My first arcade cabinet! ... MVS transformation

[RigoHoward]

Hello there arcade maniacs, I'm from Chile (South America) also a new user (yay!)... and i want to share my joy with you showing images of the progress working on my new arcade cabinet!!

First of all i like to thank to Flako a friend who gave me (free of charge) a empty cabinet ready to work with... thanks a lot Flako del ass!!

Well cutting the crappy intro, this is what i got:






First of all i went to my friend house (he lives very far from me) and we have to disassemble the cabinet for transporting purposes.

Probably i will post later some pictures of the dissembling caos

Anyway, this is what i want to reproduce:

The one on your left.


I will be posting more shots because i have already been working on it for about 8 days (including when i visit my friend and disassemble everything)  

[RigoHoward]

The second day i start with all the needed material to restore the damaged wood:


So, the work begins!

First of all i clean everything with a brush (spiderwebs everywhere  )


Then i begin to apply some putty on the worst parts of the wood:




Well of course after the putty was dry i work with my sanding block:


And this is what looks like after sanding:

Good job for a first timer right?!


As you see (and probably know), working with the wood imperfections may be took long time to finish :S; but I'm still very motivated!  

[RigoHoward]

Another day, more wood to work with  

Some small parts also need some putty:



And so on...


Well when all the saved parts were ready, i took a can of primer and start to spray all over the place

As you can see... wait! were is the side panel?! i think there was to much primer over ther even on the walls  , just joking i use yellow prtimer because it was the only i could get.

Here is the other side of the cabinet primed also


Next i will be assembling all the parts together 

[RigoHoward]

The next day came and now i's time for assembling  :

When i was movin the piece aroun one of them crash the floor and took some damage so i have to do some surgery on it :O


It looks like now isnt? 

Because i'm a ghetto restorer i use a table to hold the main parts


So i took the screwdriver and this beast got some shape





So now i can work cutting the missing pieces and also hide the screw heads on every side

[RigoHoward]

I took the speaker grills and the metal pieces of the Marquee and i paint Black.. no colors anymore ... oh wait 




The cabinet was not to firm after screwing aroun, i mean after i use the screws on it, so i cut a big piece of wood and you can see where it go


After more screwing , i put some wheels on it

It sure can do some high speed drifts

[RigoHoward]

So many days working on it and it seems like the time never pass :s

As you remember there was a bunch of small wood piece go through the trash, so i made new ones

Also i installed some locks and prime all the back

after that it came the paint time

Inside was the first


Then the lower part



More pictures of the paint work will be available soon 

[RigoHoward]

Now i have some speakers! (and also some volume regulator?):



About this regulator i like to ask... how can be used with the speakers i got?

Here i left more pictures of this strange (for me) piece of circuit:
http://








I really need some help with this, can someone please give me a hand, i will be vary grateful  

[BobA]

Looks like a single channel amplifier.  SPKR G or GND Symbol would be the output and In and G would be the input.   Looks like the power source would be 6 to 20V and one of the ground pins. 

[RigoHoward]

Thanks for the reply BobA!

So if i catch it right:

I have to connect my speakers in parallel or serial mode using the negative "SP"  (it has a speaker icon) and positive "GND" pin (it has a ground icon)
And use the 6/20v (means it supports up to 20v??) pin with some of the GND pins for power source
Also i have to use the "IN." (i suppose this is audio signal) and "G" (ground pin for audio signal?) pins to connect signal and ground from the source (my pc)

It's all right?

[DCsegaDH]

Nice work on the cabinet, it looks better already!

[BobA]

Sounds about right but here is the data sheet on the chip so you can check out your board.

[RigoHoward]

Many thanks, it seems to work fine but im pretty sure that i hade "mono sound" :S

[RigoHoward]

So, the last two weekends i do some paint work on my cabinet

[RigoHoward]

It's been a while right?!, long story short i'm still painting the cabinet

[RigoHoward]

Still working on it, this will be the Marquee on my Cabinet



So when i finish the paint job i installed the black T-molding and also the Marquee




Also you can see a button between the speakers, this will be used as Esc key for go back to the main menu of the front end

This is how it end up the painting work and also i installed the back "plate" for the LCD monitor


I do some work creating my own CPO (neogeo inspired) and this it's the result

[RigoHoward]

Sorry for abandon this thread but real life some times it's a ---smurfette---

Anyway there have been some work on the cabinet from the last update here a couple of new WIP shots

Plotted side art


The button and stick holes were drilled


And also do some concept proofe test


In the upper row there will be  black buttons

I got some lucky and found an american coindoor 


Do some sanding, a big hole on the front and


It looks great!


Also i do some test with the LCD monitor

It fits right but i will cut the rounded front piece

[BurgerKingDiamond]

looks great! It seems like there's been a lot of NEO GEO activity lately. I'll be doing one of my own soon once my other projects are wrapped up.

Keep it going.

[drventure]

Nice start. I really like those cabs with the thrusted-out section of the front panel where the coin slots go. Gives some depth and dimension to an otherwise completely flat expanse.

[emphatic]

Nice work! 

[gamer2112]

The side art text is spot-on perfection! Did you use stencil or stickers?

[RigoHoward]

I love the big red ones (MVS cabinets) so basically i always wanted one but here in my country the original cabinets are very rare items to found  

Anyway, thanks for the cheers , also here i got some new pictures:

I try to build a paper bezel but i dont like to much the effect


I have ready the PC to put in


Finally the last buttons for every player was installed


As you can see this will not be an exclusive NEOGEO games, also i like Capcom and some others

This is how it looks the coindoor after sanding and repaint


I put some art in the reject buttons



Next will be:
Do the wiring
Put some leds on the reject buttons
Install the glass bezel
Create a new solid bezel?
Install a button for turn on/off the machine

[BadMouth]

This is looking awesome!
I really like those coin buttons and the CP art. 
 

[RigoHoward]

It took some time but finally i can post a few pictures of the work done until yesterday:

The glass was cutted and it fits ok


I put a wall AC (with fuse) connector on the bottom back (my girlfriend also its showing her new shoes)



The CPO lock


I just use some black spray paint


This it's how it looks the cabinet with the new "smoked" glass



With some litle additions to the coindoor, reject buttons now acts like coin buttons



To do list:

• Install a external button to turn on the PC
• Do some hole to install 2 air extractors (the PC doesnt heat to much but you can never know...)
• Re-configure emulators and front end to work with the actual button mapping (first time i use a keyboard hack but doesnt work to well)
• Plotted front art for "Left Player" and "Right Player" arrows over the coindoor (can anyone help me designing this?)
• Put some led light to the reject buttons
• Re-organize the wiring mess (i use LPT port and diodes to do the wiring)

Optional:

• Add some "How to play" art over the glass
• Put led light on marquee
• Install a fron USB hub and headphone