progress

[crsdawg]

i've updated my build page. so far so good, i still have some painting to do and also a bit of woodwork. hopefully i'll be done in a week or so. i can't wait to finish so i can start a cab for my self.

project page

even though its a bit vanilla in design, i'm pretty happy with the way it's turning out. what do you guys think?

[3dmacman]

Hey, I bought a cab from you a while back, still working on mine, ie saving money to buy parts.  So far it looks good, I like to flip down drawer.

[crsdawg]

i'm glad your sticking with it. how far along have you gotten?

[3dmacman]

So far all I'm missing is t-molding, monitor bezel, monitor, computer, and joystick/buttons.

[crsdawg]

sounds like your pretty much finished then, heh heh.

here's some budget conscious parts i've come across:

i know a place here in town that you can get an adequate comp for about $20-$45(200-500mhz) iirc. they also have cheap monitors, $20-$40(14"-17"), could get you by until you get a nicer one.  on a side note, i'm heading to stl tomorrow to pick up a pixel touch 21" vga, with tax they run $85 i believe. i could pick one up for ya. i know 85 bucks is nothing to sneeze at, but it's a good deal on a 21 incher.

you could use x-arcade joys and buttons, $20 will populate your cp. i've used the buttons and they work fine. i've heard the joys are ok, if not spectacular. you could also buy the buttons seperate($10 for 20) and pick up some wico joys for $7.00 each or they have 4/8 ways for something like $10.

i've got some leather  texture t-molding i'd sell ya for what i paid, or you could go to t-molding.com and buy direct. best prices on molding i've found.

to do the bezel right you'll have to fabricate it. i'd have no problem helping you here. once you've got it cut, slap a piece of smoked plex over the top and it will look great(regal plastics, cut to size for about $20).

i'm not sure if you've got an encoder yet. if not i'd recommend a keywiz. you could also hack a game pad and do it on the cheap. i also know there is a $10, very basic encoder out there. coveat emptor on that one. some guys have had good results with it, others have not.

you could at least get the cab up and running for a bit over $100. newer games would probably have a tough time on this system, but all the classics should run fine.

just throwing out some ideas.

[3dmacman]

Looking to do some purchasing in october or november.  Broke right now plus the wifes birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks.  Thanks for VGA  monitor but looking to put in a  cheap to tv to connect all my old game systems.  Plan on making this cabinet a sort of all in one, ie mp3 jukebox, arcade cabinet, console cabinet.  Got room just for one cabinet so everthing is going into it.  Probably going to buy my comp from tiger direct,  700 mhz system is under two hundred.  I would be interested in the black leather t-molding you got, but it would have to wait till october. Let me know if you still got some by then, need about 20".  If not I'll go to t-molding.com.

[hyiu]

sorry to jump in.... but from what I have read on the web...

you might want to research more before buying from tiger direct... seems like if you pay and get everything right, then you're ok... but if anything goes wrong... (wrong parts shipped... parts have pblms... etc) tiger direct will give you lots of headache....

I have not dealt with them before myself... (cos I was in another site and saw all those comments...) if they do have the best price, I would recommend do a little more research on customer eval....

good luck....