# Mame cabinet FTW!!!



## Myke (Dec 11, 2008)

I just picked these bad boys up for 30 bux. (saved me hundreds of dollars from building them from scratch)








they are konami cabinets. all the wiring is still there as well as teh double coin slots!!!! less money for me to have to spend.
I have big plans for this cabinet. Designing the control panel now. 

anyone have one of these monsters? post them pix up!


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## Bitbyte (Dec 11, 2008)

There's mine. Not my pic, but that's the one 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




. Mortal Kombat II baby 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




Nice pickup Myke! I got an ArcadeVGA and a jPAC + adapter to go with my JAMMA cabs. Still a bit scared about wiring in all the stuff and hooking it up to a PC, but I gotta save up for a decent PC for my cab anyway


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## Myke (Dec 11, 2008)

you don't need a decent pc for a cabinet! =) that's the beauty! that is unless you want to emulate stuff like ps1 n64 dreamcast etc etc.
sweet dude a mortal kombat cabinet! They had a couple at the place where I got mine. 
the reason I got mine is because it has a hell of a tilt for the monitor (I like to look down at the monitor when I'm using an arcade machine),and I can fit up to a 27 inch monitor in that bad boy.


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## Bitbyte (Dec 11, 2008)

Yup, I just gotta get a pretty cheap mobo and CPU and that's about it 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




. Yeah, those monitors are sick


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## Myke (Dec 11, 2008)

are you gonna get one of those vid cards that that support old games and old monitors, or are you just gonna stick with a newer one?

if you are worried about wiring you should pick up this book...it's farely cheap.

http://www.amazon.com/Project-Arcade-Build...3310&sr=8-1

I have had it for a couple of years now and it has helped a lot. it is the excellent companion guide when you are building. it's just like a bible for mame building. Referring to websites as well as LOTS of information on how to do everything  from building to picking which controls to wiering to marquess panel layouts etc etc.


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## Lazycus (Dec 11, 2008)

Mine is a Killer Instinct cabinet.  Same as the MKII except the superior Spinal side art.  Those Midway cabs are great because they have tons of room inside and lots of control panel area and the large monitor of course.  Original hardware is always the best but MAME is as close as you can get for a fraction of the cost.


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## Myke (Dec 11, 2008)

I like mame better cuz all of a sudden instead of 1 game you have about 7000 XD (i mean of which quite a few are practically unplayable but still...my fullset is waiting to be put into the hard drive of the cabinet XD).

plus I think designing the control panel is the fun! They look like frankenpanels for mame. Start adding an extra 4 way a couple of knobs and a trackball, and you got an arcade cabinet from outer space


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## Hadrian (Dec 11, 2008)

I've got an cabinet (homemade) at my parents but there isn't a screen and the PC inside pretty much died but I'm gonna tend to it next year.  Get four controllers on it, a trackball and a decent sized screen and I'll be happy.

Gonna find a new house/bunaglow to live in, make sure I've got a garage or a sturdy shed then keep it in there so when the Mrs and kid pisses me off I can escape.

How are PC lightguns and their compatibility with MAME and the other arcade emulators?


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## Myke (Dec 11, 2008)

check it http://www.act-labs.com/scripts/proddetails.asp?Pid=92

it's usb interface, and no drivers are needed, the pc reads it as a mouse, so when you are playing a lightgun game on mame, make sure you set your controller to mouse.

and here's some info on how to set it up with mame 
http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Mame_Lightgun_Setup


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## Radio (Dec 11, 2008)

*insert drool emoticon here*  I'd be interested in seeing your updates with this.  

I'd love to build a cabinet but we have absolutely no space for one at the moment.  It killed me seeing the arcade down the road chuck out and burn a load of old cabinets.  (including a Point Blank dedicated cabinet   
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 )  If I'd know I would have found a way to take one off their hands.


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## Myke (Dec 11, 2008)

Radio said:
			
		

> *insert drool emoticon here*  I'd be interested in seeing your updates with this.
> 
> I'd love to build a cabinet but we have absolutely no space for one at the moment.  It killed me seeing the arcade down the road chuck out and burn a load of old cabinets.  (including a Point Blank dedicated cabinet
> 
> ...



OMG blasphemy! 

they could have been sold!


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## JPH (Dec 13, 2008)

Lucky you!
I know old arcades give them away if you bring a truck or something to pick them up.

You should totally paint them into something stylish before you start adding guts. 
Good luck with it yo.


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## Myke (Dec 13, 2008)

yeah I'm planning on it, lots of work to do. And with real work in the mix, there's not much time on my days off to do it.


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## Gaisuto (Dec 14, 2008)

If I can ask, where did you get those? An old arcade or a theme park or something? I'm curious where to look around.


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## Lazycus (Dec 14, 2008)

Gaisuto said:
			
		

> If I can ask, where did you get those? An old arcade or a theme park or something? I'm curious where to look around.



Make a post in rec.games.video.arcade.collecting about wanting an empty cabinet.  Just give your general area.  If you live near a metro area you can probably find someone giving them away for free.


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## Myke (Dec 17, 2008)

Gaisuto said:
			
		

> If I can ask, where did you get those? An old arcade or a theme park or something? I'm curious where to look around.




I looked on craig's list. Found this dude locally who had his garage just completely loaded with cabinets. there must have been like 70 cabinets crammed in there
cool dude too.


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## Myke (Apr 2, 2009)

I finally got all the parts together. have the PC, have the buttons and joysticks, have all the lexan, now I just gotta  glue together the control panels, drill the holes, and finish painting the sides. 
I haven't finished it yet but one side is 70% done. Painting baby akuma and baby dan from puzzlefighter on each side. this is akuma's.


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## bloodbros (Apr 2, 2009)

Nice side art. I am going to build a bar-top cab myself oneday. Has all the plan and know where to get all the parts. Just need the space at home. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




BTW, you might have a look at his link to see how NOT to build your cab:

http://www.disorder.org/crapmame/


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## bloodbros (Apr 2, 2009)

Nice side art. I am going to build a bar-top cab myself oneday. Has all the plan and know where to get all the parts. Just need the space at home. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




BTW, you might have a look at his link to see how NOT to build your cab:

http://www.disorder.org/crapmame/


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## Myke (Apr 2, 2009)

lol that site is hilarious


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## kobykaan (Apr 3, 2009)

lmao!!!!!!!! that crapmame link is awesome! the funniest thing I've seen this week so far!


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## Myke (Apr 18, 2009)

finished the akuma side finally...took forever but I was slackin too. image is glary cuz the paint is still wet. sry XD


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## gblock247 (Apr 18, 2009)

Awesome artwork.  

And those cabinets on Crapmame are some of the funniest things I've seen ever!  I needed a good laugh


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## Myke (Apr 19, 2009)

here's my marquee. it's actually all vectors in a pdf. I just jpegized it for posting on here.
going to kinkos to print it out today.  original dimensions 8 1/2 X 27







I know it's kinda simple and lame compared to marquees out there. but I'm not too much of a digital artist, and I personally like it and it works for my cabinet XD


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## Myke (Apr 21, 2009)

and my control panel





I sense I will be cutting some heads off with the installation of buttons trackball and joysticks, but whatev I'm not complaining too much. As long as it looks packed with characters and somewhat chaotic I'm fine with it.


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## Myke (Apr 22, 2009)

marquee installed and with the light on. Picture is from my cameraphone so it's crap.

the color does wash out a little bit with the backlight on, but I don't care it still looks cool in my eyes. (so happy)


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## playallday (Apr 22, 2009)

Nice job man 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 .


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## Edgedancer (Apr 22, 2009)

Man, I would love a Mame cabinet but I just dont have the time/money to invest in one. I will definately work on one next year after the HSC.
@Myke. Fucking awesome job mate.


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## dinofan01 (Apr 22, 2009)

That looks great. Coolest thing I've seen all day.


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## Myke (Apr 22, 2009)

updates for today:
- cleaned off green spraypaint from the key holes on the coin slots (who would have known a little nail polish remover totally got rid of it....I was worried, I did NOT want green key holes...now they are nice and chrome again)

- got my control panel overlay printed out
here's a pic of it. I just layed my unpainted control panel box on the cabinet and placed the overlay over it. It will have plexiglass over that (and thank god cuz cutting vinil is a total Bitch!!!! it scratces REAL easily, and if you rub it too hard the paint comes off! I rubbed an edge thinking It was marking from the white pencil line, and it turned out that it was white vinil, I had rubbed the paint right off...I'm a little bummed but it's all really minor. and just on the edges, hopefully the t molding will cover that but I doubt it)
Edit: LOL! you can see me taking the pic on the marquee XD





- did the underdrawing of dan on the other side of the cabinet


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## flashermac (Apr 22, 2009)

:nerdgasm:

Fantastic work


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## Lazycus (Apr 23, 2009)

Nicely done.  I've always disliked super deformed characters but it appears to be a favorite of yours, and that's all that matters on YOUR cabinet.


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## Myke (Apr 23, 2009)

puzzle fighter and gem fighter mini mix have always had a soft spot in my heart...there's nothing like dukeing it out with baby street fighter characters in gem fighter XD


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## Myke (Apr 29, 2009)

update time. 
I got my PARRRTS! WOOT WOOT! all working too 





drilled holes on my lexan and control panel (sandwiched them together)





an almost finished Dan (just need the lighter skintones +face features) sry for the flash.


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## gblock247 (Apr 30, 2009)

Great job so far dude, a labor of love


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## Myke (Apr 30, 2009)

thx for all the support you guys =).

I finished painting dan today.


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## th3sandm4n (May 1, 2009)

Awesome 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 Not to sure on the Dan bit though 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




I've had an idea for a custom cabinet for years. But money,space and time are the things holding me back. Who knows, I'll be done with school in a few weeks(forever!!) so maybe in the coming months I shall have time for fun


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## Luigi F Mario (May 3, 2009)

Fuckin sweet!  I've got an old pc I'm thinking about doing something like this with, however mine would end up really shitty.

are you gonna put a header on the sides?





-Luigi F Mario


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## Myke (May 4, 2009)

Luigi F Mario said:
			
		

> Fuckin sweet!  I've got an old pc I'm thinking about doing something like this with, however mine would end up really shitty.
> 
> are you gonna put a header on the sides?
> -Luigi F Mario




you noticed I got the room for them eh? I have given it some thought, but I'm not sure if I will or not. either way that's something I can add later. If I do I gotta save up for it. I'm tightly budgeted XD. And about "yours ending up shitty", it's not like mine's super clean. After all I hand painted the sides which is a real nono in the mame cabinet builder snob's eyes. Plus head over to the BYOAC forums and you will see that there's plenty of stuff there that blows my cabinet out of the water. thanks for your comment =).


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## Myke (May 9, 2009)

update time.

first of all I'd like to say FUUUUCK T molding! I hate it! it suucks! on my last cut last night, I sliced both my thumbs deep, had to go to the emergency room and get them stitched. no work for me for a while which kinda sucks ass. 

on a lighter note, here's my updates:
-installed T molding (fuck that shit) 
-installed casters to the cabinet (it now rolls yayy!!)
- repainted the coin mechanisms
-painted control panel box
-installed the control panel buttons, joysticks , lexan, and overlay.
-sprayed artwork sides with a matte lacquer for protection. 
-remounted coin doors and plugged holes where the heavy metal barrier was installed (was in front of the coin doors)

pictures:

control panel:





overall picture:





coin doors:





I wish I had a before and after picture of the coin doors, because they looked super pitiful when I got them with the cab ( they are from 1989 after all), after a recoating of enamel they look brand spanking new. I also took out the little overlay inside of the coin reject buttons, and created my own custom ones with atari logos in em.
the bolts all around the coin slots are where the holes for mounting the big lock barriers were. they looked super ugly and covered half of the coin machines anyway. I wasn't planning on painting them but when I did I realised that the barriers really had to go, so I took some of the same bolts the barriers were installed with, coated the tops with some enamel and used those to plug the holes. I personally think they look kinda cool. 

I'm so almost there. the last big thing I have to do before putting in the PC and configuring is pretty much mounting the monitor and spraying the monitor bezel.


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## jesterscourt (May 9, 2009)

Looks good!


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## Myke (May 19, 2009)

so close to done. It's completely playable and I have been configuring it for a few days now. played a couple of night sessions with coworkers and they still can't believe I have it. 






I was going to get a 26 inch screen, BUT I honestly really like that 19 inch. it has the most awesome viewing angle. (I haven't found one around with a better angle.) and it's 4:3 contrast ratio which is so hard to find these days anyway. Why get a newer monitor to then either have the image distorted to shit, or just have black vertical bars on the sides...that's just wasted space. The monitor is close enough to look at that it doesn't feel small either. In the end this saves me a few hundred dollars although It is still in the back of my mind to go bigger. 
the mounting of the monitor is a mockup mount with a mockup bezel. IT was like this so I could configure it prior to installing the bigger monitor, but now that I'm not going bigger I have to mount it properly. that's the last thing I have to do and it's all complete.  it was a fun project, I don't know if I would do it again. if I do, it's going to be a bartop this time. 
if anyone wants to do it, I say go for it! it's a fun experience!


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## jesterscourt (May 20, 2009)

I think you need to post a Youtube/Vimeo  video of it in action next.  I'll be waiting


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## blueskies (May 20, 2009)

what's an estimated cost for something like this? I was never into arcades, but I could definitely have something like this in my house.

oh, and this looks amazing! I'm extremely jealous, when can I play it??


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## Pizzaroo (May 20, 2009)

You need to install light guns into it so you can play HotD on that thing!


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## Jiggah (May 20, 2009)

What frontend are you using for MAME?  You should try something like Hyperspin FE...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-xdeUmuBKo


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## Myke (May 20, 2009)

as of now I am not using any front end, although I have maximus arcade. I'm doing different configurations for different emulators, and since I'm a putz with .ini files to switch configurations on the fly (if anyone has a guide on how to do this please enlighten me), I think I'll just stick to XP and manually change stuff when I need to (my trackball functions as a mouse with right click and left click, I hardly ever have to use my keyboard anyway). Although I did check out hyperspin and I'm impressed. 
costwise I would say about 400 to 600 bux, but I already had the computer lying around. so I would say about 400 bux for buttons n joysticks (but I have 2 ultrastik360 which are the caviar of joysticks and will cost you about 60 bux a pop, the trackball is 90 so you could go much cheaper than me).
here's my setup:

trackball
mini pac opti,
wiring harness (this makes your life a LOT easier) 
2 ultrastick 360s, 
24 pushbuttons (assorted colors) with cherry microswitches

programs for mapping stuff:
winIpac to program different button setups for different emulators
Ultramap, to change the way my joysticks behave (4 way, 8 way, 4 way diagonal, 2 way, analogue,I can pretty much make them whatever I want, they can even be mouse pointers if I want to, I can even put restrictor plates in them but for now I'm not going to do that. I am however going to get a harder spring for a little more tension)

oh and I got all my stuff from Ultimarc.com

As far as light guns, I am considering it but my system wouldn't be able to play house of the dead very well on mame. unless I emulate it on dreamcast, I'm pretty sure that will run. Carnevil is also a slideshow for that pc; as a matter of fact I think the only CHD game I can play is killer instinct. I guess I could run the street fighter 3 series, but I have the cps3 emulator for that which doesn't require the CHDs. My new build in the office on the other hand runs all the CHD games super silky smooth (core i7 920), but I'm not going to put a state of the art PC in my arcade cabinet XD.


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