and actually play games on your table. Other than the lighted Insert Coin and Start buttons, which are harvested from a cheap Amazon kit, all of the controller parts here came from Arcade Renovations. It’s also well worth your time to do some research to figure out what components best suit you — Slagcoin is an excellent source of in-depth detail on parts for arcade controllers.
The total cost of the arcade parts in this project was about $325 (US). Notably, the trackballs account for almost half of the cost. See the bottom of this post for a parts list with links.
Gameplay Buttons
This project uses a 4-button diamond layout. It’s not typical for these kinds of projects, but it is an intuitive and attractive layout. It also works well in games that traditionally used two joysticks like Karate Champ and Robotron 2084. The gameplay buttons are Industrias Lorenzo concave pushbuttons with 75 gram Cherry microswitches which provide old-school arcade action and feel.
Joysticks
The joysticks are Sanwa JLW’s — these are less popular than the JLF model, but were chosen because they seemed to be better suited to many of the classic arcade games. The JLW is a sturdy stick, with high spring tension and a long engagement distance but a short throw distance. That gives you permission to push the joystick hard, and confidence in the game movements you want. (Here’s a great chart for comparing joystick characteristics.) Like many joysticks, there is a restrictor plate on the bottom that you can rotate so that movement is limited to four directions, or open to allow eight directions (diagonal) movement. For this project, the joysticks are set to the 4-direction position.
Trackballs
Trackballs are critical in classic arcade games like Centipede, Missile Command, and Golden Tee. It’s great to have a trackball for authenticity, but they really complicate this layout. The trackballs are from Ultimarc and are designed specifically for installation in 3/4″ boards. They are easy to install but have a huge housing underneath that forced the buttons and joystick far to the left. Even more importantly, you need to leave a lot of room on top of the controller panel for hand movement and comfort. That means about half of the real estate for the arcade controllers is taken up by the trackball.
USB Control Board
The buttons, joystick and trackball are wired to an I-PAC 2 control board from Ultimarc. This board is designed to support a full set of controls for two players (but surprise, not two trackballs! — more on that later) and then the board connects to the Raspberry PI via a single USB cable. A wiring kit from Arcade Renovations makes the wiring process easier, but you will still have to solder on extra lengths of wire for most of the controls in order to reach from the controller panels to the I-PAC 2 board. An additional USB trackball adaptor was necessary to hook up the second trackball.
Top Panels
The top panel serves as the playing surface, so a smooth surface is imperative, and the same pre-finished birch from the tabletop was used here. (The finish also makes is easy to clean off pencil marks when you are testing the layout.) The panel measures 14½ inches wide and 12½ inches long, at the top of the curve. The panel extends into the cabinet, allowing you to hide the mounting bolts within. Use a router trammel to cut the curve, and a slot-cutting bit along the three outside edges for the vinyl trim, just like the tabletop. To turn the corners with the vinyl trim, you will need to cut a wedge out of the molding spine and use some adhesive in the slot.
Laying Out the Arcade Controllers
You can use graph paper to mock up different controller layout options at actual size. Test your layout by putting your hands on the drawing to find the best positions for the available space. (Slagcoin also has diagrams of many standard and alternative button layouts.) You must account for both the topside and undersides of the controls, noting the location of the support rails. The 2×2 support rails provide a very sturdy base for mounting the controller board, but also create some layout limitations. As noted earlier, the trackball is also a big factor: you need plenty of room on top so that your hand won’t hit any other buttons, and a big chunk of space below for the trackball housing.
Once they layout is settled, transfer the center point of each control to the top panels. You can tape your graph paper to the board and push a nail through each center point into the wood to do this. Now you’re ready to drill holes. The buttons require 1 1/8 inch holes. A forstner bit will provide the cleanest hole, but you can get by with a standard spade bit or hole saw.
The hole for the joystick is slightly smaller — Slagcoin calls for 24 mm, which is just shy of an inch, but a 1-inch hole works fine. After you drill the hole, set the joystick in the center of the hole and mark the outline of the joystick housing on the underside of the panel. Use a router to carve out a shallow bed for the joystick to sit in. This increases the height of the stick. Per Slagcoin, you want to have 24 mm of shaft from the top of panel to the bottom of the joystick ball.
The trackballs in this project are installed without the bevel. For this you’ll need a 3¼” hole saw. From there, installing the controls to the top panel is a snap. Finger-tighten the plastic hex nut on each button, use short (½-inch) pan-head screws to mount the joystick, and follow the directions for the mounting hardware included with the trackball. Next clamp the panel to the mounting rails and drill a hole all the way through the rails and panel for your bolts. Tighten your bolts and you’re ready to start wiring.
Wiring the Arcade Controllers
Wiring up the arcade controllers is mostly just a process of connecting the leads from each of your arcade controls to their corresponding terminal on the I-PAC 2 board, and connecting all of the ground leads in a daisy chain to the ground terminal on the board. Once everything is hooked up, you can test each control and modify or correct your mappings as needed. For further information on wiring and configuration, here are three helpful links:
- If you’re new to this, here’s a basic wiring guide. The guide will help you understand exactly what “daisy chain” wiring means, and how to figure out which terminals are which on your button microswitches.
- Ultimarc’s I-PAC 2 information pages.
- Detailed tutorial on setting up controllers with an I-PAC 2 board.
Wiring Tips
- Get extra wiring and a soldering kit. A wiring kit like this one will make your life easier. Having different wire colors makes it a lot easier when making connections and troubleshooting. You will need to extend some wires, and solder is the best way to do this (and it’s easy to do).
- The Insert Coin and Player Start buttons in this project have LED lights. The lights need to be connected to a low-voltage power source, and an old USB cable is perfect for the job — just strip off one end and use the black (ground) and red (hot) wires to connect to the two leads for the led. Plug the cable in to the USB port on the tv and the lights will get power whenever the tv is on. You could also plug into the Pi’s USB ports, but that will suck some power from the Pi and all the controls attached to it.
- Each trackball comes with two wiring harnesses that can be plugged directly in to the IPAC 2 board. Unfortunately, the wires are not long enough to reach from the arcade controllers to the cabinet. For your player 1 ball, cut the harnesses and splice in extra lengths of wire. The IPAC 2 only has a spot to plug in one trackball, so you need to buy a separate USB adaptor for it. On the positive side, the adaptor is small enough to fit in the arcade controller housing box, so you don’t have to splice in wires on the second trackball.
- Wiring up a safe-shutdown on/off button is worth the relatively short effort it takes. Simply shutting off power to your Pi can damage the memory card (and all of the configuration you’ve done on your game emulators). The button executes a safe shutdown script before turning off the power, and this Howchoo article provides excellent instructions and ready-to-use code. All you need is two wires with female connectors for your Pi’s GPIO pins, and a NO (normally open) momentary button.
Arcade Controller Housing Boxes
The housing for the underside of the control panel is comprised of three hardboard sides that are glued and screwed to a plywood base to form a box. Small scrap blocks are glued to the bottom of the control panels to create attachment points, and the housing box is held to these blocks with 3 screws, keeping the underside of the controls easily accessible.
The plywood base of the box is smaller than the controller panel, and the sides of the base are cut on a 15º bevel. This gives the controller housing a trapezoid profile matching the cabinet. The outer edge of the base follows the same curve as the controller top and has a straight (0º) cut angle. I cut the curve with a jigsaw rather than using the router—the edge is covered by hardboard so the cut can be less perfect. The inner edge is also cut on a 15º bevel to fit snugly against the cabinet.
Cut the hardboard sides to 3″ (7.6 cm) width with a table saw, and then use a miter saw to cut 15º angles on one edge of the side pieces and both edges of the outer piece. The side pieces are 8″ (20.3 cm) on the long edge, and the outer piece is 14¼” (36.2 cm). Make sure the outer piece is long enough by cutting it longer, clamping it to the base, and marking the correct cut. To assemble, simply glue the left and right sides to the base. For the outer piece, use glue and 2 clamps to bend the hardboard along the curves, and also screw the ends of the piece to the base. Once assembly is complete, paint the housing boxes.
To attach the box to the arcade controller panel, first clamp the box to the panel and use a pencil to mark the outline of the box. Remove the box and draw a line 3/16 inches from the outline to account for the thickness of the hardboard. Glue 3 small blocks of wood along this line to provide attachment points, and then screw the box on.
Finishing Touches
Like the cabinet, the housing box was primed and then painted with a semi-gloss trim paint. Scrap t-molding was cut into circles with a utility knife to create screw covers for the screws holding the curved hardboard piece to the base.
Add Decorative Stickers
The decals for the Insert Coin and Player 1/2 Start buttons were printed on transparent inkjet sticker paper. We wanted to keep the decals to a minimum, and the inexpensive sticker paper allows you plenty of trial-and-error to get a look you like. Print out your designs on regular paper first, though keep in mind that your home inkjet does not print the color white — your colors may be darker on the sticker than on your monitor screen. The test print will also let you know if your print heads need to be cleaned before you waste a sheet of sticker paper. Set your printer options for glossy photo paper and high-quality printing. Finally, allow the sticker ink to dry for at least 24 hours before applying them.
Attach the Tabletop
At this point, you’re also ready to attach the oval tabletop. The design of the game table allows for easy removal of the tabletop without having to disassemble anything else. The four right-angle brackets are attached to the wooden blocks at each corner of the cabinet, and then the tabletop is screwed to the brackets. Just make sure to carefully position the tabletop before marking the screw locations.If you ever need to remove the tabletop, just open the magnetic top panels above the controllers and remove the screws in the bottom of the tabletop.
All that’s left on construction is to glue on trim pieces to cover the cabinet corners and add decorative stickers. For this project, pieces of ¾” wide scrap were used for the trim.
Now, the construction work is done, and you’re almost ready to play. Next: arcade configuration.
Materials: Controller Top Panel and Housing Box
| Part | Purpose |
|---|---|
| ¾” (19 mm) Pre-finished Birch Plywood | Top panel |
| 3/16″ Hardboard (approx. 12″ x 18″) | Sides |
| ½” Plywood (any grade) | Base |
| ¾” Vinyl T-molding | Top panel trim |
| (4) #8-32 2½” Machine Screws w/ Nuts and Washers | Top panel mount |
| Inkjet Sticker Paper | Stickers |
| ¾” scrap block | |
| ½” pan head screws |
Materials: Arcade Controllers and Electronics
| Qty. | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Joysticks | Sanwa JLW |
| 2 | Trackballs | Ultimarc U-trak |
| 8 | Action Buttons | Industrias Lorenzo |
| 8 | Microswitches | Cherry 75g. |
| 4 | LED Buttons | Insert Coin and Start* |
| 1 | USB Controller | I-PAC 2 |
| 1 | Trackball Adapter | Ultimarc U-trak USB |
| 1 | Controller Wiring Kit | Arcade Renovations 2P |
| 2 | On/Off Button Wires | 2 ft. long w/ female GPIO connectors |
| 1 | On/Off Button | NO momentary |
Other Posts in This Series
Whitewashing The Old Brick Fireplace
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Whitewashing old brick is pretty darn easy but getting Dick to agree to it, not so much but after 10 years of nagging he finally gave his “Alright, Vag!”
Showtime, DIY Warriors, it’s time to knock the pants off this manatee.
Told ya’ so, Dick.
The Long-awaited Whitewashing Funzies
Any good thing starts with a good clean. I can thank countless Crazy Aunties and Somber Grannies for this sage advice.
Grab your Dawn dish soap, salt, bucket, rags, scrub brush, spray bottle, tarps/plastic sheeting and painters tape.
Tape off your work area. You know, the floors, walls, and if you’re so inclined, the Hubby, pets & kids.
Working in small sections, spray the area with water then apply the 50/50 paste of Dawn dish detergent and salt. Using a soft bristle scrub brush work the paste into the brick. Let soak for 10-15 mins then rinse off with rags and a bucket of warm water.
Brick is very porous and surprisingly wimpy so go gentle with the scrubbing and increase the elbow-grease as necessary. Lawd knows, you do not want to re-grout this beast too.
You’ve got The Look
This is the part where you ask yourself what is The Look I am going for here? Does neighbor Margie’s fireplace rock your world or is Mary Beth’s the most drool-worthy? Or is “That One” on Pinterest which really nails it? Good news, Warriors, all are doable. Follow along…
Dilution is the Solution as the old saying goes
In your bucket pour one part of my personal fave BEHR Premium latex paint into one part water and stir. This is the base of your whitewash magic. Now, if you prefer a lighter wash then add more water. And duh, if you prefer a less opaque look then add more paint. I suggest starting with a 50/50 paint to water ratio. I mean, you can always add more paint to the wash but not easily take it off these old bricks. Something I always remind myself of at the makeup counter.
The Scary Part: the first section attempted
Armed with your whitewash mixture, a paint brush, spray bottle, stir stick and rags, mist a few bricks with water. Stir, stir, stir before each application. While still wet, paint the grout outline of the bricks and dab a bit off with your rag and let dry. Once dry-ishy, brush the whitewash mixture on the face of the bricks and using a clean rag, dab away any excess to achieve the desired look. At first, dab and wipe a tad more aggressively until you get the feel for the technique that creates The Look for you. Remember you can always add more color by dabbing and wiping less. It’s really that simple.
Cost is cheap, Benefits are Oh so sweet
Let’s talk about some benefits and in my case, wholly unexpected ones. These bricks are old. I’m saying one year younger than me is Old. Dick and I would return home from canasta or a few days by the tiki bar and whoof, what the heck is that musty smell? Well apparently the fact that bricks are porous means they are very absorbent… like my delightful Charmin. Although not as delightful as they soak up smells over the years and stink. Whitewashing them was just the ticket. No more musty old grannie smell in the house. Voila!
Make the world you want to live in
Another benefit of whitewashing them? They look damn good.
Happy DIY-ing, Warriors,
More Posts on our Fireplace Makeover
How to Make a Quick-and Dirty Woodworking Compass
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In order to make the oval tabletop for my arcade cocktail table, I needed an adjustable compass capable of drawing large radius circles. My mind immediately went to the compass my high school geometry teacher used to draw on the chalkboard. It’s really a simple affair with two arms: one for holding firmly to a center point and one to holding something to draw with. You can buy a woodworking compass for less than $20 on Amazon, but I made this one in about 5 minutes and it gets the job done for free.
Woodworking Compass Materials
- Wingnut with 3/16″ bolt at least 2″ long
- ¾” sticks, 26″ long (the length of the stick will roughly govern the maximum radius you can draw)
- Carpenter’s pencil
- Duct tape (Fancy Florida Gators duct tape on Amazon)
- Double-threaded screw (swag hooks typically come with one of these for screwing directly to a stud. If you don’t have one laying around, I’m sure you can figure out another solution)
Drill a 3/16″ hole through each stick about an inch from the top. Push the bolt through the hole and loosely tighten the wingnut. Attach the carpenter’s pencil to the other end of one stick. Drill a shallow hole slightly smaller than the diameter of your double-threaded screw in the end of the other stick. Screw in the double-threaded screw and you’re ready to roll.
Retro Arcade Cocktail Table
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Retro gaming arcade machines are all over the place, and they are relatively cheap and easy to build. If you’ve got an old monitor lying around and you never throw away your scrap wood, then you just need to buy a Raspberry Pi and some cheap controller parts and you can build a sub $100 arcade. This one cost a little more, largely because we added trackballs and high-quality joysticks. This project was a lot of fun because a) I’ve always wanted a “cocktail” style arcade table, and b) it gave me a chance to work on a few new skills and design something a little different than the rectangular boxes you usually see.
Okay, full confession: This is a big nostalgia trip for me. I was a pre-teen in 1980, and we weren’t drinking cocktails on these tables. It was more about the smell of pizza — first going to Pizza Hut and playing Space Invaders while we waited, and then later in high school heading over to a strip-mall joint named Stubby’s after school with my buds. We hardly ever bought a pizza, but they had a Ms. Pac Man tabletop game and the staff didn’t care if we sat there dropping a few quarters.
Here’s where I also need to mention that many of the classic arcade games are obviously copyright protected, but if you want to stay fully above board and play free games, check out this article.
Key Features of the Arcade Table
Now, the distinguishing feature of this kind of arcade table is that two players can sit opposite from each other, and the screen will flip on each player’s turn. It’s more social than a standup cabinet. This is called “cocktail mode” and you can easily configure it in arcade emulator software like RetroPie, however it’s not available for all games. When it came to this design, I wanted to make something that would look a little more cool than a rectangular box. This project includes:
- An oval tabletop with an acrylic “plexiglas” inset and vinyl edge t-molding. See the post on how to make an oval arcade tabletop.
- A trapezoid-shaped cabinet that houses the computer, monitor, controller wiring, speakers and a power strip. The cabinet has magnetic access panels and a safe shutdown button for the Rasperry Pi. See how to build a trapezoid box cabinet for a retro-gaming arcade.
- Game controllers for two players with trackballs, joysticks and lighted buttons. See how to build controllers for a cocktail-style arcade cabinet.
- And finally, some arcade configuration tweaks so you can play games in true cocktail mode.
Another crucial consideration in a tabletop system is your video screen. Many computer monitors aren’t designed for this kind of viewing angle (in fact, some monitors are designed so that you can’t see from this angle). I used a spare 24″ RCA television that happens to work great, but make sure to check your viewing angles before you buy something (and before you start designing or cutting).
Project Breakdown
I’ll break this project down into several sub-projects and give you a rough idea of how to make something similar. I’m going to focus mostly on the construction and assembly. I’ll mention a couple of aspects of configuring your Raspberry PI, but there are many great articles out there that will walk you through that in detail (starting with RetroPie). For the cabinet and tabletop, you’ll need a router, miter saw, circular saw (with bevel adjustment), and a drill. For the wiring, you’ll need a soldering gun. I had to buy a couple of special tools I didn’t already have:
- A 1/16 inch slot cutting router bit, for installing the vinyl T-molding
- A 3 ¼ inch hole saw for the trackball
- A 1 ⅛ inch Forstner drill bit, for installing the buttons
In addition, I had to make a couple of tools to complete the oval tabletop: a big compass to draw the oval, and a router trammell to cut it. I’ll explain these in the section on the tabletop. I also had to solder a fair amount of wires, mostly because the wiring that came with the game controllers was not long enough. If you don’t want to solder, you may be able to figure out (or find) alternatives.
Finally, before I dig into the design and build details, let me point out a few things I screwed up:
- I used cheap plywood that I had laying around. With a fair amount of sanding, filling, and painting, the end result is presentable, but I recommend that you get cabinet grade (or better) plywood, that’s exactly ¾ inch thick. MDF is also an option.
- We really wanted to have trackballs on the controller panels. This will add some complications to your design and setup. The Ultimarc trackballs that I bought are, in theory, plug-and-play, but the housing underneath the control top is huge, and so the joystick and buttons all had to be squeezed over to the side. Whether you install a trackball or not, you’ll want to spend a fair amount of time thinking about your controls layout, and mocking up some alternatives to make sure you have a fun and comfortable design.
- The 2″ x 2″ rails that I designed provide a great stable base for the monitor, electronic components and the game controllers; however, the position of the rails also constrained the layout of the controls. If I was doing this over, I think I would devise my control layout first and then design the rails to accommodate.
Want more details on this project?
How to Make an Oval Arcade Tabletop
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(This is the second article in the series on building a retro arcade cocktail table)
The oval arcade tabletop gives this gaming cabinet a retro-modern look and turns this design into a piece of furniture that fits in your living room or play room. The extra surface area you get with an oval shape makes it great for holding beverages and snacks, and, when you give up trying to get past the pie factory level in Donkey Kong, provides ample space for board games.
I recommend completing the oval tabletop before you begin on the cabinet base and controllers. The monitor is the largest component and governs the minimum size of the cabinet, so building the top first gives you the opportunity to adjust dimensions to make sure your monitor fits. You will need to consider how you want to turn the screen on and off, and how you’ll connect the various inputs and outputs.
Once you’ve chosen the monitor you’re going to use, you can make the oval arcade tabletop. Just remember to carefully check the viewing angles on the monitor before committing to it. Lay it on a flat surface and look at it from sitting height to confirm that it’s viewable.
Materials
- Pre-finished 3/4″ Birch Plywood
- Extruded Acrylic (Plexiglas) Panel
- Vinyl T-Molding
- Black Paint
- (optional) Craft adhesive suitable for plastic, such as E6000
- 4 metal corner brackets (“L” brackets)
Tools
- Slot-cutting Router Bit
- Rabbeting Bit
- Router
- Router Trammel (make it yourself)
- Large Compass (like this, or make it yourself)
- Circular Saw
- Rubber Mallet
Steps
- Size and cut the oval tabletop
- Cut out the hole for the monitor and acrylic panel
- Install the vinyl t-molding
1. Size and cut the oval arcade tabletop
Lay your monitor on the tabletop material and trace the monitor outline. I used ¾” pre-coated birch plywood. Within the outline, draw your screen, making sure to account for differences in the width of the monitor bezel. Ultimately, you want the center of the screen to be the center of your table.
Draw lines bisecting the screen rectangle. This defines your center point and the axis for your oval.
Using a large compass and these directions, draw your oval. The oval is composed of circles of two different sizes (see the diagram). First you establish the radius for the two smaller circles. The radius of the larger circle joins the smaller circles to form the oval. You might want to try a few different radius lengths to get a look and size you like. In this case, I wanted enough room to put a cocktail on the table without getting in the way of the screen. My oval is 39 inches on the long axis and 29 and 1/4 inches on the short axis.
Once you’re satisfied with the oval, you can cut it out with a router and trammel. The router trammel guides your router along a smooth curve with the radii you established with the compass, and you can make one that’s custom fit to your router from scrap. For each curve, I made three passes with the router, using a 1/4″ straight bit, and dropping the bit lower on each pass. Use a sander to smooth out any imperfections.
Use a 1/16″ groove bit to cut the channel for the vinyl edging. Make sure to set the bit depth so that the cut is exactly in the center of the edge. (Tip: Compare the width of your vinyl edging to the width of the tabletop. If the molding is slightly wider, then offset the router depth so that the top of the edging will be flush with the top of the table and the excess will hang over the bottom.)
2. Cut a hole in the oval for the monitor and plexiglass top
Now, make plunge cuts with a circular saw to cut out the hole for your screen. You can cut along the screen outline that’s already drawn on the tabletop, or make the rectangle slightly larger to show some of the monitor bezel. Finish the cuts with a hand saw. Test fit the hole over your monitor to make sure you like the size.
Use a router with a rabbetting bit to cut the lip for the acrylic sheet around the edge of the screen hole. Set the depth of the bit to the exact width of the acrylic (¼ inch). I waited until I completed this step before ordering the acrylic. The router leaves a natural rounded corner, which you can match when you order the acrylic. (As it turned out, my rounded corner was in between the standard roundover sizes offered, so I ordered the next larger size roundover and it looks fine).
Fill any voids in the plywood with putty and sand rough edges. Paint the edges of the cutout black to make it blend with your monitor bezel.
3. Install the vinyl t-molding around the edge of the tabletop
Use a utility knife to cut the vinyl edging to length and gently tap it in to your groove with a rubber mallet. You need to make sure to cut the edging to the exact length. If you don’t trust your measurements, cut it a little long, begin installing it and make the final cut before inserting the last couple of inches. (If you have any issues with the edging popping out of the groove, you can pull out the edging and use an adhesive like E6000 to help it stick).
You will attach the oval arcade tabletop to the cabinet with corner brackets during the final assembly, so keep them handy. But for now, you’re ready to move on to building the cabinet.
More Posts in This Series
How to Build a Trapezoidal Arcade Cabinet
This article may contain affiliate links, which help to support this site, at no cost to you.
(This is the third article in the series on building a retro arcade cocktail table)
The cabinet for the arcade table is a trapezoidal box made of plywood. It houses all the electronics and provides a sturdy frame to support the monitor and game controllers. The trapezoid shape gives the table a cool mod look, and is well worth the extra effort. If fact, it’s really not that difficult, because a 15º angle is repeated throughout the design. The trickiest part of building the cabinet for me was getting a firm clamp during assembly.
You can cut the side and end pieces for the arcade cabinet from a single piece of plywood. The side pieces (long axis of the table) are a single trapezoid. Each end comprises two pieces: a top panel and a bottom panel. The top panel is attached to the arcade cabinet with magnetic catches, allowing easy access to electronics. The bottom panel has a rectangular cutout for controller wiring and is permanently attached. Set your circular saw to a 15º angle for all of the horizontal cuts.
Dimensions and Internal Structure
The height of the arcade is 20 ¼ inches (51.4 cm), including the tabletop. I based the size on the bean bag chairs we have in our rec room, resulting in comfortable gameplay and cocktail sipping. The length and width of the cabinet had to be big enough to fit my monitor, but small enough that the oval top completely covered the base with a little overhang. (Note: If you are trying to make a taller version, make sure that your base isn’t so narrow that the cabinet becomes unstable or top heavy.)
The internal structure of the arcade cabinet consists of
- 2 – 2×6 cross-beams (attach to the cabinet sides)
- 2 – 2×2 rails that sit on the 2×6’s and extend beyond the ends of the cabinet.
- A ¾ inch (19 mm) piece of plywood that serves as a base for the monitor mount, Raspberry Pi, and iPac2 controller
- A monitor mount post made of scrap 2×6
- 4 – 2×2’s with a 15º cut along one edge used as a mounting surface for the tabletop (not shown in the diagram)
- 2×2 blocks with a 15º cut along two edges to provide a mounting surface for the lower end pieces (not shown in the diagram)
Math Break! Sizing the 2×6 Cross-beams
You will need to determine the correct length of the 2×6’s so that they are appropriately positioned. In this project, I cut the long edge of the cross-beams to 17 ¾ inches (45 cm), which resulted in controller platforms with about 5 inches of room below the tabletop. You can figure this out with some fairly simple trigonometry, but I’ve simplified the formula in the diagram below: you just need to decide how high off the ground you want the beam to sit, measure the width of the base (measure the bottom of your end pieces), and plug it into the formula x=0.536*h+b. Keep in mind that the top of your controller panel will sit 2¼ inches (5.7 cm) above the cross-beam (1½ inch rail plus ¾ inch plywood).
Assembly
Once you’ve cut the cross-beams to the correct length, it’s time to attach them to the two plywood sides of the arcade cabinet. Carefully mark the outline of where each 2×6 should attach, pre-drill holes in the plywood and use a counter-sinking bit so your screws will sit below the surface (cover these with putty when finishing). Attach the plywood to the 2×6 with 3 inch construction screws. Set the cabinet upright and make sure it sits nice and level, and that the 2×6’s are level with each other. If not, fix it!
Now, attach the 2×2 rails and plywood platform to the 2×6 cross-beams with 3″ lag screws. The rails extend far enough from the cabinet to provide a very sturdy mounting surface for the controller panels. Before you determine how long and how far apart your rails will be, it’s a good idea to pause and finalize your controller layout. Otherwise, you may find that your rails get in the way of the controls. My rails are 30 inches (76 cm) long and 11 inches (30 cm) apart on center.
Monitor Mount
The monitor mount is just two pieces of 2×6 stacked 3 inches high, with this fixed TV wall mount from Monoprice affixed to the top. The monitor slides into the mount from the end of the cabinet and two screws firmly hold the mounting bracket on the monitor to the mount. You should assemble the post and bracket first, attach it to your tv, and then do a test fit with the (finished) tabletop to ensure you position the mounting post exactly right.
Once you’ve attached the monitor mount, you can lay out where the remaining electronics will go. This includes the Raspberry Pi and I-PAC 2 controller on the mounting platform. Below deck you’ll need to account for a power strip and speakers. You can then drill holes for cables that need to run from top to bottom, as well as holes for your speaker grilles, speaker volume knob, TV power button access, and master on/off button. Lastly, don’t forget to make a notch in the bottom of a side panel to run your power strip cable out.
Tabletop Support Blocks
Next, use a table saw set on a 15º angle to cut supporting blocks for the tabletop (a short scrap of any 2-by lumber will work fine). Use wood glue to attach these rails flush to the top of the cabinet sides. These rails will give you a 90º vertical surface to which you can attach metal L-brackets. Cut the faces of these rails on a 15º angle and then set them back from the cabinet ends by the width of your plywood.
Attaching Cabinet End Pieces
Use a similar approach to create a mounting surface for the lower end pieces of the arcade cabinet. You won’t need to cut 15º angles on these pieces, just attach them parallel to the inside of the sides, and set back the width of your plywood. Then, when you’re ready to attach the end pieces, either glue or screw them in place. You’ll want to wait on this step until after you’ve finished wiring your controllers and speakers.
The upper end pieces are held in place with magnetic cabinet door catches. This allows you to have easy access from either end of the table to the mounts and electronics. Also note how I access the on/off button on the monitor. Yes, it’s just a pencil with a piece of 1-inch diameter dowel attached to one end which I ran through a small block of wood attached to the inside of the plywood side. Depending on the location of your monitor’s power button, you may need to come up with a more elegant solution (or just use your remote control).
You’ll put the finishing touches on the cabinet and attach the tabletop later in the process. For now, you’re ready to move on to building the controllers.