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Cheap Build?
Lilwolf:
If your going cocktail... you will have some problems... not much... but some.
1) cocktail tables are hard to find used... even gutted. uprights you can usually get free from an arcade if you constantly go in and ask on a weekly basis. But cocktails are MUCH harder to find. So you will be stuck making one.
Wood is cheap. Get some cheap wood (MDF). Get some free plans (will help big time). And now for the trouble... the glass. You will have to go to a glass factory. Go in and ask if they have any scrap pieces you could buy for cheap with scratchs maybe. But your looking at problaby 50 bucks just for the glass!
Then the controls. You could ask the local arcades and see if they have any old ones for sale... but they suck! old joysticks really aren't worth it. Spend 20 bucks from www.videoconnect.com and get two new supers or compitions. And get a few buttons at the same time. Also consider getting the oscar plates (20 bucks each) at some point in the future.
Hack the keyboard... !@#!@# no! hack a game pad! No ghosting problems.... no matrix problems! Some people will sya that you buy keyboard brand X and you can do it... well, keyboard companies are netorious for using different keyboard encoders on the same model keyboard... so a friend might be lucky... buy you might have troubles.
Next...
building components.... You might want to spend some cash on some good hinges (like piano ones) for the top. But that will be expensive. I would make a plan that requires the glass to be lifted up.... and make it so that you have a simple latch of some nature.
The paint... rollers...
oh yeah... the computer....
Ask friends who have new computers... they usually upgraded something.... I've given maybe 20 computers away free to friends in the past... Try for a 450+ to get most of the games running... don't expect any new ones thought.
good luck!
twist:
Lilwolf, I actually got all the parts and I will complete this project for about $40! Haha!
My neighbor was throwing out 2 huge pieces of wood, so I grabbed those. My whole cocktail plan (all pieces) fit on it fine.
I'm buying my controls from Happ, and I am going to hack a keyboard, because it isn't hard; ghosting shouldn't be a problem.
I'm getting a computer (and possibly a monitor) off a friend for free.
---------------------------------
Cabinet: $Free
Keyboard: $Free
Controls: ~$25
Computer: $Free
Solder Iron: $8
Covering (not paint!): ~$5-10
TOTAL:
about $38-40
---------------------------------
How's that for building cheap?! Tada!!
fullerlee:
...just wait til you're on your 10th trip to home depot.
twist:
Why? I don't need anymore wood.
Elkor:
cause you don't want it to look like crap.
you want to do it cheaply, not poorly. and at some point in time you will need something to put the wood together. (it's not velcro you know ;) )
oh and tell us how that keyboard ghosting thing is going when you are on your way to get something else to do the encoding!
don't get me wrong.. if you just want to do it to say you did, great. but you will have issues later and at some point, if you are really looking at using this thing for any length of time, you will want to replace it. Almost every person on this board who hacked a keyboard has. (with the exception of some people who installed large diode matricies to prevent the ghosting problems). If you don't have the $$$ for an ipac (understandable) a $6 gamepad is good advice as an acceptable alternative.
-C