Cabinet Manufacturers

[marcopolo]

Hi Everyone,
I've been scouring the Internet for the past three weeks trying to find quality manufacturers of new Arcade cabinets which can be used for MAME (or Jamma).  I've thought about building my own or converting an old cabinet, but its too big of a project to take on at this time.  Many of these web sites were not listed in Google or USenet so I thought I would post them for everyone's benefit.  

I was pleasantly surprised at how affordable some of these places were - when you add up the price of the monitor, cabinet, bezel, glass, speakers, coindoor, and your time, many of these places come out cheaper than building it yourself.  I'm not knocking do it yourselfer's , I just want to give everyone options.

One interesting item I discovered was the price descrepancy between JAMMA cabs and MAME cabs.  Many times these manufacturers were charging 2x for the MAME cabinets just because they knew you would be using it for MAME (multiple games).  IT is therefore cheaper to buy a generic / JAMMA cab and simply put a PC inside the cabiniet and save thousands .

Here is what I found so far.  I will post more as I find them:

TLC Industries, http://www.tlcind.com
Models MR2945 and MR2790
27" WG monitors
45 degree and 90 degree monitor angles
prices from $995 to $1395 (includes monitor, coindoor, cabinet, control panel, and graphics)
Ask for Scott Guttman (847-891-0230) if you call please make sure you tell him that Mark Goetze sent you (Scott was very cool when I spoke to him on the phone and I told him I would try and send business his way).  - check out specifically the MR2790 - it's a classic style cabinet with a Wells Gardner D9200 monitor, coin door and large CP all for $995 - thats a very good deal.
 

Hanaho
Model T-27
www.hanaho.com
Don't have pricing on this yet, but they build a very good cabinet.  27" monitor, coin door, etc.
They also make the hotrod control panel and a Aracade Deluxe ready made MAME cabinet - but at $4000, it's WAY TOO expensive.  


Arcadeshopper
www.arcadeshopper.com
This guy sells a kit which includes the cabinet parts that you can put together.  The design of the MAME cabinet is modeled after the Konami Simpsons game.  Its a good design, but you have to build it yourself.  
$750 for a two player version (this does NOT include monitor)
It's a little on the high side on price, but gives you the flexibility to build your own without the hassle of cutting your own parts and laminating, painting, etc.

Fun Company, LTD.
www.funcompanyltd.com
Model ES-25 and ES-27
I just found these guys over the weekend.  Their ES-25 is an awesome cabinet - huge control panel capable of 2 or 4 players and plenty of room for a trackball an spinner.  They use Wells Gardner monitors and they include a coindrawer.  They are a major supplier to Konami and Namco, and make a great cabinet.
$1205
800-808-5554 - ask for Joe Shelley
Again, please tell him that Mark Goetze sent you

Dynamo, Inc.
Model HS-27
www.dynamo-ltd.com
I am still trying to get info on this unit.  Its an upright with a VGA/SVGA option.  Pretty generic design, but the quality looks good.  
817-299-3012



I hope this list helps.  

Mark

[Dave_K.]

You would be surprised to see what you can find locally (from other collectors or arcades).  I bought two awsome cabinets: an NBA Jam, and an NBA Showtime.  Both were 4 player cabinets (huge control panels) and have 25" monitors.  I got the NBA Jam (circa 1993) from a local arcade for $299, and the NBA Showtime (circa 1999) from a local collector for $200.  The Showtime cab is brand new (just no jamma boards) and was never in an arcade (it was from a failed dot com....oh the joys of living in silicon valley).

-Dave

[lightspeed]

Great info, and thanks for the research.

I own a Dynamo cabinet, and am very pleased with it.   I got it secondhand from a local shop (without monitor, but it still had the, marquee, lamp, glass bezel, coin doors, box and mech, power supply, isolation transformer, JAMMA+ harness, all parts, and the original PCB (SFII Champion Ed) all for $80.    Best deal in town, and it only needed a little retouching.

Unfortunatley, I don't believe Dynamo will sell direct for personal use - you'll have to go through one of their resellers or distributors.  That said, I think the "HS" line of cabinents is very well-suited for MAME - their designed to be adapted for virtually any upright game, and can easily be retro-fitted with kits that Dynamo offers (I have a 4 player, non-drilled control panel for an HS-5, if anyone is interested....

[Dink]

One more to check:

http://www.massystems.com/ArcadeSys.html

[Thorn]

That "funcompanyltd" cab with the 33" monitor looks cool but I don't think it would fit through a standard house doorway.

[telengard]

Unfortunatley, I don't believe Dynamo will sell direct for personal use - you'll have to go through one of their resellers or distributors.  That said, I think the "HS" line of cabinents is very well-suited for MAME - their designed to be adapted for virtually any upright game, and can easily be retro-fitted with kits that Dynamo offers (I have a 4 player, non-drilled control panel for an HS-5, if anyone is interested....

This is true, I contacted them and they gave me a list of  places locally  I could buy from.
I read somewhere that they could be switched from vertical to horizontal (monitor) easily.
What exactly is "easily"?

[Thorn]

Probably unbolt it. Rotate 90 degrees and bolt back in.

[lightspeed]

I believe the above is correct - the cabs don't have mounts that allow you to rotate on the fly, but rather can be adapted for either verticle or horizontal games but re-mounting the monitor.

The cabinets themselves are fairly large inside and very modular.   Right now, I have a 25" TV in mine (until I can convince the wife to let me buy a WG9200).  

[rampy]

If it's not already in the BYOAC FAQ... maybe this should be added to it.

I think the message board is great for asking questions and sharing ideas and bickering... but it's searching functionality is so-so (a funciton of mysql not supporting boolean searches up until very recent release(s) and scripts to take advantage of it)

so yeah... what i'm sayings is whenever we find a good piece of static information or important tidbits we should make an effort to move it to a more categorized/organized format like the faq...  *shrug* just a thought

rampy

[Tiger-Heli]

If it's not already in the BYOAC FAQ... maybe this should be added to it.

What BYOAC FAQ?

[Dink]

What BYOAC FAQ?

http://www.arcadecontrols.com/arcade.htm

My point is that the whole web site is a FAQ.

Specifically, read the title on this relavant cabinets FAQ page http://www.arcadecontrols.com/arcade_cabinets.shtml

[Tiger-Heli]

What BYOAC FAQ?

http://www.arcadecontrols.com/arcade.htm

My point is that the whole web site is a FAQ.

Specifically, read the title on this relavant cabinets FAQ page http://www.arcadecontrols.com/arcade_cabinets.shtml

Fair enough, I just had always thought of the main page as a guide and had never seen anything stating FAQ there.  There is a ton of useful stuff on the main page, though.

[Dink]

One more for the thread archive:

http://www.coinopexpress.com/products/machines/cabinets_only.html

[Dink]

Oak cocktail cabinet kits for $195:

http://www.arcadedepot.com/

[SirPoonga]

Add Wico to this list
I just got a wico ad.

Cocktail   #10-1100-C   $625
19" CGA monitor
Deep Trackball control panel option
Secure control panel
30" high, 44" wide. 24" deep
Weight: 120lbs.

Upright  #10-1200-C  $899
25" cga multi position adjustable monitor
Read castors
light, quick-change marquees
Slide out drawer panel
72" high, 26" wide, 30" deep
310lbs

Pedestal (showcase style)
33" CGA monitor
Heavy duty swivel castors
Fast set-up
76" high, 48" wide, 72" deep
650lbs

Standard features
JAMMA harness
15 amp power supply
Kit ready
secure control panel
WG monitors
2-stot over/under coin door.
on/off and test switch
stereo speakers
plywood frame, tongue and grove construction
Black melamine exterior
Tempered safety galss
one year parts warranty
adjustable leg levelers

options available
2, 4, and trackball control panel
coin door with bill acceptor
kit installation
150 watt power supply for cd-rom
EGA/VGA monitors
Ticket Dispensers.

[marcopolo]

I found another supplier over the weekend.  

http://www.greatamericanrec.com/

Click on Products, then Video Cabinets (menu on top)
This website has a ton of broken links, but if you call or email them, they can send you a .pdf brochure with details on their 27" cabinet.

The search for the perfect, affordable, new cabinet continues.. So far I am most impressed with the offering from Fun Company (http://www.funcompanyltd.com) - they snail mailed me a brochure of their 25" cabinet (which comes with an option for a 27" WG D9200 monitor) and it looks pretty nice.  The best feature is the large control panel which as room for two joysticks each with 8 buttons, a trackball and a spinner.  They also make an optional 4 player CP.  

I'd be interested if anyone has ever purchased one of their cabinets or at least played on one of them.  

Mark

[spidermonkey]

You guys will get a chuckle out of this site.
It looks like a poor excuse for an old "PONG" cabinet.
 http://www.bentleycabinets.com/kiosks.html