Bartop gallery

Been building various kinds of bartops for a couple of years now so decided to throw up a few pics from the earliest to the most recent ones and maybe detail some of the problems and pitfalls with them.

Ramvik

Fairly self explanatory this one, Ikea Ramvik table with a LCD screen and laptop fitted. Used Mala as the frontend.



Was the first one I built and definitely a learning experience. Decided to build the controls into a slide out drawer, seemed like a good idea at the time but was a lot of probably unnecessary woodwork looking back on it.

Not very comfortable to play either as the LCD viewing angle meant you had to lean over the controls to clear see the top of the screen. Sound was via a crap USB powered speaker stuck to the underside.
Got swapped for a Vectrex and has changed hands a few times since and recently appear on Adverts with a fairly hefty price tag.


Carbon Cab

Had the brainwave to build a more 'arcadey' looking cab and wrap it in carbon fibre vinyl.



This one used a micro-itx motherboard and LCD with Hyperspin as the frontend, IPAC handling the controls. Made from scratch with MDF and pretty much done free hand. Drew up the basic shape on cardboard all based with the 15" screen size determining the rest of the dimensions.
I wanted to have a seemless look about it (don't know why) so the cab is all one fixed piece with the two sides being removable, this made installing all the hardware a total pain and not something I'd recommend.
Applying the vinyl was also a bit of a chore particularly around the corners on the side panels where its all bunched up.
Had a pair of logitech speakers fitted, while they look at bit small the sound was pretty decent from them.


Kids Cab

Next up was a simple 60-in-1 bartop for my nieces/nephews.



Decided to keep things fairly simple with this one. Again made from MDF on a 1x1" frame, 17" screen used and it determines the size of the rest of the cab. Most made of straight edges as all the sanding and shaping from the previous one was such a pain to do.
Bit more soldering to do on this one as a mini jamma loom was need for the 60-1 board, bottom and rear panels are removable very easy to work on.
Is played on a daily basis and gets heaps of abuse but has held up great so far


Woodie

My nemesis this one, took over a year to build and was incredibly close to being scrapped on a few occasions.



Made for solid strip board on a 1x1" frame, 19" LCD screen and decent mini-itx motherboard, IPAC, stereo amp - spend a good deal on parts.
Getting the woodwork right (or as right as I could get it) was a nightmare - I'm definitely not a carpenter !! Sides were intended to be strip board as well but I couldn't get the finish good enough so opted for painted MDF in the end which brought a nice contrast to the colour.
Still though, loved it when it was finished and thought it look awesome and played great


60-1 bartop

Updated version of the kids cab. Same construction and components but slightly different cab shape.



Tooled up for this one Got a router and plunge saw, made up some templates so can quickly use the router to make up the pieces so assembly is fairly handy. Still using a 17" LCD and 60-1 board so the cab is mostly empty on the inside compared to a Mame build.


My Shooter

Dedicated vertical shooter cab. Basically made for all scrap leftover bits I had around from other builds and projects.



I think all I bought for this was the paint The cab was an 'early' 60-1 bartop that I made some mistakes with and was destined for scrap. Managed to squeeze a full size ITX motherboard and power supply in there as well.

Have some more ideas in my head for other designs, just need the time and funds to start them....




So over to ye