Mini arcade machine: Project name "Ultimate Arcade" [finished]

[Flaboratorium]

Hi!

Just wanted to say "thank you" to all forum members, i was silently reading
a lot of topics here which helped me a lot building my first own arcade machine.

Today it was finished and i would like to share the whole building process
with you. All Pictures can be found on flickr


See them here

Hope you like them!

The whole project is based on an Asus board with a 1,9ghz CPU, 4gb ram,
a 40gb harddisk and a 7" noname TFT Display (800x600 Vga). It uses
Maximus Arcade as Frontend. Until now it emulates NeoGeo, CPS1 & 2,
Some Mame Games, Super Nintendo, Genesis, NES and my beloved Amiga
(Thanks to WHDLoad and WHDRun!).

If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask!

Additionally i made a short video of the cab in Action:

[BurningBeard]

Awesome work man , you got me wanting to build one now.
 

[broberg]

fckin spectacular! I just love the artwork!

[Flaboratorium]

Thank you guys!

well, i forgot to mention the dimensions, so here they are:

270mm x 270mm x 460mm (WxDxH)

By the way the Joystick is a JLW-UM-8 (Sanwa) and
i used Crown CWB203A Pushbuttons, they seem to be
great for small projects because they are not that "deep".

[BurgerKingDiamond]

WOW. That thing is really awesome. I wish I had a nice work area like you do. I hate pulling out all my tools into my living room... My only criticism would be why no T-molding? exposed cut MDF is just ugly. With all the other attention to detail it doesn't make sense to skimp on that.

[Flaboratorium]

You are right, i'm not that happy with the cutting edges too. Well, this is my first arcade cab
ever build and i did not even thought of something like t-mold (in fact i googled it some seconds
ago ... i think i have to read some more about it to get the idea of how to proper install
that. thanks for the suggestion!

...the working area is in my sleeping room, after my girlfriend left me i had the opportunity
to "redesign" that room to something more useful 

[BurgerKingDiamond]

hahah  too bad it had to come at the expense of losing your girlfriend, but I'm sure it's nice to have anyway. for t-mold it's simple. All you need is a router and a slot cut bit. Something like this :

http://cgi.ebay.com/LIFETIME-CARBIDE-7-PC-C3-TIPPED-1-4-SHANK-SLOT-CUTTERS-/280563890017?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4152e93761

make sure that the slot cutter you use is SMALLER than the width of the T part of the molding so that it will hold when you push it in. I wish I remembered the size of the one that I used.... Anyway, just line of the bit down the center of the wood and run the router down the edge. Then just pound in the molding with a rubber mallet. Around tight curves you need to cut some notches out of the molding with a razor knife.

[Flaboratorium]

hmm interesting...but apart from the price of a router i guess its impossible to cut the
slots into the mounted mdf plates? i think i will go for t-molds at my next project
then (somehow i feel like building arcade machines is addicting...). Maybe i try to find
something like edgebanders (if thats the right word for it?) for this little brother.

[BobA]

Looks great.   Next time around hide the screws and use T-molding or round the edge and seal it heavily before painting.  Both T molding and rounding require the very useful router.  Your artwork makes the little cab pop.  Good going 

[Flaboratorium]

Thanks! Yes i think i learned a lot by building this. I made some mistakes
in the building process that i can prevent the next time, but nevertheless
im pretty happy with the overall outcome. Im thinking of a small pinball machine
for my next project. I saw some pretty cool projects here in the forum and i just
love pinball games. I don't think i can reach some of the high quality buildings
here, because i simply don't have access to some of the tools which would make
the process easier. But i don't mind as long as its fun constructing stuff

Damn, i should have added a real penny slot to earn some money from my friends
to finance the next project... 

[BurgerKingDiamond]

I've never head of that iron on molding. But it looks like it would have the same effect, so I'd say go for it. Plus you would probably damage your artwork by running a router over it. BTW, that balltop looks HUGE compare to the rest of the cab. Not a criticism, it just looks funny in the video with your hand and the giant sphere on top of the stick.

[Flaboratorium]

yes, it got huge balls! 
thankfully i'm not that homophobic to be afraid of touching it

[Dr_Dave]

I think it looks superb and very pro!

I'm in the process of building a "mini" cab myself, though yours looks more mini than mine. So I know how damned fiddly things can get when you shrink the size.

Great job!

[Flaboratorium]

I'm in the process of building a "mini" cab myself, though yours looks more mini than mine. So I know how damned fiddly things can get when you shrink

Thank you for commenting!
I hope you will post some pictures of your project here too. I really love these small cabs so it would
nice to see some more of them even if there are already some very impressive ones here.
Good look for your project and beware of getting your fingers stuck in the small machine

[stuckpixel]

That thing is awesome!!

If you don't mind me asking, where did you get the 7" monitor, and how much did it set you back?

[Flaboratorium]

Sure, just ask whatever you like! I got the Monitor off eBay,
but that was a long time ago. I guess it was 120€ back then.
I dont know what the price of these items is now. But i know
that many of the really cheap ones you can get there come
without vga input. so they have an composite input only, you
might consider that these ones have a rather bad picture quality
if it comes to display text on the monitor. Maybe its not that
important if you just want to play games with it, but as i bought
mine for another project back than i went for a more expensive one
because of the vga input.