What did you spend?

[zaxxonderek]

If this post has been done ignore it.

For those of you that built mame machines how much did you spend? I bet we'll get some variety here.

[unclet]

- $1588.85 for my 4-player upright (needed to buy a TV and build a computer from scratch on this one)

- $1568.12 for my 6 rotating panel driving cabinet (needed to build a computer from scratch on this one)

You can check both of them out at http://unclet.arcadecontrols.com/

The total is a lot of money but worth it for the fun of building them and the amount of time it kept me busy building them   

[evlbeaver]

This is not something I want to think about.

But since you brought it up  I have about $600 in my cocktail (an arcadedepot kit.)  I already had the computer and monitor and many of the controls from other projects.  So probably about $900 so far.  I still need to get a real acrade monitor and some ball top handles so I'm not done yet!

[cholin]

Uh oh, how discouraging

[SpamMe]

$1050ish (2 player upright).
$250 of that was a dance pad, though.

[cholin]

Did you buy a dance pad or spend $250 to build one?

[Flinkly]

he built one himself...but i can't remember if he hacked one a bit, but most was self manufactured.

as for me, i've got all my guts, but no cabinet yet and have spent $1314.88.

[SpamMe]

Did you buy a dance pad or spend $250 to build one?

Bought it, but did the artwork, and an interface hack.

[Daniel270]

So far...

[RetroJames]

 

Moon Patrol Multigame - Built for a friend (+$100)

Multi-Williams Omega Mame - Cab for free, wheeled and dealed (MADE about $100)

So far I am in the black

[paigeoliver]

I have made tons of Mames at around $250 each. The cheapest one ever for me had a negative cost.

I haven't done the math on my big old d9200 equipped beast, but it is gonna be low, at least way low considering what it has in it. Hmm, I paid $250 for the scratchbuilt cab with monitor (someone elses project they later built a better one, it is pretty nice although the build quality isn't as high as a factory cab), I probably have 300+ on the panel, then $15 for the coin door, $15 for the marquee. I used my old desktop so no cash output for the computer.

[telengard]

Spend as in money or spend as in time?

Way, WAY too much money and even more time.   

It's worth every penny though.   If I didn't re-do my control panels it would have been somewhat reasonable.  I also ruined a good chunk of change worth of sideart which wasn't fun plus the original artwork which I scrapped.  I have also replaced the computer in it recently to keep up with MAME's voracious appetite.  I'd be afraid to add up the cost of everything.  With all the original controls I've picked up and the custom machined module plates it's probably close to 3k.   

[mahuti]

Easy to keep the cost down to about $250-$500. Unless you want EVERYTHING. You can easily get into a machine for a few hundred bucks.

[danny_galaga]

about $1200 AUS on mine (multiply by 0.75 for merican bucks)

[SOAPboy]

think im at 400USD at this point..

[Tokey]

$50 for my cab
$100 for my 21" flat screen trinitron monitor
$80 for my interface card
$25 for my joys and buttons
$5 for the wood for new CP

I just carry my PC over there when I want to play, it's not dedicated so that's free I guess

$260 for a fully functional mame machine.

I just need to add a trackball now to be really happy.

[RetroJames]

I have made tons of Mames at around $250 each. The cheapest one ever for me had a negative cost.

I haven't done the math on my big old d9200 equipped beast, but it is gonna be low, at least way low considering what it has in it. Hmm, I paid $250 for the scratchbuilt cab with monitor (someone elses project they later built a better one, it is pretty nice although the build quality isn't as high as a factory cab), I probably have 300+ on the panel, then $15 for the coin door, $15 for the marquee. I used my old desktop so no cash output for the computer.

I actually paid close attention to how Paige setup his stuff and followed suit as it appeared to be the best way to get games up and running at a great price. 

[Fat_Trucker]

[missioncontrol]

I fuigured the best route to go was to not keep track of my expenses......

1) for fear the wife would find out
2) may discourage building another
3) see #1

[mahuti]

Yeah. no kiddin. Expecially #1.

[JCKnife]

Right around $2,000 (new P4 computer, new WG-D9200 monitor being the bulk of it).

[Chris]

My original plan was to use old computer parts I had lying around, so I built my first cab version for $300.  Empty cab came off eBay for $60, but it had glass, a coin door, and a panel with two joysticks and 14 buttons.  Since then, I "upgraded" to Windows from DOS, and since then it's been a constant stream of money.  Now, the benefit is that I can play even more games, but the costs are no longer proportional.  That first $300 got me most games I could possibly want. I added the Act-Labs guns ($80 for two) to get a small handful of additional games.  I rebuilt my panel and added a Happ trackball ($120 total) just to better play bowling and golf games.  Added more buttons to support Visual Pinball. Upgraded the computer inside to play a handful of more recent games ($300).  Bought a pair of Pole Position wheels for 360^o driving games, and I still haven't hooked them up yet.  So I'm probably in for close to $1000 now, but 80% of what's on my cab is the same as it was when the cab was only $300.

--Chris

[rerstad]

Too much.

[markb]

Do you want the actual cost or the cost I told my wife?

The initial actual cost was this:-
Cabinet (wood,plexi,screws, paint, t-mold,lights etc) -

[Gunstar Hero]

Lemmee think...

Empty, topless, backless Pole Position cab - Free
Stuff to fix up cab (extra wood, paint, screws, brackets, wire, ect...) - $80
Original PolePos Glass, Marquee, Coin Door and original (very briefly used by me  ) 360 wheel/CP - $90
Controls - $80
Encoder - $50
Computer (used + mouse/keyboard) - $300
Monitor (KDS 19 inch) - $90
Sound & Lighting - $60
Locks - $8
Mouse (hacked for original panel) $1

So it's looking all in all like $759... Now if I knew then what I know now, AND wanted to save some bucks, I could have saved about $20 on the controls, $20 on the encoder, the whole $90 I spent on the glass, marquee, coin door and original CPO  to "restore" the machine (my original scheme was a driving cab... it got old fast, but looked cool,)  at least $30 on my materials cost (wasted a sheet of MDF and many screws) and at least $200 on the computer (it was used, but I WAY overspent on a new video card.) That in mind, I could have been  looking at $399. 

The best ways I could have saved cash are: Watch for good parts deals and jump on them. Stay off of ebay looking for original glass/parts.  Measure twice, cut once.  And don't blow $150 on a video card. 

Still it was all money well spent. 

[quarterstringer]

I haven't kept a total cost either, but shipping is a big percentage of the costs.

Coin door was $13, but shipping was another $15.
Pole Position wheel was $15, shipping was $15.
Translucent leafs $10, shipping was $5.
Wico joysticks $10, shipping was $5.

Various parts from Happs, Ultimarc and Oscar Controls must have cost another $60 in shipping.

[caffinefiend]

overall around 1200

but some stuff like the monitor i already had, so its not like i sat down and bought 1200 worth of stuff all at once... it was over 3 years

[walls83]

Im at about 1200 also but Ive been working on my cab for 2 years.  Still need a 27" TV for it. and a bezel and its pretty much done.  Till I want to upgrade it.


Or build a new one...   

[slycrel]

  I'm probably in the $1000-1200 range.  I bought so much extra stuff I was stupid. 

  The actual parts that went into the cab were probably in the $500 range.  I also bought a bunch of tools, wood that I never used, a trackball, iPac4, and optiPac that's not used yet, a bunch of extra controls, coin door, etc.

  If I had it to re-do from scratch I'd find myself a strider macine in decent shape and get a J-Pac for it and fix that up.

  Someday maybe I'll build that 4 player cab, but as of late I've not even used the 2 player SF setup near as much as I thought I would.

[M3talhead]

I'm pretty anal about keeping track of what I spend. I have 2 Excel spreadsheets, detailing every penny I put into my first and second cabinets.

The link below is a shot of everything I put into the first.
http://img240.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img240&image=sssarcade4gi.png

[NoOne=NBA=]

First I spent ALOT.

Then I spent MORE.

Now, I'm getting ready to spend ALOT MORE.

[jelwell]

I track my costs in an excel spreadsheet as well. Here's an HTML version:
http://www.singleclick.com/~jelwell/arcade/costs.html

Basically I'm at $532.25 (although i've spent a little bit more on some spare parts and a plastic monitor bezel recently).

When I started I had the whole thing up and running for 20$. I just soldered a keyboard up to the original joystick and 2 buttons on the cabinet. And threw in an old computer.

But then I wanted 4 players simultaneously, a trackball and a pinball plunger.

This is what it looked like at 20$:
http://www.singleclick.com/gallery/album220/DSC04544

And this is what it looks like now (minus the new plastic bezel) at around 550$:
http://www.singleclick.com/gallery/album324/DSC06591

And YES it turns out I could have saved quite a bit on shipping if I had ordered everything all at once. I ordered multiple items, separately, from Happs and Ultimarc on a few occasions. Also, I should have ordered ultimarc's wiring kit rather than spending money, repeatably, at radio shack and home depot.
Joseph Elwell.
P.S. I know I defaced a time pilot 84 machine. I don't care, and if anyone did they should have saved it before I donated 20$ to keep it from hitting the dump.

[JODY]

I'm still spending and don't have a cab yet but there is prototypes of this and that and parts everywhere.