KillerArcadeMachine - My first cabinet

[KillerArcades]

Ok, so, after making a few dozens posts, and watching these boards for several months, I've finally finished my first cabinet and got a friend to take some pics of it for me to share.

I can't thank enough everyone who's helped me out here on the boards with answering questions, and particularly all of you who have given some much time and energy towards making and hosting the cool apps that are available. This community is absolutely incredible as far as all the cool stuff that's available. You ALL rock! I'd like to give a special thanks to the MAME Dev team, Minwah, MikeQ, Mahuti, RandyT, Tiger-Heli, and probably some other people I'm missing.

So, here goes with pics:

[JMB]

Nice job!

That is by far the most wire on a CP I have seen in my short time here. 

Is the monitor a TV or 27" arcade monitor?

[KillerArcades]

27" inch TV I got from walmart for $150 new (cheapest new one with an s-video input that didn't have a huge bezel with speakers, etc).

And yes, lots of wire, and by the time I got on that part of it, I basically said "screw it" and didn't bother to keep it nice and tidy - and I'm just not the wiring master like knievel, etc.

2 LED's per button, three under the trackball - I've got cold cathodes that I haven't got hooked up quite yet, but they'll be under the bottom edges and along the back upright panels to have it "glow" around the carpet and walls. I'll post more pics of that once I have it finished (that's what the silver control bank is in the front of my CP - a "lightbus" device, fyi).

Probably one of the things I'm happiest with was the artwork, taken from the online resources, I think it all turned out sweet. I need to get another closeup of the control panel with the lights off so I can show off that aspect. I opted to pay the money to get my CP artwork created with a "satin laminate" finish at a nearby printhouse, so no plexiglass, and it's tough and cleanable, etc. gives it a sweet / professional finish.

[mj147]

Nice work, I love the galaga "wide body" grfx theme 

Do you by chance have progress pics?

Once again nice work 


mj147

[leapinlew]

and I'm just not the wiring master like knievel, etc.

Ahmen to that! I believe kneivel is messing up the curve for the rest of us.

[KillerArcades]

Nice work, I love the galaga "wide body" grfx theme 

Thanks!

Do you by chance have progress pics?

Unfortunately, no.   It ended up being a project that got stored in my basement for a while without much progress, and my camera was broke at the time (my friend took these pics for me), and I've been to lazy/cheap to get a new camera yet.

But, apparently, my sis-in-law really wants one, and a friend of mine at work is asking for one. So, whenever I get those started, I'll be sure to document the work better (and hopefully have my own camera by then ).

[MYX]

Wow! Really nice job!!! Wish you had pictures of your journey. Great job. Nice lighting. When you get some animations built up you need to post a video. I wanna see that thing move. 

[lettuce]

How wide is the cab at the top section to house the 27" TV? Did you leave any gaps between the side edges of the monitor and the actual side of the cab?

[KillerArcades]

I actually ended up quite a bit wider than I really needed to be. I was afraid that whatever TV I found would have a thick housing/bezel of it's own and I really didn't want to have to pull the entire tube out and try to mount it, etc.

So, it's about 31 1/2" wide - I could've gone a good 2" narrower and been fine - I kept the TV inside it's own bezel/housing, but in order to get the HAPP bezel nice and tight against it, I had to chop off the top of the TV housing, as the TV's bezel/housing was a little bit smaller than that of the HAPP (shorter that is, width was perfect).

So, there's about a good 5-6" gap (about 3" per side) between the inside of the cabinet uppers and the edges of the TV.

I used velcro to hold the bezel in place so as to not have screws showing, etc. (and I find that screws tend to make the bezel bow in and out, as it's usually really tight against the wood at the screws, but then much looser in between, etc) and some corner wall molding from home depot painted black to serve as a bezel overlay on each side.

[NinjaEpisode]

Effin Impressive!  Give yourself a pat on the back.  That's a machine to be proud of!

[SNAAKE]

AWSOMENESS ! 

[markrvp]

That really is neat.  You should be proud of it.

[theCoder]

Beautiful lighting.  Looks like a candy store.  How many nights and weekends would you say you have into it?  Nice job...

[arcadefever]

  that control panel all light up like that ...wowwww look like a U.F.O 

I've to say that panel is one of my favorite  very nice, well done 

[KillerArcades]

How many nights and weekends would you say you have into it?

Well, as pathetic as it may sound, I actually started back in October. But, all I did in that entire month was buy the wood and cut it out. I didn't get more time to get around to beginning assembly or anything until December, and then only two nights, about 2 hours each. Then I started on it again in real earnest the last week of January (again only two nights, about another 2 hours each).

And I didn't even start on my control panel until March. So, all together I think I spent about 30-40 hours on the entire cabinet, but that also includes some nightmarish evenings trying to get my computer working, which in the end I had to trash as it had a bad MB.

The soldering/wiring of the CP took 3 long nights with the help of a buddy (we did 2 CP in that time though, his and mine - he'll probably be posting pics of his sometime soon - very similar setup on the control panel). By 'long nights' I mean about 6-8 hour nights. 2 LED's per button at about 38 buttons makes for a heckuva lot of soldering! Cold tip solder irons are a breeze, but they suck down batteries like you wouldn't believe, and we went through about 4 tips as well in those 3 nights.

[dpz147]

WOW!! Looks great!! Congrats!   

[MameMaster!]

very creative use of the lit hardware and overall design.

Great job...definitely one of the top cabs here.

 

[goosok]

Congratullations! beautiful machine!!

[method]

awsome cab mate ,  cp looks very nice  that wiring job though would have bin a nightmare