Finishing birch plywood arcade cabinet

[Livewire]

Hi all,

I`m total newbie and I`m building a birch plywood & plastic arcade cabinet. Whats the best way to get a golden gloss like finnish that shows off the plywood edge like bottom pic?

Plywood FightStick

 

[Sgian Dubh]

Hand plane with a very sharp and finely set plane to remove saw marks and sand the edge working from 120 grit to 180 - 220 grit to get the edge void free and smooth, then follow up with, ideally, something like a sprayed pre-cat or acid cat lacquer. Being a complete novice (your description), you may have to use an oil based varnish instead, applied by brush, and rubbed down carefully between coats to reduce or remove brush marks. Shellac would be another choice that would give a lovely finish, but for an arcade cabinet likely to experience serious abuse I think I'd avoid its use there. Slainte.

 

[Rorton]

Nice unit. I’m a fan of osmo polyx. It’s a hard wax oil.
I usually use the satin finish, but they do a glossy one too.


they sell test sachets for less than £2, so could be worth prepping an off cut as suggested above, and then try a sample to see if you like it

 

[Livewire]

Thanks, I`ll order some samples and give it a go on some scrap wood.

 

[Livewire]

I went with osmo polyx tints and gloss and it was just the job thanks Rorton.

 

[paulrbarnard]

I went with osmo polyx tints and gloss and it was just the job thanks Rorton.

Looks fantastic. What are the electronics?

 

[Livewire]

Thanks, I tried a raspberry pi but gave up so I put in a i5 4690k, its running a edited version of coinops retro arcade.

 

[Sporky McGuffin]

That's ace. I would very much like to see a project thread if that's not too demanding of me.

 

[Livewire]

That's ace. I would very much like to see a project thread if that's not too demanding of me.

Thanks I wish I took more photos, the one at the top is about the only other one I have of building it apart from early renders and some 3d printed router / drill templates.

 

[paulrbarnard]

Thanks I wish I took more photos, the one at the top is about the only other one I have of building it apart from early renders and some 3d printed router / drill templates.

Well your just going to have to make another one and document it properly this time…

 

[nosuchhounds]

Very nice. Im a huge fan of exposed Plywood edges and of Polyx oil. They look fantastic