Got this well before Christmas, but with family and other holiday joys, I'm just now getting to this review. Ed from
Arcade In A Box sent me one of his AIAB kits to play with, and I'll tell you what I think, of course
If you haven't heard of AIAB (where have you been?), the basic concept is an arcade control panel box that not only houses the arcade controls, it also houses the entire guts of a computer as well. The only thing you need to do is connect the box to audio and video outputs to play.
AIAB sells plans for the unit, kits for the wood and mounting hardware (which is what I received), deluxe kits with arcade controls included, and they'll even give you a quote for a unit including the computer components.
Frankly my expectations were not high - not that I had anything but a tremendous amount of respect for Ed, on the contrary he's been around the community for quite a while and has always been a stand-up-fellow - but I was basically expecting some pieces of wood, pre-cut holes, and some screws. I was very pleasantly surprised however at the lengths Ed's gone to in putting this together.
The kit arrived very well packed in a large box, and looked like this when unpacked:
Plastic wrapped wood pieces and box o' parts.
And unwrapped -- everything was well protected, no dings or scrapes. This shows the inside faces.
Outside faces. Ed chose the colors
Notice the labelling on the inside faces of the wood. I was *extremely* impressed with the labelling on this kit. If you've ever put together kit bookshelves or similar furniture, you know that labelling pieces can be hit or miss. Often the hardest part is figuring out which danged piece it is the instructions are referring to. There was no such confusion here. Every single piece of the kit was labelled.
Individual bags with each set of hardware labelled.
I was so impressed I had to take two pictures.
OK, three pictures. No ambiguity on what goes where!
Assembling the frame was straight forward and easy enough. All needed screws are included, and Ed threw in a bottle of wood glue to help make the rig extra secure. As I took pictures and toyed with the kit it never showed any sign of wobbling or fragility.
Control panel installed. First issue I ran into was here - some of the pre-drilled holes were ever so slightly off-the-mark, so that when I was assembling I had to nudge it a bit while screwing in the screws. I've run into the same issue when putting together pre-fab furniture. In the end result everything fits together well and there are no defects or issues to deal with, but a few (very few) of the connections required a moment's thought and a bit of pressure while assembling.
The fully assembled box. I particularly like the hinges Ed includes, I'm going to find the same hinges and use them in all my control panels here on out.
It would have been easy to stop here and just tell the customer to install their computer parts in the box without giving direction. However, AIAB has done an excellent job of laying out where components go, labelling and pre-drilling holes, and providing the hardware to mount the components in the box. For instance, they tell you which mounting holes on your CD-ROM drive to use, provide the screws and brackets to install it, and when installed the front of the drive aligns perfectly with side of the box (see pic further on down). Nice attention to detail here and it showed.
I did have to go it alone on my motherboard mounting however, although the screws and standoffs were included. The front-mounted USB cables supplied by AIAB were not long enough to reach the connectors on my motherboard when the motherboard was oriented per the pre-drilled holes on the base of the kit. All the other connectors had long enough cables, and I would have liked to have seen longer cables on the USB ports. However, there was plenty of room in the box and moving my motherboard 90-degrees solved the problem.
Front mounted USB port.
Inside the box with all my computer hardware mounted.
I particularly liked the power button included. Standard microswitch arcade push-button connects directly to your motherboard with the included cable.
Next I installed the arcade controls. All the holes were the right size and installing the arcade controls was a non-event. You do have to drill your own screw holes due to the wide variety of mounting patterns different arcade controls have.
Arcade controls installed. Ultimarc joysticks, transluscent pushbuttons bought from one of the vendors here (someone help me I'm drawing a blank!), and a Betson-Imperial trackball. Plenty of room on the panel to add additional controls, the current layout is a default config chosen by AIAB.
Inside the box. I chose to use the Ultimarc Mini-Pac for this unit. Yes, I know the wires aren't actually connected yet
Side shot showing flush-mounted CD-ROM drive and exhaust fan.
Shot of back showing Audio-Video ports, VGA, and power connector.
All in all I was favorably impressed by the AIAB kit. Solid components, well done instructions, lots of attention to detail. I imagine it would take someone unfettered by distractions about 3 to 4 hours to put the whole thing together. I enjoyed putting it together, was at about a "0.0" on the cursing scale while constructing, and did not have to invest too much time in assembly. Everything seems well thought out and quality was good.
There are a few things I would like to see addressed. Longer USB cables and the addition of an S-Video jack on the audio-video panel (which can be easily picked up online if you want to do so yourself) address physical concerns. I would have liked to have seen installation photos in the instructions to match the excellent documenting and labelling. This could be sent via a PDF or with pictures online for those who operate better visually than with written instructions. I'd also like to see additional flexibility in choosing layout and design of your controls (for instance, pinball flipper buttons), however adding your own is easy enough and there's plenty of room.
My rule of thumb when considering something like this, particularly in light of the "build your own" spirit a lot of our visitors have, is whether or not it would have been easier or cheaper to do it yourself instead of buying. For most people I would say that this kit clearly passes this test. When you factor in the time, effort and money not spent in materials, woodworking and design, this is one hell of a kit! Prices start at $250 and up depending on options chosen. If you're looking for an all-in-one box I wouldn't hesitate to recommend picking one up. Mine is going in our guestroom in our new basement!
--- saint
Arcade In A Box!
Comments/questions/criticisms? Let's hear them here! Also keep an eye out for Killer Clown's review of his AAIB unit over at Mameworld Edit: Spelling