My "unconventional" arcade cabinet project

[Meltman1]

This is my first post on the boards. Hopefully they will be fully functional soon. Anyway, I registered with the name Meltman and this is my somewhat different cabinet design.

I wanted a cabinet that was suitable for 4 players but yet not super huge deep (like 6-player xmen). So I decided to inlay the monitor rather than put it up in the air like a normal cabinet.

Here's the very first shot of the TV in the cabinet. This was a test run. I honestly had no idea what it would end up looking like.


Anyways, I wanted the screen to be clearly viewable from all player positions. I also wanted to have the top be a smooth semi-circle. I've never seen a cabinet built this way, so I figured I'd give it a shot and be unique. This is what I came up with. It sort of looks like a reject baseball diamond.


But alas, I lost my job the VERY week I was going to order controls and became an even poorer college student. So the project was put away in my parents basement for a solid year. This year I hacked an Xbox and started playing Street Fighter against one of my good friends. It became obvious that pulling off special alpha moves was near impossible to do with the xbox's stick or crappy D-pad, so the arcade was resurrected. Out of pure luck, my boss at work was getting rid of a 20 inch CRT monitor that was a PERFECT size match to the crappy TV I was going to use.

Tada! The "fail out box" was alive again!


Ooooh pretty buttons


Button layout


Giving the top some depth


My high tech clamping methods


Huge mess on the floor


Thats it for right now (actually I'm WAY closer to being done, but you all will just have to wait).

As a side note, anyone building an arcade really should create good plans. I kind of got boozed a bit one night and started building. There are no major mistakes, but I would have spent a ton less time staring at the box thinking "now how the hell am I going to do this?"

[leapinlew]

Interesting idea... I'm curious to see how it all works out. It's kind of cool that you could put glass over the top and use it as a bar.

If me and my friends started playing some 4 player games on that - someone would have a concusion before it was all said and done.

[meltman01]

I'm thinking 1/4 plexi for the "drunk protection" factor.

Its going to be a big sheet though. 40 x 40 inches. I'm really open to all suggestions on that part.

[shardian]

Neat build. I can't wait to see the finished product.

[AKA Kaytrim]

  Excellent and innovative design.  My wife would kill me if I put something that big in the basement.  She is mad enough already with the eyesore I have currently.

TTFN 
Kaytrim

[Meltman1]

Ok, here's some more:

The evil bezel. Man this thing was a HUGE pain to try to mock up and build and have all the angles be right plus fit on the monitor blah bla blah bla...


The bottom side. Dont mind the wacky paint on the wood. It was re-used.


A little primer later...


This is how it sits right now.


So maybe this weekend if I have time, it will be painted black. We'll see. Its getting towards the end of the semester and I've got tons of projects to do.

[shardian]

...I smell a Mamey...

[TOK]

Really cool design. I saw a computer desk with the monitor set in exactly like that one time. It had dark tinted glass over it, so the monitor didn't really show when switched off. If you don't have plans to use it as a hardcore table, you can get a full sheet of tinted 1/4 polycarbonate that will easily cover that in one piece. I bought a 4x6 foot sheet for $80 from a local plastics distributor. Its not scratch resistant enough for table use though.
Here is the effect on my vert cab. Monitor pretty much disappears when off...

[shardian]

Of course, you could always recess a piece of smaller tempered glass to cover the monitor, and then cover the whole top with plexi.

[Meltman1]

I have considered tinted, but I want some sweet button graphics and am afraid the tinted plastic will make them really hard to see.

That will have to wait until I have money though. What I'm really struggling with now is speaker placement. I dont have a good idea where the best place for them would be.

[leapinlew]

With this cabinet design - I wouldn't mind seeing the speakers. A nice set of  kick-you-in-the-teeth speakers with glowing neon rings that pulse to the game sounds. Whee!

Also, some bright LED lights under the control area to light up the base of the arcade would make the cabinet look like it's floating.

Looking really cool.

[LLiNRAC(as guest)]

reminds me alot of a cab that used super NES controllers way back in the day.

I havent seen this site in like 4 years......
but I moved back east and there sat my un finished MAME cab.....



that I started finishing again this week.

I think the lighting ideas above would be neat, but remember to put an off switch on there too

[squeem2]

Okay, so you made a stand-up play cocktail.  Not that it isn't neat - nice construction - but I can't see not having a 27" monitor.  (Currently, I use my 19" LCD on a rotating stand, so's I get at least 19 inches both ways, but I'm thinking hard on an arcade monitor....I love some things about LCDs, but the colors aren't quite what I'd want, and though LCDs are great for vector games, the backlighting issue overshadows this.)

[Meltman01]

Its not a 27" monitor, it's a 22" Daimondtron NF and its heavy as hell.

[squeem2]

Oh.  Scale can be hard to tell, sometimes.  Still, since you can't tilt it, you won't get at least standard size on vertical games (although maybe you don't play those).  Although you've got it all together, you could put a speaker on each side of the monitor; you could recess them and when you use it as a bar, you could put little plexiglass covers over them.  (I'd never use it as a bar - too much chance of accident.)
As for the weight, just means you need to come train with me.