My Mame Machine (Still in progress)

[Hunk_4TH]

I thought I'd go ahead and post pictures of my Mame cabinet. I actually got this cabinet for free. I'm not sure what the cabinet was originally. My guess is it was some sort of Midway cabinet or similar judging by the coin door and speaker plates. Anyway with further ado heres my Mame machine sorry about the flash I'll update this thread later on with some better pictures. Let me know what you think and pointers and advice are welcome

before









After (Not much difference besides the control panel (I'm using the guts out of my X-arcade till I get me an Ipac)



It's a mess


Motherboard mounted

[javeryh]

Maybe the grain of the wood is throwing me off but the buttons and joysticks don't appear to be lined up?  Is there a reason for this?  Don't worry about the wiring mess - most of us have rats' nest underneath the CPs!   

[Hunk_4TH]

Hello javeryh,

Thanks for replying! About the joysticks the second stick hole got cut a little further back then the other one but it's not too bad. I may fix it in the future sorry about that  I have a blue Happ ultimate joystick and colored Happ buttons on the way. So once I get those popped in I'll post more pictures 

[johnmartin]

Any building errors aside, at least you now have a working cabinet that you can PLAY!  And that is what it is all about.  How it looks is irrelevant as long as you are happy with it.  And I bet you are right now.

To help with the hole cutting, I use a drywall square and 12" framing square to line everything up.  Nice and long and makes it easy to get holes where they belong.  If you have one use it. If not borrow one from someone you know. It really does help.

[Hunk_4TH]

Yea I am happy with it, I think for my first custom cp it turned out ok  Thanks for the hole cutting tip I'll definitely keep that in mind 

[nullb0y]

So, for lining up my cuts i literally do all my CP design on my computer with a file like this:

This was used for the woody cab and my big bad podium

the easiest thing to do is just move the buttons untill they seem right for you

print out the full page

Tape it to the wood
and just drill right throught the paper
Yeah it tears, but it works great for proper layouts


Its viewed vertical cause it prints right from paint to scale that way

I would just grab a new peice of wood and re-drill it

P.S. dont trust the joystick bolt holes allways use a joystick base to mark/make those holes or they never line up

[Hunk_4TH]

So, for lining up my cuts i literally do all my CP design on my computer with a file like this:

This was used for the woody cab and my big bad podium

the easiest thing to do is just move the buttons untill they seem right for you

print out the full page

Tape it to the wood
and just drill right throught the paper
Yeah it tears, but it works great for proper layouts


Its viewed vertical cause it prints right from paint to scale that way

I would just grab a new peice of wood and re-drill it

P.S. dont trust the joystick bolt holes allways use a joystick base to mark/make those holes or they never line up

thanks for the tip nullb0y! I appreciate it. I should've done that in the first place >.> I'll keep that in mind though and maybe redo it later on down the road

[nullb0y]

I would honestly just get a new peice of wood for it and re-do it when you get the chance, Its not that hard to redrill a CP

[ark_ader]

Hi,

Glad you took the X-Arcade away and made your own CP.

Where did you get your marquee?

What is the spec of your PC inside?

You have done a nice job so far. 

[danny_galaga]

this is going to be a great cab to keep fiddling with and improving. youve made a start with the control panel. maybe later you could look at getting another perspex screen. yours looks like its seen better days. you could try your hand at painting the cab. or some vinyl graphics, although i hear that can be expensive.

what are the specs? type of monitor, pc etc?

[Hunk_4TH]

Hi,

Glad you took the X-Arcade away and made your own CP.

Where did you get your marquee?

What is the spec of your PC inside?

You have done a nice job so far. 

Thank you! I'm using the guts out of my X-arcade until me an I-Pac I also replaced the left side with a blue Happ competition joystick and 6 colored Happ buttons (will take more pictures later)I got had the Marquee printed from Mamemarquees.com of course. But I'm going to have it replaced as it made for an older project that got tore down. The specs of the PC are an AM2 AMD Athlon X2 overclocked to 2.40ghz 1gb of ram (though the crappy onboard video eats up some ram ) And a CRT monitor I think it's a 17" I'd love to have an Arcade monitor but I can't afford one

this is going to be a great cab to keep fiddling with and improving. youve made a start with the control panel. maybe later you could look at getting another perspex screen. yours looks like its seen better days. you could try your hand at painting the cab. or some vinyl graphics, although i hear that can be expensive.

what are the specs? type of monitor, pc etc?

Thanks danny_galaga! I keep doing things to it every now and then so I think it will turn out pretty good! I agree the smoke glass has seen better days  I'll end up replacing that in the future as well. I actually painted the cab glossy black but will do one last coat once I get some side art for it sorry nullb0y I just saw your post I'll definitely look into re-doing the cp later on thanks for the tips!

[ark_ader]

I'm very impressed you managed to get the X Arcade transferred to the cab. 

I really do not see the point for an Ipac, if only to simplify the wiring.  You can get a Keywiz from Randy that will still do the job nicely.

Any room for a spinner?

Yep, looking very nice so far! 

[Hunk_4TH]

I'm very impressed you managed to get the X Arcade transferred to the cab. 

I really do not see the point for an Ipac, if only to simplify the wiring.  You can get a Keywiz from Randy that will still do the job nicely.

Any room for a spinner?

Yep, looking very nice so far! 

Thanks! yea I was pretty impressed myself afterwards. Though I have to work on getting right joystick working I think some of the wires arn't hooked up correctly or plugged in all the way. One reason I was thinking of an I-Pac is as you said to simplify the wiring the keywiz though looks great too and is cheaper. About the spinner yep looks like I might be able to fit one in the middle

[Hunk_4TH]

Hey guys! Sorry I haven't updated this in awhile I've done a lot of work and changes to the cabinet. Here it is in it's current state. Also it stills needs a lot of work around the speaker/marquee area.

[Gatsu]

oh tell me I do not see a MK marquee tacked up on the wall.....I'd have slapped that on the cab for the marquee.

Lookin good man. I cant say I've got a playable cab in my place yet. lol

[Hunk_4TH]

oh tell me I do not see a MK marquee tacked up on the wall.....I'd have slapped that on the cab for the marquee.

Lookin good man. I cant say I've got a playable cab in my place yet. lol

Thanks man! Yeah it is lol I actually am planning on it. originally I couldn't get it to fit and didn't want to cut it any. but since I have to re-do the speaker/marquee areas it's a possibility.

Oh you mean you have a cab but it's not in a playable state?

[Gatsu]

Im in the process of building a japanese style cab at the moment....its nowhere near playable yet. lol.
Haven't even gotten the controls in yet. lol.

soon though.....very soon.

[Hunk_4TH]

Oh a candy cab? sweet! I wish I owned one and a neo geo cab. A member on the board built an astro from scratch it looked amazing! of course you know this lol

Btw I got curious so I took down the MK marquee and placed it in my machine slighting too big but looks cool 

[Gatsu]

can always trim it down or get it re-printed to fit.

Since its already got tack holes in it I'd say trim it.

[Hunk_4TH]

Yeah, I was thinking of doing that. The marquee looks awesome lit up!

[Gatsu]

Do eeeeeet! DO EEEEEET! 

[Hunk_4TH]

Took your advice and did some trimming. I think it turned out rather well. Just need to have some plexi made up for it