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My first cabinet - Smash TV to MAME Conversion

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Zakk:
You can leave the cabinet as-is and just change the control panel...I don't see how bolting platic to the sides is going to do anything but make this a monstrosity.  People like that game!  If they see it, and THEN they realize that it's been Mame'd, what a bonus!  You can do it with a Jpac (as I mentioned earlier) or go with an arcadeVGA and put a computer and new panel on there.  What on earth are you thinking that you need it to be pink and white and whatever?!?!?   The guys that designed the artwork on that cabinet were professional artist working for one of the world's biggest arcade companies.  How is your pvc creation ever going to compete with that???

Mame this without wrecking it, then make a pink bartop unit from scratch.  Problem solved for everyone. 

bfauska:
It seems to me like the PVC sheet idea isn't so bad, all it would do to damage the cabinet is put a few holes in the side for bolts. Add a custom CP top, and J-Pac and you're good to go, without much damage.

I do also agree with the idea that the original artwork is a great starting place, leave the sides, build a custom CP top, add the J-Pac, and again... good to go, although this time with an easy cohesive look and no damage.

Either way I don't think it's too big of a crime.

I think there is also a jamma switch of some sort. I don't know anything about it but I thought I saw it somewhere, if it does what I think then you should be able to switch from MAME to the original board and then swap over the CP and be back to stock Smash TV play. (Although, if your custom CP allowed, MAME does emulate Smash well as far as I know, so I don't know what the advantage would be.)

SithMaster:
I think the plastic sides is a good compromise.

Im going to throw this in and it is just my opinion so you can ignore if you want to as it is your cab.  The only thing i would change is the cp and leave the art just because it is already there and it could work into a theme.

Now the next point to argue is over the bolting of said pvc.

(dont worry guys were slowly making him concede to our will)

blueznl:
Let me be the devils advocate: if people like that original cab so much they should buy it from you. If nobody does, feel free to do with it whatever you want. Although I'm all in favor of restoration not all of us have the luxury of overly large basements. It's YOUR call, not someone else's.

Stobe:
I'm as big a fan of Smash TV as anyone else.  But the bottom line is that we all know that noone is going over to estonia to "rescue" the cab.  So just let the owner do what he wishes with it.

As far as my 2 cents worth of advice, I'll second the notion of using a jpac.  Simply replace the top with a new board and use your own controls vs. an xarcade (more color choices, better quality, etc).

If you question your woodworking skills, check with Kenieval about one of his CP tops.  It might fit right on top.  Then you'll just have to mount it, attach your controls, connect a couple wires to the jpac (for the extra buttons) and you're done!  (I make it sound so easy).

As for your technical questions... the "thing" on the VGA cable is more or less a magnet to reduce RF interance.  Not a bad idea to have.

For your power question, just search the boards for (the hundreds) of posts about smart strips and their foreign equivalents.  That will be your "one switch" solution.  That and having a front end that can send a shutdown command to windows for you.

Good luck......you'll need it  (shameless Smash TV quote).

-Stobe

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