Two Finished builds

[Otius]

I have wanted for a while to post these but never had the time to sit down and actually do it. Finally having some vacation, here we go. I have been repairing, restoring and buying arcades for over six years now. It has been a hobby that I more or less break even with. It wasn’t until about three years ago, I decided to build my very own MAME cabinet. My favorite cabinet of all time is MKII, so I patterned my build after this. I did make it slightly wider to accommodate the trackball and 4-way. I completed the shell, but other things came up and there is sat for almost a year.

I was approached at work by someone who had been interested in buying an arcade machine and was looking to buy a 60 in 1 with a 19” screen for just over $2,600. I laughed and said that I could build something much better for the same price. After talking with him for a while he decided that he did in fact want me to build it and gave me the color scheme of black with red and yellow accents. Minimal artwork.
This was also needed in about a month’s time. Luckily I had the shell, but I needed to hurry and order parts. With this build I used the pre-built game system from Paradise Arcade. I also went with a LCD monitor as opposed to a tube.

Anyway, here is the build.







The CPO and Marquee did not make it in time before I had to deliver so everything up until the finished pictures is printed on paper.



A look without the bezel





All lit up





Finished and placed. Of note, I did swap out the 4-way for a non LED version. The customer didn't like it. Also, all artwork is the finished product. There was not a desire to have anything on the sides of the cabinet.









Things I would have done different. The monitor is a bit high I feel, maybe should have gone with a tube but I wanted something I could put in and never worry about again. Size wise, the customer wants to lop off 6 inches from the back so that it isn’t so deep.


Machine two came almost exactly a year later. This customer wanted a different design. He had seen the MK9 machine that BBB over at hyperspin had built, and he wanted something similar. His color scheme was black and grey with a touch of “industrial” look. He also wanted “all the gun games possible” This build also gave me more time to plan. It was because of the extra time, I was able to build the PC and add all the artwork for the hyperspin front end.

Here is that build









This monitor is a 42" television that is also networkable. The HDTV antenna is hidden inside the machine. So you can play arcade, watch TV or stream from network/Youtube/Netflix. Also not seen in this build, the keyboard. It is this tiny wireless keyboard with a touchpad on it, awesome to just have on the side for any configurations needed.




I wanted to add diamond plate but both cost and weight was a deal breaker. I found out that Home Depot can special order this plastic type paneling that when secured down, looks and feels just like diamond plate. Turned out nice I think.


CPO was designed by me and customer wanted a trackball and 4-way as well.




Here you can see the two guns holstered on either side of the cabinet. These were a huge pain to dial in correctly, but once done they were amazing. They worked in MAME as well as the installed PC games.


Here it is at final spot. I don't know why I don't have any pictures of the frontend, but every other system had full artwork, MAME was so full of roms that I didn't take that amount of time to complete it. Also of note, I did put an LED strip inside to shine out of different locations. The remote is inside the coin door.









Hopefully this gives inspiration to others as so many here have done for me. Maybe this year I will build one for myself.