My new cab

[carnid]

Well I am new to this board and have been lurking for some time - it amazes me the amount of talent there is around here!  I decided a while back I wanted to build an arcade cabinet and bought Saint's book on amazon, but unfortunately because of my lack of handy skills and also room for setting up a proper work space I decided to go with a kit instead.  I had read a lot about Mameroom and decided to talk to the owner who was very helpful and eventually I decided to bite the bullet and order.  When my kit arrived one of the pieces was damaged because of shipping, but Scott (the owner of Mameroom) quickly sent a replacement piece out at no charge which arrived a couple of days later.  Overall I have been very impressed with the company.

Because I had blown most of my budget on the uaii kit alone, I had to look finishing the cabinet on the cheap.  Luckily one of my friends had an old Dell lying around which she didn't need anymore so that served fine as the main system.  I also managed to find a 21 inch monitor on Craigs list for $20 (which at the time I though was more than big enough but probably could have done with bigger).  Around the time I was ordering I saw a deal on xarcade at the time for their XXL panel which cost $99 plus about $20 or so shipping.  I had read a bit about xarcade including some negative comments, however I have to say I couldn't be happier with what I got especially at the price I paid!

Later on when I had a bit more to spend I decided to get a coin mech from Happ, a monitor bezel and marquee from mamemarquees and some smoked plexiglas from Scott at Mameroom.  My experience with Happ went well and I was also very impressed with the service I got from Mamemarquees.

Anyway - just wanted to post this on here and hope to build my own cabinet from scratch some day, maybe once I learn a bit more on here!

[TPB]

Well done ... while not being entirely unique, your cab looks good !!   

You've stayed within your budget, and assembled a pretty versatile cab.  Mission accomplished (well, phase I, at least).

Not everyone has the skill, combined with the time, to invest in making their own cab from scratch.  So don't worry about your reliance on vendor supplied components.

The X-Arcade XXL is vastly more customisable than other models such as the TankStick and Dual (Two Player).  It is larger in all dimensions, width, length, and height (depth), plus it has a sturdy, solid design that is twice the weight of the TankStick.

You've got plenty of room on either side of the XXL to mount a spinner, maybe a good addition would be to whack a TT2 onto it.

Another idea would be to change the sticks at some stage ... plenty of different choices in that regard ... that panel should even have the depth to mount rotary sticks, if they're to your liking.

[carnid]

Thanks for your advice   I do hope to change at least one of the sticks to a rotary one in the near future as my fav game Midnight Resistance is just not playable with a regular stick.  A spinner is also a good idea I hadn't really thought about since I have the trackball but I can see where it would come in handy with arkanoid type games and maybe driving sims?  Anyway - I will continue to add and improve over time as I have found myself becoming addicted to all of this!  Thanks again!

[Jdurg]

The nice thing about the kit you bought is that if you do want to try your hand at some woodworking and scratch building, you can always build yourself your own CP.  This way, you can get used to building the components of a cabinet, plus you can set it up any way your heart desires. 

The CP is the first part of my cabinet that I'm building, and the nice thing is that if I decide I don't like it, I can always just buy more plywood and make a different one later on.

I would also suggest perhaps getting a bigger monitor in the future when time and finances allow it.  Right now, the screen looks a bit tiny in comparison to everything else.