Arcade Machine for the Lounge Room - From a Pile of Old Pallets

I created this retro arcade cabinet (PalletCade) for the lounge room from a pile of old wooden pallets, a medical computer screen and a Raspberry Pi 3b+. The cabinet construction, assembly and wiring was all done in my workshop at home. Now we can all play the old arcade classics whenever we want. My favourite games are games like Galaga, PacMan, Moon Patrol, Street Fighter and Double Dragon, but the outright winner is Donkey Kong!

Please enjoy my project build!

Old Pallets

De-Nailer (Pneumatic)

Pin Nailer (Pneumatic)

Mitre Saw

Table Saw

Jigsaw

Track Saw

Trim Router

Chisel & Mallet

Wood Glue

Raspberry Pi 3B+

Computer Screen

Computer Speakers

Arcade Components (Joysticks, Buttons, Coin Door, Keyboard Controller)

Castor Wheels

Scrap Plywood

LED Strip

Forstner Bits & Drill Press

Acrylic / Perspex

35mm Wooden Balls

Screws / Bolts / Threaded Inserts

Clamps

To see the overall design process in more detail, check out the video I made of the build.

The first step after collecting a pile of old pallets from around town (from hardware stores & supermarkets mostly) was to dismantle them. Using a pry bar and sledge hammer I pulled the pallets apart, then used a pneumatic de-nailer to remove the nails. This de-nailer shoots a ram that pushes the nails right out of the wooden slats. And if it doesn't push them completely out, at least it makes it a lot easier to remove them with a claw hammer.

Once all of the nails had been removed I cut the planks down to around 700mm (28") on the mitre saw to make them more manageable and remove unusable sections.

Taking the shorter cut lengths to the table saw, I ran one edge up against my extended table saw fence to get one clean edge on each before flipping them over and cutting a parallel edge. With a straight edge to reference, I cut one end square on the mitre saw. This end became the reference end for the panel glue ups.

Using some pieces of formply & a straight piece of pine scrap as a layout board I was able glue the edges of the planks and create panels of pallet planks. Squaring up and clamping down the first panel meant it was easy to align one entire edge on each panel, and once glued I applied clamps. The previous step of squaring an end made this very easy. I also used screws through the old nail holes to keep the planks laying flat.

The pallet planks varied in thickness. Using an electric hand planer first, I planed down the planks until they were fairly uniform in thickness. Then I used an aggressive sandpaper on the electric sander to smooth out the surface. Originally I was going to continue this with finer grit sandpaper but being that I wanted a fairly rustic look in the end, I didn't go any finer than 40 grit.

Using the Table Saw, Track Saw & Jigsaw (depending on the size and shape required), I cut all of the panels needed for this project to size.

For arcade cabinet dimensions, I mostly used pdf files from a 2008 project by Rasmus Kønig Sørensen.

You can find detailed information about a cabinet he built at www.koenigs.dk, using his 2 Player Upright cabinet.

If you decide to use his file below, please visit his website and consider making a donation for his work.

Hard Wax oil in Brown and Golden Teak was used on the outside of all of the cabinet panels. This oil/stain was easy to apply simply by pouring on and rubbing in with cloth rags. After letting it sit for half an hour the excess is wiped off and the result is fantastic. I also chiselled out an alien from the Space Invader computer game and stained the exposed wood with Japanese writing ink. A cheap and effective way to create a stand-out black on the wood.

Using a mounted bearing on the table saw, I cut down some thin strips from the pallet wood. After these were trimmed to size, I added a round over on both edges then created some moulding templates to bend the strips around. Boiling water makes the strips a bit more malleable and once they were soft enough to bend I clamped them to the templates. Once dried, I painted them with more ink then used clamps, glue and pin nails to attach them to the edges of the panels.

After deciding on a button/joystick panel layout, I downloaded and printed a layout template from www.slagcoin.com/joystick/layout.html

Using a punch I marked where the button/joystick holes needed to be drilled then drilled them with forstner bits on the drill press to ensure they were accurately drilled. 28mm for all buttons, 22mm for both of the joysticks.

Furring strips were cut down from pallet stringers, as well as a frame for the cabinet base. Woodglue and pin nails were used to attach the furring strips in place ready for cabinet construction. A scrap piece of plywood, adjustable feet and two castor wheels completed the base.

The panels were all built up around the base and glued together. Clamps held it all together overnight while it all dried. Large countersunk machine screws and threaded inserts were used to attach the control panel so I can remove it later for repairs or modifications.

Using a squared off-cut as a reference, I used my trim router to cut speaker holes in a slightly artistic pattern. Cutting up a black shopping bag gave me some speaker mesh that I stapled in place before attaching the insides of a pair of computer speakers. A recessed drill hole allowed the volume knob to protrude through onto the front face, meaning I can easily change volume (or turn off the speakers completely if desired). LED strip lighting was stapled to a board and the inner surfaces of the light box were lined with some scraps of reflective house wrap. Two pieces of perspex were cut to sandwich any translucent design so the light can shine through it. Small bolts and threaded inserts were used through some extra edge banding to hold the design in place, while allowing it to be changed in the future if required.

From more scrap ply & some soft close drawer runners I knocked up a quick keyboard drawer that slides under the joystick panel allowing me to easily access the system when needed. A small holder for the RPi was also built just to hold it steady when the drawer is pulled in or out.

The controller that converts button presses and joystick movements to keyboard strokes is the Ultimarc MiniPac. It comes with a colour-coded wiring harness so it makes it very easy to mount the buttons and wire them all up, This controller then gets plugged into the RPi via USB and when the system is first turned on, the buttons & movements can be easily mapped.

I pulled apart an old medical computer screen and attached the insides behind the large piece of perspex. This was attached similarly to the lightbox perspex with bolts and threaded inserts. Once the screen was fixed in position I marked the edge of the display on the perspex. This allowed me to remove the perspex, mask the centre and give it a few coats of glossy black enamel spray paint. After it dried I removed the mask to get some crisp bezel edges, and this perfected the screen in my opinion. Then I switched it all on to see how I went.

On eBay I was able to find some 35mm diameter wooden balls (approx. 1.5") which I drilled a centre hole in two and added more threaded inserts. A lick of the Brown hardwax oil and I think the balls match the project a lot better than the original red acrylic balls.

The coin door is an actual lockable arcade door with coin actuators, and although I can just press a button to insert 'credits' I do like the feel and action of physically inserting coins to start.

The Raspberry Pi images with all of the different games and games system emulators can be downloaded from www.arcadepunks.com and the image I used has thousands of the best retro arcade games to play!

Thank you for joining me for this journey & I hope you found it informative, entertaining or both!