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John Reder

Home | Downloads | Gear | Tactical Neuronics Updated JUNE 2023

Standard Arcade Cabinet Project

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2014 UPDATE

The latest revision of this cabinet is modified to run completely from a Raspberry Pi Model B.

To achieve the necessary technical specifications required the following things were done:

* Removed the 133Mhz Pentium with a Raspberry Pi Model B which boots up within 20 seconds to its menu.
* Added a cable that converts the HDMI output to a Standard VGA Cable.
* Purchased and installed the USB cable that is sold with the iPac keyboard controller (I had initially used a PCI to USB cable but found that the iPac buffering features were not present, making the games a little less responsive).
* The Pi used PiMame 7.0.10 as its oS and menu system which is a graphical step up from the PC DOS based Arcade OD menu system.

This video clip shows you the Raspberry Pi powered cabinet in action.

Cabinet Changed design from yellow to black... Blue marquee later changed to red/yellow design shown above.

Earlier Iterations and Design Aspects

Well, I�ve finally decided to build a full-fledged arcade cabinet. It�s been something I wanted to do for a long time (at least 20 years). Being a video game player (addict) since 1978 and developer since 1987 the only thing left for me to do was become a manufacturer (limiting myself to the production of just one system � for now�)

Below is a list of my costs, tools, software and materials I used to create it. I�ve decided to share my home grown design documentation with anyone who visits this page hoping that someone other than me may benefit from my work and have as much fun as I did pursuing their arcade at home dream.

QTY

DESC

PRICE

1

Spare PC 133Mhz or better w/Monitor & Speakers. Price not included in total, it is assumed that you are recycling an old PC. If you need to purchase a PC for this you may wish to consider looking into a XBOX or PlayStation2 (much cheaper!) for the internal component with a color TV. There are versions of MAME that run on moded versions of both of these systems.

0?

1

Red Ball top Joystick (http://www.ultimarc.com)

15.00

1

Player 1 Button (http://www.ultimarc.com)

3.50

1

Player 2 Button (http://www.ultimarc.com)

3.50

2

Red Push Buttons (http://www.ultimarc.com)

5.00

6

Yellow Push Buttons (http://www.ultimarc.com)

15.00

1

Green Push Button (http://www.ultimarc.com)

2.50

1

1 IPAC Splitter Board (http://www.ultimarc.com)

39.00

1

Shipping (http://www.ultimarc.com)

14.00

2

4x8 Particle Board Sheets 3/4inch (Home Depot)

39.00

1

4x8 Ply Wood � inch Sheet (Home Depot)

15.00

2

Spools of wire (Black & White) (Radio Shack)

6.00

28

Crimp Terminal lugs to connect wires to switches (Ace)

10.00

1

Box of #6 wood screws (100) (Home Depot)

4.40

1

Box of 1.5" wood screws (100) (Home Depot)

3.60

1

Bottle of Wood Glue (Ace)

4.30

1

32x20" Sheet of Plexiglas + cutting tool (Home Depot)

9.90

2

Pint of Glossy Black and Yellow Paint (Ace Hardware)

14.00

4

2x2" x8� boards (Home Depot)

8.00

1

Black Ball Shaped cabinet knob (Home Depot)

2.00

2

Hinges for front door (Home Depot)

4.00

1

Roll of black electrical tape (Home Depot)

2.00

4

Rubber Feet for cabinet bottom (Home Depot)

3.00

1

30x20 Black poster board �" thickness (Office Max)

10.40

1

200" Roll of T-Molding (http://www.t-molding.com)

20.00

1

Coin Door from Asteroids cabinet from e-bay

25.00
+15.00S&H

1

fluorescent light (Marquee)

12.00

1

clear plastic corner wall guard (Marquee)

1.99

Total Cost

307.09

Tools Required:

Circular Saw

Router w/ Biscuit Cutter Bit

Electric Screw Driver

Electric Drill w/Drill Bits and screw driver bit & and a 1 1/8" Hole Cutter Drill Bit

Electric Sander

4 Wood Clamp Grips

Jigsaw

Tape Measure/Yard Stick/Pencil

Wire Cutter/Crimping Tool

Software Required:

MAME w/LEGAL ROM Images

ArcadeOS

Wood Cutting 1 of 3

4x8� �" plywood commonly found in most hardware stores.

Most stores will do the Cutting for you (I went to Home Depot) but their rule was nothing under 12" so I had them make all of the cuts depicted by the red lines.

Wood Cutting 2 of 3

4x8� �" plywood commonly found in most hardware stores.

Most stores will do the Cutting for you (I went to Home Depot) but their rule was nothing under 12" so I had them make all of the cuts depicted by the red lines.

Wood Cutting 3 of 3

4x8� �" plywood commonly found in most hardware stores.

Most stores will do the Cutting for you (I went to Home Depot) but their rule was nothing under 12" so I had them make all of the cuts depicted by the red lines.

Support Beams

4 qty of 8� 2x2" commonly found in most hardware stores.

Most stores will do the Cutting for you (I went to Home Depot) but their rule was nothing under 12" so I had them make all of the cuts depicted by the red lines.

Basic Construction measurements

Depending on the accuracy of the wood cuts you may have to modify the ultimate placement of the support beams.

Control Panel Wiring

Basic drawing of a typical layout using real arcade controls along with a Ultimarc IPAC PCB � all components and PCB were purchased from http://www.ultimarc.com

Basic construction and assembly

This explains how to mark and attach all of the main cabinet elements.

Internal construction

This explains the basic placement of the wood attached between the side panels.

Plexiglas cutting

This explains where to cut the plexiglas for use in the next drawing.

Cabinet finishing

This illustrates the plexiglas placement and explains how to fasten the t-molding.

http://www.t-molding.com

Computer placement

This illustrates how a typical desktop computer will be integrated within this cabinet.

Internal Components

This illustrates how hardware will be wired within this cabinet.

Completed Cabinet

Cabinet decoration and painting examples

Current version is completely semi-gloss black on all sides.

Artwork

Marquee

Bezel

Left and right menus (not in final design)

Control Panel Background

Joystick Base

Arcade Cabinet 2 Project

Click Here to read about the 2nd generation cabinet design I'm currently working on

FAQ:

Q: It looks like you have plexiglas mounted on top of your control panel?
A: I didn't like how the simple black painted wood looked and felt so I used a sheet of plexiglas on the top (I had to size it and drill the 11 [1 1/8"] holes in it to match the wood panel). This allowed me to insert some simple printed artwork under it to give it a more polished look.

Q: Regarding The MAME marquee, did you just print a couple of transparencies on an ink jet printer and put them behind a clear sheet of plexiglas?
A: You guessed it, I printed the logo onto transparencies (3 sheets) and placed it between two sheets of Plexiglas. The top and bottom plastic edges are the typical 4' clear plastic corner wall guard you can get at the hardware store cut in half ($1.99). I placed a fluorescent light behind it ($12.00).

Q: How do you switch between games?
A: I use a program called ArcadeOS (see link above.)

Q: Which MAME program do you use?
A: v37b I guess any DOS version of MAME will work fine.

Q: What OS are you running?
A: DOS 7 (i.e; a hard drive formatted from a bootable Win95 (SR2) floppy with sys.com and format.exe on it using the format c: /s command.)

Q: It looks like the monitor is mounted 90 from upright? If so, how did you straighten out the picture to be upright?
A: You can set that in the ArcadeOS setup, it calls MAME with a switch that tells it to rotate the screen.

Q: Did you ever consider buying an old arcade machine just for the box?
A: Yes, but the dealers here in Cincy wanted at least $1000+ for cabinets (even the broken ones). I saw some on e-bay for around $400 but with $150 in shipping I decided to build my own.

Q: How did you do the graphics? Stencils?
A: Yes, I removed the stenciled MAME name on the sides and left only the Space Invader icon.

Q: What are the PC specifications?
A: My MAME box is a Pentium 667 celeron with 64MB memory, 10GB HD and a SB16 sound card. PC Installed software:

-HD formatted with DOS 7 (without the rest of Windows 95 installed)
-Brand specific CD Rom DOS Drivers installed
-SB16 Drivers installed
-MAME 37b for DOS installed
-ArcadeOS installed
-It's autoexec.bat file simply launches ArcadeOS which uses my joystick/fire buttons to navigate and select the desired game.

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