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DIY Arcade machine

obiwanblee

obiwanblee

Expert Monkey Wrench
Joined
Nov 3, 2005
Location
Santa Clara
Moto(s)
'05 SV1000S (RIP) / '07 DL650 (Weee!) / '07 GSX-R750 (Stolen :( ) / '10 Ducati Streetfighter
I've recently gotten the idea to build myself an arcade machine, running MAME as the "brain." Has anyone done this before? Any tips or tricks? I've read a lot of other boards and other peoples' projects have just blown me away. My only hurdle right now is that I lack woodworking tools, plus I'm not sure if I'd trust myself with them.

Also if anyone knows of a good source for busted arcade machines where the cabinet itself is intact, I'd appreciate it
 
i dunno man i was gonna buy a neogeo about 4 years ago but ended up flaking on the idea. i saw em on ebay and there are a few places in the bay area that deal em.


damn mame would be a lot sweeter than a neogeo...
 
What's the point? Do you just really need something taking up space? :confused
 
^yes
 
The easiest way is to buy a jamma cabinet (preferably with a 6-button sf2 configuration) and then buy a j-pac and arcadevga from www.ultimarc.com. all you need to do is install the arcade vga into your motherboard, shove the computer in the cabinet and connect the j-pac to the jamma connector. I had a similar setup in my street fighter 2 CE cabinet in my garage.

I wanted to build my own cabinet myself, but my wood working skills are non-existent and I didn't have the power tools available. I did build a wooden control panel that used ps2 controller circuit boards hardwired into arcade joysticks and buttons but the overall construction is pretty rough. I eventually want to either purchase or build an old school ms-pacman sitdown/cocktail cabinet (it's my "holy grail" as far as arcade machines go).

Beware of this hobby, it can turn into an expensive one that takes up a lot of garage or home space (kinda like motorcycles). At one time I had a MAME machine/SF2CE cabinet, a karate champ, an original standup pacman, a TMNT and a 4-player X-MEN/NBA Jam cabinet. I've since downgraded to just two machines but I have a crap ton of JAMMA boards stored in my parents old garage.

If you want more information check out www.arcadecontrols.com. If you want to find out more information on arcade machines in general, www.klov.com is also a good choice.

p.s. if you do want to use an old arcade cabinet instead of building your own, for the love of god, please don't use a vintage early-80's cab like the ms pacman, galaga, robotron, star wars etc... a lot of the early arcades had custom built and colored cabinets that were specifically made for them. it wasn't until the late 80's early 90's where you had generic cabinets that arcade operators used to swap boards in and out of all the time. it breaks my heart everytime I see an old pacman that was spray painted black and had extra holes drilled in the metal control panel to accommodate more buttons and joysticks. I know a few people that spend a lot of money trying to restore these old machines to their former glory. I did a partial restore for my own pacman cabinet... yes, i'm a nerd :nerd
 
SF2:CE (in a dynamo cab)
Xmen (standard 4-player cab

My loose boards include:
TMNT
Tekken 2
a 2nd SF:CE that I bought on ebay. I thought it was the original SF
NBA JAM
Karate Champ

I've also misplaced a few or they may have been accidentaly tossed that are listed below:

non-working raiden,
non-working pacman
Some ice hockey game that I forgot the name of
cabal (never bought the trackballs for a conversion)
 
I love MAME. We've been playing Frogger and Paperboy, and have tried less successfully to play Road Rash on an N64 emulator. Really fun. Those old games were really hard, since they were designed to rob you of as many quarters as possible.

I also have an interest in building a MAME cabinet, but I'd like to make one of the tabletop ones that you'd see at pizza places in the '80s - you know, where you sit across from your opponent and when it's your turn, the screen flips. That way, you could actually have a functional piece of furniture instead of a game that just takes up space when it's not in use. Depending on the graphics card, maybe you could assign a hotkey to flip the image 180 degrees when it's the other person's turn.
 
rumpofsteelskin said:
I also have an interest in building a MAME cabinet, but I'd like to make one of the tabletop ones that you'd see at pizza places in the '80s - you know, where you sit across from your opponent and when it's your turn, the screen flips. That way, you could actually have a functional piece of furniture instead of a game that just takes up space when it's not in use. Depending on the graphics card, maybe you could assign a hotkey to flip the image 180 degrees when it's the other person's turn.
Click to expand...

You can download plans for a cocktail cabinet here:

http://www.mikesarcade.com/arcade/cabplans.html

I'm pretty sure MAME should already have a setting that automatically flips the screen when it's the other player's turn

*edit*
jordan said:
Damn! That is worth it for the monitor alone!
Click to expand...

hehe yeah I've seen that around, too. If I had the space I would've jumped on it already. The other problem I have with it is it's a Dynamo "Z" cabinet. I'd rather have a classic neogeo cab with the little LED screens, the game select button, the memory card slot, and the two headphone jacks
 
Last edited:
jordan said:
Damn! That is worth it for the monitor alone!
Click to expand...

i emailed the guy and he said he'll keep the guts and sell me the cabinet for 100! all i need is a x arcade and a flat panel to stuff into it!
 
Found a guy in Hayward last night with a gutted Killer Instinct cabinet with TWO monitors! Someone got to it before me this morning :( (was it one of you...??)

I'm pretty much set on making my own cabinet. This thread: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=84649.0 completely inspired me. Now I just need to get some power tools...
 
I worked in an arcade in my early 20's and spent many long nights putting cabinets and boards together and have just recently started thinking about buying my own machine. if that guy still has the neo geo cab it's mine:teeth

I did build some awsome ps2 arcade sticks not to long ago and plan on starting a xbox 360 wireless one this week so ill be ready when street fighter 4 comes out next week:party
 
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