Cost of a Cabinet to gut and where to find them.

[barnes]

Whats the average cost of an old Arcade Cabinet you could buy to gut and build into, and where would be the best place to find one? I've found that Ebay, and then choosing "Closet" works, found an Area 51 machine I'm bidding on, and Craigslist.com has alot more the I expected.

So, where do you get your old cabinets, and how much did you spend?

[Xam]

I got an old Taito cabinet from a fellow member on the boards here. I have seen several freebies on Craig's list and also several for sale between $25 and $75.

I personally would not spend more than $50 on an empty cab...but it would really depend on condition and if anything came with the cab (joysticks, coin door, monitor, bezelz, etc.)

Xam

[FrizzleFried]

I got a Data East RoboCop/Bad Dudes Cabinet that had been converted to a SFII for $100.00.  It came with a working monitor, 2 joysticks, 14 buttons,  jamma harness,  power supply,  coin door, etc.  Only thing missing was the PCB.

I then got a generic Dynamo cabinet that had been a Final Fight for a kickass $35.00 and 8 DVD's.   That came with a monitor, 2 joysticks, 8 buttons, jamma harness, etc.

[krich]

I just got my first cabinet from a local arcade vendor that had a konami cabinet that was converted to a golden tee 97 for $100.00 the cabnet had already been gutted down to the wood expect for coin doors, glass, speakers

-Keith

[MinerAl]

Don't rule out thrift stores.  I've found a TRON and an Atari Football at thrift stores, $1250 and $40 respectively.

[postalp123]

Search for "Amusement/Redemption Machines" (The non-adult ones  ) in your area. Those companies that rent and sell their arcade machines always have an old one laying around, if that doesn't work, go to an arcade/711 or Movie Theatre in your area that has a few machines and look for the owner's stickers on the machines.

I found a contact by asking the manager of a local Movie Theatre where they rent their arcade machines from.