From many years on the scene and starting up Turnarcades in a difficult economy, I personally believe UK arcade enthusiasts are seriously short-changed compared to our american cousins when it comes to building our arcade machines, restoring cabinets and generally keeping the arcade spirit alive. I feel that as small a nation we are, the enormity of the arcade scene back in the day in this country was second only to America. This is evident from the number of British members on forums like this, the efforts to bring conventions on the hobby back (ie Insert Coin '09) and the trade that other UK-based vendors like us find ourselves lucky enough to receive.
Unfortunately, from my own enquiries, trade experience and conversations with forum members and other vendors, it is evident that obtaining the parts needed for cabinet building, maintenance and restoration is very difficult. Even supposedly simple parts you think would be readily available are very hard to find once you start to look for them. This means having to resort to ordering from abroad, which although now common with he advent of the internet, is not always ideal due to the costs/duty/delivery soon adding up, not to mention the ridiculous waiting times.
To get to the point, I'm taking a leaf out of Andy's book (ie. Ultimarc's various interfaces born out of demand) and have decided to try and eventually offer something to the community (well the UK and Europe at least) that is simply needed but often overlooked. I'm looking to expand Turnarcades over a long period and would like to start offering parts and accessories that simply aren't commonly available on this continent for European customers, without the need to import goods that aren't necessarily ideal for us as arcade enthusiasts. I think we need something like this to encourage more enthusiasts to take up this hobby and for restorers to preserve video game history.
What I'd like to do is draw on all UK (and European) member's experiences and try to identify items that would either be useful, commonly requested, currently have to be self-fabricated, are rarely available or are just not available but would be beneficial to the community. I'm thinking along the lines of things like cocktail cabinet clips, T-moulding in metric sizes, replacement glass, cheaper marquee retainers, artwork, custom electronics (like a magnetically-shielded, low-profile speaker system that instantly connects to a PC), catches, mounting solutions or maybe even specially-commissioned displays for home-build use.
If users can submit suggestions in replies on this thread, I will add them to a master list in this posting. Once the listing is complete, I will be approaching some companies to see if fabricating these parts is feasible business-wise, and maybe even other vendors with the right contacts can take some of these suggestions forward. Although I'd like to expand and offer these items, I'd really just like to bring these points into focus so any member here who is in a position to do so could think about taking the idea forward if they can and give UK hobbyists the choice we deserve.
So, to kick this list off:
- T-moulding - various grades/colours/widths in metric sizing (for the DIY scene)
- Cocktail clips - various materials/finishes/sizes again in metric sizing (for the DIY and resto scene)
- Marquee retainers - home or commercial grade, easily trimmable, various materials (for the DIY and resto scene)
Any suggestions will be added, then whittled down to most popular. I will also ask if Saint will sticky this if the topic proves popular. It's your chance to have your say and get these things we need, even if it's something new that doesn't even yet exist (but should).
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Topic: Calling all UK forum members - UK arcade parts supply discussion! (Read 3220 times)
