My first DIY mini pinball cabinet included fabricating my own legs. That was 12 years ago and I forgot how painful it was to fabricate them. So, not learning from my mistakes I decided to build 8 sets (that is 32 legs!!!) for a batch of mini cabinets I am putting together for sale. The cabinet uses a 27" monitor and a 19" 4:3 back box monitor. The smallest legs I could purchase were 28.5" and they just didn't look right with a shallow cabinet (especially with those huge 3/8" mounting bolts), hence I had to make my own legs to keep this cabinet to scale.
There are a few things to consider.
Production legs are stamped sheet metal. The legs are ribbed to give the legs increased rigidity. The legs are also flared to widen the leg footprint.
1.25" x.125" angle iron used for making these DIY legs is roughly $1.75/foot. Each leg requires 26.5" of angle iron ($3.86 per leg)
The two holes for leg mounting are drilled at a 90 degree angle, at 2" apart. The production legs use 2.25zzz' spacing.
A 3/8"-16 nut needs to be welded to the base of each leg to accommodate a leg leveler.
So this is my process:
I cut my angle iron stock into 26.5" sections. I have a metal band saw so this was fairly simple.
I trimmed one end to give the leg a tapered look. This was for aesthetics only. This makes it look similar to a real pinball leg.
Using a crappy MIG welder, I welded the leveler nuts to the bottom of each leg. I'm a crappy MIG welder so I had to grind the imperfections to make them acceptable.
Drilling the mounting holes on the apex of the angle was best done using a drill press and a vise. I 3D printed a alignment jig to ensure the holes were drilled correctly.
The mounting holes were countersinked so that the mounting bolts did not protrude.
attempting to flare the angle iron is extremely difficult unless you have a very sturdy vise. I took the easy way out and 3D printed some leg shims that had a flare built in.
The legs were filed, ground and sanded to make them look presentable.
The 3/8-16 nut for the levelers had to be chased with a tap to clean the threads.
After degreasing and cleaning the legs, I painted them using a black hammered finish.
I am very satisfied with the results, but custom building these did not save me time or money. Reviewing the work involved, I calculated that I spent over an hour of labor for each leg. My material cost including paint and consumables was around $3.75 or $15 for four. I need to emphasize that I built these in quantity and therefore my labor time and material cost was lower. In closing, a set of manufactured legs could be purchased for $60.
Regards,
Rick
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