DEREZZED – MAME Arcade cabinet

Introduction & Inspiration

As someone who’s been brought up on a healthy diet of pixels since a very early age it’s safe to say gaming is in my blood. One of my earliest memories is getting blisters and epic thumb ache trying to hold down the stiff orange button on the Atari 2600′s controller. In the end my cousin who was in my eyes a complete legend duck taped the bad boy round so I could just rely on steering. For me some of the charm of the classic games doesn’t just rely in the games and graphics themselves, but also in the hardware we played them on. I could emulate anything on my PC and play them, but it just lacks that tangible interface, and I always know in the back of my mind I can alt+tab out to chat and browse the net.

I recently thought about buying a few older consoles, particularly an Atari 2600 due to it being my first console, and also a NES for some retro SF2 before a night out, but with an already  full TV cabinet having more cuter and wires about the place wasn’t something that appealed to me at present… perhaps when I own my house and I have a games room things will be different, THINGS WILL BE AWESOME!… hmm where was I?!

Then one day I somehow stumbled upon a video by Nathan Barnatt called Talking Classics; it follows the life of the legendary gamer Keith Apicary who happens to own one bad-ass Neo-Geo cab. Now being a huge Arcade fan having spent countless amounts in them over the years i was in Awe of his collection of cabinets. In one of his episodes he featured one that emulated various games, and by complete luck someone posted in the comments on Youtube about his “Mame Cab” … This got me Googling and boy did I Google the shit outta this, hoping from site to site in some very dusty and old parts of the internet only to emerge many days lighter enlightened like Link with the knowledge of how to construct my own Mame cabinet which would bridge my retro gaming needs with a bad ass classic interface, while also providing one sexy piece of furniture… hopefully.

Planning

Now I could of done a little more planning than I did before I started, but like with most things I do I get very excited and eager to crack on. So I drew up some designs, and plans, using some measurements based on what the guys built Project Mame using over at at koenigs.dk but as I went along I changed things on the fly and learnt what needed to be done as I got there. So first thing was ordering in some parts, and as I had no tools what so ever to begin with I as you would expect.. didn’t bother to buy any.. instead I opted for a hand saw…

First wave of materials delivered.

A good craftsman never blames his...

Drawn after hitting my head on the toilet.

Stage 1: Wood work

Used a plate for a nice curve

First side cut!

Second side !! Woo

My floor was a mess...

Underside of the base

Glue + Screw

After spending some time drawing out the sides, checking the height with my own height to make sure the controller was at a comfortable level when standing I went to work cutting away the sides. The saw I picked up made quick work of the MDF, but due to it’s size and the fact it’s more at home cutting down tree’s rather than woodwork projects as soon as I hit a curve I was f**k’d. I ultimately had two options. 1. Order a cheap jigsaw like I should have or 2. Modify the design to make it doable with the tools at hand while still being true to my vision. I went with option 2 due to not wanting to wait and lost the curves for a more angular and clean cut shape.. after doing it I actually love the look far more than the curves!

Constructed!

Base fitted to one side

Top marque construction

The base was quick and easy, 600mm wide, oldskool intimate size! timber glued and screwed to the MDF, then flipped over. No wheels although doing it like this you could sink in hidden ones, but I will just be putting low profile pads on just to protect the floor…Jesus I’m getting old. Next up was the marque area, which proved to be very tricky to mount due to the tight space and alignment of things due to cutting with such a large saw. Each cut you lose 2mm some places I didn’t account for this like seen in the picture where I had to shave some off as the other side wouldn’t fit flush when I tried.

Shiz0r.

Other side goes on!

Back slotted in!

I left the second side on gluing overnight with a lot of box’s holding it down. The next day I secured with screws, this way it didn’t move when screwing the side in place. Then the moment of truth.. it rose up like Darth Vadar but without the “Noooo” although I would of made that cry if it suddenly buckled and fell apart! The back was cut from measurements, but took a bit of a falcon-punch to pop into place, it was tight to say the lease but instantly I had one very rigid shell in my living room!

Front view

Marquee Compartment

Front Panel + Draw

After I had a sturdy frame I next went about cutting a front panel out. I decided in the design process not to go with a working coin door or anything like that, however I do plan on having a coin button (so futuristic!) this will come later. After that was cutout, I then went about measuring a good depth for the hidden keyboard draw I wanted. This allows easy updates to the games and software, bug fix’s and all that jazz. The picture to the right shows the draw panel cut out.

Hidden pull out draw for the keyboard

Draw extended

I purchased 2 soft shutting draw runners of eBay for around £4 with delivery. These are just the simple type found in kitchen draws. I cut a front panel out and glued it to the draw (no nails or support on this one) After letting it dry for 24 hours I fitted the runners and fixed it in place. After admiring the sliding draw for a week, the next step is to work on the important part… The control area!