Hello, new here quick couple questions.

[Crono22]

I've always dreamed of having a arcade cabinet in my apartment.  So heres the question. Am I better off buying a DIY kit then building? I know most of the experience and gratification comes from designing and building your cabinet actually I'm going the bartop route. But  I live in a small 1 apt condo. And only tools I have are a drill and dremel. I was looking at mamerooms lcd bartop except the Control panel is hideous. Was unable to find any other semi decent bartop diy kits. Or should I nut up  purchase the tools I need and design my own? Thanks.

[orchidius]

The big issue here is obviously building space and tools. It's not impossible (there's one member of this glorious forum that built an entire upright cabinet in his apartment living room), but it's véry hard to complete a woodworkingproject like that in an apartment. You also can't go without buying a bunch of basic woodworking tools. If this is a one time thing, you'll probably spend more on tools then on the cab, and you won't be needing the tools later so...

What you could do is get the mameroom bartop and build a custom CP. All you really need for that is a drill and a screwdriver. However, you won't be able to install t-molding or a plexi overlay without other tools or "help from the outside".

Another option is renting tools. I don't know where you live, but in most all countries in Europe, there are places to rent any tool you can imagine. This would provide you with a solution, and with some planning, you could probably do the whole thing in 1-2 days, then return the tools and assemble later. You would need a decent working space for that though... I don't even want to think about what a mess routing inside would make o.O

[Rando]

Hi Crono,
You'll get various feedback here, so I'll chime in with mine:

I am creating a full upright cab, I have lots of tools and adequate space, so I could go with the build my own route.  However, since this is my first time doing anything like this, I want with a pre-cut option from Mameroom, for the following reasons:
- I'm good with tools and space, but haven't constructed anything this detailed before
- I want it to have a good finished appearance very quickly, and a pre-cut option has the grooves already set, pieces are exact, don't need to paint/stain, etc.
- If I want to get to make a second cab, I need the wife's approval of the first, which is more of a sure thing with a pre-cut due to the options above

If I DO do this again, I will then cut my own pieces OR go with an existing cabinet and convert it.  However, I am going to build the control panel for this cab myself, instead of ordering a pre-fab version.  What I will likely do is first create a temporary CP to learn on, test out placement of buttons, see what buttons/sticks actually get used, etc., and then construct a second more finished version later on.

Different decisions for everyone, but those are some of my reasons for why I went the way I did.  Luck!

[Donkbaca]

Get a kit.  My reasoning?

1 - cost - Building a cab will not be cheaper once you factor in all the tools you will need to get.  If you plan on pursuing woodworking as a hobby, then by all means build yourself, if not, you will spend about as much, if not more on tools then you will on the kit

2 - time - building your own cab takes a LOT of time, it seems easy, but once you start building and wanting to add your own unique design and detail touches, it will take a lot longer then you anticipated.  With a DIY kit, its already designed and cut, all you have to do is assemble.

3 - Space - this is related to time in a way.  Building a cab takes up space, mine is in my garage at the moment, waiting to be finished.  It has been there for weeks since real life gets in the way of cab building often.  If you are a busy person, you are looking at having a half built cab in your apartment for a while

4 - neatness.  Have you ever used a router?  It turns wood into dust and it literally gets EVERYWHERE, wouldn't want to use a router indoors, much less a living room.  Not to mention you will be doing a lot of sanding if you  build your own.

[jmike]

I would have to agree with getting a kit at least for your situation for now. Not sure what your budget is but having to buy arcade parts, and tools will definitely add up quickly. There's someone here PeteDiak sells a pretty nice bartop kit at a reasonable price http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=98248.0

and of course there's emdkay
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=97334.0

You can always build your own in the future when you have more space. I'm buildling a bartop that I was going to give as a X-mas gift to my brother but yeah life (wife/kids) definitely leaves you short on time for arcade building.

 

[Crono22]

Thanks for the advice everyone, I ordered a bartop kit from mameroom since I requested a blank control panel and I can set the control panel up the way I want. Its gonna be perfect