Goals...

So what do I want to accomplish.  First I want to accomplish a fully functional 2 player arcade cabinet.  I would hate to have spent all this money and effort and at the end, it doesn't or I can't get it to work, but I graduated with a degree in Electrical Engineering so I know I can do this!

My second goal is to have a great paint job on it but before I go on a little more background.  I'm not actually building the frame of the cabinet.  I could draw some specs and dimensions and go to Lowe's and have them cut some wood but that would be toooooo tedious.  Instead, the Kray Vewlix sub-forum I mentioned in the first blog post is about clone Vewlix cabinets created and cut from MDF with a CNC router and shipped to your door.  You just assemble the frame and add additional parts like joystick, buttons, monitor, etc.  The cabinet is also shipped unpainted but Kray doe's provide some paint services.  I knew I was going to purchase a cabinet but was unsure about getting it painted.  I HAVE NEVER PAINTED MDF BEFORE.  Also, before you could paint this type of wood you'll need to take the sweet time of sanding it all down, priming it, painting it, sanding it, painting it, sanding it, etc.  ¡Ay, caramba!, that seems like a lot of work and I've got no sanding or painting skills! I was prepared to have Kray perform the painting services but two things drastically changed my mind. Instructions and money!

I found a sub-forum on Shoryuken about painting MDF! I read through it, took notes, and came away impressed. Impressed that I shouldn't do it. Yes, I was still weary about doing it. They were good instructions but I thought in practicality they were going to be a pain to execute. After I searched the forum some more I actually saw some peoples own results and I was blown away by it. That's when I had a change of heart and said, "If they could do it, then I could do it!" Also, Kray was going to charge about double to have the cabinet painted and that was going to be a no go. I'm not rich!

My last goal is to successfully hook up my Xbox 360 and a spare PC I have in the cabinet. The Xbox 360 will before fighting games and Xbox Live Arcade Games. The PC will be for fighting games on Windows Live and MAME and Dolphin for Capcom vs Tatsunoko in 1080p!

I look at this project as someone who has brought an old car and is about to go on a project to restore it. That person is ordering new parts, applying new paint, testing stuff, etc. I feel like I'm doing the same thing but maybe in a much smaller scale. I've got some goals with this project so let me get to it.