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Ping of Pong (the recycled ping pong table cab) - Actually all the way done now.
BadMouth:
I've had an old 600mhz celeron computer, 15" CRT monitor, 5/8" t-molding, megatouch bezel & pacman CP (w/no art) laying around forever.
I tinkered with installing an older MAME build on it and hacking a $7 gamepad for the controls. I even thew a mouse-hack spinner on the CP.
The gamepad hacking and spinner build was more for my own learning experience than actual use.
But I never did build a cab for it because I didn't want to spend time or money on something that was't going to play anything different than my main setup.
Sunday, a friend commented that he'd like to have a small cab (bartop or cabaret) for his home bar if I came across one cheap.
Then yesterday, my neighbor sat a disassembled ping pong table out for trash pickup. It consisted of four 4.5' x 2.?' sheets of 5/8" MDF with a smooth blue surface on one side. I kept looking out my window at it and seeing visions of a cabaret built from it. Eventually, temptation got the better of me and I snuck the trash into my shed.
Now I'm kinda motivated by the prospect of getting all this stuff out of my way.
I don't want to spend much time or ANY money on this, so it isn't going to be perfect.
But I think I have enough parts laying around that I can do something pretty good without spending anything.
Since the sheets are only 4.5' tall, I can't do a real cabaret.
I've narrowed it down to.........
EDIT: Since I settled on the Galaga style, I removed the rest of this first post that had pics of options I was considering.
(I was tired of scrolling past it)
Vigo:
Since this is a low budget project, I would just say function over form and go with the pacman style cabinet.
Donkbaca:
If it's 14 inches wide, some 11x14 paper will work perfectly
BadMouth:
Alright, gonna go with a 70% scale galaga and will probably give it to my 6yo nephew instead of the buddy with the bar.
I should be able to get the shell built tonight.
Gonna have to track down a slot cutter for the smaller molding before it can progress past that though.
I may break down and buy one just to get it done.
Technically, it's not spending money on the cab. :-\
BadMouth:
6:00PM.....GO!!!!!!!
Sacrificial ping pong table is on the altar.
Dimensions from http://www.retro.co.za/arcade/cabinet.html and scaled everything down to 70%
Even though I plan to paint it like Galaga, I went with curvature of the Mrs Pacman top because it made the front taller.
Screwed two sheets together and made the straight cuts on the table saw, then finished off the curved parts with a jigsaw.
The twins are separated
All your ping pong base am ours
Don't want my corners sitting on the floor getting trashed.
Doh! that's a few inches short. Had to cut a new one from the big piece I was saving for the back.
Have to find something in the neighbor's trash for the back now.
9:00PM....STOP!!!!
I wanted to put the shelf in for the monitor, but wasn't sure what angle to use.
Gonna set a standard height chair in front of it tomorrow and see what works best.
I also cut out some pieces for the control panel, but I might try to cut down the metal one I have.
It's been through several conversions. Layers are peeling. It needs stripped. I may just make one out of wood to save time.
The t-molding I had turned out to be 3/4" so I can't use it. (I probably would have left the ping pong table on the curb if I hadn't thought that I had t-molding that would work with it), I'm just going to round over the edges and paint, paint, paint with rustoleum bedliner.