somebody wants me to build them a cocktail mame cab...i have a few questions

[hulkster]

alright, i showed one of the girls at work my cab and she got all wide-eyed and wanted me to build her one.  she wants a cocktail cab with 80's games on it.  so she wants to play donkey kong, galaga, frogger, etc, but mainly just the popular ones.  anyway, ive built an upright and a showcase cab, but never a cocktail cab.  i plan on buying a broken or gutted cocktail cab from an upcoming auction and just using that, but of course redoing it and stuff.  this cocktail cab will have simple controls, probably just a couple of 4 ways and a couple of buttons per player.  a coin door (hopefully i can just use the one it comes with), and then the rest of the pc stuff.  what i need to know is...what can i get by with here?  cost wise i mean.  shes a good friend of mine, but she said she would pay me to do this.  of course she will pay for all the parts, but doesnt want to break the bank.  so what can you help me with on costs of the whole deal?  what kind of cost estimate can i give her?  and how much should i charge for labor?  any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  

[MameJunkie]

If you look at this very site under the cabinet section, you'll find some nice plans by Kyle Lindstrom.  Very nice plans plus very detail instructions.

[nighthawk2099]

If he is able to get a cab from an auction, that should help to keep the cost down, plus, he might be lucky enough to walk away with joysticks, buttons, and coin door..... thus more money saved.  If he finds one with a dead monitor but working game boards, he can sell the boards and recoop some of the money spent on the cab.....

But of course, those are just my 2 pennys.

[hulkster]

thanks for the replies guys.  well i dont forsee the cab costing more than $500, for one cuz im not getting an arcade monitor, and i could probably get all the pc parts here at work (P3 with 128mb of ram w/ win98)....wouldnt that be enough to run 80's games?  but the buttons and joysticks and stuff....i dont know...i just dont think im going to have sell stuff in order to cut the cost down.  but i guess i could be cheap and sell a bunch of stuff that i get with the old cab, and with the cost of the pc for the most part taken care of (free)...i could just charge her more for labor!  ha...man that sounds bad.  suggestions?  

[lokki]

(P3 with 128mb of ram w/ win98)....wouldnt that be enough to run 80's games?

P3 should be enough if you plan on using older version MAME .36 or thereabouts.

[hulkster]

bump

[paigeoliver]

I can do a complete 13" cocktail for around $150 or less, all expenses included.

There is even a CHANCE I could do one with zero expense.

Basically you buy yr dead cocktail. Lets say $50.

Now pull that wiring harness carefully, sell it on ebay. $10-$20.

Monitor will bring $30-$50 working or $10 dead. Sell it.

Test the board, or don't test it. Sell it. $5 - $50.

Anything left inside? Sell it. $0 - $20.

Ok, you with me? Good.

You need a PC and a monitor. You are looking for 200+ mhz and a 14-15" monitor. You may already have these if not then go on ebay and search the auctions for items closest and buy local and pick up. $30 max.  Sell the modem and CDROM drive out of the computer to recoup $3-5.

Used PC speakers $5.

Reuse the controls already on the cocktail. $0.

Encoder. $30.

Can of black spraypaint for repainting metal parts. $1.

DONE.

[hulkster]

hmmm....well thats all well and good assuming that the cocktail controls and control panel are in good shape....as well as the wood condition and all that.  but anyway...what would i charge for labor?  id like to make some money off this, but i dont want to over charge.

[zaphod]

Let's just assume you will not have the success at finding a nice non-working cocktail that PO has.  He is just out of many of our leagues in this area and more than likely has a pool of parts to pull from already.  

Decide whether you are going to redo an original or just build one.  If you are going to build new, Kyle Lindstrom's plans are the best I've ever found.  Charge for the materials but look for the best deals.  The PC you should be able to find for free or nearly free.  The 15" monitor should be easy to find for free.  Just ask around at work.  I would then charge $15-20/hr for the actual construction time.  That is cheap but you are still making some money for your effort.  And you get to build a cocktail on someone else's dime.

If you go the auction route, you could still charge the same per hr.  She is getting a deal as you are bringing a lot of expertise with you and, I would assume, will be contributing a fair amount of time off the clock researching, purchasing, and running errands.

You might also want to run any estimate past her before you do anything.  Her idea of not breaking the bank might be wholly different from yours.    

[hulkster]

excellent advice.  i will keep all that in mind.  hopefully i can make some decent money on this...and if it turns out nice, ill advertise at work that i make these and maybe drum up some side business

[rchadd]

if you want to use a really low spec (cheap) pc  maybe should consider using vantage emulator instead of mame. think it supports most classic cocktail games.

http://www.mameworld.net/pc2jamma/vantage.html

[hulkster]

well i have some P3 pc's laying around here at work, so im okay in that deptartment.  im guessing win98se with mamewah?  i mean, probably only about 30 games or so will be on this machine.  she isnt a huge arcade fanatic, but the thought of playing frogger and a bunch of other classics on an arcade cab was very appealing to her.  so this isnt an arcade junkie...just someone who wants to relive the past.  i have a 19" pc monitor and will probably sell her that to use...unless i can get by with a 15" on a cocktail??

[zaphod]

DOS, with Vantage and ArcadeOS, maybe?  Don't load Windows on it.

The 15" might work.

EDIT- Missed the Vantage post a couple up.

[hulkster]

okay one more question.  im charging her for the cabinet/materials, and the labor.  however this brings me to the roms and stuff.  i know this is a touchy subject, but for those of you who have made cabs for others and sold them...surely there are some of you who have sold them to people who have never heard of the word emulator.  so my question is, do you just give them to the customer and kind of look the other way?  i dont care about making profit on roms or anything like that, but she doesnt know anything about roms, so she wouldnt be able to get them herself, but the whole purpose of building this thing is for her to play games like donkey kong, frogger, etc....not imitations.  suggestions?

[rchadd]

official line: you should only play roms that you are legal entitled to  

it is illegal to sell rom files.

the only legal roms files are ones that actually own the PCB of, or roms you have purchased a licence from starroms (the only supplier i am aware of).

...then again will the rom police really come battering down your door?

i have seem many cabs on ebay with disclaimer along the lines...

"installed roms are for demonstration only. it is the buyers responsibility to delete any roms that they are not entitled to use."

[hulkster]

okay, so dont ask dont tell....that what you are saying?

[rchadd]

okay, so dont ask dont tell....that what you are saying?

thats what you might tthink, but i couldn't possibly comment

[Santoro]

If she was somehow able to come up with the ROMs sometime after the sale, you could install them for her at a later time as a favor to a friend.

Oh, never mind, there is no way she can get ROMs.  It was a silly idea.