Workshop and Arcade Reborn

Like a phoenix rising from the ashes my workshop (pics) recently rose from the ashes old paint cans. When we moved in almost three years ago the previous owner left a workshop full of old paint cans and chemicals on the shelves. He also installed bulky kitchen cabinets over the work bench to the point were it felt almost cave like. After two years of thinking the smell in the workshop was the walls and just tossing my tools in at random I decided to actually work on it over the past weekend.

I started by taking down the cabinets and tossing them in the pile to go to the dump. I installed two lights (pic) to brighten up the area and carried about 40 cans of varying liquids out to our shed (to be taken to the dump at a later date). Turns out it was the chemicals that made the workshop smell not the walls, who knew? After that I laid all my tools out on the counter and reorganized them in the drawers and on the shelves. It is a marked improvement, but I still have a wish list of improvements to make over the next few years.

Over the summer I bought supplies to build an SNES arcade controller. I end up just setting it all aside when I got distracted by other hobbies. Restarting this project as a MAME controller and eventual cabinet is what inspired the workshop clean up. I spent three nights measuring, cutting and sanding the first few pieces and then snapped a few photos to share.

Uncut wood with templetes and measurments.

Parts and wiring things

Macro shot of the inner workings

Test placement of buttons