BootHammer Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 Arcades were at one time always crowded and filled with gamers. It was a fun experience to shoot for the top score or go head to head in the latest arcade brawler. Things have changed though since the explosion of home consoles and gaming PC’s. Their emergence have all but slowly extinguished arcades from malls and outlets. While gaming consoles and PC’s offer incredible performance for the price, there is something missing. Part of the exciting arcade experience is lost when you throw a standard controller in the mix and game from the comfort of the couch.While I love modern gaming I still heavily enjoy the retro titles from the past. To recapture this lost era and overall experience I began researching in great detail about arcade cabinets. This included the different types and styles available and their varying price range and overall offerings. Multiple vendors offer prebuilt units but usually this meant they only played one certain game from a particular genre. While those machines are still nostalgic and enjoyable in their own right I still wanted more. It was at this point that I realized that a custom build would be ideal. This would cut cost and open the door for endless options in regards to the cabinet’s design and its configuration. Luckily, I am good friends with an excellent carpenter that was even more excited than myself to get started on the project. Once the design, features and specs were mapped out we set off to buy and order the needed supplies. After all the parts and materials were in place the actual build took roughly 5 full days.If you wish to have your own personal arcade cabinet, contact Chris at [email protected]. He will be happy to discuss the different plans available, prices and options. Each unit can be completely customized to your liking making it truly one of a kind.Below is a video of the finished work, materials, tools and a short preview of playable games.Materials/parts:Viewsonic VA2703 27″ 1920×1080 3ms DVI LCD MonitorX-Arcade Tankstick + TrackballArcade Coin Door With Coin MechCustom Built Gaming PC with GameEx Front-endAltec Lansing 5.1 Surround Speaker System3- 3/4 4×8 sheets of hardwood plywood4- 1x2x85lbs box of wood screws 1 5/8 longWood glue1/4 x 2 x 8 pineGallon of gloss black paintWood filler2x6x812 volt fan for cooling12″ lightPlexiglass 1/4 thick25 foot roll of 14/2 wire2 electrical boxes1 light switch1 outlet and a GFCI outlet adapter to 6 plugsAppliance cordWire nuts120 to 12 volt converter8 – 12 volt red LED lightsReflective tapeFurniture gliders for bottomTools:Cordless drillCountersink bitTable sawCompound miter sawPalm sanderHole sawJig sawAir nailer[media=] Please visit my site BootHammer.com for the full article and many more pictures of the build!http://boothammer.co...arcade-cabinet/ 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nullPointer Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 Nice up Boothammer! Good on ya mate! (yeah I know ... I'm not Austrailian ... I'll just shut up now) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BootHammer Posted September 28, 2012 Author Share Posted September 28, 2012 Thanks for the kind words nullPointer, glad you liked it! I've always wanted one to play all the terrific old-school games on. It came out pretty fantastic IMO. I was lucky enough to have a friend who really know's his way around carpentry work =) We would like to build a racing based arcade cab next for Gran Turismo and Forza It was a lot of fun planning and designing it. Wish I had only started on it sooner ;b Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Draco1962 Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 Great cab and write-up Boothammer! I really like it when an enthusiast provides a list of materials, costs, etc. as this helps to inform and inspire the next cab builder. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BootHammer Posted September 30, 2012 Author Share Posted September 30, 2012 Great cab and write-up Boothammer! I really like it when an enthusiast provides a list of materials, costs, etc. as this helps to inform and inspire the next cab builder.Thanks Draco! It was a really fun process from imagining the design and features to finally seeing the completed product in working form. Blasting through all the classics from a custom arcade cab is hard to beat =) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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