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Scratch retroModern mame cabinet

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mlee:
Hello all,

first time posting here.  i've almost finished my first from-scratch mame cabinet and would like to share.

my inspiration was a Tivoli audio model one.


finished cabinet:


[UPDATE] finished cabinet with updated bezel
[UPDATE] plans, material list, etc. retromodernmc.blogspot.com


control panel:


speaker grill:


work in progress pics(didn't take too many pictures..):




here are materials/method i used:

side panels
select pine boards from homeDepot (1x6 6ft) i joined 5 boards with Kreg jig.  Since i didn't want to show any screws and the choice of finish(stain/wax) can't cover the screws, Kreg jig was very useful.

->  this is how i joined the boards together.

control panel and frontal panels
3/4 thickness MDF board with paint and polycrylic finish.
laser decal paper for labeling
joysticks: sanwa jwl from ultimarc.com
keyboard encoder: u-hid from ultimarc.com
buttons: jammaparts.net

display
19" LCD.  a friend who owns a LCD fabrication company gave me a panel and control pcb kit.
1/4" plexiglass with black spray paint for bezel.

speaker/volume control/speaker grill
cheap gigaware pc speaker(with a smallish subwoofer) from radioshack.  i also bought 100k stereo dual gang pots at radioshack and wired it in the middle of speaker cable for a external volume control.
vintage speaker fabric from parts-express.com

mame brain
refurbished Dell optiflex gx280(pentium 4) from microcenter

hooking wires/crimp quick connectors/wire cutters(radio shack), plastic screw covers/multi tab power strip(home depot)

i lost track of total cost but i think it was around $5~600 (free lcd panel helped)

let me know if you have any questions/opinion.
oh, and I'd like to thank all the fellow arcade forum dwellers/answerers/project sharers.. it was an impossible project without you.
thanks!

Le Chuck:
Welcome!

Great project - awesome really.  Your finished product does your inspiration justice.  I would have liked to see a bit more carry over from the radio knobs to the buttons, perhaps in color or having the tuner dial as your volume knob.  Overall your woodwork looks really clean and the color is a great match.  Nicely done, hope it brings your a lot of joy!

Jigenjuke:
Mlee Welcome.

I agree with Le Chuck about both the faithful represntation of the Tivoli Radio and also the bit about the Radio knobs.  Maybe you could incorporate the color of the radio know into the volume dial or maybe mount a spinner. 

Either way it's a great project! 

Jigenjuke

surface tension:
Great looking cab mlee. Love the mix of retro and modern and really like the cream and timber.

The only thing I didn't like when I first saw it was the orange buttons, but that's just my opinion.

Great build and I bet you're itching to play on it properly!

Yvan256:
Great build, very nice Tivoli look-alike, but unfortunately I have to agree with the others. Everything is just perfect except for the controls.

You'll probably have a hard time finding... brown? buttons but there is chrome buttons available, so you need to order both chrome and brown buttons from the same brand and model and just swap the parts around to have a brown button plunger inside a chrome outer ring.

I would go with all-brown, smaller (i.e. 24 mm) buttons for the player 1/player 2 buttons to have a size difference like on the Tivoli's tuning vs volume button.

You would also need brown joystick balltops to fit the color of the buttons.

Here's the problem, however: I don't remember ever seeing brown arcade buttons.  :dunno

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