7/29/10

Donald's Cabinet
Donald F sent me an email describing his build.  From his email:

"I now have my old Dell Dimension 8400 running a Maximus Arcade frontend in my “Ultimate Arcade” cabinet with many thanks to you. I did go with the X-Arcade Tankstick, as I wasn’t ready to tackle building a custom controller just yet. I have a couple of tweaks up my sleeve to share. I had some adhesive backed Velcro left over from mounting the speakers, so I added strips under the Tankstick and on top of the cradle in the cabinet. It makes the Tankstick solid, but also removable, if need be. Just work a small screwdriver between the hoops and hooks.

I had a bit of fortune too. On the downside, I didn’t order all my supplies from Happ at the same time. So that meant my late order for the marquee retainer was not meeting the minimum website order amount. But what could I add at this late stage? How about add an actual coin door minus the internals (item # 40-0713-00). It’s not that much more expensive than a vinyl cut out. I tossed in some red 4-LED Wedge Bulb (www.superbrightleds.com) lighting for the reject buttons. I ended up with the look I wanted. Plus, I used the tip from your visitor’s page and made the PC’s power button accessible through the open coin door. Sweet."

He uses a 19" monitor in the cabinet.  There are a couple more pictures on the Visitor Page.   Very nice work!

7/21/10

My Blog
A little off topic but I have finally hopped on the blogging bandwagon. The past six months I've wished I had an avenue to document some of my home PC-related projects, as well as post about cool new software , hardware and gadgets I've run across. But I've always had too many other projects that need worked on to take the time to write everything up. A couple weeks ago, while keeping an eye on my oldest playing in the backyard, I compiled a fairly decent list of topics that interested me enough to write up. After a little research on the various blogging software packages available, I decided to just use the WordPress one-click install that my web host, DreamHost, provides. I'm currently working to understand all its capabilities. Feel free to take a look at the blog; perhaps you'll find something of interest to you.  miketrellosblog.arcadecab.com

3/6/10

Noah B's cabinet
Noah discovered MAME machines last year and, as many of us, became obsessed with them.  At some point in his research, he stumbled up this site.  Noah's project began as a gift but he "selfishly" reconsidered once he realized how expensive and time consuming it would be.  He knocked out the project in a quick month.  Nice job!

There are a couple more pictures on the Visitor Page.

6/20/09

Introducing Jose C's cabinet
Jose built this beauty from the second set of plans, with some alterations required by the 27" television he used.  He modified the width, decreased the depth of the drawer, and recessed the monitor glass a bit more.  The control panel is his work as well.  Very nice work Jose!

There are a few extra pictures on the Visitor Page.

5/10/09

Michael's new cabinet
Michael L informed me he has recently completed a small Barcade project, partly inspired by mine.  Having some parts left over from his original cabinet build (see the 11/09/08 item further down this page), he decided to design his own mini-arcade.  He has written an excellent step-by-step article on Retrojunk, detailing his build. He has included a ton of photos of the steps, with many great suggestions on how to build the project on the cheap.  It is a very informative.  Give it a read.

5/4/09

Derek M's Control Panel
Derek M sent along pictures of his completed control panel.  I know Derek from back in the early days of ArcadeCab, when he originally built his cabinet.  His cabinet is the fourth from the bottom on the  Visitor Page to give you an idea of how long ago (five years).  He had gone down the same path as myself- build the cabinet and use an X-arcade until he knew exactly what he wanted on his control panel.  Flash forward a few years, and he is helping a friend build a cab from my second set of plans.  This, as Derek says, "inspired" him to finally build his own, custom panel.  He used Happ Supers (a great choice), a Betson trackball, TurboTwist2 spinner and a GPWiz32 Rotary-capable unit to control it all.

His cabinet has been humming along famously all this time and his son, who was just born when he completed the cabinet, is growing up playing the classics.  You can't get much better than that!

I have included a few construction pics of his on the Visitor Page.

4/18/09

Chris G's cabinet
Chris sent me a couple pictures of his recently completed cabinet. 

More pictures are on the Visitor Page.

3/14/09

Brad G's cabinet
Brad G forwarded me shots of his finished cabinet.  He used the TankStick and HyperSpin as the front-end.  He used plexiglass for the monitor bezel, painted the back with the Duramax paint, and used molding to surround the bezel.  For added peace of mind, Brad placed a 2x4 beneath the controller (which necessitated routing the keyboard drawer to accommodate the keyboard).

Brad decided to try something different with his coindoor as he was most interested in just the lights.  He purchased the UNREAL Coindoor  from Groovy Game Gear (click here for close-up photo).  This product is a photorealistic vinyl reproduction that he stuck in place after routing the area.  A 1/8" piece of plexiglass is mounted over it.  Brad then drilled out holes for two coin slot buttons, and wired them to the credit buttons on the TankStick.

Good work!

3/1/09

Blake W has completed his cabinet
Blake W sent me a very nice email this morning describing his recently completed cabinet.  Excerpted from his email:

I guess this journey has come to an end.  Although we've never spoken before you have helped me greatly.  My arcade cabinet is finally complete.  I was interested in building an arcade cab (after seeing your website) back when I was in High School but never had the money or the space to afford one under my parents roof.  Fast forward 8 years, I graduated college, have my own apartment, and a great job that hopefully will last through this crazy economy.  After seeing another one of your visitors cab's (CZARCADE) through a local LAN group I became re- inspired to complete a cab.  I visited with CZAR and picked his brain as well as some of this leftover parts to build my own.  I biggest difference is an additional three inches of height added to the bottom since I stand at 6'5".  The cab runs off a HP d530 with a 2.8 Ghz processor with 1 gig of ram with a 21" CRT.  (...) The entire cab was built and painted (except for the colored sides and the coin door) over the long memorial day weekend.  I waited for a deal on the coin door and was rewarded by only paying 27 bucks.  The sides were then finally painted this week. 

The cabinet turned out quite nice, in my opinion.  The painted sides look first rate.  As always, a few more pictures are featured on the Visitor Page.

2/25/09

PDF document of the Second Set of Plans now available
I have created a simple PDF document of all the pages in the second set of plans.  I did not include most of the full screen photos- you'll still have to visit here to for those.  The document will be nice for those individuals who have perused the pages on the site and now want a printed document to have in their hands to write notes on, and refer to during the construction process.  I have had two emails asking about such a document in the past week so decided it was time.  I hope it helps you.

Enjoy!

2/6/09

James P's completed cabinet
Being snowed in the last few days worked in James' favor; it allowed him time to finish up his cabinet (see his November 9th news item below for progress shots). 

He is driving the cabinet with an AMD2400 processor running the Gamex frontend.  A 19" ViewSonic LCD provides the display.  If you look carefully, you'll note he reduced the depth of the cabinet because he used the LCD.  James said that did create a few problems when it was time to insert the PC, but he successfully maneuvered a smaller case in at an angle.

Some of the other features he included: Mini-USB keyboard and mouse on his slide-out tray, cold cathode marquee lighting driven by the PC's power supply, hidden power button and marquee light switch, Power Griffin USB that controls the volume, and a home printed marquee and side art. 

He estimated the entire project, software included, took about forty hours.  Great job!

More pictures are on the Visitor Page.

1/27/09

Richard B's BarCade
Richard B built a barcade using a modified version of my plans.  He used a 17 inch monitor, and added a nice marquee.  He used Mala as the front-end. 

More pictures are on the Visitor Page.

1/12/09