New replica cabinets being made?

i can do an occasional cabinet, using my old cnc a friend now owns. The days of 4-500 new cabs are long over, materials have went way up in the last 5 years. I just bought a 4X8 plasma cnc for metal cutting, i'm doing non arcade stuff with it. Down the road, i'll likely do some control panels and brackets, but i need the equipment for forming/bending. Plus the market for new cabinets is pretty much dead. I still have the files for about 100 different arcade cabinets, and 150 pinball cabs.
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I cut a few cabinets in the past, but it has been a while since I cut much. I have the website www.classicarcadecabinets.com.

Materials have gone way up in costs. You may be looking at $500+ just in good materials for larger cabinets, before labor. Everyone wants new cabinets with master craftsmanship, but wants to pay used empty cabinet prices.

I just did another Reactor cabinet for myself. It is a smaller cab, but was still 3 sheets of baltic birch (@$118 a sheet), $40+ material for blocking, wood glue, screws, HVLP paint and primer ($60) and two sheets of laminate at $90 a sheet. I am into it $600+ before t-molding. And this is before the time spent, the CNC in the garage, or any of the other tools involved.


I know I can get cheaper materials and cheaper finishes, but materials impact the final product..... And it doesn't make sense when you drop a few hundred dollars on artwork.

Unless it is a unique cabinet (Wacko, DoT, DL, etc....) it is not worth building it from scratch.

At the moment I only cut for locals (Fredericksburg VA), and most of the time I will cut 3, one for myself, one for the person wanting it, and one for trade bait down the road.

Unless you love to build cabinets, build cabinets with miserable materials,or sell them close to $1k, it is not worth being a builder at the moment.

Brian
 
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Yea, I find it interesting that people are saying no one is buying cabinets. I had to hire on additional help to keep up with our workload.

Not really. I think the people that know and are willing to pay that price for a high quality cabinet are around. The issue is that it is a small percentage of game collectors. Many do not understand the costs, effort, and time involved. Very few people understand the level of effort it takes to get a cabinet perfect for CNC ..... And the need for donor cabinets when assembling.

I find that when I had customers that understood the level of effort, it was a better transaction.

Personally, I have moved away from trying to cut cabinets using original materials. I won't us MDF for cabinets anymore.....even if I am making a Taito cabinet. This upsets the purists who want to have their reproduction cabinet swell like the original, and the budget minded collectors who want a CNC cut cab assembled out of MDF at $40 a sheet and sub $400 price.

Just my $.02.

Brian
 
Not really. I think the people that know and are willing to pay that price for a high quality cabinet are around. The issue is that it is a small percentage of game collectors. Many do not understand the costs, effort, and time involved. Very few people understand the level of effort it takes to get a cabinet perfect for CNC ..... And the need for donor cabinets when assembling.

I find that when I had customers that understood the level of effort, it was a better transaction.

Personally, I have moved away from trying to cut cabinets using original materials. I won't us MDF for cabinets anymore.....even if I am making a Taito cabinet. This upsets the purists who want to have their reproduction cabinet swell like the original, and the budget minded collectors who want a CNC cut cab assembled out of MDF at $40 a sheet and sub $400 price.

Just my $.02.

Brian
Exactly correct
 
Even when I worked with a woodshop 20 years, the cost of wood, time to cut, time to ship, and shop costs were higher than most people wanted to pay, and these were mini and cabaret cabinets.

I'm greatful to have a local that can CNC cut individual cabinet parts, but the pieces are still pricey.

Scott C.
 
Not really. I think the people that know and are willing to pay that price for a high quality cabinet are around. The issue is that it is a small percentage of game collectors. Many do not understand the costs, effort, and time involved. Very few people understand the level of effort it takes to get a cabinet perfect for CNC ..... And the need for donor cabinets when assembling.

I find that when I had customers that understood the level of effort, it was a better transaction.

Personally, I have moved away from trying to cut cabinets using original materials. I won't us MDF for cabinets anymore.....even if I am making a Taito cabinet. This upsets the purists who want to have their reproduction cabinet swell like the original, and the budget minded collectors who want a CNC cut cab assembled out of MDF at $40 a sheet and sub $400 price.

Just my $.02.

Brian
For what it is worth, I agree on the non-use of MDF. It's just SWELL material.
 
Even when I worked with a woodshop 20 years, the cost of wood, time to cut, time to ship, and shop costs were higher than most people wanted to pay, and these were mini and cabaret cabinets.

I'm greatful to have a local that can CNC cut individual cabinet parts, but the pieces are still pricey.

Scott C.
Yeah, material costs are just nuts.

If you have someone who can turn out a quality product, consider that. CNC cutting takes some setup time.

And time is money.

A while ago, I had an older NARCO Horizontal Situation Indicator (HSI) in my plane. I was flying up to Green Bay to get info on and to fly an amphibious airplane, and my HSI lost the signal. The needle just drifted off. My second NAV indicator (this was in the age of LORAN, not GPS) was working.

I went to a shop. They said they could fix it, but it would cost $200 for the connector and cables to be built so they could. I bit the bullet and paid for the pre-work. They fixed it (a transistor went bad, and unlike arcade games, only a certified shop can make repairs) and they replaced it. It lasted from then until 1996 when I replaced the entire unit.

That $200 would be around $500 today. You have to pay for shop time and materials. Nothing is free, or the guy isn't making enough money to stay open.
 
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