Easy cabinet plans to save cabinets from being MAMEd

Tighe

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Easy cabinet plans to save cabinets from being MAMEd

Has anyone seen this site?

http://www.arcadecab.com/

I think it is great that there is a resource out there to help people build MAME cabinet rather than destroy existing arcade games, but the designs aren't that great and are not for the average person. It would be great if we could come up with plans for a easy to build attractive cabinet for MAMErs out there.

I was thinking about something that uses a widescreen LCD TV and the screen can be rotated easily. Kind of a pedestal with a TV wall mount unit.
 
Hard to get people to dive into woodworking when you can pick up a dead game at auction or off craigslist for $25.
 
Only thing that might help is if Home Depot or Walmart started selling pre-cut kits that you just screw together like those cabinet kits they have.
 
I was going to attempt a build from scratch but the lack of proper woodworking tools was its demise, which i'm sure is the main reason why others don't attempt it as well. Like Sector said, a pre cut kit with those cam lock screws would be awesome. I've built a few bookshelves and desks with those and they're really solid.
 
Hard to get people to dive into woodworking when you can pick up a dead game at auction or off craigslist for $25.

Plus, when I built my MAME cab, I wanted it to look like it belonged in an arcade BITD. Other than the 2 joystick, six button layout not matching the Black Tiger art on the Robotron style cab, you would never know it's a MAME cab.

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Only thing that might help is if Home Depot or Walmart started selling pre-cut kits that you just screw together like those cabinet kits they have.


There is not enough interest for WalMart or HD to sell a kit like these, but the guys who make reproduction cabs may be able to fill the void. However, the big problem is cost. Almost no one will be willing to pay $300+ for a cab that they assemble themselves when they can pick up a pre-built cab for under $100.
 
I was thinking about a simplified version of a Vewlix cabinet, a simple LCD stand with a control panel attached.

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This guy made one out of an IKEA table:



What would be great is a metal bolt together stand that holds a LCD TV and those Mad Catz arcade sticks. Make it out of square tubular aluminum.

fightstick-ps3.jpg
 
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I actually built a modified version of the arcadecab plans. There were some things that needed to be adjusted to make it more practical and solid.

Worked out just fine, for me, got to spend time with my dad while building it, and I didn't have to bust up/violate an older cab to do it.
 
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