Build Your Own Arcade Controls Forum
Main => Project Announcements => Topic started by: gudis on January 14, 2005, 11:38:30 pm
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Hello, I'm a n00b here, but I do already have a partially-build cabinet. My cousin, my uncle, and I came up with the idea to build a MAME cab a few months back. The hardware is still extremely sketchy, though we plan on using a 27" tv with s-video for now. The pc will be whatever I can pick up online (looking at some nice Sempron bundles on Outpost) with an IPAC 4. We already have about 24 buttons + 1 and 2 player start buttons and 4 joysticks and a trackball (all new HAPP gear). We don't really care about making look authentic, so the design is rather unconventional. (excuse the rambling) My uncle works at a high-end woodshop making custom ($40,000+) staircases for new construction (they mainly use red-oak for the treads) they cut 10" or 10.5" rips out of 12" boards. Naturally this leaves hundreds of unused planks of otherwise very nice wood lying around unused, my uncle on his off time made several sheets of solid wood by gluing and pressing together a bunch of these pieces. The end result is the kind of wood used in many doors and some wood (kitchen) cabinets. One of these slabs of wood makes up the "floor" of the unit, the edges are rounded (I think routed but I don't know, I'm not a woodworker) all around, and the front 2 corners are bullnosed into a curve. He then took some A-grade plywood and made kerfs (?) in it every half inch or so (on the inside of the sheet) using a rip-saw, this allows the wood to flex while still looking exactly the same on the outside. (I really am sorry for the poor writing here, I'll try to get pics soon) He made little jigs in the corners of the bottom slab to attach the plywood to (perpendicular) so it follows the contour of the bottom slab. After that, he made another slab out of oak, and put it on top of the plywood, mounting it the same way as the other (bottom) one. He repeated it and put one more kerfed piece of plywood on top of the middle slab, then one more piece of plywood then another larger slab. The larger slab forms the bottom of the control deck, the deck slab has about 4-6" of plywood on top, and then another large slab, to form the top of the control deck. That is all we have done now. The construction is very solid, and the whole thing is quite heavy. It rolls on casters (not sure which kind). I'll stop ranting now and ask some questions, ones I haven't been able to find in the faqs.
1. Flat screen vs. convex. I haven't been able to find any good info for which one looks better with arcade games (assume a 27" screen size) I don't really care which looks more authentic, just which looks nicer.
2. TV model. Are there any particular makes or models which I should not use? Cost is a big factor here, the cabinet is nice, but that was the free part...
3. Should the screen be exposed, or should it be under another sheet of glass?
4. What is a good front-end for using multiple disparate types of emulators? E.G. MAME and a Genesis/NES/SNES emulator.
I'll leave the questions at that for now...
Btw, this post has been checked for spelling, but not for clarity, any questions would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
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Well, if cost is the major issue with your TV, I have been lurking around Wal-Mart lately and they have a 27" convex TV with S-video input for $165.00.
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Damn, that was a quick reply. I happen to work at Evilmart, so I get a 10% discount. I'm assuming a plain-ass generic TV will be OK then? I don't care if it will automatically start, as I plan to make a little control-panel for the tv, speakers and the computer. I think we may mount a big subwoofer in the middle of the cabinet, as the shape seems like it would work well. I'll get some pics as soon as I can, though I must say it does look pretty nice, much nicer than the Ms.Pacman machine my cousin has...
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Just another idea...(maybe you've tried already)
You can join a bunch of the oak planks using a biscuit joiner and glue.
It's super strong and can end up looking like one big plank(probably enough to do the sides of the cabinet).
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I believe it is a Sanyo TV.
At that price, are you sure it's not a Sanjo? ;-) just kidding...
You (the original poster) might also consider a used TV. Features you don't need are stereo speakers, high-end inputs, etc, since you're interested in the tube mostly...
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Just another idea...(maybe you've tried already)
You can join a bunch of the oak planks using a biscuit joiner and glue.
It's super strong and can end up looking like one big plank(probably enough to do the sides of the cabinet).
I'm not building the cab, my uncle is. It doesn't really have sides like a traditional cabinet. The sides are curved pieces of plywood attached at the top and bottom to slabs of oak. I wouldn't pretend to know enough about woodworking to make suggestions to a guy who makes staircases for a living.
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I believe it is a Sanyo TV.
At that price, are you sure it's not a Sanjo? ;-) just kidding...
You (the original poster) might also consider a used TV. Features you don't need are stereo speakers, high-end inputs, etc, since you're interested in the tube mostly...
We got a used 27" tv, a nice one with tons of inputs, it even used a power cable like a PSU. It was $5 from Salvation Army because it wouldn't work. My cousin vacuumed it out and cleaned it up and it worked, for a week...
The moral of the story is that Wal-Mart will take anything back in returns, if we screw something up we won't have to find a new tv.
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Here are some pics:
Large front-on view
http://img170.exs.cx/img170/4814/front8on.jpg
Front edge detail
http://img177.exs.cx/img177/4737/frontedge3gw.jpg
Side shot profile
http://img152.exs.cx/img152/6044/profile0ns.jpg
For all the dialup people (like myself)
all the smaller pics crammed into one file
http://img177.exs.cx/img177/8940/strip1oq.jpg
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That's nice work. Looks like you should stop right there and serve drinks from behind it. ;)
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Anyone know where I could purchase motherboard trays online?
I can only find cases....
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Man, that would be one sweet bar, very post modern 1920s!
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i love art-deco
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Awesome job so far, it's so curvy, can't wait to see how it turns out.
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Anyone know where I could purchase motherboard trays online?
I can only find cases....
Put a WTB in the FS/FT area here. Some people probably have them laying about. However, I would just buy some plastic mounts from Radio Shack or Fry's/Outpost.
Good luck,
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[sarcasm]are you building a [corny]bartop[/corny]?[/sarcasm] ;D
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I got a 27" TV from Sprawl*Mart for about $160.
I also got a cpu/mobo bundle from TigerDirect for $99.
Its a Chaintech Socket A running the NForce 2 chipset.It comes with an Athlon 2900+
which aparently is a special model made for OEMs, I guess the OEMs didn't buy enough
of them...
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That cab is beautiful so far