I'm starting to think about building an arcade cabinet. Has anyone here ever built one? Any build logs? Tips? Costs? Is it actually cost effective or is it cheaper to just buy a ready made one once you cost in your labour time?
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Arcade Cabinet Build
- Thread starter Rob zombie
- Start date
Check out ukvac forum as sure there are some builds on there. In the past when jamma cabs were cheap, was much cheaper to buy one and convert to mame. Nowadays not so sure. Otherwise can't advise further.
@Rob zombie - I would buy one of those Raspberry pie things off ebay with Retropie and everything configured in them.
Mame on a computer is a pain in the back side.
I normally buy a cheap old Jamma cabinet, if the sides are bad I decal them with automotive wrap. Also bung in the largest monitor I can find (I dont bother with crts).
Wire all the buttons to an iPac device.
Jamme cab - £100-200
Monitor - £60-120
Wrap (if needed) - £25
iPac - £30
IPac drive (if you want LEDs on buttons to work) - £20
Retropie loaded RPi - £75 up
You will off course need a load of cables, wood, brackets so allow - £60-100 for that.
You can of course do custom Marquees with LEDs behind - loads of options. But I would take this at a rough guide!
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Mame on a computer is a pain in the back side.
I normally buy a cheap old Jamma cabinet, if the sides are bad I decal them with automotive wrap. Also bung in the largest monitor I can find (I dont bother with crts).
Wire all the buttons to an iPac device.
Jamme cab - £100-200
Monitor - £60-120
Wrap (if needed) - £25
iPac - £30
IPac drive (if you want LEDs on buttons to work) - £20
Retropie loaded RPi - £75 up
You will off course need a load of cables, wood, brackets so allow - £60-100 for that.
You can of course do custom Marquees with LEDs behind - loads of options. But I would take this at a rough guide!
Arcade Multi Game Machine Cabinet Coin Operated - Pandoras Box (not MAME) | eBay
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Or grab something for £600-1000 on ebay....
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@Rob zombie - I would buy one of those Raspberry pie things off ebay with Retropie and everything configured in them.
Retropie games console 32GB | eBay
Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Retropie games console 32GB at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products!www.ebay.co.uk
Mame on a computer is a pain in the back side.
I normally buy a cheap old Jamma cabinet, if the sides are bad I decal them with automotive wrap. Also bung in the largest monitor I can find (I dont bother with crts).
Wire all the buttons to an iPac device.
Jamme cab - £100-200
Monitor - £60-120
Wrap (if needed) - £25
iPac - £30
IPac drive (if you want LEDs on buttons to work) - £20
Retropie loaded RPi - £75 up
You will off course need a load of cables, wood, brackets so allow - £60-100 for that.
You can of course do custom Marquees with LEDs behind - loads of options. But I would take this at a rough guide!
Thanks! That gives me a good idea of costs. I've been watching a few YouTube videos but they didn't give any clues as to prices of components. I've been looking on ebay for a while but they usually seem to be slightly odd shapes i.e. Too thin. But at the same time I need something that isn't going to weigh as much as a car because it need to go down the stairs into my basement...and out again one day. So I'm thinking I could build one with those parameters in mind. A bit like an RFM where the top half comes off.
Build mine about 10+ years ago on my Xp computer , bought mame for a couple of pounds and put a front end on it so it boots straight in to game list . Also bought a square monitor and fitted a smoke glass Infront of it so to take the glare down front the monitor here some pics ....
Also I bought a X arcade 2player joystick which plugs straight in the computer ,had to dissected it in order to fit it into the cab !
Also I bought a X arcade 2player joystick which plugs straight in the computer ,had to dissected it in order to fit it into the cab !
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Looks great @carl lawrence I wonder if I could even just buy a Pandoras Box and shove that into a cabinet?
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Oh my....
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Pandoras boxes are OK, the emulation is off on some of the games though. Raspberry Pi is slightly more involved but has better emulation overall. Old ecycle pc will run mame with all the classics no problem. But setting up frontends can take a while. Mine came in at around 350 all in without any fancy side art etc but was alot of work.
Yep ! Cannot see why not
I remember Igor the cabinet dimensions of the inter-wed some where ,will try and find it !
Chillis Arcade - really good quality build..
mine was around £800 (picture during build)
mine was around £800 (picture during build)
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Looks great!
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I do have a couple of PC's that are about 5 or 6 years old I no longer use, so would be good to repurpose those if possible. Although Raspberry Pi is probably a lot better on power consumption.
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Yeah I'd like it to be able to play some more modern stuff. And the kids will absolutely need Minecraft on it.
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The other question I have is about screen size. Obviously I'd like to go as big as possible. It will be a 2 player cabinet. Maybe even 4? But is there a maximum size for these things in terms of comfort? I mean a 50" screen might be a horrific experience and unplayable from 12" away?
If you do mame on a pc you will spend that much time configuring it.
Grab the retropi one with everything already done and configured. Save you weeks of f ing around.
Grab the retropi one with everything already done and configured. Save you weeks of f ing around.
Yep - I've built a couple, and the PC hardware in my most recent one is 6-7 years old, plenty powerful enough for what I ask of it
Currently got the bits (or at least a Outrun2 dash and G27) for a driver, which I was going to base on an Outrun2 standup, maybe I'll get around to that on lockdown - problem is getting the plywood!
Ignore the small VPin - that's now departed and been replaced by a somewhat more full-size one.....
The NeoGeo cab was a scratch build out of 18mm MDF, problem these days is finding the 20"+ 4:3 screens (unless you go CRT of course)
Currently got the bits (or at least a Outrun2 dash and G27) for a driver, which I was going to base on an Outrun2 standup, maybe I'll get around to that on lockdown - problem is getting the plywood!
Ignore the small VPin - that's now departed and been replaced by a somewhat more full-size one.....
The NeoGeo cab was a scratch build out of 18mm MDF, problem these days is finding the 20"+ 4:3 screens (unless you go CRT of course)
Something like this Classic joust !!
So many types to choose from now ,when I originally looked there was diddly-squat !!
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I've got an old Dell 4:3 LCD. I'm not sure if it's 20" but possibly. I really would like to give that a new lease of life even if not on this full size build. Got a Dell XPS desktop sitting here gathering dust too.
4:3 screens are the best idea.
I still get 20/22 inch ones off eBay for RFM conversions easily enough.
I still get 20/22 inch ones off eBay for RFM conversions easily enough.
Or if you didn't want to go through with the whole building the cab or one of those prefab mame cabs, you could look into getting an old jamma cab (saw an electrocoin Griffith go for £250 without a game board not to long ago) that you stick a Pandora's box in or a retropi instead. Have a nosey on ukvac , some decent cabs come up occasionally.
If you're thinking about light guns, there's a new light gun being released called the sinden lightgun which works on crt and lcd with pinpoint accurac. No need for the Wii style IR guns and sensor bars and cameras
If you're thinking about light guns, there's a new light gun being released called the sinden lightgun which works on crt and lcd with pinpoint accurac. No need for the Wii style IR guns and sensor bars and cameras
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I'm on the UKVAC Facebook page but I don't seem to ever get anything in my newsfeed from it. This is pretty local but not exactly what I'm looking for https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/303532497126 tempting though at that price. Really tempting.
Here's one I built back along. Massive fan of modern fighters.
Tempting I agree but by god those pictures are awful. They're taken in a way that if you quickly flick through them it's like they create those cheap animations you used to get in those "flick books"
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Cool. Interesting use of a PS4! I have a spare one actually....