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Where to find blueprints to use or modify?
craiganater03:
You're right, I am worried about the money side of this, which thought the point of me building is to give me something to do while unemployed but anything I try to cut, is just taking it out of what i have dreamt for, for years.
There are a few things I am hesitant about though like adding LED controllers and what not, but not much i can do about it untill i jump in and try them out.
paigeoliver:
--- Quote from: craiganater03 on October 29, 2013, 02:15:37 am ---You're right, I am worried about the money side of this, which thought the point of me building is to give me something to do while unemployed but anything I try to cut, is just taking it out of what i have dreamt for, for years.
There are a few things I am hesitant about though like adding LED controllers and what not, but not much i can do about it untill i jump in and try them out.
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I built up a 21 room gameroom while unemployed. If you are out of work then you are ready to get the good craiglist deals. Get up early mon-fri and check craigslist every half hour or so. Before you know it a killer deal will pop up and you will get it because all the other collectors are at work.
LED controllers are a recent distraction to the hobby. Check your craigslist a couple times each morning until you can bring home a broken late model golf cabinet for $100. This is both your best value for a rebuild and belongs to a category that most collectors would set on fire given the chance. If you get lucky then you will get a working 27" VGA monitor. Even if you don't get lucky you can get a good $50-$100 back on the monitor and boards even if they are dead.
michelevit:
I'm not sure why its so important to "build exactly what you want the first time".
You cite 'wasting money' as the reason.
You always have the option to build a second, third or tenth video game cabinet. The first cabinet is often not that last one you are going to build.
The money isn't wasted. I've had no problem selling my cabinets at a nice profit when I wanted to upgrade to something different. Even if for some odd reason you couldn't sell it, the parts (joysticks, buttons, encoders) all are more than robust to be re-used.
As someone who has built a multitude of cabinets, my advice is to build the cabinet you can today. That may be a small bartop single player. If you get bored of that, sell it and make another.
I don't think the custom car analogy crosses over to arcade cabinets.
--- Quote from: keilmillerjr on October 26, 2013, 03:01:33 pm ---Nothing beats the experience of standing at an upright cabinet and playing a game. Planning and purchasing parts have been taking a long time for my first build. I am not very experienced with cabinet building yet. However, I can say with confidence that you should build exactly what you want the first time or you will just be wasting money. I learned that with car builds. Doing something because it is cheaper only leads to you later spending even more money when you want the better part, or some thing else entirely.
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