4 Player Mame Cabinet Build Photos Start To Finish

[OpFlash]

Way before my first bartop cab was concieved and finished I had the hopes of having my very own custom mame cabinet.  One that could pretty much do it all.  4 players trackball spinner and eventually light guns.  I began researching my options, veiwing many project build threads, and other threads in this website.  This is my first true MAME cab build but ive had experience with other arcades in the past.  Ive done a minor restoration to my DK3 cab and Ive owned other cabinets including a dedicated double dragon and Ivan Stewarts Off Road.  Ive done some monitor cap replacements.  What Im getting at is that Im not a complete newbie and certainly not an expert.  I have so much to learn about this hobby.  Well heres the build that i just recently completed hope you enjoy open to your comments and suggestions.

[OpFlash]

[OpFlash]

Ok so this is the type of cabinet that I started with.  I purchased this cabinet well over a year ago.  It had Combatribes in it with a matching marquee.  This really a nice cabinet.  Knowing that I was going to go with a 4 player cabinet I knew that I would have to custom make my control panel.  I purcased my cabinet as a fully working arcade game.  missing was the front plexi and non working 3rd player controls.

[OpFlash]

So what I did was start my research with Mame to learn a bit more about it and how it works.  I decided that I would go with the MALA front end as it seemed like for me it had a very nice user interface.  It took a long time for me to figure it out well enought that i could start working with adding video snaps and pics marquees etc.  I eventually did and with some help I had the software end fairly figured out.  I went with a nice windows xp machine that I had picked up  I added a simple 512mb pci video card.

[OpFlash]

Word of advice... measure measure measure.  upon arrival with the cab at my home I soon realized that this monster wouldnt fit through the back door!  I was able to unbolt the control panel but the sides and top had to be separated so that i could take the cab inside in 5 pieces.  Top, lower base, control panel, monitor frame, and monitor.  This did cause some slight chipping to the sides as the cab was assembled using glue and pneumatic staples.  This was a good lesson leanred for me but in the end worked out well as when the cab was finished it was in a way that would allow me to move it to its permanant place. 


Cabinet in my work shop with the top off.

[OpFlash]

I decided to peel off the black vinyl coating that was all over the cabinet.  I would sand the cab down and prep for paint and re assemble everything using screws to allow me to take it apart again when needed.  Luckily very little filling was needed to the sides of the cabinet that were damaged when the cabinet was taken apart to fit through the door. There was a small angle piece that came free so that was reglued / clamped and secured back to the cabinet.  I did eventually clean up the sides of the cabinet that hold the monitor as alot of the vinyl covering was stuck because the cabinet was glued together when it was originally assembled.

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some more pics of the cab striped down

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More shots of the cabinet and rough assembly.


piece that had to be reglued on to the cab.  This is also important as it helps set the proper angle for the sides.

[OpFlash]

cab reassembled...

Next I decided to work on the monitor...  Its a 25" Wells Gardner K7000 series monitor.  I wanted to stay with an original arcade monitor.  It was working when purchased and didnt have any screen burn.  I decided to freshen it up by installing a new cap kit and flyback transformer.  Heres some shots of it secured to my bench.  In the backround is 1 of 3 G07's that I have.  1 of them was recapped and working beautifully and will be used for a pacman resto in the future.





Some more shots of the monitor and the adjustment board...


Pictured is also the combatribes board.

[OpFlash]

Having recapped the monitor successfully I decided to work on the process of wiring up the pc to the arcade monitor.  I purchased a converter board that takes in the pc signal and outputs it to the proper hz for arcade monitors.  Its a nice unit and wasnt too expensive.  It has onscreen adjustments wich made it easy.  Ofcourse seeing windows screens is a little difficult due to the difference in resolutions but the arcades look great. 

[OpFlash]

Ok so I decided to focus my attention on building my control panel.  Im very happy with the way it turned out.  I decided after looking at alot of great control panels how i wanted to make mine.  I wanted to incorporate 4 players track ball and spinner and still have some room for system buttons.  Yes I know that there are shift functions with the Ipac however my kids will also be playing the cab I wanted to make it easy for them.  Anyway I think that it came out really nice.  I tried to keep the overall shape like what was original to the cab so that it wouldnt look out of place.  I also tried to make it so that it wasnt overly huge but had enough room to play comfortably.  Heres the pics of the CP build...











These pics show the base after it was cut glued air nailed and screwed for extra support.  I filled all the holes with rock hard watter putty and sanded smooth.  If someone wants the exact measurements ill provide those.

[OpFlash]

Inside painted with black spray paint used a few coats.  the part in the front of the base thats trimmed down is where the front hinge goes by the way.

[OpFlash]

after the base was finished I built the top.  I made a mistake early on and cut it just a bit too short.  yes i forgot about the 1/2 inch overhang that I wanted all the way around except the back where it would be flush against the cab.  so thats why you see the extra piece in the back of the top.


top with the layout measured and setup.


holes drilled with a new forstner bit with sacrifical board underneath to avoid blowout on the bottom.




the bit cut the holes nice and clean.  The top was already routed to accept the t molding.





after all of this was finished i sanded it all down and prepped it for paint...

[OpFlash]

Control panel was painted with a few coats of paint and slowly the buttons etc were installed....






underside of top was routed out to help set the proper height of the joystick handles.  not the best but im ok with it..


top painted and not the process of installing all the controls!










spinner from ultimarc.


happ trackball with mounting plate.

[OpFlash]

At this point was now time to start wiring everything up!  It went pretty smoothly and I liked working with the Ipac and Mini pac.  very straight forward.  I did my best to rout the wires cleanly and color match the wiring to the joystick / button group.  blue for blue red for red etc etc. 






work in progress.

I also tried to keep the length of the wires to a nice clean length and i also purchased insulated female .187 connectors and used them for all of the switches except for the daisy chain.  Where I could i used wiring from the original jamma harness that came with the cabinet.

[OpFlash]

The hinge from the original control panel was used and can be seen in the above pics.

Ok now for a test fit of the control panel on the unfinished cab..

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forgot to post pictures of the hinges that were applied to the control panel.  thats the reason for the square hole.  it matches the hole on hte cabinet allows your arm to reach inside and undo the latches if you need to access the inside.

[OpFlash]

ok now here are shots of the cabinet painted artwork installed tmolding, bezel, coin door, new marquee etc installed.


custom grafics purchased online.  the marquee retainer was also repainted and new screws applied.


casters were also applied to the bottom.  Helps out alot!


new door locks front and back were installed.  I also wired up the coin door lights with power from the computer.
I know its a 3 player coin door on a 4 player cab but i hope to find and install one in the future.


side art

[OpFlash]

Im at the final stretch here.  I had already installed and mounted the motherboard powersupply and other various pc parts.  I didnt just place the tower into the cabinet.  I took the time to try and cleanly install all of the computer components including the speakers which sit near the cutouts under the marquee.  I will show some pics of the inside soon.  I also routed the pc's power switch to the top of the cabinet where the original power switch its.  Its wired to an arcade button.  The volume control for the speakers is mounted just inside the cabinet to the left of the coin door and is very easy to access.  theyre some nice cambridge soundworks with a subwoofer too.  As I mentioned early on the cabinet didnt come with plexi.  I went all out and had some tempered glass custom made for this cabinet.  the sides of the galss were polished aswell so no rough edges.  It fit perfectly and wont get scratched like plexi would.  I ordered it from Elite glass you can find them online.  Great company.

[OpFlash]

I should also add that I trimmed down the original wiring to only include the wiring needed to run the marquee light and monitor.  So i power the monitor and PC separately but have widows boot direclty into MALA. Im really overall happy with the results of the cabinet  It took me a while but im glad that I didnt give up and stuck with the build.  I would like to add some more artwork to the monitor bezel and maybe in the future a complete control panel decal.  Im currently in the process of making some nice custom gamelists for MALA and getting to know the software side of MAME and front ends much better.

[kahlid74]

I like the build and the work you've put into it so far.  I do have a bit of constructive criticism though dealing with the control panel and players 3/4.  Most people when they build their first 4 player cabinet tilt the joysticks to coincide with the players position, which is considered "wrong" by the industry.  The North or up of the joystick should instead be directed towards the screen like player 1/2.  The first four player cab I built I did it this way and for a long time I argued back with those who said it was wrong until I built my second cabinet, and noticed quite a bit of difference when I followed how the industry used to build them.

[OpFlash]

I like the build and the work you've put into it so far.  I do have a bit of constructive criticism though dealing with the control panel and players 3/4.  Most people when they build their first 4 player cabinet tilt the joysticks to coincide with the players position, which is considered "wrong" by the industry.  The North or up of the joystick should instead be directed towards the screen like player 1/2.  The first four player cab I built I did it this way and for a long time I argued back with those who said it was wrong until I built my second cabinet, and noticed quite a bit of difference when I followed how the industry used to build them.

I did indeed angle the 3 and 4 players towards the screen matching the angle of the 3 and 4 buttons.  I would have to say that I remember playing original arcade 4 player games and youre right the joysticks were positioned just like players 1 and 2 but it always seemed awkward to me.  I guess id have to try it again and see what its like.  I do however like the way that they are positioned now.  In the future if im  doing a resto or  trying to keep the look of an original cabinet while adding extra buttons etc Ill definitely keep this in mind.

[OpFlash]

Any other ideas suggestions about the build?  I would like to possibly have some artwork made up for the control panel and or have some bezel artwork made up to follow the theme of the artwork.  I would certainly need some help in that department though...

[nnorton00]

I registered for this site just to reply to this thread.  Best build I have seen so far IMHO!  Don't worry about how its angled, I think its appropriate.  My question is how is the trackball working out that close to the stick on the right?  I tend to get a little animated when playing golden tee.

[OpFlash]

Wow thanks alot nnorton00 for your kind words!  I did put some time into this cab.  You know the trackball is working out pretty well with not too many issues.  The position of the joysticks in relation to the trackball hasnt been much of an issue.  But I did have a friend who was wild while playing Golden Tee and the two things that come up is the fact that the trackball is somewhat close to the glass.  All that you have to do is sweep your hand upwards to avoid it.  Also whats working out really well is the two thumb technique.  You know where you place your fingers infront of the trackball and put pressure on the control panel and then spin the ball with your thumbs.  Overall the position of the trackball hasnt been too bad.

[PL1]

All that you have to do is sweep your hand upwards to avoid it.  Also whats working out really well is the two thumb technique.

Shhhh!!  Let sleeping dogs lie.

If you missed the Superman vs. 2-thumbs thread, it isn't a pretty sight.  


Scott

[OpFlash]

Dang!  I just read that thread well most of it before I had to stop.  I prefer to play Golden tee with the "follow through" style I just make sure to bring my hand up to avoid the screen.  The two thumb is alright too.  But DANG Im not that passionate about it    Im glad that I went with beautiful tempered glass though just incase someone gets a little "supermanish"  .  And just incase Im in no way getting in the middle of those guys.

[mytheral]

These pics show the base after it was cut glued air nailed and screwed for extra support.  I filled all the holes with rock hard watter putty and sanded smooth.  If someone wants the exact measurements ill provide those.

Do you still happen to have those measurements 

[tbird]

I love this build apologies i'm so late to the Party , this is my second project after I've built my two player model in the next few weeks. My biggest concern is organising the controller as you've done and getting it accurately spaced? I see you have some drawings did you do this yourself or can they be downloaded.