What should I do with my machine?

[AlanS17]

Hi there, yall. Haven't been on in forever. Haven't been able to afford the hobby laetly so I've been trying to stay away so as not to spend any money I don't have. That is all about to change, though.

I'm graduating college on Saturday, and soon I'll be moving to the Dallas area to work writing software. There's really only one problem. I've got this massive arcade machine with no wheels. I COULD move it, but I would much rather build a better one when I get there. What should I do? Here are the options as I see it:

1) Part it out and keep what I want to build a better one when I get there.
2) Take the whole thing and sell it up in Dallas on Ebay to build the new one.
3) Suck it up and donate it to my fraternity.
4) Sell it to the fraternity (assuming they could actually afford it).

On that note, though, anybody in the Dallas area wanna buy a MAME machine? I've got pictures posted in the old threads. It's a converted Bad Dudes machine with an awesome new panel. Just needs some t-molding around the front and a marquee.

Either way, I want to build a cocktail machine first thing when I get up there, and then later I want to build a 25" machine. (The one I have is 19", but it has a VGA front-mount monitor I really like and would be great for building the cocktail if I keep it.)

[Tilzs]

Sell it to your frat or donate it. It'd be probably be more of a pain in the butt to worry about moving it. You could part it out but it seems to me it'd get plenty of future use at the frat so that is probably a good option.

It really comes down to what you want to do. Maybe you can even get a tax writeoff. I don't know if you can get a writeoff for donateing to a frat or not.

[hulkster]

hey whats up alan.  good to see you back.  just my opinion, but only donate it if you dont care what happens to it.  oh and congrats on the graduation....i was in the same boat last may!  if i would have donated my cab to my frat, it would beer on it way too much, and i think if you donated it, you would come back in about 4 months, and it would look like crap and probably wouldnt work.  just a thought

[AlanS17]

Well I really don't want to haul it all the way up there. All I really want from it are the 19" VGA monitor and the 3" PS/2 trackball. Those parts can be a pain in the butt to find.

If I were to take it up to Dallas with me it would be with the intent to sell the thing. I put about $1000 worth of parts and another $200 in new tools into it and getting some back would be kind of nice. I'm just afraid nobody will buy it and then I'll be stuck with it. What's the demand for these things?

I'm not worried about the fraternity destroying it when I'm not around. I'm just afraid of them calling me next month with "It won't turn on!" or "The buttons don't work!" I don't want to have to provide long-distance tech support. I don't have a particular attatchment to this machine, though. I want to make a better one.

And thanks, hulkster. It's good to be back! Watch out MAME showcase. Here I come! (now that I'll be able to afford it)

[NoBonus]

Part it out. That seems to be the most economically sound decision unless you can sell it. I would not give it away though.  It seems like if you gave it away to someone who is not interested in the hobby, they will only abuse it until they feel it is trash then they will toss it and all of the still useful components.  Plus, parts seem easier to move and sell than a completed machine.

NoBonus

[Tilzs]

Sounds like you want to part it out. Besides if you have all the parts, all you really need is wood for a new machine and wood is cheap.

[hyiu]

usually when you sell a mame cab....

you don't really get what its really worthed... (which means all the hard work, config, parts... etc).

Since you still want some parts back...

I would say... take it apart... (or simply take the whole CP with you... that should be easy...)

save whatever you want... and sell the parts...
(or sell cheap on the empty cab....)

I think that is the least pain approach....
(but not necessary the most $$ return approach...)

[Sprucemoose]

Donate it.  Or I bet you can get the Pres of Frat to come up with some cash for it.  You will be making money soon and then you can start a hole new project.  Those guys will get more use out of it than you.  

[Sylentwulf]

Another problem with selling/donating to the frat, is that when/iff ANYTHING goes wrong, noone is going to know how the hell to fix it. (assuming they're in the 99.9999999% of the population that doesn't work on mame cabinets)

[hulkster]

And thanks, hulkster. It's good to be back! Watch out MAME showcase. Here I come! (now that I'll be able to afford it)

hell yeah dude!!!  mine is coming right along and i hope to have it done by the end of this month.  get that showcase cab going!  i wanna see!

[Witchboard]

You could do both, part it out and leave it.  Take all the parts you'll think you'll need or will be hard to find and make changes to the cab and leave it.  Pushbuttons and joysticks are easy to find, just take your trackball out and put a plate over the hole.  Take you big monitor out and replace it with something cheap that's laying around.  Make it look nice with a new paper bezel or something.  That way, you get the parts you want, but you feel you've left something for you frat boys to enjoy after your gone.

[AlanS17]

Something just occurred to me that I had forgotten... I'd have to take the damn thing halfway apart to get it back out the door. I'm feeling pretty lazy.

I think I've got a week to idiot-proof it and get it going good enough for them to hold on to so long as they don't bust it. They've gotten waytoo attatched to NBA Hangtime and Puzzle Fighter just to let it slide like that...

Final decision: Sell it and then donate it if they don't buy it! (And pull the TB for myself.)

[AlanS17]

SOLD!!!

I sold my machine to the girlfriend of an alumnus. She apparently really likes Super Puzzle Fighter 2 (even though she never wins). She agreed to leave it here at the house, too!

So that's one less thing to lug up to Dallas with me. I plan on building another machine, though I think now my brother wants to build a small TV-compatible box. :-P I'll have to make him change his mind....

[dag2000]

Don't leave us hanging ... how much did you get for your soul?

[AlanS17]

Well I admittedly didn't get anything close to what it was worth. I got $500 for it. Yes, I KNOW they got the better end of the deal, but it's staying in the frat house where I wanted it to stay. The $500 will cover the value of the parts that I wanted to pull from it so I can replace those with new parts.

I put over $1000 worth of parts into it and it's a good looking machine. They certainly got their money's worth. This picture was taken with a camera phone, but you can kind of see it...

Yes the marquee is ugly. Never got around to maknig one cuz one of the other guys wanted to do it and then he never did... Don't hold that against the machine.