My first cabinet (plans), comments welcome :)

[MrDT]

Well then, after what seems like a lifetime i've finally got off my backside and drawn up some plans for a mame cabinet of my own Ever since I was a child i've dreamt about having an arcade machine in my room... about two years ago i realised that with mame it was possible

I don't know why it's taken so long for me to get on with it. I guess i'm lazy, and settled for playing mame on my pc with a basic joypad. Well last night i sketched some plans out for a cabinet (i really should have been studying, but what the hell) and today i grabbed a copy of sketchup (which i highly reccommend btw, very easy to learn, powerful, and a nice free trial available online) and drew out the designs properly.

I know the cab is nothing special, but i don't really want it to be. It cant be huge, as I need to transport it home at the end of the year. I haven't got much experience woodworking so a simple design is best. This will be my first cabinet, so I want to save some cool stuff for when i get round to making the future ones that are sure to follow. And finally, being a lowly student i haven't got a massive budget

Anyway, the system will be a Duron 600 with 320mb pc133 ram. The sound will be onboard, gfx will be a radeon 9100, i'll also be bunging a tv card in there so i can hook up my ps2 (along with maybe my old megadrive and nes, although i may just emulate them) the hdd will probably be an 80gig one as they seem to be cheap as chips atm

Anyway, I'm sure you're bored by now, and might like to see some piccies? Here ya go:


The case in its glory, I know the control panel is a bit bare (just a bit lol ) but I only got this program today, so dont feel up to modelling all the little intricacies just yet! The initial control panel will have two 8-way joysticks, with 6 horizontal buttons each and a start and coin button for each player. The panel will be removable though (and is removed in this pic to illustrate how it will be removed), so other modules can be installed later   (when i have more time and money and confidence!)

Anyway, here are a couple of other piccies:

This partially transparent version gives you an idea of the internal layout


This gives a clearer idea of the general shape (black lines and black paint in the first image misses out a lot of the detail lol)

Anyway, comments and advice are welcome, I can't wait to build this thing (sadly it will take a little while due to work and uni comittments ) and hopefully a little guidance from you guys will help me get it right first time (although i'm sure it'll be altered regularly... a constand work in progress!  )

Anyway, enough waffling, tell me what you think (please be kind :worried: )

[menace]

Looks good for a start  From personal experience you might want more "real estate" on your control panel--make it a little deeper front to back and maybe a touch deeper vertically--although thats hard to say and totally up to you.  Also, you want to make sure that the speakers you use aren't going to block your marquee light or that there is enough room to mount a light up there.

If space is an issue--maybe a bartop would be a nice alternative--typically its only 1 player but that can be changed.  Also, other have suggested a 2 piece for those cabs on the go (top separates from the bottom)

I'm guessing the fans at the bottom are decorative?  You could use them as intakes I suppose--but make sure they are the quietest fans you can find--becasue you'll be hearing them constantly.  if cooling is an issue (which it shouldn't be since your only running a duron 600, put two fans on the back top angles section (heat rises  )

hope that gives you some thoughts--lets see the next iteration when you're done!

[MrDT]

There are some revisions to be made

The fans are decorative and functional imo, I'll probably fit them with a pot to control speeds on the offchance that they get annoying, but considering my pc has 8 fans in it and i sleep right next to it i doubt it'd be an issue There are holes for two exhaust fans which are visible in the second pic, it may be an idea to relocate them to the upper section i guess.

I may well be increasing the size of the contral panel section. The original panel I will build will be pretty minimal, but it would be nice to have space to improve upon it later on, thanks for pointing that out.

The marquee section is 2' by 6". The speakers will be bare (ie no casing) and I'll mount the light at the top. I assumed this would be fine, I might resize the marquee section in my second pass designs though. What do you reckon?

I don't really want to make a bartop, the whole point is to have a fairly authentic looking cabinet in my room I'm currently figuring out a way to make it completely dismatleable though (as opposed to a two piece), that should be fun

I will certainly post updated plans as soon as they're done, forgive me if it takes a while though as i'm in th middle of my exams  

Anyway, thanks for the advice it's all been taken onboard