First MAME Project

[kuehnau]

So for the longest time I have wanted an arcade cabinet, since I was a little kid and the local retailer "White Elephant" had arcade games for sale, I always told myself one day I'd own one, or maybe even a few. They have always been a fascination for me. Around 2004-ish I found out about MAME and how people were building their own arcade cabinets and that's when the spark first appeared to build a MAME cabinet. It wouldn't be until around 2012 that I'd ever get started on my project.

I ended up buying a broken down slot machine cabinet from a local bar. I should have asked to see it first, because I had been looking for the newer ones with the little light-up marquee and the arcade quality controls. I had paid for it in advanced so when I picked it up I was a tad disappointed. It was one of the old, bulky, fake walnut style cabinets, no marquee, stick and nasty in a lot of places. It had a PCB in it, which I gave to SmitDog over at MameWorld, it turns out it was a slot PCB for a game no one has dumped yet, Haunted House.

So I started on my project but I just didn't really care for the cabinet I had, it just didn't feel like. Eventually I got it up and running. I got some pictures of that horrific thing yet. Sorry I don't know if and how there is a way to do the thing where you can minimize or maximize photos in a thread.











Well just this week I was approached by someone who had a Tetris cab they no longer wanted. They told me it was in what was considered a "good" condition for a 80's arcade cabinet. I was told the cord was frayed, the monitor had bad burn in, the controls were screwed and it was missing the keys, but it still worked. I got some pictures from them and I agreed to pay $100 plus $50.00 for a delivery fee for it.









I didn't know it at the time, I am new if you can tell, but after looking at the cabinet I could clearly tell that it was not an actual Tetris cabinet. It was some sort of conversion. After checking out a worn back plate on the cabinet it seems it was a Tatio cabinet. The cabinet is pretty worn. It's got these sheets of plastic on the the housing, like laminate or something, except it's chipping pretty bad around the edges and it just comes off. Someone lazily slapped some Tetris side art on the side, and they didn't even do it properly. The control panel is made out of some sort of plastic; it's pretty worn too. It did work and I tried playing around, which was pretty impossible since the buttons were so screwed up.

So if you can't tell by now, I decided to convert this cabinet to a MAME cabinet. I spent most of the day today parting out the machine, there was a lot of junk in there, stuff that wasn't even being used that was just hanging in there, lots of screw holes, you could tell the machine had been around the block a few times and most likely saw quite a few games. I am throwing most of the stuff away, I am going to try and remove the half-assed side art someone slapped on the cabinet, I don't know what I am going to do about the chipping laminate. I could try and remove it and replace it, but I might just make it worse. The control panel and took apart and I am going to see if I can get the old artwork off it, I'd like to replace the plexi glass or whatever on it, since it's pretty worn, but I don't know where I'd get new stuff from. The front bezel is pretty worm on it as well. I'd like to get a smoked one, I just like how it looks, but I got no idea where to get some of that either.

I couldn't get the game decal off the control panel using a heat gun, so I just dumped gasoline on it and lit it on fire for awhile. Cleaned it right off.

I honestly don't know how to open the marquee right now, it looks like the only way to get into it is from some small hex bolts under it, I don't have any tools that fit the damn thing either.

I still got the PCB, it says on it is a Atari Tetris board. it looks like it's in really good condition actually. Besides eBay does anyone know where I could sell this?

[kuehnau]

Okay, so I've been working on and off for awhile with this thing. I don't recall what edits I made so I am just going to go over a quick number of things I did.

I gutted the cabinet, I got rid of everything except the bezel, marquee, control panel and coin mech.
I set up the mounting system for the monitor, I am using a 20" LCD monitor. I was excited to see my smoked bezel from my other junked cabinet fits, I love how smoked looks.
I had a hard time getting the sticker off the control panel so I burned it off and then sanded it.
I brought the control panel into work and drilled holes for new buttons (6 buttons per player not counting 1P/2P) and broke 2 hole saws in the process.
I started peeling the laminate off the cabinet. Either they used bad glue or it was so old it was dying because I managed to get it all off with a hammer and screw driver.
I am currently in the process of sanding off all of the glue left behind from the laminate.

I have 2 black E-Sticks, 12 black buttons and a set of black 1P/2P buttons. I ordered them from Ultimarc last Friday morning around 3AM, so I hope I get them by the end of the week. I also ordered the art for the control panel from Game on Grafix. I really wish some of this art was cheaper!

[404]

Well if you ever want to venture back and do something with the old poker style cab, have a look at chopperthedog's project. I think he did an excellent job converting his into a very nice, clean cabaret style cabinet.

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,130607.0.html

[kuehnau]

Okay so it's been awhile. I've done some work, not a whole lot, I've been very busy and I am moving at the end of the month. I was hoping to have it painted before I moved but I won't hold my breath.


Still stripping the cabinet down. I have the laminate off, so now I need to remove all the old stuff under it.




Here's the new control panel with the new controls put into it.




Control Panel in the cabinet.


The E-Stiks feel a bit stiff, but I think I may actually how they feel compared to the zippy stick(s) I had on a previous build. Also I am aware the controls are kind of close. I wanted to use the steel control panel that came with the cabinet and so I had to use the holes that were already drilled. I don't know how much of an issue they will be or not.