Cabinet Conversion opportunity...

[NOkontrol]

Hi guys, I have an itch to build a MAME cab and have been doing lots of reading up and checking out some of the amazing work that some of you guys have done...
I'm having a hard time deciding whether to pick up a used game and convert it or to start from scratch.. I would probably have to borrow or buy some tools and time is money for me. I'm definitely going to build a custom control board and am thinking that a two player board done in kind of a standard Lusid/slikstik/Kinevel inspired layout will suit me just fine.
I spotted some local opportunities but am not sure how good of a deal they are (haven't seen them in person either.)
Anyway I'm looking at these working games...with descriptions as follows.

"I have for sale a Defender coin-op arcade game in great shape, and great working order. Right now it is set to free play, but it can be changed to take quarters to play. Asking $300.00"

"soul calibur arcade game, works as shown
coin op or free play
$300"

"Altered Beast - Everything works except for the sound $150" 

There are others but these caught my eye and were the cheaper of the ones that weren't too beat up.
Any opinions? Trying to figure out if I should be looking for a certain cab style to accept my plan for a control board or just get a cab I like and assume that I'll be able to mod it however I want without too much trouble...
Sorry for rambling, I've been reading for days and dreaming of mashing buttons my head's spinning. Super eager but I want to do this right the first time.

[Beretta]

i'd say keep looking but i dont know what the economy is liek where you're at.

anyway definitely have an idea of what kinda cab you want.

if you convert one it's good to start with something close to what you want.. rather then trying to hack and mod the cabinet to make it something else.. surely it can be done but it's more work and less likely to be happy with it unless you're good at wood working.

have an idea of how many players you want, how many controls you want, which do you prefer? horizonal or vertical games? also how big of a monitor would you like? 19? 25? 27... MORE?

how do you prefer your monitor to be angled?

get an idea of what you want, what you can live with, and what you can't..

the less compromises you have to make the happier you will be.

[mvsfan]

try to find something that is Jamma and make sure it has a working monitor ask them to play a game on it if possible.

Then order yourself an opti pac to plug into the jamma and youll be way ahead of the game.

otherwise your gonna have to do some figuring out and some rewiring also.

if you want to get this thing up and running as fast as possible thats the way to go.

[CrazyKongFan]

The other 2 are probably already JAMMA, but please don't ruin a good working classic like Defender by converting it to MAME. If it was already gutted and not working, ok, but not one working and in great shape. This has been today's public service announcement

[GaryMcT]

If you end up converting a classic (like Defender), please don't do anything irreversible to it.

I made a generic control panel for my Defender, but I'm on the verge of putting it back stock and using a bombed out cab as a basis for a Mame/JROK Multi-Williams machine.

Everytime someone ruins a classic machine, Jesus kills a kitten.

[NOkontrol]

Thanks for the replies. I really just need to cool my jets and write down my goals for the project before I rush out and buy anything.
It's really the decisions and huge number of choices that I need to contend with first.
The more I think about it the more sense starting from scratch makes, there's no deadline for this kind of project and it's probably a little sad when the journey is over so I might as well take my time.
So no worries about the Defender cab, I didn't really want to hurt it anyway.

I would like to say that my respect goes out to all of the MAME pioneers out there that put in so much time to share their knowledge on these boards and personal websites. I've already got  Mala up and running and never would have figured that out on my own. Thanks UncleT 

I'm a noob to mame but I also know I've got it easy compared to the noobs from 10 years ago...I doubt I'll need to ask many questions as so many have already been answered.

Wish me luck, hopefully I'll end up with something worth sharing before the internet gets taken over by skynet...

 

[mvsfan]

yeah if you want to build from scratch, have at it. its a great way to get everything just the way you want it.

one thing that worked out really well for me though is that the coin box in my dynamo cabinet is exactly the right size to stick 5.25 drives Into and of course 3.5 with adapter.

thats something i did anyways on my built from scratch cabinet i put a door on the side of it but then i had to weld up a cage for the drives using an old pc tower.

their are benefits to recycling a cabinet.

one thing i noticed right away though is most O.E cabinets are too short, especially neo geo. Youll have to build a base for it to sit on if your 6 feet or taller.

[mvsfan]

another thing, if you need tools dont rule out your local pawn shops and flea markets. the price on some of the tools ive bought at those places over the years is amazing.

[mvsfan]

just dont buy any junk. Junk tools are just as good as no tools and theirs plenty of it at flea markets.