So I’m really moving forward with the arcade cabinet building and I’m starting to see it come together. Here are a few pics of the latest achievements:
Getting the control panel box assembled:
Making sure everything fits before moving forward:
The inside of an old Mortal Kombat II cabinet that had been converted to NFL Blitz. I’ll be stripping this out Saturday and giving away the parts to members of the BYOAC community.
The 27″ Samsung TV I’ll be using as my monitor. I’ve had to de-case it to get it to fit into the cab. I’ll be using the component connections coming out of a Radeon 9800 video card. I had to order a DVI –> Component adapter from Newegg, and it’s scheduled to arrive tomorrow.
Priming the control panel box. I’m using an oil-based primer that’s been tinted. The final finish is a black semi-gloss paint. The oil-based primer will “seal” the wood so that the final coats aren’t absorbed by the MDF (medium density fiberboard) that my control panel box is made out of.
Here’s the vinyl overlay that will cover the top of my control panel. It will sit between the wood and my plexiglass cover. The vinyl looks speckled in this pic due to some dust, but the actual product is just a shiny black. It should look sharp with my lighted buttons.
Tomorrow I’m going to start the finish coats on the control panel box and rip out the insides of the current arcade cabinet.
Here’s what’s left on my scratch list:
- Assemble computer and install OS w/ front end software, emulators, and games
- Clean out the inside of the cabinet
- Assemble and wire the control panel
- Secure TV into the arcade cabinet and set everything up through a one button power up solution
- Order new T-molding for the control panel and arcade cabinet
- Finalize my marquee artwork and send it off to be printed from Mamemarquees.com
- Configure my emulation software and get everything hooked up
- Have a bunch of friends over for the unveiling
It’s exciting to think that this long and costly project is finally coming to the point where I see the end before me. Once I’m done with this, however, I still have two more cabinets to work on. My job is paying me to build one for the office, and my brother is going to build another with my help. At least cabinets 2 and 3 will go much faster and will be paid by somebody else.
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