My First Mame Cab

[NycMame]

Well Firstly I'd like to introduce myself to the "Arcade-Family"

My name is Greg and I'm from NYC[Obviously] , Im 22 years of age
Currently working as a Technician for Mercedes-Benz

After long months of thought & exploring different styles of cab designs, I've decided to make my own mame Cabinet based on Lusid's design

My first approach was to make the cab out of MDF then cover it with side-art/laminate/etc

But after coming across someone's mame cabinet [sorry for forgetting your name]
Ive decided to go with wood, since it looked wonderful with stain/polyurethane
and can easily be passed off as a piece of furniture, opposed to its MDF counter-part

With that said, here are some basic pictures of what i have done so far, keep in mind that this if my FIRST attempt to make a cab, so i know its not going to be the best thing you have seen nor will it be the worst since im trying my best with limited amount of tools/space
Sorry for the poor lighting in these pics, i'll be sure to improve the quality of the pictures soon [since my digital came sucks  ]


















Here are a few Stained shots




















Here are some of the stuff that I used/going to use



Clear Gloss Polyurethane



Red Oak Stain, Elmer's Wood filler [to hide the cracks/screws/etc], And painthinner w/ mineral spirits to lighten up the dark area's


Personally, im pleased with the results so far
I'm open for any idea's and/or suggestions you have to give me, since there's people on here that are FAR more experienced than I am

I'm still wondering on how im going to mount my TV [27'']
So if u got any tips, that would be excellent

This mame is going to feature mostly every platform emulator out there

Mame
Neo-Geo
Nes
Sega Genesis
Super nintendo
Atari 2600
Playstation [using Iso's, instead of having the actual console in my cabinet]
Nintendo 64
Dreamcast [maybe]

And Mugen, not sure if this forum have heard about Mugen or not [youtube mugen to see what mugen can do ! ]

Basically Mugen is a fully customizable program that lets you add  stages, characters, menu's and music from various fighting games into one game

in other words you can have a Street Fighter Vs Mortal kombat Vs Killer instinct Vs Marvel Vs Capcom  [and more, you get the idea]

Sounds good? if you need any info about mugen let me know i'll tell you what u need to know in order to get started


And that's it folks

Once again i'd like to thank everyone in this arcade community

for giving me the idea and inspiration to turn a dream into a reality

Happy holidays & stay tuned for the updates

[rberger3]

Nice start.  Keep up the pics.

[cw]

 

[Green Giant]

Looking good so far but the true bread and butter comes out in the control panel and marquee.

What are your thoughts on a CP?  Controls you will use, button layout, trackball, overlay, etc.

Also, for the tv mount, just use another piece of wood with many braces for it.  A couple of braces on the sides will easily support a 27".  Also make sure to add some stops on the back so it can be slid in from the front and stop at the braces.  Don't worry about it sliding out the front as you should remove it when moving.  Don't worry about decasing it as most 27"s should fit just fine.

[NycMame]

Thanks for the advice Green Giant


Well as for the CP , I havent really decided yet [ still in the brainstorming phase]

But i was thinking something like 4buttons on top [for neo-geo games]
And 3 buttons on the bottom [for each player]

With a trackball/spinner in the middle

I'm not sure if i should make the CP out of wood or somethign else

Any idea's?

Another idea was to make the CP out of MDF then wrap it around with carbon fiber style Laminate
Since im an automotive enthusiast, but then again the whole cabinet is made of wood so im thinking the carbon-fiber style CP wouldnt look good with the Wood cabinet

Here's the website on which the carbon fiber laminates can be found
http://dragonplate.com/
So i really dont know for now-- throw me some idea's, Thanks


-Gregory

[Green Giant]

If you have wood left over use that, otherwise mdf is cheap and really easy to work with.

As for the dragonplate, it looks pretty good and would work well as being not too flashy.  If you can incorporate the dragonplate and the wood together somehow, it would look pretty cool.

For the CP layout, I would suggest two U360 sticks.  They are analog sticks that can be automatically switched from 2,4,8,16,49-way, etc.

I would recommend the 6 button standard street fighter layout with one more button a little down and to the left.  Search google images for neo geo arcade to see how there were setup.

I personally prefer the trackball and think it looks best right in the middle of a control panel, adds some good symmetry.

Spinner is up to you, but if you put one in I would say either above player one or two controls, not in the middle or above the trackball unless you like broken fingers, from golden tee follow throughs.

Along with all that probably coin buttons, player start buttons, exit, pause, and some pinball buttons on the sides.

[Denverlatino]

a hiho, looks good so far , keep the good work.

[DaOld Man]

I lik ethe finish on the cab.. I may try that on my next project!!
 

[NycMame]

Thank you for your comments 

in the near future im going to show my control panel layout

and the installment of the TV

i doubt a piece of wood mounted to the side of the panel [with an "L" bracket]
would hold this 27'' TV

lately ive been so busy w/ family and visits and what not

but i'll make sure to keep you guys posted

[NycMame]

Alright i finally got the TV shelf inside the cab

it was annoying since it was a tight fitt

but with some patience i got the shelf in perfectly

here are some pics

[NycMame]

im not sure if these two brackets would hold the TV in place

i was thinking about adding a thick solid piece of wood or perhaps a metal brace

And since the TV is going to be put in real soon


Any idea's for a nice looking bezel?

[not sure if the happcontrols bezel would work on my cab]