Hi all, Kinda new here but been lurking for awhile now. Thought I'd share my MAME machine with you that I built last winter. Currently running about 4000+ roms on it.

PICS

Cabinet (http://img313.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img08526ys.jpg)
Cabinet 2 (http://img365.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img08508ke.jpg)
Inside (http://img152.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img08491gs.jpg)
Control Panel (http://img152.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img08487xe.jpg)
Wiring and keyboard/mouse emulators (http://img119.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img08456uk.jpg)


The cabinet was designed from plans on this site LUSID's (http://users.adelphia.net/~seanhat/arcade/)

COST:
Total I have about $800 in it. I had the TV and computer parts. I had to order the controls, kb and mouse emulators and coindoor as well as some misc. computer parts. I made the cabinet with plans I found online.

Specs.
AMD 1800 processor
512K ram
20 gig hard drive
generic mother board with 128meg Svideo out, using onboard audio
TV is a 27"Pansonic with SVideo In (wasn't working FREEBIE) cost $35.00 to fix at a TV shop
4x 120mm blue LED fans for cabinet cooling but mostly for looks

Had a graphics shop print the header on a mylar type materiel and it is backlit.
The top is formica from a cabinet maker. FREEBIE
If I remember right I think its 3 pieces of 3/4"x4'x8' pieces of MDF
Plus had to order T-molding (for banding the edges) and a T-molding router bit to cut the slot.

Very nice.

It looks great. I like 2 coolers on front panel its pretty and provides good ventilation.

Just my opinion, but the fans on the from detract from the beauty of the build. I would've gone with a few vent holes or slots and mounted the fans to the rear ot top of the case.

Otherwise it's a very nice project.

A guy I work with has built something very similar, and he created a menu system to use rather then hiding a keyboard in a tray. He then integrated the joystick to act as a mouse and you use that to navigate the menus and the P1 or P2 start buttons to select the game and # of players, etc...

Just my opinion, but the fans on the from detract from the beauty of the build. I would've gone with a few vent holes or slots and mounted the fans to the rear ot top of the case.

Otherwise it's a very nice project.

A guy I work with has built something very similar, and he created a menu system to use rather then hiding a keyboard in a tray. He then integrated the joystick to act as a mouse and you use that to navigate the menus and the P1 or P2 start buttons to select the game and # of players, etc...


actually the trackball in the center of the playarea is an emulated mouse the two buttons to the top are the left/right mouse buttons. I only use the keyboard when in windows to access server or internet.

THanks for all the nice comments.

Sweet!

So how many games do you have running on that? Have any problem with the vertical scrolling games or does your monitor rotate?

Not sure if I can post links to pics here but I had the same bug about building a MAME machine last year. I used Lucid's site as a great starting point. I decided to change it and go bigger though at a little over 7 feet tall. I wanted to feel like I was 13 again with a big machine hanging over me. I used a plunge router to recess the top of a highball trackball so I could lay some homebrew photoshop graphics with a sheet of lexan over it for looks. I did the same with the surround for the TV, with a 27" flatscreen and a MDF wood frame around it and again photoshop work with lexan covering it. I had to buy the huge side graphics but modified that by taking an X-acto knife and cutting out all the background so I could have it on a black field. I have some coin doors I need to fix up and mount still though.

Cab 1 (http://www.winternet.com/~aspi/Picture28.jpg)

Cab2 (http://www.winternet.com/~aspi/Picture29.jpg)

Inside cab and wiring (http://www.winternet.com/~aspi/Picture34.jpg)

Last pic (http://www.winternet.com/~aspi/Picture30.jpg)

Tutmos,
Very nice job, thanks for sharing...
Don

Nice...

Here are pics of mine I did back in 2003 (http://mike.napurano.com/album/listpics.asp?dir=misc%5C2003+%2D+mame)

Very cool Mike, I like the Matrix theme. Is the second machine a friends or did you do both? Also did you power the lights to your coin door? I'm debating on whether or not to bother. It seems like a lot of work.

Kevin

That centipede cab is nice! I bet the side cart cost you an arm and a leg, it looks sharp.

Link to my page with the one I built in 2002. It's been a great addition to the family room. I haven't kept on top of the new MAME's as they have come out since, the computer inside is still an old AMD from 2001. It runs all the classis great though.

http://members.cox.net/nebrunner/

I haven't checked this thread in awhile. Thanks for the nice comments on mine and I like the other 3 that are posted here as well. I got a few PM's asking about where I got all the roms, so I thought I'd share the information with all of you.

My system currently runs about 4025 roms. (I have them loaded but only play about 35-40 roms on a regular basis.) I got all my roms thru a project called Tombstone (since named Lazurus) It basically is a bunch of people that stay up to date with all the roms and help work on converting the roms to be playable.

They will usually send you ALL the current roms for the cost of some blank DVD's and shipping. If I remember right I spent about $15.00 USD shipped.

Here is a link for the Lazurus Project:

http://www.lazarus.org.uk/index.php?burners

Hope this helps.

that thing looks great! good job. I love the logo at the top

These all look great. How do you mount the TV?

Thanks,

have any of you guys tried using a larger tv, like a 42 inch lcd flat screen as a monitor?

The issue with larger TV's is the size of the cabinet. Using a 27" fills my whole cabinet and I went extra wide.

Kevin W.

Here's mine with a 27" arcade monitor. Even the fact that there is no case on an arcade monitor, it's still a tight fit.

http://www.poweroftheforce.com/temp/cabinet.jpg

Finally got the coin doors hooked up (after a long long while) and cleaned up the wiring inside.

I'll throw mine up here as well. I took a little more lazy approach. Cleaned up a beat up cab, and added basically plug and play cp, computer, and 27" monitor. (Sorry for the glare).

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/lcdude2000/DSC00351.jpg

What do you think, are your 2 120mm fans do enough ventilation for PC case inside box?