Anyone built an arcade cabinet before? (for MAME)

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Tsaico
I would think so, and when you say kits, do you mean that you gather the needed parts and instructions, send them off to whoever bought it, and then they do the actual work? I think it is a cool idea.

And as for building your own cabinet, for the most part I would agree that the re-using an old dead cabinet is easy, but the couple of problems that I had were 1) the older cabinets were too narrow for comfort. I have pretty wide shoulders, and so do most of my friends, and I always hated playing Street Fighter II while also fighting for elbow room. If I made it custom, I could make it as wide as needed. 2) the costs of a good cabinet are usually about $200 with another $100 or so to get it to you, and the costs of the particle board was 4 $11 peices and about another $20 in 2x2 framing pieces, a single 2x2, and a single piece of 4x4. (I put a solid piece of 4x4 douglas in the bottom back and a handle on the top back portion, so I could put this thing on a dolly easily, since it is pretty heavy) Black deck screws are what is holding this thing together.

Also, I currently have some speed issues with my 1.4 pent 4 512 RAM rig. I can start games like Killer Instinct 1 and 2, but they run slower than the real deal, so I plan on replacing it with something a little faster CPU. How to the games work on the X-Box's CPU?

I thought about using something like that origionally, (since it is a little cheaper), but I decided to go with a standard PC so I could use the familiar PSU to power things like lights and the amp. I origionally put the flourescent light in the marquee with a seperate switch, but I didn't like that I had to first push power on the computer, then seperately turn on the lights. That was the same reason I did the CMOY amp too, I didn't want to turn a seperate speaker set on when powering up. It should do this on its's own.

Now if I could figure out how to open up the tv, so I could connect it's on/off button to the same butto that turns everything else on, that would be great.

All in all, probably about 80 bucks or so of lumber. But then again, if you don't have the right tools, and have to buy them for this project, I can see how that would easily increase the cost of making your cabinet five fold.

By "kit" I meant just the core Xbox system (modded console), not the cabinet or anything else. He does a lot of Xbox work and has a few spares that he can pre-mod to be ready for arcade use. Mine should be here next Saturday; it was originally going to be sooner but I'm having him add some LED buttons for the Power and Reset functions on the Xbox. That way I can reset the arcade or turn it on/off right from the cabinet instead of having to open the door and reach inside. Regarding gaming, I'll let you know after I get mine back. From what I've heard, everything runs great with the exception of the N64 and PSX emulators.

Building a cabinet looks like cake. Tablet saw + power drill and a few hours worth of work should render all the parts I need. I'd rather build my own than buy a pre-made one personally, since then I can customize it to my likings. I might be the only one in the world to have an arcade cabinet with built-in cupholders

As far as the TV goes, I'm skipping the glass/plastic front plate. The TV I have is old and requires you to go into the menu to switch over to AUX every time you turn it on. The universal remote I have for it doesn't activate the menu fuction, so I have to do it by hand. Remove monitor shield, problem solved!

 

[Kaido]

New blog post + pics of TV & arcade controls:

http://xboxmame.blogspot.com/2006/08/gathering-parts.html

 

[mpitts]

Originally posted by: Hippiewan
I actually have converted an old cabinet for use with Mame. Biggest advantage to this, I believe is the actual arcade monitor and not have to build a cabinet from scratch. Not to mention artwork already on the cabinet. I picked one up in my area from a guy on Ebay for $300. One suggestion that I have is to get the Mag-Stik Plus joysticks from this site Ultimarc they are worth every penny. You can change them from an eight-way to a four-way joystick from the top of the board. Trust me from experience games that used four-way joysticks do not play right on an eight-way and vice-versa. They are overseas but they ship super quick.

3 posts in 5+ years.. Wow..

 

[Kaido]

I'm looking for a couple barstools for the cabinet as well, black pad with chrome metal. Good quality, not cheap - any good places to get them?

Edit: found some

 

[Tsaico]

I used old beer kegs. I flipped them over, drilled some holes into the sides so I could thread lace through, and then tied down a round seat cushion. They sit almost as high as a bar stool, (or perfrect for a three foot high table/control deck) and are not common things. They are kinda of heavy, but still cool looking.

They cost me about 30 bucks for the kegs (I just never returned them, and Rite-Aid kept my deposit), $10 for the cusion, and about 5 hours to drink the beer with some friends. (I am not counting the beer, since we would have spent that anyway)

 

[gocubs2k5]

my uncle built one a couple years ago and he just went to some surplus auction and sale when a bowling alley or video arcade shut down, so you could try that.

 

[SSP]

A question about the TV... wouldn't it kill your eyes in about half an hour after standing so close to it??

 

[Tsaico]

It did at first, but I turned down the brightness and adjusted the contrast. It isn't nearly as bright as you would have it to view a movie. Oddly enough, when I tune a regular station to it, the colors are all wacky, but when I play a game on it, the colors are great and look normal.