Handheld Gaming Gadgets

I enjoy putzing around with homebrew / homemade handheld gaming devices. I've built Raspberry Pi Zero systems inside a classic Gameboy shell. I've pieced together a Freeplay Zero in a Gameboy Advance shell. And I've purchased a premade Anbernic RG-350 straight from China. They all

My Quest to Find Actually-Sweatproof Bluetooth Earbuds

To stay somewhat-not-chubby, I run. When I run, I sweat. When I sweat, I sweat A LOT. And as a result of all this, I apparently straight-up murder Bluetooth earbuds. So, to keep track of my disgusting attempt to find Bluetooth earbuds that can survive my workouts, here's

Arcade Cabinet: Putting It Together

I'll preface this part with a warning. If I did it again, I don't think I'd do it this way. The first thing I did was stack the frame, control panel, and the sides together, then I glued & screwed them together. Then I

Arcade Cabinet: Control Panel

Here, I outline how I assembled the control panel for my arcade cabinet. A fair amount of effort went into the control panel. I tested several mock layouts on paper until I found one that I liked. Slagcoin.com is basically the online bible of arcade button layouts, and I

Arcade Cabinet: Marquee

The marquee serves no real functional purpose except to look really freakin' cool. Building this part wasn't exactly rocket surgery (although I had a couple struggles) Basically, I needed a ceiling and a floor for the marquee. These are just strips of MDF held in place by

Arcade Cabinet: Screen Panel

The screen area is made primarily of 1/2" MDF, with several trim pieces to keep a glass panel in place. I started by taping several pieces of paper to cover the entire screen-area on my monitor. This gave me a template to cut the hole for the monitor

Arcade Cabinet: Speaker Panel

I just realized that I've been seriously negligent on my arcade cabinet updates. I actually finished it a few months ago! Next up: The speaker panel. First off, I created a template on 1/4" MDF to help me rout out the speaker holes. The old butter

Arcade Cabinet: Administration Panel

My cabinet has an administration panel below the monitor, which offers basic navigation functions for starting / stopping games. It also has a 7" LCD that displays the controls for the current game. First, I cut a 1/2" MDF sheet to the appropriate dimensions. Then, I clamped a

Arcade Cabinet: Side Panel Cutouts

Here, I detail how I used a paper template to create the two identical side panels for my arcade cabinet. Weekend #1: Using my original SketchUp drawing, I saved a 2D PNG version looking directly at the side panel. I scaled this up in GIMP to the actual dimensions at

Arcade Cabinet: Frame Construction

Some would argue that an arcade cabinet doesn't need a frame, or that it makes it too heavy. I disagree. The frame will give additional weight on the bottom, to prevent the machine from being too top-heavy. Also, it'll provide a skeleton that should make it

Making a Sawboard for a Circular Saw

I don't own a table saw, and I'll need to make a lot of long, straight cuts in MDF to build my arcade machine. Rather than drop a few hundred bucks on a table saw, I made a sawboard for less than $20. I started with

Fun With Google SketchUp

Here's what my arcade cab will eventually look like, once I get a chance to start working on it. I like it.