WOO HOO! Got my first Cab! - And Now it's Operational

[kelemvor]

Picked up what used to be a MK cab (but was turned into a Carnival King)  for $50.

Basically just the shell but had some random crap inside.  Has a coin door that looks banged up but should still work fine.

We wrestled it down the stair sand into the workshop so I took some pics.

So far I just started cleaning it out (pics are from before I started) and getting it mostly clean inside so I can start figuring out what to do.

I'm planning on a basic 2 player CP with 6 buttons each.  No trackball, spinner, etc for now.  Probably add those in later.

Since the sides are somewhat banged up and such, I'll probably paint it and do my own thing for a theme.  For now I just want to get it usable so for Christmas we can play around on it for a bit.

I already have all the hardware so just have to figure out where to start to put everything together.  Any suggestions would be great.  Heh heh.

Update see my update post about 6 below...

[Circo]

Nice for $50, should make a nice cab when finished.

[BrentRadio]

Wow, if you can get that usable by Christmas, you are the man!

Brent

[kelemvor]

Well, I'm hoping to get it usable....  Meaning whip up a CP, slap in a monitor and a PC, and hope it works.  Not planning on doing anything to the cab itself by then.  That will have to wait until after the holidays. 

[shardian]

Cool grab. I wish I could get a gutted midway cabinet. It should make a very nice machine. Congrats!

[RandyT]

Heh.  Gotta love that control panel.

I've always admired the design of the MK cabs.  Nice score!


RandyT

[kelemvor]

Well, I wanted to rig it up so it ws usable by Christmas and I just got done.

It's definitely nothing pretty but at least it works.

Whipped up a CP with the parts I've accumulated over time.  2 players, 6 buttons each, coin and start for each player as well as two buttons that will be pause and shift.

I already don't like the layout a bit.  I want to move the two sets of controls closer together so each person is more in front of the screen.  Something to work on later.

For the screen I have a Dell LCD.  I thought I could just stick a shelf in there and be done with it up the slant of the glass is so severe that the LCD won't tip back far enough on its stand so that didn't work.  I ended up putting a flat piece of MDF type board in the opening and then just putting a little shelf on the bottom of that which the LCD rests on.  The two small clips just keep it from popping up and falling down.

I have some Creative Labs speakers that have 2 small speakers up above and a sub down below.

Dell PC inside making it all go.

I do have a keyboard and mouse hooked up for now since I don't have everything programmed in its final way.

But hopefully it will be a hit for the holidays.

[polaris]

go on then, ill say it,
<sings>have yourself a mamey little christmas</sings>

enjoy

[Kevin Mullins]

Uh-oh.... you have it playable now.... you might as well call it done. 

(just kidding of course)

I already don't like the layout a bit.  I want to move the two sets of controls closer together so each person is more in front of the screen.  Something to work on later.

You might also want to angle the button layout a bit for each player. This makes them a little more"ergonomic" when playing for extended periods of time.

[kelemvor]

go on then, ill say it,
<sings>have yourself a mamey little christmas</sings>

enjoy

Heh heh.  I like that one.

[Jack Burton]

Congratulations.

I thought about putting a wider control panel on my MK Mame cab as well, but was worried about it being too wide for the players to stand in front of the monitor.  Guess I have my answer now.

Not sure that was a  dedicated MK though, looks more like a MK II to me.  It doesn't have the same angles under the control panel as a MK I.

For reference, here's a MK II:

http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?game_id=8756

I think this is your cab.  They are practically identical to MK I's aside from that small cosmetic difference.

To mount my PC monitor inside, I cut out a piece of plywood as wide as the interior of the cab and sat the monitor on it as a shelf, making sure the angle was the same as the old monitor, which actually turned out to be pretty steep.

[kelemvor]

Not sure that was a  dedicated MK though, looks more like a MK II to me.  It doesn't have the same angles under the control panel as a MK I.

As I was looking closer at my cab, I could pick up on some stickers that had been painted over.  They say NBA Showtime.  So that was in its past somewhere as well.

I agree about the front corners below the CP.  Mine ar straight and don't have the corners cut off like the MK cabinets do.

[Kevin Mullins]

As I was looking closer at my cab, I could pick up on some stickers that had been painted over.  They say NBA Showtime.  So that was in its past somewhere as well.

Could very well have been an NBA Showtime.... that was also a Midway game that had a dedicated cabinet.