Well, I didn’t make much progress. At least that’s how it felt. I reworked the speaker panel and installed the speaker grills. I added a green and a red button on the speaker panel and wired them in to control the computer’s power and reset button.  Now I can turn it on and off without opening the front of the cabinet.  The fluorescent light I was planning on using for the marquee was too small so I got a larger one that’s 23″ long and puts out more light. I’m using a set of Logitech x540 speakers and quite by accident the base of each speaker pivots around so it could be mounted on a wall which made them perfect for mounting on the 2×4 just above the speaker panel.  So using the handy mount and some chicken wire I mounted the speakers and they are easily removed so I can finish painting and such.logitech

Another good thing about the x540 speakers is it has this handy volume pod sort of thing so I can put it in an accessible place and control the speaker volume.
I thought about mounting it on the speaker panel, but I don’t want to make it specific to these speakers in case I need to change them out later.
logitech2
Speaker images pulled from this review of the x540 speakers here.

I’m pretty sure I broke the slot cutting router bit by installing it backwards. I’ve used Jigsaws and circular saws and table saws and drills and Dremels and belt sanders and many other power tools. The router is the one power tool that actually scares me a bit. The slot cutting router bit for cutting a slot in the sides for installing the T-Molding came as a shaft, a cutting blade that looks like a really small circular saw blade, some washers and bearing. You have to put it all together and I think looking back at it I put the blade on upside down. When I started doing test cuts there was alot of smoke. I just thought that’s how it did with the MDF because when I cut circle holes it did something similiar. After awhile the blades on the cutter simply broke off.

This is what it should have looked like.
mame-014b.jpg
Image was pulled from here.

Well that’s a $20 lesson learned. So, I’ll get another one and try it again later.

Day 8 hours: 2 1/2
Next :: Goto Mame Arcade Cabinet – Update