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Getting started and getting buy in from wife?
Capt.Dreamer:
Man, I've had everything pretty much planned out, what kind of wood, a basic idea of what shape I wanted the cab to be, even the fact that I wanted to use an LCD instead of a CRT for my first cab.
Then came the budget... I consider myself pretty good with money and frugal to boot, but having a 7 month old and both parents working was a reallllllllly hard sell to the missus. HOWEVER! I did get her interested when we came to the agreement that A) I would only spend a fixed number of money per month and B) She could design the cabinet (She's a huge comic book fan). We even came to the decision that it would be a Arkham Asylum (Batman being her favorite comic) design.
Now, its been 2 weeks and I'm getting antsy to get started, but we have neither an idea nor a design on what she wants. Since she's not overly interested in the actual cabinet, I have a feeling that this might take a while.
So, my question here is for all you married men out there that have completed cabs, what did you do? How did you do it? and how much grief did you have to put up with after. :lol
ahofle:
Cue 16 year olds who 'keep their ho in their place' in 5....4....3....2...
;D
leapinlew:
Refurb a cabinet - thats a budget saver! She may need to see the cabinet shape to get some ideas for artwork and once you have the cabinet you can get started by cleaning it up, setting up the computer, etc. You can then put a little money into it every month.
Start scavenging Craigslist for deals, hustle to make some money on the side, sell off some things with ebay and craigslist are all ways to help alleviate the financial pressures.
We have 3 accounts at my house. The house account, her account and my account. Both of us get an allowance per pay check that we can spend on whatever we want. The main issue is time. Even if you pay yourself only $50 every 2 weeks you'll have enough for controls in a few months.
Donkbaca:
Build a slim style. like this:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=103430.0;topicseen
or this:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=55789.0
Then just start building. If you are going with art instead of staining, its a WAY easier build since you can just hide your mistakes and fill and sand and screw everything. If you go for a stained cab, you have to be much more careful, since everything is going to be visible, that means you have to miter joints, fasten everything from the inside, cut your wood carefully to minimize chips and splinters. The advantage of a stained cab, though, is that it looks more grown up, and is usually easier to integrate in your house as it looks more like furniture than frat boy paraphernalia.
The way I approached it with my wife was as follows (BTW, we both work, I have a 20 month old and another on the way):
Do you have your pc? Do you have your monitor? Do you have your buttons and interface?
I would say the way it goes is like this:
1) Set up your mame pc and software. Show your wife how cool it will be, get it all set up with the roms, the emulators you want, the front end looking nice. This is also the cheapest way to go. You can get a mame adequate pc for anywhere from free to 100 bucks.
2) Go through the hall of fame projects sticky under project announcements, bookmark a few projects you like, show them to your wife, ask her which ones she likes the best. Then you know what you are going to build. My wife bought in under the condition that it had to be a slim cab and it had to be a stained cab. I think a slim cab is pretty much the way to go, especially if you are going to use an LCD anyway.
2) Build your CP. You will have to do this eventually. Then you can show her how cool its all going to interface. Let her play a couple of old games, every person went to pizza with their family and played arcade games there when they were a kid, ask her what she used to play when she went to pizza.
3) Collect your tools, set up your work area and start working. Take your time, its going to take FOREVER, don't expect anyone to help in your construction, and plan on only working 2-3 hours a week on it realistically. I do most of my work in my garage late on a friday or saturday night after the fam is asleep. Don't trade family time for cab time. The wife will get pissed, she will think that you care more about your stupid arcade box than you do about your family. Babies are awesome, they grow up fast, you work so your time is limited already. This is going to be done in your lack of sleep time, not your free time, your free time will be spent with your family.
IF you need any help on putting the darned thing together, or advice on parts, let me know.
good luck!
Donkbaca:
Yeah, another good point. I am sure you probably have something obnoxious that you keep around, that you never use that takes up space. I got rid of a bunch of comic books and stuff and put the money towards the cab. The wife approved, it got rid of clutter, and brought in dough. E-bay all that junk sitting in your garage that you are holding on to. Better to convert that stuff into cash that you can put into a cab that you will enjoy, instead of having it sit in a box taking up space.
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