Xmame Arcade Cabinet
- How long did it take to build ? Roughly 2 or 3 weeks, mostly weekends, but also week nights after work.
- How much did it cost ? The computer was made from spare parts, so all I had to buy was material for the arcade, and all the joysticks, etc. Total cost to me was around $1,200. A small price to pay for every Arcade game out there...
- How does the computer recognize the joysticks/trackball ? All the joysticks and buttons are official arcade style parts. Which means they are just "switches". They are wired into a controller provided by Ultimarc. The controller registers as a usb keyboard to the computer. The trackball hooks into a similar device, and registers as a usb mouse.
- Does the coindoor actually work ? YES! The coindoor, as well as all joysticks, buttons, the trackball, even the speakers are authentic arcade style parts, and can be purchased through Happ Controls
- Are you affiliated with either Ultimarc or Happ Controls ? No. I just found what I needed through them, and want others to be able to find them as well.
- How many games do you have, and where can I find them ? There are 3382 games on my arcade. They can be found all over the internet if you search for them.
- Can you give me the ROMS ? No.
- Do you have any shooting games / How do you play them ? Yes, I have plenty of shooting games. Until I get some Light Guns, I can use either the joystick, or the trackball to move a crosshair around the screen.
- Where did you get the plans for the cabinet ? Well, I started by looking at this cabinet, and went on to find many many examples. In the end, none of them were exactly what I wanted. So, I had to design my own, basing it on designs from around the 'net.
- Where are your plans ? On scraps of paper mostly. Some day I might take measurements and put them online.
- Are you running Windows ? No. I am a hardcore Linux enthusiast (Gentoo specifically). Therefore everything has to be Windows free.
- Buy these guns from Act Labs so I can play Area 51 the way it was meant to be played.
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First pieces of MDF - got the sides cut, you can see the general shape of the cabinet. |
Another angle of the side pieces |
Every single board is attached with "L" brackets. This was an easy way to hide all the screws |
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Look at that mess! |
Attached the door on the back. Being a door, it's on hinges :) |
Couple more pieces... |
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Got the base pieces together, the cabinet can now stand on it's own |
Side view of the standing cabinet |
Front and back doors open, you can see how the inside is accessed |
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The 24" CRT on it's shelf to check positioning |
Cardboard mock up of the control panel, to check control placement, and height. |
Keyboard door in place |
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Look how nice it slides... |
Wooden control panel cut, another test to see how the placement "feels" |
Quick game of Gauntlet to take the edge off... |
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Templates taped down so I know where everything goes...(those who know the controls will notice a fatal flaw in my placement. You'll see... |
Started to drill the holes. There's that flaw again...can you see it ? |
First controls in place...going to be sweet...but here's the problem: I assumed the trackball sat in a symetrical fashion. It does not, I had it turned 45 degrees. The problem is, it did not fit the right way, so... |
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I had to cut the control panel in half, and add a 6" space to make it fit. |
This also allowed me to bring the tracball, and the pacman joystick close to the edge, so in the end it worked out. |
The 6" spacer is a different width then the rest of the control panel, this is because I also found out the trackball is designed to mounted on a thinner piece of wood. Here is a closeup of how things fit together. You can also see the groove that will hold the rubber "bumper" |
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To give the control panel that "finished" feel, I opted to use a counter top lamenate from HomeDepot. Here's the wood glue that will hold it. In retrospect, I should have used contact cement which provides a better hold. |
And here it is all attached. The control holes will have to be carefully drilled again... |
Light in the top, speakers in place, and control panel almost there...starting to look like something now... |
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