Build Your Own Arcade Controls Forum

Main => Main Forum => Topic started by: Jabba on November 17, 2005, 11:33:09 pm

Title: Where did/are you building your MAME cabinet?
Post by: Jabba on November 17, 2005, 11:33:09 pm: I thought this might be an interesting poll for the overall forum population...

I remember when I was researching the example pages here at BYOAC when I was building my MAME machine that a LOT of guys were building them (i.e., cutting/assembling the MDF panels) IN the living room! And some of them were even married!

Where did you build/are you building your Arcade cabinet?

Edit: typo
Title: Re: Where did/are you building your MAME cabinet?
Post by: 97thruhiker on November 17, 2005, 11:54:29 pm: I could not imagine cutting MDF in my house, even if I was single. I still find layers of dust in my garage months after cutting. Built in garage then moved it to the living room.
Title: Re: Where did/are you building your MAME cabinet?
Post by: Infinity_Yak on November 17, 2005, 11:56:20 pm: Well, I am working on the cabinet in the basement, but I've got a bag of happ pushbuttons on the coffee table right now... I'd better hide them before the wife sees. I'm also designing the thing on my laptop on the couch, so really I think the effort is split 50/50 between basement/living room.

My previous project "portable markade" was assembled in my bedroom back when I was in university, living at my parents place, but I didn't see that as an option ;)
Title: Re: Where did/are you building your MAME cabinet?
Post by: Jabba on November 18, 2005, 12:03:18 am: Poll updated...
Title: Re: Where did/are you building your MAME cabinet?
Post by: Samstag on November 18, 2005, 12:53:00 am: I built mine in the garage "workshop", but being a nonconformist southerner I had to move my cars out first. I'm part of the tiny %5 or so minority in this part of town who use their garage for fully operational vehichles rather than tool storage to support the 3 or 4 "project cars" in the driveway or on the street.
Title: Re: Where did/are you building your MAME cabinet?
Post by: siropa on November 18, 2005, 01:32:34 am: I've built 3 of them. 2 in the garage and the last one in the basement.
Title: Re: Where did/are you building your MAME cabinet?
Post by: SteveJ34 on November 18, 2005, 01:45:57 am: I learned from my first upright, cut MDF in the garage, clean MDF dust for the next 12 months.

I've built subsequent bartops and other items in the garage but I do all my cutting outdoors where MDF is the victim.
Title: Re: Where did/are you building your MAME cabinet?
Post by: MameJunkie on November 18, 2005, 01:50:59 am: I even sold one of my cars to make room ;D
Title: Re: Where did/are you building your MAME cabinet?
Post by: JONTHEBOMB on November 18, 2005, 02:28:52 am: I'm building my cabinet at John Marshall High School's woodshop.
Go Rockets!!! :D
It's an excellent place to work. Since the class is an independent study I can work at my own pace and hopefully will go slow enough to make very few mistakes. I voted for garage because I do take some pieces home to work on them and do most of the work in the garage.
Title: Re: Where did/are you building your MAME cabinet?
Post by: SteveJ34 on November 18, 2005, 03:24:34 am: Quote from: JONTHEBOMB on November 18, 2005, 02:28:52 am
I'm building my cabinet at John Marshall High School's woodshop.
Go Rockets!!! :D

That's pretty cool when you think about it.

A sign of the day and age....which in my day in high school we didn't have in terms of "independent study" in woodshop.

I wish you the best of luck with your project....and grade.
Title: Re: Where did/are you building your MAME cabinet?
Post by: missioncontrol on November 18, 2005, 05:06:59 am: Living Room: Guilty as Charged
Where else? the garage workshop (we're southerners...)
Basement workshop (we're the northerners...)
Still in the planning stage.
While in University in the Dorm

none of the above. I store everything in my shed when I am not working on it, but when I do work on it I have to pull everthng out and work on it in the great outdoors.

The shed's not big enough to be a work area. :-[
In the living room. Ha my wife would kill me in my sleep :o
I have no garage workshop :'(
I'm a southerner with no basement :-\
I never plan I just learn from my mistakes 8)
In the University dorm ??? If I were to live in a dorm I would be too busy planning ways to sneck into the female dorms rather than build a cabinet
Title: Re: Where did/are you building your MAME cabinet?
Post by: Franco on November 18, 2005, 08:01:09 am: None of the above either.

I built mine in my parents summer house when I still lived at home. I did the majority of the cutting outside but still had to assemble/sand/prime/paint etc inside. They loved me for it afterwards! :D
Title: Re: Where did/are you building your MAME cabinet?
Post by: Extreme8 on November 18, 2005, 08:44:43 am: My father & brother are carpenters/cabintmakers with a huge woodworking shop. Every tool & machine you can image plus plenty of space to work.
My machine went from a pile of MDF to a cabinet in a little less than 6 hours. It's amazing what the right equipment and a little experience can do for you.
Title: Re: Where did/are you building your MAME cabinet?
Post by: WwonderLlama on November 18, 2005, 10:14:30 am: I did all the wood cutting and frame assembly on a covered deck. But, winter set in, so I did everything else (other than the painting, of course) in the sunroom, just off of the living room. So, I voted "Living room".

Suprisingly, my wife didn't kill me over it. ;)
Title: Re: Where did/are you building your MAME cabinet?
Post by: Dervacumen on November 18, 2005, 10:48:29 am: Just beginning to build and it will be outside cutting, garage for assembling, at the kitchen table for preparing electronics and wiring.
I stated this project two years ago, but didn't have room in the garage so I had to pour a concrete slab to build a shed to store all the stuff from the garage. Then I had to build a workbench on wheels so I could work inside the garage for non messy stuff and outside for the messy stuff. Then I had to put up peg board to hang my most commonly used tools, since having them out in the shed was a pain. One of these days...
Title: Re: Where did/are you building your MAME cabinet?
Post by: ArcadEd on November 18, 2005, 11:10:23 am: With great weather most of the year around here in arizona I do my building outside :).
Title: Re: Where did/are you building your MAME cabinet?
Post by: Mr. Bubblehead on November 18, 2005, 11:46:02 am: As long as it is not raining I make all my cuts outside, otherwise it's in my shop. Cabinet assembly takes place in my shop, unless it is a nice day then I will work outside. I shoot the paint in the shop. I do the final assembly (controls, artwork, components, etc.) in the house since it is "clean" work.

My bartop kits are usually assembled in the house if my wife isn't home.

And yes, I have rebuilt an engine in my living room. Two of them in fact ;)
Title: Re: Where did/are you building your MAME cabinet?
Post by: eccs19 on November 18, 2005, 03:45:22 pm: I started mine in the garage (all the cutting, sanding, etc), then the weather got cold, so moved to basement for painting / assy. About 85% complete. Joysticks, etc in the mail today. Picking up, and MAY have more or less assembled this weekend!
Title: Re: Where did/are you building your MAME cabinet?
Post by: babydickonboard on November 18, 2005, 05:48:58 pm: my room is in the garage, where i am building my cab. all my clothes are constantly covered in mdf dust (along with every square inch of my room). i have smelt like mdf for the last month or so.
Title: Re: Where did/are you building your MAME cabinet?
Post by: AllisterFiend on November 18, 2005, 06:47:30 pm: Quote from: SteveJ34 on November 18, 2005, 01:45:57 am
I learned from my first upright, cut MDF in the garage, clean MDF dust for the next 12 months.

I've built subsequent bartops and other items in the garage but I do all my cutting outdoors where MDF is the victim.

Same here, I'm still cleaning dust from my garage a year after I starting cutting my MDF.

Now all cuts are done outside.

Allister Fiend
Title: Re: Where did/are you building your MAME cabinet?
Post by: danny_galaga on November 18, 2005, 09:26:32 pm: living room, balcony, space under house.

(http://dannygalaga.com/images/DSC00479small.JPG)

(http://dannygalaga.com/images/DSC00467small.JPG)

(http://dannygalaga.com/images/DSC00473small.JPG)

(http://dannygalaga.com/images/DSC00474small.JPG)

(http://dannygalaga.com/images/DSC00502small.JPG)
Title: Re: Where did/are you building your MAME cabinet?
Post by: Megaweapon on November 18, 2005, 10:31:42 pm: I'm on year three or four of planning, for mine. The only sure thing is that I'll be using a Main Event cab that was converted to an SF2CE. It seems like every few months there's a new piece of gear out that makes me glad I haven't started yet.

Meanwhile I have inherited a TSF2CEHF (http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=&game_id=10659) cab that was converted to MAME in an apartment living room. This adds another factor into the mix for deciding what to do with my own project.
Title: Re: Where did/are you building your MAME cabinet?
Post by: AC. on November 18, 2005, 11:43:37 pm: No garage space so outdoor cutting, indoor finishing.

http://www.carnine.net/arcade/
Title: Re: Where did/are you building your MAME cabinet?
Post by: missioncontrol on November 19, 2005, 12:05:36 am: Danny you left out the best picture
Title: Re: Where did/are you building your MAME cabinet?
Post by: AC. on November 19, 2005, 12:25:42 am: Nice cocktial model. Simple. Effective.
Title: Re: Where did/are you building your MAME cabinet?
Post by: missioncontrol on November 19, 2005, 12:36:43 am: all he needs is the right size cardboard box to incase it in ;D
Title: Re: Where did/are you building your MAME cabinet?
Post by: AC. on November 19, 2005, 12:40:21 am: Yes. A nice cardboard box, with cool flaps on top to fold over when not in use.
Title: Re: Where did/are you building your MAME cabinet?
Post by: TOK on November 19, 2005, 07:47:09 am: I don't have a basement, so I'm a northerner that builds in the garage. Winter is the building season, since I have a 150,000 BTU heater out there. It sounds like an F-15 on afterburner, but brings the garage up to t-shirt temperature in about 4 minutes.
Title: Re: Where did/are you building your MAME cabinet?
Post by: cw on November 19, 2005, 10:24:39 am: garage for me as well..... and a nother victim of mdf dust for months and months...Never again will I cut that stuff within 30' of the house.
Title: Re: Where did/are you building your MAME cabinet?
Post by: danny_galaga on November 20, 2005, 04:56:49 am: Quote from: missioncontrol on November 19, 2005, 12:05:36 am
Danny you left out the best picture

hehe. yeah, i could get away with it while i was sanding the floor. once it was varnished it was a different matter...
Title: Re: Where did/are you building your MAME cabinet?
Post by: danny_galaga on November 20, 2005, 05:04:43 am: Quote from: Ascar9 on November 19, 2005, 12:25:42 am
Nice cocktial model.
Title: Re: Where did/are you building your MAME cabinet?
Post by: jhanson on November 20, 2005, 08:29:45 am: I built my first two cabinets in the guest bedroom. Of course, I was refurbishing an old one rather than building from scratch, so there was minimal cutting going on. I still covered the room in plastic for when I was painting and such though.

After those two were done, I wired my little 8x12 shed for power and have used it for a workshop ever since. I can fit two cabinets in there with enough room to work on them comfortably. I'm in central Virginia, so a little space heater is all I need to keep it nice and toasty in the winter. A fan is barely enough to keep me from sweating to death in the summer, so I tend to stick to working in the evenings and on cooler days from June till August.
Title: Re: Where did/are you building your MAME cabinet?
Post by: Bones on November 21, 2005, 02:26:27 am: I am building mine in the garage.

Considering the mess and the amount of time my garage has been in a mess since starting my project, I could never imagine for even a moment attempting this inside my home.
Title: Re: Where did/are you building your MAME cabinet?
Post by: maxlamer on November 21, 2005, 04:34:07 am: Building my new cabinet outside as there is no room in the garage,
Built my last cabinet in the garage though
Title: Re: Where did/are you building your MAME cabinet?
Post by: MovingTarget on November 21, 2005, 09:13:11 am: I'm a northerner and building mine in the garage since my basement is finished. Only problem is it's going in the basement when I'm done and I'm not looking forward to getting it down the steps.

Just moved my "workshop" to the garage after putting up a shed and moving all the junk from the garage to the shed. I really like the garage idea better because I can clean up with a leaf blower :D

I need to seriously invest in a heater though as it gets below 0 around here in the winter and I'll probably still be working on the cab then.
Title: Re: Where did/are you building your MAME cabinet?
Post by: neuromancer on November 22, 2005, 01:44:56 pm: I built the one on my website mostly in the yard, but I did the cuts in my workshop and the assembly in my livingroom. I still need to put some kind of finish on it.

Bob
www.2fiddles.com
Title: Re: Where did/are you building your MAME cabinet?
Post by: RTSDaddy2 on November 23, 2005, 02:16:24 pm: Dad's workshop, but it's not in a garage - even though we're southerners :)

Dang thing nearly drove us crazy - we started it last winter and the side panels were so big we had to keep the doors to the shop open to have room to move around the board for cutting (3/4" plywood). Very cold. However, it's coming along pretty nice. Needs some tweaking but overall pretty good.

Well, OK...my wife and I actually LOVE OURS the way it is.

RTSDaddy2
Title: Re: Where did/are you building your MAME cabinet?
Post by: subcriminal on November 25, 2005, 02:26:02 pm: Cut and routed MDF in the back garden the neighbours got the dust ;D it was windy. Dragged it through the house to my spare bedroom, screwed it together and painted it (and the carpet) in there.
Burnt a hole in the freshly painted carpet. I knocked over the soldering iron while I was crouched in the cab and didn't notice until cab filled with foul smelling smoke.
Bashed the doorframe several times getting the panels into the room.
Must be nice to have a garage :P
Title: Re: Where did/are you building your MAME cabinet?
Post by: Crazy Cooter on November 25, 2005, 02:57:02 pm: I built my first one in the living rom of my apartment. I always had something going on in there. Portable table saw, router, skill saw, whatever... I just did it.
Title: Re: Where did/are you building your MAME cabinet?
Post by: M3talhead on November 26, 2005, 10:06:06 am: Same as a lot of other guys on these forums: Right on the tile/carpet of their living room. My first cab was built/refurbed in my apartment in Biloxi, the second was done over the first part of '05 in the tiled livingroom of my flat in Belgium.

Any work I did on it came with a certain degree of paranoia. Whatever I did, I didnt want to drop something and break a tile, or I'd lose my deposit... ::) Luckily, nothing was damaged.
Title: Question for MAME builders - (maybe a new topic)
Post by: cscon115 on November 26, 2005, 09:01:54 pm: I am starting by restoring old games. Same skills involved and I am in no mood to Mame a Spy Hunter. It was easier to restore one.

I am in Norther Ohio - So I am in the basement! I plan to fill the basement with arcades and put bowling alley carpet : http://www.joycarpets.com/gpp/party_time.htm in there. A neon sign or two and I have Arcade 80's!

??? I have a question for MAMER's
Title: Re: Where did/are you building your MAME cabinet?
Post by: AC. on November 28, 2005, 12:31:25 pm: Enterprise!
Title: Re: Where did/are you building your MAME cabinet?
Post by: cscon115 on November 30, 2005, 10:13:58 am: Any reason why?

(Size / Money limitation reasons)
Title: Re: Where did/are you building your MAME cabinet?
Post by: AC. on December 09, 2005, 05:54:49 pm: Quote from: cscon115 on November 30, 2005, 10:13:58 am
Any reason why?

I just wanted all the games quickly and easily accessible. If I or a friend said "what about Tron" or "tempest" ot "Asteroids" I wanted them all there and available immediately.

It is defiinatley cheaper, easier to maintain. And I like having a universal machine. I also like the look and the controls do not interfere with each other because there is not a situation where they are used when they would interfere.