First MAME Cab Complete

[commandcom]

Started working on it in May; had my first MAME party (a.k.a. Nerf-Fest '05) last night.  Yay! Most of the party attendees had never heard of MAME, let alone of someone building a dedicated arcade cabinet.  Their excitement/amazement over the cab was worth all the effort.

Stats:
Ultimate Arcade II Plans
3/4" MDF
27" Wells Gardner 9200
SlikStik C02 control panel
ArcadeVGA video card
AMD 2800+ CPU, 512MB RAM, 80GB hard drive
Wi-Fi network card (802.11g)
Xplod 5x7 speakers; 30W Boss car amp
Bazooka sub-woofer
Graphics by MameMarquees

If you've got broadband, you can see a slideshow of the construction:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stinkpickles/sets/1079472/show/

[JONTHEBOMB]

Excellent job on the cabinet.  I liked the slideshow on the construction too.

How long did it take about?

[njchan]

that's a great cab ... nice and simple ...

how long did it take? ... about how much did it cost?

how "handy" are you   could someone a little less "handy" do the same?

where are you from?

(can / us?)

[commandcom]

Thanks.  It took about 5 months to complete.  I did not work on it continuously though.  I suffered through a number of setbacks: bad motherboard, bad power supply, the monitor got sent back to WG when I missed the shipment, as well as a personal injury (http://www.scarmageddon.com/?sid=127). 

The cost was pretty high, somewhere in the neighborhood of $2500.  However, I went high-end most of the components.  The most expensive items were the monitor (~$485), and the control panel (~$600).

I have essentially zero wood working skills.  I never expected the cab would as well as it did.  Throughout the project I forced myself to go slowly and followed the "measure twice, cut once" mantra.  That saved ---my bottom--- a number of times.

The cab (and I) reside in Burlington, VT.

[Mark70]

Prebuilt and kit parts are definately not the cheapest way to do it.

But hell, if you can cut  your finger off with a broom, then the less you have to use actual saws the better  jk.

Nice project.

[bateman]

Nice work - like your choice of  components.
what kind of bezel did you use? is it the 27" happ bezel? is there a close-up pic available? i

[commandcom]

It is the happ bezel.  It works perfectly with the 9200.  It is also nicely oversized so you can cut it down to fit whatever size cabinet you might have.

[Crowley]

Put some blue cathodes/leds/lamps. Then it would be sexified. But yet, near perfection.