Hi Guys,
I originally posted the progress of my lowboy build on the Aussie Arcade forums and due to the heap of help I have received here
I thought I should post up the progress of my cabinet here as well. So here goes........
I originally bought a lowboy a while ago off Ebay with the intentions of copying it for a mame setup and then either put the original lowboy in a mates workshop or sell it off. With a few weeks holidays I thought I had better do something useful and FINALLY start the project. I removed all the fragile parts from the lowboy and got underway........
I purchased 2 x 18mm 2.4m x 1.2m sheets of MDF and 1 x 16mm sheet as well.
Here is the good thing about copying one you already own!
Cut the sides out and clamped them together to sand them..........
It is starting to look like something now which is pretty exciting..............
The cabinet is standing by itself and the rear and top panels are now on. In this pic I have trial fitted the bottom front panel to where the CP will fit just to see what it looks like!
I bought some good quality hinges that allow the side on the front door panel to move sideways to clear the sidepanel of the cabinet as it opens...
These were pretty fiddley to fit as you have to route out a 35mm circle from the MDF making sure you setup the router so you dont drill all of the way through!
I also fitted a cam lock to the front door...works a treat!
Now for the monitor, I have actually had trouble trying to find a 21'CRT monitor but was lucky enough to come across this IBM P275 flatscreen..........
I owned it for about 20 minutes before I did this!
I took a stencil of the monitor and the original mounting points, stenciled it onto a piece of MDF and WOLAH!
Had a bit of time today to measure up how the monitor sits, it was slightly govered by the sheer size of the monitor, so with the back panel screwed on I got the best possible angle and height by resting the back of the monitor hard against the back cabinet panel. I think the viewing angle is going to be fine........
It still needs some slight adjustments to make everything square but I am pretty happy considering how big this bloody monitor is (length wise).
I have also just bought a 2.2ghz P4 and have started getting the software side of things done. I will be using mame v.106 with Mala, sound will be courtesy of a set of Logitech Z-4 speakers with sub as I really liked the remote setup for the volume and sub...plus they sound fantastic!
I have completed the control panel and will get some photos up soon.
Cheers,
Simon