FA: Custom-built Galaga/Ms Pacman Cabaret Cabinet. SA, TX

[txcanoeman]

you can bid on the prototype cabinet I built...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=13716&item=3240666843

or you can oder one...

http://sjc98.home.texas.net/pacman.htm

[kspiff]

 

...

Not marvelling at the quality, mind you.. more like the, "Oh my God, someone bid on it"-type shock

No offense, txcanoeman, just when I think of a mass-produced, pro-qual cabinet, the picture is.. slightly different :/

[mkdevo]

jeez.. pics gone on the auction page, and this when you go to the site:

Web Traffic Allotment Exceeded
The web page you have currently chosen to visit has been locked for exceeding monthly web space and transfer quotas placed upon the account. The page will become available again when either new limits are set for the account or the month comes to an end.

 

[paigeoliver]

Hey dude. Right on, someone bought it! I don't believe it either!

Now, a few SERIOUS suggestions for future models.

Put the speakers INSIDE the unit. Just fasten them in there somewhere. My similar mini cabinet has them inside and that looks so much better.

Start putting coin doors on them. It only adds a tiny bit of cash to your build cost (for a used one), and really adds to the authenticity and usability of the unit.

The sideart is a bit, well, I can't describe it. Consider going with a design that somewhat copies the original Pac-Man sideart. Failing that, you can't go wrong with plain black and repro Galaga sideart.

The panel would look nicer if it just had the joystick, the action button, and player one and two start buttons (the real ones with the little men on them), put the credit button and the menu button inside the coin door.

Consider using a real control panel overlay of some type. A repro Galaga one would look nice.

[txcanoeman]

Thanks for the comments/suggestions all.  I have 2 gigs of transfer each month with my ISP and I purchased an additional 6 more gigs this month and can

[tmasman]

You mentioned that you were including the "original (legal) versions" of the games... How were you doing this? Just the ROM chips, or the actual PCB, or something else?

I'm really curious...

Thanks!

[txcanoeman]

I bought an Xbox game that includes the original versions of those 5 games.  

[mattudland]

Hey there, to my knowledge... owning a console arcade version of an arcade game does not make a ROM legal!

But what do i know... except everything.
 - Matt  

I really am interested in how the legistics of that work.

[paigeoliver]

How would fastening the speakers INSIDE the unit increase the cost or time? You just set them there instead of setting them on the monitor glass (I cannot stress enough how bad that looks).

Adding a coin door adds aproximately $20 in cost, and 10 minutes in build time.

[txcanoeman]

$20 for a coin door?  Not bad, I will look into it.  The problem with putting speakers inside is you have to mount them, cut the holes, buy or build some kind of speaker cover and figure out some way to install a volume control.  

I did it on my first machine and you are right it is well worth it as it looks a lot better, than so PC speakers sitting on top of your cabinet.

thanks

[paigeoliver]

You don't actually have to cut speaker holes, or even make a volume knob (not if you have a coin door), since you can just reach inside and change the volume). Plenty of machines just had internal speakers with no visible grills, or with the speaker hole being in back or on the bottom (especially cocktails, caberets, and minis).



So really, just fasten them inside, and set the volume at an appropriate level. I have owned a metric buttload of arcade games in the last few years and I never once adjusted the volume on one of them more than once.

Coin doors can be had on ebay or off RGVAC for $20 all day long. Sometimes they need a fresh coat of paint, but that doesn't take long.

If you plan on building several machines then you can likely get a bunch of coin doors from a single person, thus cutting down on the shipping. Although if you live in a major city, then you should be able to find another collector who just has the things laying around everywhere (coin doors really build up when you get into games, everytime a game gets parted out it produces another extra coin door, which you don't need, since all your games already have them, I still have at least 3 spares kicking around, and that was after I sold most of them to other Mamers).