New cabinet costs

taulpaul

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I was getting estimates for a Dragon's Lair cabinet this last week. I'm just looking for CNC routing services, as I'll provide material and be building it myself. What's a reasonable price to get a cabinet cut?
 
can build my own cabinet for 263.00
that includes EVERYTHING from latches to game board to screen, bezel plastic, everything

can build my own cabinet, just the wood, for about 58.00
that's NOT factoring in the tools or my labor or any of the rest of it.
that's assuming I have the router bits, saw blade and all the rest of it ready to go
 
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can build my own cabinet for 263.00
that includes EVERYTHING from latches to game board to screen, bezel plastic, everything

can build my own cabinet, just the wood, for about 58.00
that's NOT factoring in the tools or my labor or any of the rest of it.
that's assuming I have the router bits, saw blade and all the rest of it ready to go

That price is amazing. How many total hours of assembly do you put into each one?
 
if I were to include the, going to home depot to get the 4x8 sheets of wood and all the rest of it. I would guess about 8 hours for just the wood part of the cabinet

the whole thing takes about 20 hours ish
hard to say because sometimes I have to order more feet or marquee art but I would say 20 hours is about the average. maybe even less now that I'm getting better at it and if I have all the parts.

took me 2 years to find this cabinet to copy
it's a sleeve within a sleeve design which means it DOES NOT flex at all. some of these cabinets I can detect just an ever so slight flex to them. almost like they are already falling apart. not this baby. solid as a rock. I can also change the size wider say, to install a 32 inch horizontally mounted screen. see pictures below

I think all the CnC guys are going to charge you 800 or more to set up their machine and iron out all the mistakes. but who knows what kind of deal you will find.
be careful of the "plans" that are out there for sale. some are wrong. I think there are bad plans for sale for the pacman (midway) cabinets.

the first picture is of the 32 inch screen, same design as the second picture if you can see it
 

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I see your ads on KC's craigslist all the time. How many of these do you sell in a month/yr?
 
My first quote came in at $600.

if I were to include the, going to home depot to get the 4x8 sheets of wood and all the rest of it. I would guess about 8 hours for just the wood part of the cabinet

the whole thing takes about 20 hours ish
hard to say because sometimes I have to order more feet or marquee art but I would say 20 hours is about the average. maybe even less now that I'm getting better at it and if I have all the parts.

took me 2 years to find this cabinet to copy
it's a sleeve within a sleeve design which means it DOES NOT flex at all. some of these cabinets I can detect just an ever so slight flex to them. almost like they are already falling apart. not this baby. solid as a rock. I can also change the size wider say, to install a 32 inch horizontally mounted screen. see pictures below

I think all the CnC guys are going to charge you 800 or more to set up their machine and iron out all the mistakes. but who knows what kind of deal you will find.
be careful of the "plans" that are out there for sale. some are wrong. I think there are bad plans for sale for the pacman (midway) cabinets.

the first picture is of the 32 inch screen, same design as the second picture if you can see it
 
This seems pretty high tech, but I really dont get it. How is this any different than just drawing on your wood that you're going to cut. You're still freehanding everything, right?

It corrects for your motion and errors. Here's a demo: YOu could easily use it to cut parts or probably an entire cab...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5F_AfwjVZg
 
It corrects for your motion and errors. Here's a demo: YOu could easily use it to cut parts or probably an entire cab...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5F_AfwjVZg


Exactly. You just have to keep the design line within the margin of error, and the device will auto-correct any movement. Even retracts (stops cutting) if you move out of the range. Pretty cool concept for the hobbyist that can't justify the cost of a full CNC.
 
I am late to the party...... Sorry for not keeping up with things. Always best to PM with questions, I try and help as best I can.

I haven't cut anything for the last couple of months...and I need to check back in a see if the people who asked for cabinets are still interested....so I can't cut anything for you now. I've had a lot of "bad luck" at the house and I am nearly caught up with repairs and forced home projects....but hope to get back to cutting regularly soon.

Besides, shipping is the killer. It is better to find someone local that overcharges then to ship a cabinet or drive a few states to pick one up.


I have a price list for cabinets here.... http://www.cncpursuits.com/arcade-price-list.html Please be aware that I am on the extremely cheap side. I usually prefer to have a donor cabinet with me so I can check the dimensions as I go. You can probably download the entire spreadsheet and it shows all of the costs and my minimal profit (going towards the CNC machine).

As far as the $263 price, I have no idea how that can be achieved. That prices wouldn't even cover the cost of materials for me....especially when you start talking about boards, bezels, and other game specific hardware. I would guess (from looking at the plans) the cabinet is 3 sheets of build material and 1 sheet of plywood for base and supports. For me, the Melamine runs about $35 a sheet, sanded ply is in the same ballpark, and if you are going to paint and use something nice like MDO, you are closer to $95 a sheet. Better materials make your finishing times much less in the long run. Just depends on what your time is worth.

I have been itching to cut a Dragons Lair mini for my daughter... so maybe one of these weekends I can toss one together and test out the plans.

Hope this helps. If you have questions...ask.

Brian
 
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