My arcade machine

[Venom]

I've had this finished since last October, and I'm pretty proud of it. I constructed the case from plywood, is six feet tall, has a CRT monitor (to use the light gun) and inside is just a computer that runs a program on start up.

From start to finish:


I bought 5 sheets of plywood for this. I ended up only needing three.






The doors open and close for easy access.







For the controllers I used to regular USB gamepads and connected their button imputs to arcade bits I got http://www.lizardlick.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I sanded out and smoothed most of the front (the control panel, screen area, top) but the rest is a bit coarse. I regret the choice of wood, as it was way too heavy and should have just used an LCD as I probably won't end up really using it for light guns anyway. The whole thing is just way too heavy. Otherwise I'm pretty happy with it. Power button is wired in the front, and their is a hole in the bottom center for the bass speaker.

[themadhacker]

I like it. It's not often when we get a custom arcade machine here.

[arfink]

Welcome to the custom arcade machine making club. I have one too! Did you do all this yourself, including the woodworking? It's nice for a first attempt, though not the most professional looking. If you ever decide to do it again, or to modify this one, I would recommend that you rework the control panel especially, and recess the joystick mounts. Nice to see someone bring something new and custom to this little-traveled forum. Bravo!

Also, is the yellow markings supposed to be lightning or zuba stripes? It has that classic 80's feel, for sure!

[evilteddy]

Great job on the arcade cabinet, it looks pretty cool. How long did it take you to make it from start to finish?

On the subject of CRT vs LCD screens I can't help but feel that using a CRT screen adds to the authenticity of the retro arcade experience. Of course there is the downside that CRT screens often end up weighing around 5 times more than the equivalent LCD screen. Another thing that may not be applicable in your case is the viewing angle. LCD screens have a fairly narrow viewing angle compared to CRTs. Probably not an issue for you but it is certainly a reason I'm using a CRT for my cabinet because in a cocktail cabinet people might have trouble with LCD viewing angles.

Can I urge you to do a couple more coats of paint if you ever get the urge to change the colour scheme on your cabinet. It would help get rid of that distinct plywood look. Please understand that these are just small niggles overall I think your cabinet is great especially with proper speakers instead of two small USB powered PC speakers.

Have fun

evilteddy

[tom61]

Great job on the arcade cabinet, it looks pretty cool. How long did it take you to make it from start to finish?

On the subject of CRT vs LCD screens I can't help but feel that using a CRT screen adds to the authenticity of the retro arcade experience. Of course there is the downside that CRT screens often end up weighing around 5 times more than the equivalent LCD screen. Another thing that may not be applicable in your case is the viewing angle. LCD screens have a fairly narrow viewing angle compared to CRTs. Probably not an issue for you but it is certainly a reason I'm using a CRT for my cabinet because in a cocktail cabinet people might have trouble with LCD viewing angles.

Newer LCDs have far less trouble with viewing angles than the older models. There's a 20" 4:3 monitor I'm considering for a slim cab that has a 178 degree viewing angle, both horizontal and vertical! By that point the curve of a non-flat CRT has already gotten in the way of part of the image.

Can I urge you to do a couple more coats of paint if you ever get the urge to change the colour scheme on your cabinet. It would help get rid of that distinct plywood look. Please understand that these are just small niggles overall I think your cabinet is great especially with proper speakers instead of two small USB powered PC speakers.

Seconded on the paint. Also, proper under control panel mounting of the joysticks would look much better, IMO.

[Venom]

Welcome to the custom arcade machine making club. I have one too! Did you do all this yourself, including the woodworking? It's nice for a first attempt, though not the most professional looking. If you ever decide to do it again, or to modify this one, I would recommend that you rework the control panel especially, and recess the joystick mounts. Nice to see someone bring something new and custom to this little-traveled forum. Bravo!

Also, is the yellow markings supposed to be lightning or zuba stripes? It has that classic 80's feel, for sure!

Thank you, I appreciate it. Yup I built it myself, but I've had very little wood working experience prior, it was a pretty intimidating thing for me. Haha, that was a bad mistake on my part, I kind of realized that after. I might lower the joysticks at some point.

I didn't have anything in mind when I painted them, just thought it needed something. I kind of wanted to paint something cool on the sides as well but it's a bit rough to work on ATM. Glad you think so though, never thought of that.

Great job on the arcade cabinet, it looks pretty cool. How long did it take you to make it from start to finish?

Can I urge you to do a couple more coats of paint if you ever get the urge to change the colour scheme on your cabinet. It would help get rid of that distinct plywood look.

Took around two months working off and on I believe, but I'm not 100% sure. I'll think about it, if I can get this thing out of my house and in again. I had to remove part of my door frame to get it through! (it's kind of a small door, too)

[HardcoreLewscher]

(1st post on benheck) also on modretro

anyway that looks insanely awesome and 1st pic ive managed to see of the underside of the control pannel anyway that looks really good, also my next project is to build one of them