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The Great MAME Arcade Cabinet Project Part One

Posted on Wednesday, May 12 @ 17:56:08 Eastern by Duke_Ferris

My new years resolution this year was to finally get off my ass and build the MAME cabinet I keep saying I'm going to build.

In order to time the tip over domino and get me motivated (also I needed the measurements), I bought the X-Arcade TankStick, which I figured was totally worth $200 to not have to do any of my own buttons and just plug a USB in. Plus it has a trackball for Marble Madness.



Having measured the dimensions, I drew up some quick plans and was off to buy the wood. For simplicity and, frankly, utility, I decide not to go with a CRT and just use a modern LCD monitor.
 

 
Here's the wood in my garage.  To cut it, I spent $40 on a jigsaw as well.



First, I made the base.



Then I cut the sides.



A good day's work. So the next day I start thinking about the guts. Thank you spare parts bin! An old 64 bit AMD Athlon system with 2GB RAM and a GeForce 7800 coming right up. For those of you who don't know, MAME is a  emulation program that plays every single arcade game ever made.



NZXT Hades case provided courtesy of NZXT. Pretty decent case with manual fan controls digital readouts and three temperature sensors. Also the power supply goes on the bottom so it blows directly out the case.

Smart: They routed the case wires behind the motherboard tray. Not so smart: no removable motherboard tray. Still, I'd recommend it.



Next up, cabinet assembly.



I see where I'm going with this. And finally...



Well I'll be damned, this might actually work. More to come in the next few weeks.


POST A COMMENTComments
  • De-Ting
    De-Ting - Joined: Nov 11, 2006
    I expect you to post that clip from Young Frankenstein when you're done with this.
    0 0Like or Dislike?
    Posted: May 12th, 2010 at 6:50 pm
  • used44
    used44 - Joined: Mar 9, 2002
    Duke, this is basically my dream. Looking good, man.

    Did you use any official reference for this, or are you pretty much winging it? I've seen a few good looking guides but I still haven't taken up the full challenge.
    0 0Like or Dislike?
    Posted: May 12th, 2010 at 6:50 pm
  • UghRochester
    UghRochester - Joined: Jun 5, 2006
    ****ing awesome!
    0 0Like or Dislike?
    Posted: May 12th, 2010 at 6:53 pm
  • Duke_Ferris
    Duke_Ferris - Joined: Apr 1, 1996
    mostly my own plans. however, other than designing it to exactly fit the controls, and carefully planning the sides, the structural framework is just winging it.
    0 0Like or Dislike?
    Posted: May 12th, 2010 at 6:58 pm
  • UglykitteN
    UglykitteN - Joined: Mar 30, 2006
    Can I write a haiku and win it?
    0 0Like or Dislike?
    Posted: May 12th, 2010 at 9:22 pm
  • Lien
    Lien - Joined: Feb 1, 2008
    This baby better play tetris.

    Tengen tetris.
    0 0Like or Dislike?
    Posted: May 13th, 2010 at 2:30 am
  • UpAndAtThem
    UpAndAtThem - Joined: Mar 12, 2009
    Yes, it has a trackball, but where's the spinny wheel? How will you play TRON or Arkanoid?

    You know I'm just jealous because I have to play MAME on a game pad, sitting down.
    0 0Like or Dislike?
    Posted: May 13th, 2010 at 1:44 pm
  • MindEclipse
    MindEclipse - Joined: Jan 9, 2008
    Awesome. Not quite as awesome as bad-ass cooking, but sweet.

    Best guess on the total cost? I want to build one now too! =)
    0 0Like or Dislike?
    Posted: May 13th, 2010 at 2:21 pm
  • KevinS
    KevinS - Joined: Dec 2, 2008
    I can personally vouch for the X-Arcade, such a sexy piece of gaming hardware. ^_^
    0 0Like or Dislike?
    Posted: May 13th, 2010 at 6:11 pm

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