Scratch retroModern mame cabinet

[mlee]

Hello all,

first time posting here.  i've almost finished my first from-scratch mame cabinet and would like to share.

my inspiration was a Tivoli audio model one.


finished cabinet:


[UPDATE] finished cabinet with updated bezel
[UPDATE] plans, material list, etc. retromodernmc.blogspot.com


control panel:


speaker grill:


work in progress pics(didn't take too many pictures..):




here are materials/method i used:

side panels
select pine boards from homeDepot (1x6 6ft) i joined 5 boards with Kreg jig.  Since i didn't want to show any screws and the choice of finish(stain/wax) can't cover the screws, Kreg jig was very useful.

->  this is how i joined the boards together.

control panel and frontal panels
3/4 thickness MDF board with paint and polycrylic finish.
laser decal paper for labeling
joysticks: sanwa jwl from ultimarc.com
keyboard encoder: u-hid from ultimarc.com
buttons: jammaparts.net

display
19" LCD.  a friend who owns a LCD fabrication company gave me a panel and control pcb kit.
1/4" plexiglass with black spray paint for bezel.

speaker/volume control/speaker grill
cheap gigaware pc speaker(with a smallish subwoofer) from radioshack.  i also bought 100k stereo dual gang pots at radioshack and wired it in the middle of speaker cable for a external volume control.
vintage speaker fabric from parts-express.com

mame brain
refurbished Dell optiflex gx280(pentium 4) from microcenter

hooking wires/crimp quick connectors/wire cutters(radio shack), plastic screw covers/multi tab power strip(home depot)

i lost track of total cost but i think it was around $5~600 (free lcd panel helped)

let me know if you have any questions/opinion.
oh, and I'd like to thank all the fellow arcade forum dwellers/answerers/project sharers.. it was an impossible project without you.
thanks!

[Le Chuck]

Welcome!

Great project - awesome really.  Your finished product does your inspiration justice.  I would have liked to see a bit more carry over from the radio knobs to the buttons, perhaps in color or having the tuner dial as your volume knob.  Overall your woodwork looks really clean and the color is a great match.  Nicely done, hope it brings your a lot of joy!

[Jigenjuke]

Mlee Welcome.

I agree with Le Chuck about both the faithful represntation of the Tivoli Radio and also the bit about the Radio knobs.  Maybe you could incorporate the color of the radio know into the volume dial or maybe mount a spinner. 

Either way it's a great project! 

Jigenjuke

[surface tension]

Great looking cab mlee. Love the mix of retro and modern and really like the cream and timber.

The only thing I didn't like when I first saw it was the orange buttons, but that's just my opinion.

Great build and I bet you're itching to play on it properly!

[Yvan256]

Great build, very nice Tivoli look-alike, but unfortunately I have to agree with the others. Everything is just perfect except for the controls.

You'll probably have a hard time finding... brown? buttons but there is chrome buttons available, so you need to order both chrome and brown buttons from the same brand and model and just swap the parts around to have a brown button plunger inside a chrome outer ring.

I would go with all-brown, smaller (i.e. 24 mm) buttons for the player 1/player 2 buttons to have a size difference like on the Tivoli's tuning vs volume button.

You would also need brown joystick balltops to fit the color of the buttons.

Here's the problem, however: I don't remember ever seeing brown arcade buttons. 

[monkeychunkuk]

Great looking cab its got real retro feel what frontend/emulators are you using ?

[PL1]

Here's the problem, however: I don't remember ever seeing brown arcade buttons. 

You can order white buttons and use Rit dye and boiling water to make them brown.

There's a tutorial here.

If you're looking for a dial, you might find something here.
(Check left column for more options -- lots to explore there.)

This one has a Tempest-spinner-meets-volume-knob vibe.   




Scott

[Jumpman64]

Uber retro -- love it!

[thatpurplestuff]

Totally agree with everyone that you did a great job translating the feel of the radio into the cab.  If you could dye the controls brown like PL1 suggested that would be freakin amazing... the buttons and the all-black bezel are the only things that stand out a bit to me.  Not saying they look bad by any stretch, but if I had to point out a couple things that didn't match as well as the others it would be the controls and bezel.

The bezel could incorporate some text to make it look like the face of that radio, or maybe just a dark brown or light tan would integrate it a bit better.





It still looks really nice as it is, so ignore my advice if you want haha.

[mlee]

wow, so much great ideas!  thanks everyone.  i totally agree with all the suggestions.  especially knobs and bezel.
i'll definitely try dyeing buttons with brown color.   
i was actually debating ivory vs black for bezel color but i love ivory with tan border suggestion. 
can't wait!!!
i'll keep you posted

oh, and i use mame v0125 with mala frontend.  i'm still working on the menu screen design. 

[PL1]

Forgot to mention earlier that something like this would make an interesting dust washer.



TEFightStands might be able to make similar custom dust washers for you.


Scott

[Termin8tor]

Well done.  I really like this bezel.

[Rando]

I also like and agree with all of the above.

What's with the 2 buttons on the front?  I would think those would be pressed accidentally all the time while playing.  Coin buttons so a non-issue when playing?

[mlee]

front 2 buttons are coin buttons.  so not so much of a problem at this moment.

[Yvan256]

I also agree that an ivory with tan border bezel would look even better.

I didn't think about the dye for plastics, I'm guessing starting with white buttons would get the best results. The goal isn't to have a volume knob for controls but to match the color pattern, i.e. brown button with chromed ring.

[emphatic]

Very nice lines on this cabinet!

[mlee]

i redid the bezel as suggested by thatPurpleStuff.  it looks way nicer in my opinion.
luckily, home depot has the spray paints with the right colors.
i'm waiting for the dye from amazon,  will post when the buttons are done.

[Yvan256]

i redid the bezel as suggested by thatPurpleStuff.  it looks way nicer in my opinion.

"Way nicer" is an understatement. Apart from the controls this cabinet is perfect. So perfect in fact that you may receive a bill from Tivoli in the next few days. 

[Le Chuck]

Wow! Huge improvement. Can't wait to see the button treatment.

[shrunkenmaster]

Very original look and well implemented - well done!

[thatpurplestuff]

That looks great!  The cab already looked really good but that bezel treatment definitely ties it all together.  Excellent job man!

[Termin8tor]

Amazing. Love the updated bezel it really improves the overall appearance. 

[Thzarr]

Measurements?  width etc..

[Yvan256]

Any update on the dyed buttons?

[slappyhooper]

Man my first thought was it's...old looking. kinda...

Reminds me of walking into a 70's kitchen, honestly....and it fits...I like it.

[mlee]

hi, i started a bloghttp://retromodernmc.blogspot.com/for some of the process, i'm planning on upload some plans/dimensions, etc.  it'll be slow updates though, so pls be patient.  oh, and it is a english/korean bilingual blog.  even if it seems broken, it is not.  you just don't have korean fonts.

as for the buttons.. RIT dye arrived from amazon and i dyed the white buttons according to the tutorial.  dyeing plastic actually worked so nicely.  however as i tried the brown buttons on the control panel, it didn't really work out as a whole.  really dulls the whole look of it.  so sadly, i decided to keep it as it is. maybe it was the wrong brown.. i don't know.   i'm not 100% satisfied with the current color scheme, so i'll keep thinking about it, finding new inspirations.

[Dalgaard]

I love this project

Awww...I wanted to see the dyed parts!

If you can't get the correct brown for the knobs and buttons, I suggest changing the colorscheme so that the knobs and buttons have the SAME color. I think that would make a big difference...what color to choose im not so sure about.

Also the new bezel is a HUGE improvement. Love that it's two colored.

[surface tension]

The bezel looks great, good work!

It would be interesting to see what the buttons came out like. Ideally I would say they need to match the sides. For me though it's still the mix of orange and red. I think the red goes well with the colour scheme, though all of them might be a little too overpowering.

[mlee]

just added plans/dimensions on my blog  http://retromodernmc.blogspot.com/
let me know if you have any questions.

[Seith]

So amazing.  That cab looks like so much fun to play on, it hurts.  Great job!

[Termin8tor]

I've just checked out your blog, I love that Multimedia Cabinet.

[Jigenjuke]

hi, i started a bloghttp://retromodernmc.blogspot.com/for some of the process, i'm planning on upload some plans/dimensions, etc.  it'll be slow updates though, so pls be patient.  oh, and it is a english/korean bilingual blog.  even if it seems broken, it is not.  you just don't have korean fonts.

as for the buttons.. RIT dye arrived from amazon and i dyed the white buttons according to the tutorial.  dyeing plastic actually worked so nicely.  however as i tried the brown buttons on the control panel, it didn't really work out as a whole.  really dulls the whole look of it.  so sadly, i decided to keep it as it is. maybe it was the wrong brown.. i don't know.   i'm not 100% satisfied with the current color scheme, so i'll keep thinking about it, finding new inspirations.

Awesome cabinet.  As for the buttons, rather than dying them, have you thought about clear buttons with the chrome accent rings.  You can dissassemble the buttons and maybe put a really thin slice of the wood you used for the cabinet into it. 

Jigenjuke

[mlee]

You can dissassemble the buttons and maybe put a really thin slice of the wood you used for the cabinet into it. 

Jigenjuke

that's actually pretty awesome idea.. i'll look into it.  once i had the idea that adding a strip of wood inlay around the buttons at the top part of control panel..  didn't have a router, so i ditched the idea..

[wp34]

For some reason I'm seeing an Atari 800 when I look at your cabinet.

Your look is original and very nicely executed.