Sephicade

Here's a project I've always wanted to make. A little bartop arcade. Retrostyle. The core will be a Raspberry Pi 3 running an emulator, Retropie. 2 players!

It starts out with plywood.

A simple design for the cabinet. Just the basics. 

Sourced the arcade buttons and joystick from Amazon. I went with Sanwa style. Old school Japanese arcade setup.

Hooked it all up for the first time. Programmed the Raspberry Pi was super easy.

For lights, I went with some cheap IKEA LED lights. For sound, I took apart cheap computer speakers. 

Took apart an old computer monitor. Giving it a second life.

Photoshopped some artwork onto the deck.

and... SephiCade is finished

And now, it's loaded with 5000+ craptacular 70s, 80s and 90s games! Consoles ranging from Atari 2600 to Sega Genesis to NES/SNES. Someday, I'll probably finish off some more artwork for the sides of the cabinet. For now, I can just get pissed off never being able to beat any of these games.

Baby Totoro keepsake box

It's been over a year since I've updated this blog! Sorry. Well.. here's one of the newest projects. A small wooden keepsake box for a friend. Baby Totoro. It's a bandsaw box.

Printer ran out of ink. But still good enough to use.

Glued up a few pieces walnut. To a nice block.

Spray glued a printout of totoro onto the block. Then with a bandsaw and a scrolls, cutting the silhouette out.  

The hole cut out for access to the drawer

Eyes. Made of pine, I think. It's cut from a dowel. (End grain)

Belly is made up of a thin maple veneer

Small nose is made up of maple again. It's an inlay

Pupils are made up of walnut. I cut them out with a plug cutter

Ears double as a lid for the second compartment.

Special date: Sept 3, 2018

Ready for a Teak Oil finish.

Adidas Shoe Box box

This project is of an ADIDAS shoe box made of wood. And oversized and holds 16 pairs of shoes. 

quick sketches. Cut/parts list. A simple build

First 2 walls cut. Man, it’s big.

The main box. Glue up

The drawer. Glue up

Lid all assembled

Mocked up all the elements. It is BIG. And heavy.

Box, lid, and drawers painted.

Installed a set of full extension slides with pull-close. Also 100lbs capacity! Though the drawer is 39lbs. haha

European hinges. Ugh... needs very specific sized holes made. 

Feet

Logos painted in. And pistons installed. The pistons allow for a safe soft open. The lid is heavy and needed this to control the speed and weight while it settles into the fully open position. Also tried to put in a few soft close. The full weight of the lid proves they do very little to slow the close. 

And the finish product:

Mailbox

My mailbox is a disappointment to my mailman. For years. And it’s embarrassing. This is the year to fix that. Got some extra leftover wood from my last project. Enough to make a quick box.

The lid is stuck in the open position. The slightest push on it, will break it off. It’s really lame.

Here is the new design. A rough sketch in Sketchup.

Always starts out with cutting lumber to approximate dimensions.

Measuring twice, cutting once to final dimensions.

Lots of measuring. Lots of cutting.

The glue-up. The fun part...

Another wooden hinge for the lid.

The actual mail slot wasn’t in the original design. I kind of made it up on the fly.

Using Tung Oil for the finish. I really like how easy it is to apply. And love the feel of this final touch. This should last a long time since it is a penetrating finish.

Clamp rack

My clamps are out of control. I just dump them all on the floor or where ever there is space. My workspace is ridiculous. So, they need to be organized. A couple of scrap plywood pieces were all that’s needed. A quick build