My homemade arcade cabinet

Go on, you know you want to show off!
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OldFoo

My homemade arcade cabinet

Post by OldFoo »

After many years of wanting my own arcade machine, I finally started building one back in February. I looked at other people's Mame cabs, and I've owned the Project Arcade: Build Your Own Arcade Machine book (John St. Clair) since 2005 (lots of good info in there!). Finally, with vacation time to use, but nowhere to go, I started making my own cabinet.





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And here it is. Only one Naomi gun at the moment, until I get the gun stuff working. Parts are on the way, thanks to englishman_in_plantcity.

The current marquee / name is Video Voltage. If you can think of a better name, let me know. I'm serious.





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Two important things of note. First, I am using a 21 inch LCD. It keeps the cabinet thinner (space is at a premium around here), lighter, and more energy efficient and CRTs. I'd still like to own a CRT arcade in the future, though.

Second, you can probably tell that the cabinet is 3 distinct parts: control panel, lower half, and upper half. Much easier to build and move. Still pretty stable, too. Some wood strips inside hold the top half in place.





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My control panel is based on the Hanaho Hotrod joystick (which I owned for years. Still do. Did not "recycle" any of the Hotrod parts for this.) The trackball in the middle actually lights up when the PC is on. The yellow button is a pause button in Mame (no function on Naomi or Jamma).

If I have but one regret, it's that I didn't put the start buttons and the pause button together. Don't know why I put those where I did...

2nd regret, some wood swelling on the right side after painting. Not a horrible problem.

"Pinball" buttons on either side are connected as mouse buttons.





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Inside the coin door is a panel with the config buttons. Test and Service work with Jamma, PC, and Naomi. The other buttons are for Mame.

The two switches in the middle control whether buttons 5 and 6 are for the Naomi or the PC (connecting both at the same time caused problems.) Coin counter is for Naomi and Jamma. the right switch controls whether the shift function is active or not on the Pause button (i.e. hold pause and tap Start 1 to exit.)

You can see where I cut the wood to fit the computer. Also messed up from moving coin counters around (mounted them, and found the coin mechs hit them when I try to close the coin door.) Not that it's something most people playing will see.





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The brains behind the Mame (and NES, Genesis / Mega Drive, SNES...). Bought on sale brand new. Flushed Vista and put on XP. System actually runs quieter than the Naomi. Also let's me watch DVD movies on my cab. Switching VGA cables determines what system is hooked up to the monitor. The AV switchbox on top of the PC selects the audio source.





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And the Naomi. The board above has the JVS board, Gun IO board, and the CGA convertor for normal Jamma boards. The switch controls if button 2 for each player is connected to the control panel or the gun board (the gun IO uses button 2 to tell the system if the gun is pointed at the screen or not).



Another nice feature is that the LCD monitor also has S-Video and component video in (it is a computer monitor, not a TV.) So I built a Wii sensor bar into it. It's nice playing on a monitor that's not near the floor. Before I was playing House of the Dead Wii games on my knees. Wii Fit is hard playng when looking down at a 45 degree angle.

The monitor supports are designed so I can mount the monitor horizontal or vertical.



And to think, as a kid, I thought about building a machine using cardboard boxes, a TV, and an NES. :smt020
OldFoo

Post by OldFoo »

wow, it looks really nice
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