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Quick question - in search of advice on how to start

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Hockeyboy:

I've been bitten by the "I wanna make a cabinet!" bug too.  :D  A guy at work is offering to give me a gutted-out Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle cabinet for free vs. me going out and buying wood to build my own from scratch. The cabinet itself is in good condition - maybe a little wear around some edges and I'd need to replace the t-molding too...I guess my question is which way should I go? Stick with the pre-built cabinet and build my own control panel and such or build one from the ground up looking at plans others have done?

What have others done and how did it turn out? Did you have regrets not going the other way afterwards?

Thanks.

brophog:

Personally, I think a lot of the enjoyment is designing and building something of your own. I can certainly appreciate those that get cabinets to restore though.

vizzinni:

I'd take the free cabinet, even if you only use if for a later project, like maybe a restoration of the original game (bone thrown to the purists...). 

I've asked myself the same question, and concluded that if I could find a decent cabinet I'd start there rather than from scratch, at least for the first project.  But that's just because I don't have a lot of workspace, money, or time.  A little more of any of those three and I might go from scratch.

I figured that among the things to consider are control panel size and monitor size; judging by the picture of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cabinet at KLOV, there's plenty of room in both cases.

Bones:

The Project Announcement forum has an awesome collection of projects. Some are scratch built, and some are gutted cabs given a second chance at life.....

It really is a personal preference. As far as a budget goes you will be better off with a gutted cab but nothing beats the fun or satisfaction of scratch building in my opinion. 



Hockeyboy:

Thanks already for the advice. I know I can do the woodwork myself - I have several power tools that would easily do the job and I know enough about woodworking to be able to do the project. I'm still up in the air about it though - on the one hand, I'd like to stay true to form and have stuff like the coin door and original cab with just my own (or close resemblance to others) CP; on the other hand, with my woodworking abilities I know I could have a blast building one from scratch. Besides, what's an extra $100 in cost?  ;)  ;)

Have to say visiting this forum is tremendously exciting -- the only roadblock right now is not money but the fact that the wife keeps telling me we don't have the space available for building and where in the h*** am I going to put a cab once it's done? Of course, my kids (16, 16, 11) are all telling me to go for it - being able to play vintage arcade games sounds like a blast to them.

Thanks again for making me feel welcome already.

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