General Questions on a project ***WARNING NOOB***

[JordyRamone]

Hey guys,
I have been wanting to build a cabinet for a long time. At first I was going to draw some custom plans up and make it with my dad. He got kind of intimidated with the idea of the project even tho he is fairly good with wood working. He suggested we find a broken cabinet locally and gut it. Its been a year and I have not found any. So i have a few questions. How hard do you guys think it is to make a cabinet? If you guys say it isnt too hard i might be able to convince him. Also, i am looking for plans. I am looking to make a two player arcade cabinet, maybe similar to a neo geo mvs. I want to use a computer tower and a computer monitor and make custom controls. Last question is how much do you think it will cost? dont factor in the cost of the computer and monitor.
thanks
 

[jennifer]

       You can do a pretty nice one for a couple hundred, as long as you got most of the tools at your disposal.... I would not wait  however, start with the marque and control panel, then build the cab to fit, Not only can you start over relatively cheaply in case of mishap but your dad may become interested in the project when he sees you playing with his tools.

[JordyRamone]

Thanks for the reply. Haha just realized that my post may have made it sound like I was a teenager and not a 30 year old. Not that it matters.
Doesn't the marquee have to be part of the side panels? Or are you talking about the top and bottom pieces of it

[yotsuya]

Where do you live, n00b? Maybe we can point you in the right direction.

[JordyRamone]

Brandon Manitoba

[PL1]

Welcome aboard, JordyRamone.   

You may want to look through this wiki entry for a condensed step-by-step how-to tutorial for building a cab.


Scott

[shponglefan]

Not only can you start over relatively cheaply in case of mishap but your dad may become interested in the project when he sees you playing with his tools.

That just sounds... wrong.

[yotsuya]

Brandon Manitoba

Well, if you were in PHX, I know a guy that could hook you up. But in Canada? Ask for Rick.

[jennifer]

   OMG... ***so embarrassed***...  Go get your own wood and play with that??? (Giggle, Snort).... No really, Its so cool you want your dad to help (at any age), And I  was just trying to help you set a byoac "trap" to lure him in.... Yes The archives here are FULL of information on builds, and that's a really, really good place to start. BTW, welcome to the forum!!

[JordyRamone]

Thanks for all your ideas. I have started to map out how I want the controls to work. This project will take me a while but I will keep you guys updated.

[bradx]

honestly, in my experience, finding a cab and gutting it is far easier and cheaper than a scratch build.  i live on the shore of one great lake with another to the north, i know what its like being in the middle of nowhere, on a road that leads to nowhere and how hard that makes finding a cab, but maybe one of these would work?  i have mamed several froggers, theyre lightweight and you might be able to talk this seller down a bit:

http://fargo.craigslist.org/bar/4659203266.html

this one seems like a decent candidate too.  shoot him a lowball offer, you have nothing to lose.

http://fargo.craigslist.org/vgm/4699030793.html

offer a hundred bucks, thats less than you would spend on the wood to build a cabinet and would save you a bunch of time and effort. 

[Saneless]

I just started finally building my cabinet from scratch.

Fully agree if you're sticking to 2P you should just buy an old dead cab.  This will be rewarding when I'm done but in the meantime it stinks.