as of yet unnamed new cabinet

[nikfaulkner]

hi all,

here's some info about my new (and first) mame cab.

history
- my 30 birthday is coming up and my wife suggested i may like a mame cabinet as my present, what a great idea i thought untill i saw the price
of pre-built machines. trying to get any info on dealers/companies in the UK was
a nightmare and any that i did find seemed to be almost double the price of thier American counterparts  . that was when i discovered the BYOAC site...

the plan

- 1 - build the machine as cheaply as possible
making use of as much "existing hardware" and "freestuff" as i can get my hands on. no t-moulding, no coin door and tons of ebay bargains

- 2 - make it in 2 parts
so it can be moved with a lot less manpower and so the construction process
can be achieved in stages(i don't have a garage or workshop so my kitchen/living room will have to do)

- 3 -make it aesthetically pleasing as possible
clean lines. neat, simple yet functional control panel(not really interested in a trackball or spinner at this stage) and a nice paint job.

- 4 - document the entire process on a website
including full plans, templates, 3d mockups, frontend skins and graphic downloads (obviously when the cab is complete)

progress

step001 - getting as many carboard boxes as i can
after planning i built a full size mockup out of carboard boxes, only when i saw it standing there i realised how big it's going to be. a few dimension changes later and i'm happy with my plans.

here's the first carboard mockup

[nikfaulkner]

progress

step002 - building the base

take various sheets of 12mm mdf, add wooden batons, tons of screws and a splash of glue. drill, saw, route and measure for aproxx 7 hours. add the temporary control panel you made earlier out of scrap mdf (totaly the wrong size and thickness) and xarcade controls you bought cheaply from ebay. then stand back and admire your work(and rub your aching back)

here's one i made earlier...

[nikfaulkner]

picture002

[Acids]

- 3 -make it aesthetically pleasing as possible
clean lines. neat, simple yet functional control panel(not really interested in a trackball or spinner at this stage) and a nice paint job.

Good start, I like the shape and its gonna look sharp when done.

[dmsuchy]

Looks really fantastic so far! I'm also building a 2 piece cab of a similar design, kinda like GXRmoviestar's cab. What kind of projector are you running in the background? I have a Sony VLP-HS10 that I'm projecting onto a 100 inch Dalite screen. Are you just projecting onto your wall? Guess this is the wrong forum for these questions but the cabinet looks like an awesome start and I really like your idea of making a cardboard mock up, I wish I did that, it could have of saved me a couple of extra cuts.

[nikfaulkner]

hi guys (gals?)

yep i'm slowing getting there with the cab, it seems to be working out ok. i can't seem to find any info on gxrmoviestar's cab. anybody got a link?

my projector is an "epson emp-s1" here's a link to some info

http://www.dabs.com/uk/channels/hardware/projectors/productView.htm?quicklinx=2M07

yep, i'm straight onto the wall, i tried a friends screen and the difference was barley noticeable. so i couldn't really justify the

[pcdoctor]

Great start on your cabinet and I use sheetrock for my home theater screen.
My Dad gave me a full screen Dalite but I used sheetrock instead.
My sheetrock screen is mounted 2 or 3 inches from a sheetrock wall to give it more realism.
I used Behr ultra pure white flat that was converted to Behr gray tropics flat.

http://community.webshots.com/user/myhometheater

http://community.webshots.com/photo/30806723/37799488cMRcCw

http://community.webshots.com/photo/30806723/30807208nvAtwsLyol