First Cuts Made!

[atomaka]

Hey all!  What's up!

I recently was introduced to the world of MAME gaming by one of my friend's who has an old Dark Stalker cab modified.  I quickly became interested in the project and started putting plans together for my own.  Much like the Blake's MAME Project site, I intend on logging everything which I will be doing with to build my homemade cab.

Check out http://www.whoisandy.com/arcade to watch the progress.

If you have any suggestions to offer to a newbie, please send them my way.  Helping me learn through your mistakes would be great!

[EDIT]I'm just gonna keep this as sort of a runing tab for the project[/EDIT]

[paigeoliver]

Nice looking website, and good deal documenting from the beginning.

Everytime I see specs for a new computer someone is going to get for a cab, I always do a bouble take, as it is usually around double what my good computer even has.

If money is short you will do fine with half the specs that you listed. For that matter, you would be OK with 25 percent of those specs.

[atomaka]

Well, this will also serve as a PC gaming station for me.  It is replacing the building of a new computer so it needs to be pretty decent.  Cost is a big thing to me, but chip prices are falling crazy like right now and I do have cash (I just would rather save it then spend it).

I also want to be able to play pretty much every arcade game. I don't know much about arcade gaming so I don't know what processor I need from that perspective (I'd be interested in knowing) but I still need the power for PC gaming.

Thanks a lot for your comments

[Brax]

I also want to be able to play pretty much every arcade game. I don't know much about arcade gaming so I don't know what processor I need from that perspective (I'd be interested in knowing) but I still need the power for PC gaming.

You figure you're going to get off light by sticking to "arcade gaming"? Good luck. You need at LEAST 4ghz to play "EVERY" game.
Pokemon fever will only get you a light wallet around here. 1.7 to 2ghz will play tons. Throw words around like "every" and you can quadruple those requirements.

[atomaka]

Yeah, I realize every game is not going to work out.  Hence, "Pretty much"  I would like to be able to play  a good majority of them though.  Feel free to make suggestions on my computer specs.

[paigeoliver]

400-500 Mhz will play the majority. My first MAME cabinet had a 500, and I really can't remember many games that it couldn't play.

 There are really just a few games that have much higher requirements. (STUN Runner, hard drive games, most any polygon game, anything on Mortal Kombat hardware, etc).

[atomaka]

Alright, I've decided I want this thing to be able to be disassembled quite easily.  When at school, I live on the third floor of a dorm without an elevator.  Carrying an arcade up three flights of steps is not fun (I learned this while helping a friend move his in and out).

Because of this, I want my arcade to be able to come apart completely.  The sides need to be able to be seperated, all internal shelves need to be taken out and so on.

Have removeable shelves is easy enough, but I kind of hit a stumbling block with the sides being easy to remove.  I finally came up with the following plan:

I found steel threaded rods at Home Depot.  I intend on cutting these into 3" (or so) pieces that will be partially embedded into the front and rear panels on both sides (the 3/4" thick part, not the length or the width) in multiple locations.  On the side panels will be holes where the rods can stick through.  Then, a hex nut can easily be put in place to hold the cabinet together.  I plan on receding the hexes into the wood so they are hidden, and am hoping to find some sort of hole cover caps (like you see in a lot of chairs...or at least mine)

Do you guys think it will work?  Assuming I put it in enough places, it should.  I realize assembly will require two people, but that's much better than having the same two people carrying up and down three flights of stairs.

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

[shmokes]

Unless you're dirt poor, I don't understand why people are advocating 300-500Mhz machines so much around here.  There are quite a few pretty significant games Mame is capable of playing that just won't run acceptably on that machine, let alone any non-mame stuff you might want to do on it.

You can build a complete 1ghz machine for about $150...maybe less....far less if you've already got some parts that can be recycled from another machine.  Hell, you can get a complete 2ghz machine from major manufacturers like Dell $300.

[atomaka]

I've finally gotten a chance to cut the wood.  I definitely see why people choose MDF for their projects now. It cuts nicely. I was afriad that it would be sloppy to clean up after because of its feel and sanding galore would be required, but I couldn't have been any more wrong.

Next week I should get into cunstruction.  Hopefully, I will be able to snag some pics (I haven't been able to yet)