Then the last few percent of the project, getting the joysticks correct, I lost the energy (and didn’t have a place to put the thing) and went onto other projects. I started and put most of the system together in a single weekend. One take away I have from it was the momentum of a project cant be a very motivating thing. I got to do some bigger wood working and vinyl wrap something. In the end it was fun to put something together quickly like this. I worked on this before I had a 3D printer and could have put the piece together quickly. There was the issue on top of all this of being in NYC and there was no place to put the thing where it would not be in the way. With that I put the system into a closet, where it sat for several years. The plan was to design a piece then 3D print it and attach it to the bottom of all the joysticks. I wanted it to be a diamond, this would have forced the player in going one of 4 directions instead. On the bottom of the units I had it was a empty square. The bottom of the joysticks had a plastic piece which allowed the rod of the joystick to go in certain directions. In a game like Pac-Man, going to the corners of the joystick made the character either not move or go in one of the 2 directions you were facing. The joysticks I had were 8 way joysticks they could go to the 4 sides but also to all the corners, we didn’t want the corners. The main issue that had me put it away for a while was the joystick handling. The whole thing worked, it booted up on the Compute Stick, auto loaded Steam, and started the game. This was a learning experience of plexiglass scratches easily and can crack if too much pressure is put in say a screw hole. After installing an old screen I found around I toped it with a sheet of clear plexiglass. I put the rubber molding along the side of the unit, as you would expect from any good arcade system. I also ended up getting craft beer labels, and putting it on the inside of the buttons that gave the unit a little more character. These were laser cut at the same woodshop I used before. I wanted to add some more style to the unit so I made Player 1 through 4 acrylic panels to go around the joystick and button. I used Teensy micro controllers as the joysticks, they emulate joysticks on a computer and you an make any input trigger any signal you want. I had a area for the screen to go in, then 4 sides 2 with cup holders, and 2 with joysticks. Getting bubbles out of the vinyl wrapper, on a wood surface that isn’t completely flat was a bit of a challenge. I then used yellow vinyl wrap to make the table a bit more dressed up. After all is said and done, I used a normal drill and some wood screws to put it all together. Now this was a bit of a rough day because I was in NYC, and I am literally grabbing large 2x4s (some are 6 or 7 feet long) then walking a few blocks to the woodshop as people are drinking on a Saturday around me on the streets, then cutting them and walking several blocks to the office. Most of the construction was actually done in one weekend in 2017, I got some 2x4s and went to the maker space I am a member of fat cat FAB LAB – NYC Hackerspace to cut the boards down to the sizes. Part of my plans were to give it folding legs, and one side of the table should be a rest, so the legs can be folded and it can be put on its side somewhere out of the way. Being in NYC it needed to be able to fold up, and then be put somewhere when not in use. The hope was to have this live at the office. (2021) Now it came time to build the cabinet, I hadn’t built something thing big before and didn’t really have a large plan.
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