Anyone building their own cabinet?

Cliffo

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Seeing paulmg01's SF cab in this thread - http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=124561- got me re-interested in making my own custom cabinet.

I know there are lots of people (myself included) who are restoring classic cabinets, but how many of us are making "custom" cabinets? I recently bought a SF II that was in a Quartet cab. Now, it can't stay there, so rather than just plunk it in a Dynamo cab, I want to make a custom cab for it.

I've seen the Jakobud plans and could probably take something from there and modify it, but was wondering what other people are doing. How do you start something like this? Do you work from a plan, do you copy a classic cab and then tweak it as you go?

Any pictures, plans, tips, tricks, stories to share? Thanks!
 
I've done custom stuff, but it was always cheaper to find an existing cab to modify. The only one that I made 100% from scratch was my daughter's Spongebob cab.
 
I've done custom stuff, but it was always cheaper to find an existing cab to modify. The only one that I made 100% from scratch was my daughter's Spongebob cab.

I've been waiting a long time to say this here...

Pics or it didn't happen!

I keep picking up old cabs to do just that, but I usually end up with a restoration project instead... And for SF I want to use a 27" or 32" tube, so it's gonna need to be custom.
 
I've got two fantasies going for future cabs:

- A multi-JAMMA with a rotating monitor and support for 12 different boards, including the 60-in-1, multi-Taito, multi-DECO, and maybe someday the Arcadeshop PCB.

- A mini Spy Hunter, either adapted out of my extra Monaco GP cabaret or built from scratch.
 
XBOX racing cab:
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Built from a trashed out Grand Prix Star. Plays System Link games with 25"ers.

Playchoice X:
picture.php

Built from a gutted conversion cab. 27". Play console carts.

Spongebob Squarepants:
picture.php

Built from ground up. 40" high for 2 year old daughter. Runs 13" and Jaxx plug and play game.
 

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That Sponge Bob is awesome! I'm building 2 little cabs for my little girl as well. I'll post pictures once they are at least painted. For that little cabinet, did you work from plans, or what? Mine are just cut down Taito cabs that had the bottoms rotted out.

That XBox racing cab is pretty wicked... I could see spending a lot of hours playing Burn Out or Eve of Destruction on that... :)

Nice work!
 
First let me say that your avatar is giving Oryk Zinyo a run for his money. Very nice.

I did a scratch built Ms. Pac Man CT, you can see it here: http://www.tokensonly.com/2008/10/restorations/ms-pac-man-cocktail-restoration/

I also rebuilt my phoenix mini and a few others if you care to search around my site. From that experience I can honestly say I'd just buy a pre-built cab for the readily available shapes. Save the crazy building for the unique stuff. Good luck.
 
I've built a couple from scratch. It is very challenging and very rewarding (to me at least). Attached are some pics of the cab I built from scratch for my daughter. I based it off of Ms. Pac-man scaled down to 80%. It's in her bedroom - how many little girls can claim they have something like this? She's only 5 but she's already pretty good at quite a few games!
 

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That Sponge Bob is awesome! I'm building 2 little cabs for my little girl as well. I'll post pictures once they are at least painted. For that little cabinet, did you work from plans, or what? Mine are just cut down Taito cabs that had the bottoms rotted out.

That XBox racing cab is pretty wicked... I could see spending a lot of hours playing Burn Out or Eve of Destruction on that... :)

Nice work!

Plan? Plan?!?!? We don't need no stinking plan!

Hehehe. Well, I tried to loosely based it off the Pacman style cab for one big reason: No angles. Just a couple nice flowing arcs which are easier to cut.
I didn't follow any scale or accurate dimensions like Javeryh, I just kind of thru it together as I saw fit based on my daughter's height. The biggest issue I had with the Pac style bezel was how it slanted back too far. This to me seemed to detract from it's playability. I went with a bezel angle more in line with a Dynamo cab for it.
 
Gozer, you told me about your custom cabs at CJ's shop, but seeing is believing! I'm impressed, but mostly impressed with that Xbox setup, that looks so professional it's crazy! I love the green accent lighting that beams on the ceiling etc. Great job man!
 
Gozer, you told me about your custom cabs at CJ's shop, but seeing is believing! I'm impressed, but mostly impressed with that Xbox setup, that looks so professional it's crazy! I love the green accent lighting that beams on the ceiling etc. Great job man!

Thanks buddy. Yeah, that and the Playchoice X, I was going for the "if-it-was-made-and-sent-off-the-assembly-line-here's-out-it-would-look" look. :)
 
First let me say that your avatar is giving Oryk Zinyo a run for his money. Very nice.

I did a scratch built Ms. Pac Man CT, you can see it here: http://www.tokensonly.com/2008/10/restorations/ms-pac-man-cocktail-restoration/

I also rebuilt my phoenix mini and a few others if you care to search around my site. From that experience I can honestly say I'd just buy a pre-built cab for the readily available shapes. Save the crazy building for the unique stuff. Good luck.

Dude. You have just motivated the HELL out of me to get off my ass and finish my from-scratch Pac cocktail! I couldn't have asked for more or better photos of everything!!!
eclipsee_Victoria.gif


Can you tell me where you got the metal triangles for the bottom that hold the adjustable feet? I didn't know they even existed... Bob Roberts?
 
"recently bought a SF II that was in a Quartet cab."

That is just blasphemy. Who would do such a thing! Why!

Scott C.
 
"recently bought a SF II that was in a Quartet cab."

That is just blasphemy. Who would do such a thing! Why!

Scott C.

LOL, yeah you should see it... Duct tape, scrap tin on the CP. A real beaut... Once SF II gets a new home, I'll see about trying to put things right.
 
Years ago, SEGA still had NOS parts for it (CPO, bezel and a few other odd-n-ends). I grabbed the CPO, but not the bezel, since mine was nice. That CPO is now long gone to someone else trying to restore their Quartet. The marquees are out there and the sticks/buttons are standard. The hard part is the cabinet with the artwork intact!

Scott C.
 
The artwork is peaking out from behind a really crappy rollered on flat black paint job. Not sure if it's salvageable or not. Right now it's at the end of a long line of cabs I want to restore. Eventually... maybe... ;)
 
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