My Custom Arcade (WIP)

Necron99 · November 7, 2012

My Parents are pretty cool. they like to go to yard sales, auctions, and thrift shops and seem to know what I want most of the time. A few years ago I mentioned that I would like an arcade cabinet to convert into a MAME/Hyperspin machine. preferable a larger unit for a least 2 player play.

Well, last year they found one at an auction...for $15! it was untested but looked in decent shape. Turn out it was a Pirate (I believe) of Space Firebird called Space Bird (The game is actually Space Firebird inside). Quickly the idea of converting this cabinet was replaced with restoring. it IS in great shape. everything works, the marquee has some minor holes but overall it's a good working machine and looks neat. It's also a but too thin for 2 players and the screen is really low and sunk in to the unit. but basically I just couldn't bring myself to rip this apart.

A few weeks ago, my parents did it again! this time I got conflicting information on size,condition etc. but knew that it was a gutted cabinet from a game called "Police Trainer". Google didn't help....quite a few styles of cabinets, but found out it's a gun game.

it was better than $15...it was free!

again I had to wait to see for myself what I Can/Can't do to this thing.

Finally got it and quickly found out it used to be a Lethal Enforcers cab that was converted to Police Trainer. the guns were gone, the marquee was still there but the light is old and most likely needs replacing. there is some dings in the wood but most aren't that bad. the bottom of the cabinet has some bad water damage, the glass screen looks to be painted over with black paint

overall, it's pretty decent I think, A bit more work than I planned on doing but I think I can do it.

How it came

A Little blurry, but the basic shape from the side

Mostly Gutted

The Bad skirt that might be cut off.

the skirt bottom is made of plywood. it's clearly seem better days. it also feels like it'll break when you put too much pressure on it

Started sanding it down. Took a week to make enough space in the Garage.

So other thoughts on this?

1.) I got some T-molding colour samples coming but that will most likely be one of the last steps but might determine the final color scheme in the side-art and marquee design.

2.) The Wood needs repair. My current thought is to cut the skirt of the unit off. This would lower the unit about 6 inches but since I'm a pretty short guy, it's perfectly fine with me! I'll need to sand down the sides and bondo up the large scratches and chipped corners. The cabinet could use a bit more stability too. re-doing the bottom part might help with that though.

3.) new casters! this things was a bitch to move because those casters are all ceased up and beat up.

4.) looking at using a vinyl laminate for the siding instead of paint. my experience with paint isn't good and personally don't like the look of paint on wood.

5.) the screen section is kind of weird. most likely will need to be some configuring there. especially when I decide on a monitor.

6.) The Monitor and Marquee screens need to be replaced. The Marquee one I could get away without replacing at the moment. Glass or PlexiGlass?

7.) the control panel I'm thinking would sit over the edges of where the control panel used to be,the and clamp down somehow to the inside of the cabinet, this would raise the control panel a few inches which is OK if I cut off the 6" skirt mentioned above. the cabinet will fit 2 people but kind of tight, so I think it'll be better to overlap the control panel slightly. since the screen will be nearly upright, I think this will work well.

8.) looking to configure some button into the coin slot. it's missing the inner mechanism and such anyways.

I guess stay tuned if you're interested?

Any tips from someone who already did something like this?

Cynicaster · November 7, 2012

I'd strongly suggest you head over to the forums at arcadecontrols.com if you haven't already for the real technical info on building these types of projects. Save the high-level executive summaries for AtariAge.