Blue & Black Themed Cocktail Cabinet - Arcade Invaders!

[wivelden]

Hey All,
I thought it was about time to create a thread for my first cabinet build so here goes....

Background
I have been a fan of MAME for as long as I can remember. A couple of years ago I wanted to build a cab for MAME but I didnt have the tools to build one from scratch. I looked online and found that I could buy a kit and build one myself just adding the hardware i.e buttons, joysticks and PC components etc. Great I thought thats just what I need. Now I originally decided on the Ultimate Arcade II upright cabinet kit. I thought that would be ideal for what I wanted. However, money was an issue at the time and along with very little time, due to work, to devote to the project I had to put it off. Skip forward to the present and things have changed dramatically for me life wise. So I decided to pick up on this project again so I went ahead and purchased a kit....although this time I decided on a cocktail kit due to space and other factors.

Waiting and Waiting..
I ordered my kit with tinted glass top from a Gremlin Solutions here in the UK. With a lead time of one week I went ahead and parted with a few hundred pounds.
Now the kit I ordered did not come with a third control panel which is what I wanted but Andy at Gremlin said they could do it no problem. Great!
Now dont get me wrong but the following screw ups were out of Andy's hand so I cant fault him for this.
So a week went by and I waited for a tracking number as I was eager to get this project off the ground. I was told it would be another week because the manufacturer of the kit had to wait for some parts to come in for the third panel. OK.. no problem. Another week went by and I was getting a little peeved.
Apparently they were having problems getting the third control panel to fit correctly to look right for the cocktail cabinet. I was told it would be ready by the end of the week. Friday came and went..still no delivery... Just my luck I thought...
Now I have really crappy luck. I thought to myself that when this kit comes its going to get damaged in transit..
Finally got a tracking number and delivery was for the following week. Delivery day and it turns up....damaged.... I KNEW IT! Just my luck!
The box it came in was extremely heavy, poorly packed and weighed a ton. You needed two people to life this thing. Now I was out when it was delivered so someone had to sign for it for me so I couldnt inspect the box.
When I got back I opened the box and the glass was chipped on the edge, pieces of the MDF and chipboard were bashed in and chipped off.
I could of cried at this point. I had waited a month for this and it comes damaged.

Result?
So I called the manufacturer, after I got the number a couple of weeks back from Andy so they could tell me the delay and told them the kit was damaged.
After speaking with them they apologised and said that I would be a couple of days for their supplier of the glass to make a new one and that they would send a whole new kit out to me. Result? Yea I think so.. Ive waited this long for it I can wait another couple of days.

Conclusion
Well because of the delay in making this kit up for me and for the delay in shipping Andy sent me some free stuff. Now he didnt have to do that because it wasnt his fault so I applaud him for that. As pe'ed off as I am with all of this I cant fault Gremlin Solutions or the manufacturer of the kit.
So now I am waiting on the kit to arrive, while I sit here with a damaged one.

Below are some pics of some of the stuff I ordered from Gremlin along with a few odds I got from Maplin.

Buttons, Joysticks, Wiring etc..

T-Molding, Blue Wiring and Blue LED Fan..

Blue LED Fan


The cabinet comes with a curved stand so I will mount the fan on the bottom of the cabinet and hopefully the blue will shine underneath it.

The overall colours of the cabinet will be all blue buttons with light blue t-molding on a black cabinet. The blue really stands out against black.
I do want to add my own custom artwork to the control panels but I am totally rubbish at photoshop so I will be getting someone to create something for me then get it printed off.

So there we have it so far.. more updates and pics to come when I continue on when the new kit comes in.

Thanks for reading!

Matt

[jkdubb]

Sorry to hear about all of the trouble with delivery.  It is even worse when you are excited about what is being delivered.  It will be worth it in the long run when everything is put together.  Excited to see the result.

[richardbmw]

Any more news on this build yet?

[wivelden]

Yes there is but its going to be a long write up. I will update in the next few days. Stay tuned! Its all good news and its looking good!!

[richardbmw]

OK Look forward to it

[mcseforsale]

 

AJ

[wivelden]

Ok so to continue....
Once again I was messed around with the replacement kit so I had to get a full refund on it.
I therefore went ahead and had it rebuilt from somewhere else using the old damaged kit as templates.
I went ahead and put the main frame together and cut all the t-molding and fit that too:



Added the top glass to see how it all looks:

[wivelden]

Starting to look quite nice with the blue molding fitted:



Now I originally decided to spray paint the kit in black but it just didnt come out right so I decided to buy some outdoor satin black weathershield paint. This not only has a tough coating but it also dries into a nice textured effect. I thought it was just perfect.
Next I painted the end panels for the large and small control panels.



The control panels themselves are made out of 12mm MDF and I wanted to have easy access to the underneath if I needed to change the buttons or joysticks etc. So I added a piano hinge underneath so they could open up. I still need something to latch and lock them down from the inside but thats for later...



Installed most of the PC hardware and also cut and mounted a coin door:



Coin door wired up..

[wivelden]

Just to add that bit of wow factor...



These will be painted blue the same as the t-molding and will be mounted on the ends under the control panels.

Ordered some hinges from thearcadeboneyard.com and cleaned them up and sprayed them black. Fitted and mounted the top.
Added a hinge stay also from the boneyard...

[wivelden]

Back of cabinet with fan grill fitted:



Current state of build:




More to follow soon....

[wivelden]

I forgot to add that I did all the wiring myself from scratch and will post pics of that next time.

[drventure]

Nice!

That black finish really looks good. From the photos, it looks more like a laminate.

[lordnacho]

Looks nice.  I like the blue tmolding.
Where are the invaders going to end up?  Where did you get those?

[wivelden]

Nice!

That black finish really looks good. From the photos, it looks more like a laminate.

It really does look good. It even feels like laminate. It was my girlfriends idea to use that paint. 

[wivelden]

Looks nice.  I like the blue tmolding.
Where are the invaders going to end up?  Where did you get those?

I got some paper with a 1 inch grid on it and just coloured in the squares. I then cut the template out and had it cut out of thin MDF. They will be going under the small control panel. One each end.