Built 4 new cabinets - let me know what you think.

[ArcadeKO]

Greetings BYOAC - Created a few new cabinets from an original design - wanted to get some feedback - the guys at KLOV suggested this forum

let me know what you think

[milkit]

walmart $5 control panel artwork ftw i use that poster often

[ArcadeKO]

walmart $5 control panel artwork ftw i use that poster often

damn - I paid $8 + shipping on ebay! I didn't think to check walmart :X

looks great - especially when you cover it with resin - I get Super Glaze from HD and it pours a 1/4" thick basically indestructable clear coat over it - makes it look awesome and protects it from abuse

[HaRuMaN]

The blue on red cabinet is a bit hard on the eyes.  Other than that, nice work.

[milkit]

walmart $5 control panel artwork ftw i use that poster often

damn - I paid $8 + shipping on ebay! I didn't think to check walmart :X

looks great - especially when you cover it with resin - I get Super Glaze from HD and it pours a 1/4" thick basically indestructable clear coat over it - makes it look awesome and protects it from abuse

never thought of doing that. I always just plexi over it. But yah, at least at my local walmart they have that same print for $5 i've bought several haha

[WhereEaglesDare]

Hmm... Would a poster work for a Marquee, or is it too thick you think?

[ArcadeKO]

Hmm... Would a poster work for a Marquee, or is it too thick you think?

Too thin if you want opaque blacks - I was planning on using poster art for a marquee but they let too much light through - I bought some used marquees on ebay and also ordered one from MAME Marquees - they did an awesome job - its worth the money.

[WhereEaglesDare]

   OFF TO WALMART I GO.  Never thought of that, use poster and some glue, perfecto..

Havnt bought a poster from WalMart in forever, all they use to have were fast cars, super models, and guitar chords...  Today I guess they would have the Jonas Brothers and Hannah Montana and thats about all though

Do you put the art on and pour the resin before you cut holes for buttons and sticks?

[ArcadeKO]

Do you put the art on and pour the resin before you cut holes for buttons and sticks?

After making about 6 of them I have found the best method is:
1) Measure and position all your buttons/joysticks then drill out all the holes - 1/2" mdf works great
2) use the expensive 3M spray adhesive (the strongest bond) to mount the poster
3) put the cp up on something like a paint can so the resin can run off the sides
4) pour the resin over the poster (the CPs in the pics use about 25% of the SuperGlaze - HD $20)
5) Let the glaze sit for 36hours!!! if its in your garage cover it with a large cb box with holes in the side (had a moth land in one overnight )
6) take the same bit and drill out the holes through the bottom

I have a few others I made that are pretty sweet - an aliens vs predator and another marvel poster - ill post pics soon

[WhereEaglesDare]

do you get any undesirable remaining resin on the sides where TMolding would go and does it smell bad?

[drventure]

The pourable resin works great. I haven't done a CP in it, but I've used it on my desk (it's hardwood and slate tile), and other furniture. It smells a bit while you're mixing and while it cures, but as I recall it wasn't enough to drive me out of the house.

It drips all over everything though, unless your doing a completely sealed pour. So throw down lots of drop cloths that you can throw out, and be prepared to do a little finish work on the underside (because you'll likely want to sand down all the drip bumps).

[mphuie]

No offense, but the way the cabinets are cut looks terrible to me.

[taylormadelv]

Maybe it's the colors but the photos almost look like CG creations to me... T-Moulding would be a nice touch. I like the posters idea and yeah, tone down the intensity of the cab paint colors just a bit.

[javeryh]

I think they are a good start but need a little work/refining.  Some comments:

1.  T-molding is a must on an arcade cabinet, IMO
2.  The cabinets do not appear to take advantage of the fact you are using a flat display.  Maybe try slimming the design?
3.  Center the trackball (also for a CP that large you really need a 3" TB - the one posted looks like a 2-1/4" one but I can't tell for sure)
4.  Hide/recess the trackball mounting plate
5.  Ditch the original marquees and art - these are obviously not original.  Maybe use "ArcadeKO" or something to brand them?
6.  The front panel of the CP needs some work.  I think I can see the screws/nails in some of the pictures.  Also, the top edge of the front CP panel should NOT be visible - you should extend the top CP panel over it.
7.  There is way too much unused real estate on the CP - they could be much smaller (and more pleasing to the eye as a result)
8.  Since these are obviously multi-game cabinets why limit your controls?  The "standard" Project Arcade layout (2 joys, 6 buttons, TB and spinner) would give users the most bang for their buck in terms of the amount of playable games.

 

[XCVG]

The angles are a bit severe and the colours a bit obnoxious, but that's just a stylistic thing. I do have one legitimate complaint though- what's up with the balltops? They look really short!

I do like the clean look, however. And they look pretty well put together. Running MAME, I assume?

[extendedplayarcade]

Yeah Needs T molding other than that i dig the slimline design.

Maybe a All Black Cabinet with white T molding with the Donkey Kong marquee and Artwork control panel with donkey kong theme would rock.

Post more

[HanoiBoi]

+1 to the unused real estate on the CPs
+1 to the short throw on the ball top
+1 on the trackball mount

Another thing, that I didn't necessarily see mentioned.....the bottom of the cabs looks to come out almost flush to the control panel.  That doesn't look like it would be comfortable with the feet getting in the way.  If you use stools, possibly even more uncomfortable and a bit awkward reaching for the controls.  Yes?

Why not stick to an original (old school) design versus your original?  They seem to have the same footprint.

If these are for personal use or builds for friends and family, I'd say they're nice.  But, if you are trying to sell them, which it appears you may be I'd say change 'em big time.

[RayB]

#1 biggest flaw is lack of edge molding (doesn't have to be t-molding... you could use the stick on kind...)

[DeLuSioNal29]

Any web links to the resin product that you used?

[nitz]

Do I like them? Depends what you're charging!

I saw someone locally selling a homemade cab kinda like these, not quite as nice, but a similar design I recall. But he was asking like $1200! I just kinda thought, "Get real!" If I was looking to buy a ready made mame cab though, I could defintely go maybe $600-$800 on these depending on what kinda controls, monitor, and pc you've got in there.

Yeah, like others have said, control panel space is a bit too large, color scheme is not to my taste, but other than that, I like them. 

[opt2not]

let me know what you think

I think a lot of people are "being too polite", and not giving you any real criticism here.
Please take this with a grain of salt...

In general:
IMHO -- aesthetically, I don't like 'em. I'm having a hard time looking at them.  Too many angles and straight edges. Foremost, your cabinet shape isn't my "cup o' tea". The marquee area (top protrusion area) jettisons way too far out. It's like this massive wasted space, that really makes the entire thing look too clunky for trying to be a slim cabinet. If I were standing in front of these cabs, I'd feel like I'm about to be swallowed up by them. I'd probably get a forehead tan by the marquee light! In fact, both the marquee area and control panel are way too big for my tastes. On top of being big, the marquee section itself doesn't fit the small marquee mounted. So you have this ugly corner sticking out below the marquee, very unflattering.
To me, these cabinets wouldn't be categorized as slim, which kind of makes it pointless for them to have LCD's.

The triangular angled shapes are the second thing that bugs me, you have this sloped bottom area that's only purpose is to counter-weight the top area. It sort of makes me feel that I should be resting my knees against it, but yet, because of the CP depth my knees wouldn't reach! 

You're also missing t-molding. T-molding is a must, if not that, at least paint the edges another colour. It highlights the angles better and breaks up the monotony in the colours.

Speaking of colours, the red and blue choices is really hard on the eyes. They're too bright together, and the little bit of colour you have at the base of the cabinets just looks like a last minute addition, again, to break up the monotony. Yet fails because it's the only thing on the cabinet that draws your eyes away from the radioactive burning of the red+blue, and just isn't interesting to look at. The colours just don't work.

Donkey Kong:
Aside from the general comments above, the CP doesn't make sense to me. First, the joystick is resting way to low to be comfortable. Second, the 2 buttons being so far from the joystick also looks uncomfortable. Third, there is so much unnecessary CP space for 1 joystick and 2 play-buttons that if I were to pass by this cabinet I'd feel intimidated to go up to the controls.

Galaga:
CP layout, again doesn't look comfortable. The trackball could have been mounted below the plexi top, so you don't have the ugly black square bracket showing, this is just lazy. As well, I'm having a hard time understanding why you put it to the far right instead of center?  This is going to be hard for a lot of games to be controlled from that angle, and by the looks of the other cabinets, you don't seem to have a problem with the play buttons being far from the joysticks anyways. So why not put the trackball in the middle? Also, the start buttons are lower down the panel...which is inconsistent with the positions on the other cabinets. For the colours, at least you did a bit of a design on the side panels...but the front panel artwork seems out of place compared to the simplicity of the side-art, as well as being positioned too low. Again, it looks like this decision was made in haste, or as a last minute addition.

Marvel:
It looks like the top areas needs just as much artwork as the bottom half of the cabinet. It's like you went half way with the artwork, then got lazy to finish it off. I only say this because the artwork you've pasted on here is so rich in details, that the black space on the sides feels really empty and unfinished. It would have been better to center it, so the black surrounds it like a frame.
The player start buttons being on the P2 front side of the CP would be annoying for me, and I'm not certain why there's a single red button above the P1 joystick.  I also don't get why the middle button for each player is different (white base)...

Overall, I cannot say I like these cabinets at all, nor would I pay money for them. They have a lot of design, aesthetic, and ergonomic issues that I would have thought out more thoroughly before mass producing.
This is of course my honest opinion, take it as it is.

[drventure]

Yeah, I gotta say, I'm not really digging the shape. It just seems to "flat" to me. Lack of tmold is a huge prob. They look unfinished to me.

But then, I'm kind of an old old school kinda guy, with wood and brass and copper and filigree and what not, so my view might not be very representative of your overall market 

[Beretta]

hmm mines not even playable i hardly feel right criticizing someone else's.. but since you asked 

1. colors.. red and blue do not mix, maybe you're a NY giants fan or something but it's hard on the eye's
2. marquee could be out further.. flush with front.. they're sitting about a inch or so back.. pretty minor though.
3. although i dig the overall profile i agree the base comes out to far.. it does  look like it might cause some foot problems
4. CP are larger then they need to be.. unlike others though i can fully understand the larger cp if you are planing on having other more heavily populated CP's to swap on.. but if this is it then it's a lot of wasted space.
5. the corners need to be rounded off.. the sharp angles are unpleasing on the eye.. they are also more likely to be damaged.
6. t-molding.. ya t-molding goes a long way and it will protect the edge of the cab.

over all though i like it.. i'd give it a "B", if i was at your house i'd definitely play on it anyway
and that's really the most important thing is'nt it?

i see solid effort here though.

[MKFan4Life]

Love the spider-man graphics.  That cab looks pretty nice, but why the unfilled area up top on each side?  Looks like you may have rounded the wood with a router bit to knock down the edges a bit, which is good, but yeah, T-Molding for the win would be nice.  Don't really like the placement of the Player 1 & 2 Start buttons on any of the cabs.  They are too close to the other controls on the red cabs, and I have NEVER liked buttons on the front facing of the control panel.  Too easy to hit if the game would be interrupted by pressing them.

They do look clean enough for my tastes, but things like the trackball mounting plate being hidden, better contrasting colors (on the red cabs), and the addition of T-Molding would help top it off.

I have seen some say the marquee looks either too far out, or too far in, but it seems fine to me, but I have not looked at many slim-cab designs with LCDs, so the argument about them taking up too much space and jutting out too far might have validity here.  On normal cabs with CRTs, the marquee seems fine.

And the foot space argument.  Well my Gauntlet Legends cab has the CP sticking out only about 5 inches at the farthest point in front when compared to the coin doors below, my MK2 cab has only 2 1/4" and MK1 has about 3/4" ONLY from the farthest point out on the CP when compared to the coin doors, so I think it's not as big of a problem as people think since I have never heard people bash Midway's designs.

I guess if you're going to be on a stool in front of the cab for a long time, though, I could see the argument there.  But I usually stand.  Some people may be sitting for hours.

[rlemmon]

I like them, but i agree the red and blue is hard on the eyes. I think they would also look better with a real of fake coin door. Or even one of those coin door graphics from groovygamegear.com

Were did you find non widescreen lcd monitors ?