So, In August of 2003 as I was just standing around waiting for the Black Mica of a few control panels to dry (I was too full of saw-dust to go in the air conditioning), I decided to look into a way of automating the control panel and cabinet construction process.  Automation of this type would insure that every GameCab control panel and cabinet is cut at just the precise measurement and would free up some of my time for a game of Golden Tee or Ms Pac Man.  My first stop was a google search for something that would be robotic or computer aided.  Google had directed me to a company that sells CNC routers, not bad if you have $6999 burning a hole in your pocket.  My next stop was good ole E-Bay, and yes they did have a CNC router in Connecticut that looked about 20 years old and was under $2000, but transporting this unit was not going to be cheap and the owner said "I may need to be repaired due to some damage it suffered".

Well, August rolls to a close and I had only been searching here and there with no real results that would have been in my price range.  I then decided to look for an Isaac Asimov book on www.amazon.com to take some of the pain out of my four hours of daily commuting (round trip) into New York City.  The Asimov book I-Robot must have jogged my memory so I decided to search for a CNC router book on Amazon.  I stumbled on CNC Robotics: Build Your Own Workshop Bot by Geoff Williams so I decided to purchase the book for $24.95.  My general impression of the book is that "It will give you the basic foundation and understanding of what is need in order to construct such a CNC Router but his step by step instructions leave a lot to be desired".  Note to Geoff Williams - Dude, When you give instructions on how to construct anything, you really want to give them a detailed parts list so they are not walking into a local home store trying to match things up with your poorly angled and mislabeled pictures.  You may want to speak with your editor about why that parts list was cut from the final print of the book.  Ok, I'm Back, I went on a rant for a second.  So with the basic idea in my head and then in my Cad program I decided to start collecting the needed parts and material for this construction.  What follows are the steps in the construction of the GameCab CNC router.  Keep in mind that some of this is unexplored territory for me but I'm willing to give it a try. (Pictures will follow as I post them)

9-23-03 - In order to control the 3 stepper motor that will control the X, Y and Z axis of this machine I needed to purchase a stepper controller board.  I looked all around the internet and auctions but seemed to turn up a bunch of expensive solutions.  Keep in mind, I need to keep this cheap or the wife may shoot the whole project down.  I was then on a discussion board and heard about a website named www.hobbycnc.com which offers an unassembled circuit board and components for $50 plus $5 shipping (What A Deal!!!!).  I dealt with Dave Rigotti who owns the site and was fantastic in delivering the board as fast as possible. 

Once the kit arrived I instantly began to sort through all of the components and warmed up my soldering iron.  Dave's instructions were fantastic and the voltage tests were right on the money with Dave's instructions.  Dave was very helpful and responsive to a few question I had relating to his product (You have to like that kind of instant service).  Personally If you are looking for a low cost CNC Circuit board you really should try one of Dave's boards, they are worth it.  CNC Hobby also carry stepper motors as well but I decided to search around the online auctions (Sorry Dave).

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