Building a cab for non-climate controlled use

[Well Fed Games]

Ok, so I've been thinking for awhile about putting together a full-size cab for my sister's family, and a couple months ago I came across a solid, generic cab for cheap ($10  )that might be the foundation of that project (it was a Johnny Nero Action hero). Anyway, it would probably end up living in their unheated garage (in central Indiana) exposed to below freezing temps in the winter nights and serious heat and humidity in the summer. My bro-in-law does a lot of classic car restoration in his garage with his buddies so I know it would get played whenever the garage is a tolerable temperature.

As far as internals, what would be most temp-proof? Monitor will likely be a TV, and I would really just focus on classic games (if I could get Ms Pac, Galaga, and DK going that'd be fine). Anyway, anyone built a cab they knew would be in a bad environment and have tips for me? Worst case I could do a plug-and-play TV game (which was the basis of the last mini cab I built them), but would a cheap multiboard be the right kind of choice here?

[ed12]

for that kind of thing
cold/hot,i would lean into a lcd...crt's like to arc when it's to hot or when it is very cold and just turned on..lcd is more fore giving.

ed

[Well Fed Games]

Thanks, good to know... the cabinet is built for 25"+ so finding the right 4:3 monitor (cheap) might be a bit of a challenge. But would also love the reduced weight of an LCD.

for that kind of thing
cold/hot,i would lean into a lcd...crt's like to arc when it's to hot or when it is very cold and just turned on..lcd is more fore giving.

ed

[ed12]

ya i hear u there..
but u could dowm size and or up size
done both

ed

[Well Fed Games]

Any other thoughts on the most durable "brain" for a cab exposed to cold/hot? PC? Pi? PCB?

[JDFan]

Any other thoughts on the most durable "brain" for a cab exposed to cold/hot? PC? Pi? PCB?

Cheap method for just a couple games would be one of the Pacman or Ms. Pacman plug and play units from Namco (about $25) since you mention using a TV it would plug right in and have 5 or 6 games. The main units are fairly small and should hold up to the weather as they use very little power. And if something does fail it was only a $25 part so no big loss !

Figure the Ms. Pac has
    Ms. Pac-Man
    Pole Position
    Galaga
    Xevious
    Mappy

and the Pacman unit has :
    Pac-Man
    Pac-Man Plus
    Super Pac-Man
    Pac and Pal
    Pac-Man lvl256
    Bosconian
    Dig Dug
    Rally-X
    Galaxian
    Galaga
    Xevious
    Mappy

So several games that provide quite a bit of play time. I just built a mini bartop using the newer Pacman unit and it gets quite a bit of use. (Build Link - http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,139689.0.html )

[Well Fed Games]

Yeah, was considering that, but I previously built them a bartop using one of those. Would love to be able to hit Ms. Pac, Galaga, and DK, which means mame or a 60-in-1 I guess. Plug and play is definitely my fallback though.

[lilshawn]

since you are looking at a 60 in 1 , honestly, a widescreen lcd really doesn't look that bad vertically.

I had a 42" lcd and pedestal cabinet hanging around the shop from a ultracade i built a while back and the hard drive died (can't get new codes from global anymore to fix it.)

So we threw a multicade board in there, turned the LCD vertically (luckily the VESA mounts are square on this TV.) and it looked great. There is a tiny bit of lost area at the top of the screen (now left side) and i had to tweak the screen position. but not a deal breaker by any means.

[Jamesbeat]

How about a Raspberry Pi with Piplay (formerly Pimame)?

I'm building a cab right now using a Pi, and you can set it up to boot straight into a frontend.

It will cost a little more than a plug & play ($35 I think), but it's probably cheaper than a 60 in 1 setup, and will allow you to use the entire 0.37b5 romset.

It has both HDMI and composite out, so hooking it up to most TV's is no problem.