arcade

A new year and the monitor arrived about 2 days ago.

I picked up a curved 20 inch CGA/EGA/VGA arcade monitor.

• arcade monitor
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• rear view of monitor
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• Close up of the internals.
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Now the hard part is to work out how to power it and connect it to the PC. Power wise its universal (110-240V AC) but comes with a USA style plug. Have to work out whether i can just rewire an Oz style plug or if i can use an adaptor. It also comes with with a 15 pin VGA but i also have to be careful how it hooks up video wise to the computer. Much to learn.

The manual is not exactly a great help when it has instructions like this:

REMARK: When start on the power supply of monitor or switch horizontal frequency, the situation for motion & voice of REALLY is normal.

Well its been a while since my last update but i have been making progress, though not so much with the actual arcade itself.

I realised i dont have a decent work area to actually build the arcade unit and have been busy constructing a work bench. While i could have bought one i felt it would be more rewarding to actually build one, plus i get some carpentry experience.

I'm following a design from a woodworking book i purchased and as luck would have it, the design has errors. Namely, some of the measurements are wrong, so my bench does not quite match the original design.

Anyway, lets kick off the spin off project log: building your own work bench.

• Tools, i had to purchase tools. A nice little woodworking set i picked up.
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• Two japanses style carving chisels which have received a lot of use.
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• The old man supplied the wood, which is a little larger than the design called for but will be good anyway for increase sturdiness. Here i have cut all the pieces to size.
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• Here i have chiseled out a mortise for the side rails which will connect the front and back legs at the top and bottom.
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• I created the tenons for each side rail using a saw and chisel. This is why i need a work bench!
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• The finished tenon of one side rail.
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• And here is one finished side of the work bench after gluing together and planing down the timber.
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• Here is where the design starts to get interesting. The two sides of the workbench will be joined by long cross rails which will be fitted using a shallow stopped mortise and tenon joint. Here i have chiseled out the shallow mortises in the sides.
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• The next step was to cut out the shallow tenons at each end of the cross rail.
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• This is where i thought things might start to go wrong. The cross rails will be connected to the sides by a bolt and nut. This required drilling through the side and then drilling into the cross rail as shown here.
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• The next step was to chisel out a small mortise so that a nut and washer can be fixed to the end of the bolt.
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• Holy smokes Batman, it worked!< Your skill in engineering and carpentry increases by 1 >.
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• Close up of the nut and washer holding the bolt in place. Had to make this specific mortise a little larger which is why its a little rough.
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• And here is the fitted sides and cross rails with the work top, back board and tool well (plywood) sitting on top as a mock up to see how things are going. (Notice the apprentice slacking off in the background.) The work top and backboard are awesome, made from massive pieces of good old Aussie Jarra.
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• Next step was to prepare the back board which involed cutting a groove using a router. The plywood, or tool well, will slip into this groove. I then chiseled out two large strips (as shown here) into which the back legs will fit for a snug fit.
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• I then fixed the back board in place using screws.
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• The bench as it currently stands.
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The next step will be to cut and fix the tool well (plywood), then the work top.

I have purchased a vice which will also need to be fixed in place. Then will come sanding and oiling to finish and protect the bench. I will also add some other features like stops to assist with planing, cutting etc.

For pure geekyness im also thinking of adding wifi, just because i can.