Custom Dr. Mario cabaret

Atlas100

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I never seem to document anything I build. I have learned a lot from the folks on the site, so I decided to try and share here for once. Hopefully this project won't take me forever. I figure that I will be more motivated if I post the project here.

I have held onto the Vs. guts from a converted upright DK cabinet than has since been restored, & picked up a Dr. Mario daughterboard for it. After lots of looking, I have given up for the time being on finding a Nintendo/DK cabaret cabinet to measure. I took measurements from this thread and vectorized the cabinet:

http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=136478&highlight=cabaret

I also have to give a shout out to a pair of projects that inspired me to build this cab. Phetishboy's DKJr cabaret custom build:

http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=197696&highlight=cabaret

& Tighe's custom Virtual Boy Arcadization:

http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=180916&highlight=virtual+boy

Dr. Mario was released in 1990, so I took some liberty with the cab to go with the time period. The Nintendo Super System cabinet also came out around 1990 so I borrowed some things like the 3/4" thickness white cabinet and the newer coin door. I feel that if Nintendo had made a dedicated Dr. Mario cabaret, it would have looked like this.

The local Menards had a $5 sheet of particle board with white melamine on one side and paper/phenolic on the other. Since I wanted a white cabinet with the inside painted black, this would make my job easier and it was cheap too! So far I have cut one sheet of parts on the CNC router. The remaining parts should be cut by the end of the weekend.

Here are some early pics:

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Coin door is mounted to check the fit. There is a smudge on the board from the tape they used to hold the $5 sale tag which I will clean off. The mounting holes for the speaker are already pre-drilled on the back.

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The inside of the side panels are shown here with the matching monitor/CP mounting structure. The dowels ensure perfect alignment and a rock solid connection when they are glued in place. The panels will be painted black on this side before it is assembled.

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Here is the first batch of parts cut and ready for the remaining parts. The CNC router makes fast work of them. :)
 
Good stuff... this is what's exciting in this hobby.
 
Thanks for the kind words guys! I am feeling extra motivated after reading your replies. I've got the second parts sheet almost ready. I just need to grab some wheels for the bottom of the cabinet, so I can figure out where to have the router pre-drill the mounting holes. Hopefully I can cut it tomorrow and get more pics up!!
 
Thanks for the kind words guys! I am feeling extra motivated after reading your replies. I've got the second parts sheet almost ready. I just need to grab some wheels for the bottom of the cabinet, so I can figure out where to have the router pre-drill the mounting holes. Hopefully I can cut it tomorrow and get more pics up!!

Look at how phet mounted his leg leveler holes on his DK Junior cabaret. He did an really top notch job on his.
 
Look at how phet mounted his leg leveler holes on his DK Junior cabaret. He did an really top notch job on his.

It is like you read my mind. I just logged in to look at the cabaret base to his cabinet. Thanks for the link to the pic too, because that thread is fricking HUGE.

I totally want to make a DK3 cabaret and a widebody cabaret for Mario Bros., but I have enough projects as it is!

I've got several cabarets I plan on building. A Playchoice cabaret would be badass. There is something about the custom stuff that I just dig.
 
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