JAMMA cab resto and Mame'ing- FINISHED gloss black, chromed, led's..

[thesharkfactor]

hi guys,

i wanted to show you guys my jamma cabinet that i restored and mamed recently..lost of useful ideas for BYOAC'ers here!!

i got this cabinet to replace my 1st cab, the huge SF2 electroin xenon you see in the pic below.. my intention, give it a makeover to look like all the other gadgets in the house.. nowadays everyting is gloss black and chrome- the tv, both pc's and montors, laptop, mouse's keyboards, iphone- all gloss black and chrome/silver.
 
it started like this..




 
..nice but lame.

 
ive taken many photos, too many to list on here....
 
here is a quick summary..
 
filled control panel..
 

 
..removed t mould, countersunk monitor retaining bolts, filled and sanded sides..
 

 
..fitted new gloss black vinyl..
 



 
 
more vinyls fitted, not yet finished..
 


..fitted new chrome t moulding..
 

 
..fitted brushed steel vinyl to the front of the cp..
 

 
..ready to drill the new cp- scale template in place (downloaded and printed off the web)..
 

 
..cut holes in plexi, then the wood otherwise the hole cutter cloggs and chokes!..
 

 
..nice, thats better..!
 

 
..painted cpo plexi black from underneath so nice and shiny on the top.. here it is with all the shiny new buttons, leds bells and whistles....
 

 
and mock fitted..
 

 
next the marquee.. just a mame logo which im etching into plexi. reveresed printout and under the plexig, i cut/score it with a knife.. im going to paint it balck and backlight the mame logo in blue neon.
 

 
..an hour later.. not bad, but i screwed up the E and a couple of other bits..
 

 
thats was first attempt at marquee etching.. i have another piece which i endevour to get much better.
 
it has taken me 2 weeks so far, doing abit here and there.. waiting on bits etc didnt help (took 2 weeks for the plexi to be delivered cut to size!!).
 
still got lots to do.. but im having great fun refurbing it!
 
i have already built another pc and installed gameex software instead of hyperspin (hyperspin was was nice but limited), awaiting a j-pac and new sticks.. more finshing and painting, more steel vinyl to be added etc..
 

[thesharkfactor]

PART 2..!

ive been busy all week again working on the cab.. it has been so much more work than i anticipated. feeling my way round new hardware and software, sure ive lost lots of hair and had many late nights overcoming problems of which there have been many- mostly software related.. however, its all coming together nicely..

ive kept lots of pictures of my progress.. get ready for picture overload!..

 
masked off everything for painting of internal frame black..




 
thats better.. theres now a subwoofer in there too!


 
installed joysticks- sanwa jlw-tm-8 - perfecto fit for my cp- how lucky was that? lols jlw is my prefered/fav stick!




 
jumping ahead in time now, but its best to start here to keep things flowing in some kind of order. the first run of the marquee etching was tricky, so the the final piece (i had 2 cuts of plexi just incase i screwed one up), i did slightly differently. this time, instead of having the mame logo underneath the glass and etching the top which was tricky getting the lines right when viewing through 5mm of glass, instead i fixed the mame logo on top of the plexi and carved out the mame logo from the paper it was on-directly on top of the glass- worked a charm.. before i did this, i painted the marquee black from behind- i etched the black surface.. (in the pic you can see the marquee underneath with large holes in each side- more on that later!)


 
simple(?!) case of carving out the logo with a stanley blade, steady hand and heavy score..



next, it was onto the speakers.. unfortunatley, in thier standard form, they would not fit inside the marquee area of the cabinet. i wanted them behind the marquee, but i would have to cut 2 large holes in the fabric of the cab- not a nice option.. i decided, best option was to mount them in the marquee itself!
the speakers have a speaker and tweeter each.. (and subwoofer)


 
tear them apart..



cut the round speaker mounting from the case with a dremel.


 
cutting 76mm holes for the speakers in the marquee..


 
hot glue the mounts in place..




 
woo hoo!! perfect!



.......................................................................

[thesharkfactor]

PART 3..


continued from above..
 
i had to cut small holes below the marquee area to mount the speaker tweeters- 28mm button holes were spot on..



 ..next, i had to chisel away some of the marquee area so the speakers would fit- (sorry cab!)



..fitted the tweeters (with blu tac for now)


 
..and here she is!.. better than expected!


 
im on the lookout for 76mm silver/chromed bezels/rims for the speakers.. (anyone help?)



speakers with tweeters fitted..



..now lets make one thing clear- im no hifi freak- i barely know what tweeters do, nor do i even care. only reason i bought those speakers is because they come with a wired remote control!.. so i also have a volume and bass control i can mount elsewhere on the cab! big mame cab problem solved- despite silly tweeters and the requirement for extra holes!
 

 
pc up and running.. new computer was an off the shelf ready built system- great value.. dual core athlon 2.8ghz, 2gb ram, 500gb hdd, dvd, case all for £205. add on a wireless keyboard and mouse and a cheap ati radeon comaptible with soft-15khz and you have a mame system for under £250.
cab in position..



gloss black, glass, brushed steel and chrome.. modernised!






 
and the buttons light up too!! software was a total nightmare to configure!






 
i mapped the inputs and configured the led panel software PluginLCD from within gameex and i created custom animation files with LEDblinky- the buttons flash in all manner of sequences and patterns in attract mode, and they light the buttons for each game in mame and whatever console its emulating at the time..





example.. choose final fight, it lights p1 and p2 buttons 1 and 2..


 
choose street fighter.. it lights all 6 butons per player..





 
a wiring jungle- somehow- it all seems to work! lols..



and finally, the pc which also powers my SEGA driving cabinet..


 
still few bits to do.. need to light the marquee (in blue) fit the pc inside the cab, fit the external volume control etc.. ive had great fun with the refurb- im looking forward to the next one, a 2nd machine of same size which i'll try make the look identical for vertical use..
 
very impressed with gameex software and the led buttons.. the machine speaks.. it says game names, talks any menu functions, if the game paused it speaks the contols for each player etc.. very slick, gameex all the way for me now!!..
 

here she is as she stands today.. next to the SEGA cabinet, mame'd with a real arcade ffb motor..



thread all about the driving cabinet resto and mame'ing here.. http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=105186.msg1113216

cheers and thanks for looking

[james anderson]

skills

where did you get the idea for the vinyl?
where did you buy the roll of vinyl?

[thesharkfactor]

thanks mate..

i got the vinyl on an auction site.. gloss black self adhesive vinyl 900mm.. the seller is in the UK, and his name is vinyldepot-retail. you should be able to find it with that info im sure.. (i dont know if i can post a link here..?)

[CheffoJeffo]

Nice work and I love the details.

Not a restoration (it's a project), but I still like it.

[emphatic]

Lovely work!  You should go with chrome washers for your JLW's though. A member here, "Franco B" can hook you up.

[jimmy2x2x]

thanks mate..

i got the vinyl on an auction site.. gloss black self adhesive vinyl 900mm.. the seller is in the UK, and his name is vinyldepot-retail. you should be able to find it with that info im sure.. (i dont know if i can post a link here..?)

Links are fine here, it isn't HUKD hahaha