An ethical question.

[1980-20..]

Hi I'm new to this forum and the idea of building coin ops. I'm quite busy at the minute searching for technical info and stuff on various sites and Ive got a rough plan worked out for what i want to do, but my plan is based around using an old cabinet. So my question, is it ok to use an existing cab and converting it in to a mame based machine. The place where i plan to buy my cabinet from sells fully operational machines and also seems to break down faulty ones and sell off the parts. So i will be buyin a mid 90s sega cabinet that is completely empty all hardware and wiring removed and only the control panel coin door and glass remaining, the cabinet has been in use in a public location so has dents, scuffs, and other damage.

So is it ok to convert rather than restore this cab as its not particularly old rare or even a good game.

Thanks.

[Malenko]

Tons of people convert old cabs, just dont destroy a working classic and you wont get much flak here.

My current MAME cab is my KI2, previous owner had the monitor wired in without an isolation transformer and that destroyed the monitor and boardset. Even though my current cab isnt old or a classic, I still made easily reversable changes if I ever choose to convert it back to KI2 (patch 4 tiny holes in the side and rewire for JAMMA).


feel free to start a thread in the projects section when you get started, a lot of us love following along

[1980-20..]

Cheers for that  and thanks for the heads up on the projects thread.

[gazz292]

way i see it, if you get a classic or rare cab, try to restore it or sell it onto a collector.

i'm going to be converting a golden tee 98 cab, got a cab cheap with came faults and a little dinged up, a cab that thousands were built and only fetch about £100 in perfect condition and fully working, so i feel i am making the world a better place by removing a golden tee and turning it into something more exiting 

[1980-20..]

Yeah thats how i was looking at it!. Thought i best check here first though.

[Epyx]

I honestly don't see the need to convert an old cab into a MAME cab...Restorations heck ya I am all for them...but for your own MAME cab why not just scratch build it?

At the end of the day you are probably putting close to the equivalent amount of work in considering there are things with an old cab you would have to do to that you wouldn't have to do with a scratch build and vice versa.

And I should add Im not against converting crappy games etc...I just don't see the need when you can build one from scratch.

[Chris]

I honestly don't see the need to convert an old cab into a MAME cab...Restorations heck ya I am all for them...but for your own MAME cab why not just scratch build it?

Because some of us are much better at computer work than carpentry, or don't have the workship resources to handle 4x8 sheets of MDF.  I know that I persobally fit into both categories.

I was fortunate though... I managed to get a cabinet that was begging to be MAMEd... a generic Konami cabinet that had been converted who knows how many times, had a plain control panel with 2 sticks and 14 buttons and clear bezel glass with no electronics.

However, there are many many times where I have found myself wishing the cabinet was just an inch or two wider, and that is the big plus of rolling your own... fewer compromises.

I have considered tearing apart my cabinet and just keeping the two sides and rebuilding it a few inches wider... the sides are the difficult part without a shop, tools or skills, the rest is just rectangles. I might be able to handle rectangles. 

[Epyx]

Because some of us are much better at computer work than carpentry, or don't have the workship resources to handle 4x8 sheets of MDF.  I know that I persobally fit into both categories.

True, but unless the cab you buy is only requiring a paint job it will be difficult to get away without doing *any* carpentry.  But understood

[mwong168]

Originally I had I acquired a pretty mint original Midway Mortal Kombat II cabinet which I was going to MAME but leave the option by going back to stock.  I got as far as getting an ArcadeVGA video card and a JPAC.  Worked great and to revert back to the original all I would have to do is move the JAMMA harness from the JPAC back to the main board.  The reason I went this route was because I don't have many of the tools such as a table saw, skill saw, router and oh I almost forgot the experience or skill using any of these    I need all 10 of my fingers to make a living since I am a software developer by day.  To MAME or not to MAME is entirely up to you but it can be done with minimal modifications unless you buy a MK machine like me and re-drill the control panel to say a SF straight 6 button layout then sort of hard to go back.  But then again you could always remove the original control panel and cut a new piece of wood.  The same could also be done for Dynamo cabinets as well, just buy a generic or uncut one and save the original.

Unfortunately I didn't see my MKII mame conversion because it was too big to fit down my basement stairs into my game room.  So I sold off the machine on craigslist and even made a small profit on top after storing it in my living room for 2 years and what an eye sore that was.  Then last summer I asked my brother in-law if he would be able to help me build my cabinet from scratch since he just sold off his furniture business and retired now.  He is always finding something to do around the house and seems restless.  The nice thing about building it from scratch is you get things done exactly how you want it without having to settle or work with an existing cabinet layout.

[Epyx]

Agreed.  Besides if this site of ours has proven anything it is these two valuable lessons:

I) you don't have to be a great woodworker when you are starting out
II) space isn't necessarily a restriction...Look at what Martijn was able to build on his apartment balcony and living room lol.

[Ophelius]

You mean to tell me I shouldn't have transformed my uncle's mint condition Donkey Kong and Galaga cabinets into a gun cabinet and shoe locker for my wife? Oops

[drventure]

Or turned that Star wars cab into a phone booth?!

Oops!

 

[1980-20..]

Bump!

Ive been away for quite some time as life got in the way of my plans for my arcade cabinet   but yesterday i picked one up and pics bellow.

[wp34]

That's an interesting design.  Any idea what it is/was?

[1980-20..]

That's an interesting design.  Any idea what it is/was?

Its just a plain Jamma cab but i think the company that made it based it on a NEO GEO cab. Other plain jamma cabs that are more common here in the UK tend to be smaller than this one and the control panel is hinged in a similar way to a NEO GEO cab.

Do you have plain jamma cabs in the US

[Vigo]

I like the unique look, it has good potiential.