Hi everyone !
A quick note : I'm from that northern, glacial and lifeless land called Quebec, in Canada (the city being Montreal, fiy), so I am not an anglophone at all. I grew up in a small, 100% francophone town, so my writing may seem weird at times. You are welcome to laugh you a** out, as long as you correct any grammar or syntax error you may find.
Since 2008 have I been thinking more or less seriously about building an arcade cab for myself, being a hopeless retro gaming afficionado (yet surprisingly well tolerated by my significant other, or so I suppose since she married me !), but somehow never did it due to lack of (insert whatever word : money, time, motivation, tools, etc.).
However, the last few months brought new circumstances. The wife and I are going on a 6 months trip to Peru to work in a shelter for young girls who have been victims of physical and sexual abuse (about 50 of them, between 3 and 15 years old). Having to leave my job, we are organizing fundraising events and selling anything useless in the house (which we will fortunetaly be able to keep). Of those things we wish to sell, there was a computer sleeping in the basement with a spare 19" LCD. Hmmmm... I'm sure you see me coming.
I decided to build a first cab with a few specs in mind.
1- Simple and light yet sturdy design
2- 2-player CP, strict minimum of buttons to play most games, no trackball, no spinner, no flightstick, no coin door (coin buttons though)
3- CP and marquee design 100% original, yet have to be simple too to stay in the same mindset.
I had not played with MAME or emulators for years, never touched front ends, I didn't know squat about electronics... THIS is where I started from this january (yes, 2010). After reading about the software, I took a lot of time understanding of the hardware works ("analog joystick, hmm ? how does it work ? 8-way, 4-way, restrictor plate... ah
!!" this is where I discovered
www.slagcoin.com , a real treat for newbs like me), then I started draughting prototypes of cabs. Meanwhile, I also started the design of the CP and marquee. Here is what I ended up with :
This is the CP, give or take a few placement details I have to adjust :
The marquee, with the same theme. I might replace the arms of the fake clock with real ones (I have a spare, still working small clock that would do the trick, and it actually ticks, which would be nice !)
EDIT : Well, my spelling aptitude has been tested and annihilated. Time (wasting) Machine indeed, not
waisting. Thanks Burrito !
Overview of the cab. The actual color will be slightly lighter.
Sideview.
Internal view. Since I want to keep the whole thing light and moveable, I decided upon using 1/2" plywood for the shell and an internal structure of 2x4s. The skeleton itself is solid enough to absorb any abuse (field tested and approved with 3 different players, and one of them literally hammered the poor beast).
Finally, a preview of what it would look like in my living room (yep, that's the actual color of the walls ! took 7 layers to cover that freaking dark green
)
I'm attaching a final pic (blured, but still) of the preassembled TwM (without the shell). I'll be working on it this week-end. I'll post more pics next week.
There are 3 objectives I wanted to acheive with this project.
1- Make a first attempt at a cabinet so I can build one for myself that's more complete when I come back next january.
2- Sell an old worthless computer in a beautiful wrapping to make a few $ that will help finance our 6 months in Peru.
3- Testing the nerves of the wife. God do I love that woman !