Project Game Station

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spyder_flex97

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jun 14, 2002
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I decided to build a two-player fighter style arcade cabinet cause I always liked to play street fighter II and Mortal Kombat....You could consider this a case mod since i will be putting a case and a computer inside to drive everything...The machine will actually take quarters and you will hear the caching sound when a quarter is inserted :D


one of the major obstacles i had was space for building this beast....I live in brooklyn and space is scarce here...good thing i have a big room and back carport to work on...

I used 3 sheets of MDF to cut everything and plans of course...MDF really spells and is very dusty..The cutting process took like a week or so....
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Putting the game station together
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working on the coin door
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its alivee!!!..i used wood filler to cover up the screws...after it dried over night i sanded it all down outside
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all sanded and primed :p
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all painted with semi gloss paint ....i used 2 coats of paint and then sprayed polyerethane on it to give it a smooth finish
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added red t-molding...now its starting to look like something :D
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look what came in the mail....i got the marquee printed from mamemarquees...very slick and smooth work...i also got a control panel overlay....
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I added the speakers which i got from Happscontrol and marquee
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and here is where i stand at now...this is far from done....still need to work on the control panel, tweak the PC that will run mame with game ex as the front end...

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wow thats professional..it doesnt look professional it IS professional.. really nice job.
 
-(Xyphox)- said:
sweet.. that is awesome, Nice work
What it all cost ya?
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in all i think i must of spent like $1200 and that was cuz i didnt have power tools and a router and this gave me a good reason to get a set.....let me break it down to see how much i spent

Ryobi Tool Set and Router ~$300
Joysticks,Buttons,Trackball,IPAC keyboard interface ~$200
Coin Door ~$100
Artwork(Marquee and Control Panel) ~$100
RF Keyboard,Wireless NIC,9800 AIW ~$200
T-Molding ~$ 10
3 Sheets MDF ~$ 60

Add in all the other misc. crap and it totals to $1200....I also decided to get the control panel professionally cut...I wanted the trackball flush and plexi on top of it for that real arcade feel..Im not that good with a router yet and i really wanted the control panel to be right since it will make or break the system...So that was $130...The t.v i had already and the pc is a p4 2.4 that i already had....
 
Very nice work! Looks a ton better than much of the ones i've been looking at for the last few weeks.

Any pictures of the control panel? I'm currently in the works to build one of these as well (been wanting to since highschool and have finally amassed enough pc parts leftover from upgrades.)

The control panel is the only thing I have left to figure out right now (or so I think until I begin building.) I was going to go with the I-PAC Interface and build it myself but after I added everything to the shopping cart it came out to about $130 for a 2 player panel. For that I could just get a prebuilt 2 player xarcade. Of course building the control was going to be half the fun but I'm scared to screw something up.

Also, any other advice on building? I never got to take a woodshop class and have only done a few small projects like cheap tv stands.
 
Robizzle01 said:
Very nice work! Looks a ton better than much of the ones i've been looking at for the last few weeks.

Any pictures of the control panel? I'm currently in the works to build one of these as well (been wanting to since highschool and have finally amassed enough pc parts leftover from upgrades.)

The control panel is the only thing I have left to figure out right now (or so I think until I begin building.) I was going to go with the I-PAC Interface and build it myself but after I added everything to the shopping cart it came out to about $130 for a 2 player panel. For that I could just get a prebuilt 2 player xarcade. Of course building the control was going to be half the fun but I'm scared to screw something up.

Also, any other advice on building? I never got to take a woodshop class and have only done a few small projects like cheap tv stands.
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you can get entire kits with trackballs on ebay....

the only building advice i have is:
-MDF is dusty and smells and is heavy
-you need a router to make the t-molding slots...
-make sure your measurements are correct
-use a small circular saw to cut everything...
 
i perfer the classic style of the bally/midway cabs smaller in size. i have a street fighter 2 pcb in a old centipede cab that was converted to prehistoric isle...
damm good considering you didnt have the right tools to begin with
 
spyder_flex97 said:
:p its a frame my gf bought for me in ikea
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Haha you should try and figure out the name of the artist in the bottom corner there, btw, do you plan on having a working coin slot or will it just be for show?
 
GodSpeed said:
Haha you should try and figure out the name of the artist in the bottom corner there, btw, do you plan on having a working coin slot or will it just be for show?
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here is the frame

and yes i plan to have a working coin slot...It has the coin mechs and all...All i have to do is wire it to my IPAC interface....
 
UPDATE!

I received my control panel this week and it looks awesome...It was custom made with a player fighter style config...It also came with the plexi to cover it up on top and recessed trackball for a flush look...I could have made the control panel myself, but i wanted a perfect outcome ,so paying the extra $$ was worth it cuz the controls have to be right for it to feel like a real arcade game station.. :D

this is how i received it, unpacked and layed on top of my cabinet
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and here it is all dressed up with joysticks,buttons,trackball, and artwork on top
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here is whats under the hood,all ready to be wired up :D
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i decided to solder all the wires , so a really secure fit and better contact then they all get connect to the IPAC interface...I just need to do some cable management and add the trackball LED light and the control panel is done...
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here is what it looks like now...all i need to do is make a bezel to cover up that TV and wire the coin door and tweaks here and there ;)
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Fantastic, the controls look great with the artwork! This thread isn't getting enough love.
 
Dude, thats so cool I can't stand it! :eek: I have one question though, how much support does that TV you have in there need? There's no way the MDF alone is holding that beast up.


cre8chaos said:
Ditto 3 thumbs way up. (don't ask) :D
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*cough* Zaphod Beebelbrox *cough*
 
Unknown-One said:
Dude, thats so cool I can't stand it! :eek: I have one question though, how much support does that TV you have in there need? There's no way the MDF alone is holding that beast up.


*cough* Zaphod Beebelbrox *cough*
Click to expand...

i used 4 2X4s to support it and 2 MDF shelves to added support.....The TV is a sony wega and its extra heavy , so i really needed the extra support
 
hey, i'm curious, where did you get the arcade-like buttons?

i'm in the process of turning my GBA into the same thing (smaller scale, of course), but i'm in need of buttons for buttoning things :p

lmk! or else! :D

edit: looks sexy btw. keep up the awesome work! :D
 
DeathMan said:
hey, i'm curious, where did you get the arcade-like buttons?

i'm in the process of turning my GBA into the same thing (smaller scale, of course), but i'm in need of buttons for buttoning things :p

lmk! or else! :D

edit: looks sexy btw. keep up the awesome work! :D
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i got them all on ebay as an all-in-one package with the tackball and IPAC included....
 
looks killer! i read you are using it a a MAME machine...I am unfamiliar w/ it. What games will/are you playing on it?
 
fenton06 said:
looks killer! i read you are using it a a MAME machine...I am unfamiliar w/ it. What games will/are you playing on it?
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mostly fighting games,my favorites are super street fight 2,3,mortal komat,fatal fury,samaraui showdown,ect.........im so old skool :D
 
it'd be cool if you put some sound-reactive lights on the top back of the cabinet. Everytime you land a blow, the light goes off. Oooooh.. and record some sounds from an arcade to play looped when you start a new game. Even better, make it pump out tickets that you can "exchange" for beer out of your fridge. Hell, just make it dispense a beer. :)
 
here is the finished product.....got my hands on some smoked plexi glass and bought 2 bar stools to go along with the cabinet...
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the smoked plexi glass give the games a more vivid brighter look....
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Dude, thats awseome!! I am not the biggest fan of arcade style games, but to build your own is IMPRESSIVE!

You mentioned the cost of power tools, I just built my entire desk, and I had to buy some tools and stuff, so I can appriciate how much extra that adds to the project. The nice thing is thought that now that you have them you don't have to rebuy them..

here is a link to the page with pictures of my desk.

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=995600&page=92&pp=20
 
That is flippin' awesome.
I was going to buy a mint MK2 cabinet. I was expecting to pay at most 1000$, however the owner was asking 3000$. I had to pass.

Can you tell me where you got the plans from?
 
update
since i was viewing this thread,stay tuned for my 2nd mame box,all my friends want one now
 
Very Cool! I like. :D Sounds like you got yourself a small part-time business venture (all your friends and some here wanting you to make one for them) going too.
 
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