Hi, I'm starting to conceptualize a cocktail MAME cabinet that I'll be making for my 3D design art class and more importantly, myself, and I just wanted to see what you folks think.
Since this will be my first foray into cabinet construction, I've decided to keep things fairly simple. Essentially, I'm going to make the cabinet so that a computer's tower can just be stuck right into the cabinet without having to gut the machine and mount all the parts inside the cabinet, seeing how that would consume more time, and I have time constraints, plus I'd rather maintain the computer I'm using for the cab as useable as a normal computer if I so decide to. Same thing with the monitor, except it wouldn't be as easily swappable I would imagine. I don't intend on opening any casing on the tower or the monitor, unless it's just to take off the tower's casing to give it better ventilation.
The cab itself I intend on making it 2 players, with the controls at the longest ends. The controls I've already ordered from those X-gaming auctions, as mentioned in another thread here, since the price is right and although I've heard ups and downs from you all, they should suit my purposes just fine. I intend on using an I-pac to connect the controls to. I would LIKE to try to make the monitor rotatable to spin around so that the other player could see right for games that may require it, but in a more manual way without motors and chains and all that, something simple like a turntable that could be cranked from the outside of the cabinet perhaps.
The computer I'd be using is a 450 Mhz Pentium 3 Compaq with a GEforce 2 64MB, and 384 MBS of RAM, and the monitor is a 17" Compaq model. The computer handles pretty much any game I could possibly want to play on a cocktail cab with ease. Simple stereo speakers I have laying around should do the sound just fine.
With this setup I think I'll be able to minimize the amount of wiring I have to do ( I've never wired before, although I have mild experience with a soldering iron ). I've diligently read through many articles and tutorials on this smashing site, so I've got a pretty good idea of what lies ahead of me.
In close, I have a few questions for you all. First, would it be okay to just stick a tower inside the cabinet in terms of cooling? Would it be a good idea to remove the casing of the tower? Could I just cut an air vent or should I get a fan to vent the cab? As for the speakers, where does one put them on a cocktail cab? Do they even have an opening or are they completely sealed within the cab?
That's all I can think of for now, any feedback would be mucho appreciated.
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Topic: A Venture into Cocktail Cabinets (Read 4688 times)
