Vardelith Posted March 30, 2003 Share Posted March 30, 2003 Ok, a friend of mine and myself are working on an arcade cabinet design. We are each going to build one for ourselves. While we do this we are designing it to be easy assembly. I have family in the furniture building business, that will be helping. The question is...how many people out there would be interested in a "Do it yourself" kit. We are thinking of also providing decalling and marquee creation services if we do decide to sell these kits! Feedback and input welcome, Tks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starscream Posted March 30, 2003 Share Posted March 30, 2003 I would be interested most likely. Are you talking you supply all materials for the cabinet and instructions or just instructions? Not that I would care, just wondering And, if I can throw my 2 cents in - try designing it after a Midway cabinet - ya know like the Mortal Kombat series ones. IMO, they have the most room, best design and countless configurations Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vardelith Posted March 31, 2003 Author Share Posted March 31, 2003 Yes it would have instructions! It would be a kit with all the parts needed You provide the power tools! Basically the idea would be to give you all the wood (pre-cut), and accessories and you build it and decide what to paint it and such! We would also do the build on the unit for you if requested, but there would be a building fee and shipping and handling would be higher, do to the larger size! And again you would decide on things like decaling and the marquee. We would also be providing custom or premade graphics for these aspects of the units. The control panel would have a default configuration w/ alternate styles available! 2 controllers w/ 6 buttons each a track ball with 2 and a start / credits pair for both players! Trackball would be under player one. Might have a configuration with a spinner as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starscream Posted March 31, 2003 Share Posted March 31, 2003 Now you're talkin homie!! What price point for unassembled are you looking at? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allstater4by800 Posted March 31, 2003 Share Posted March 31, 2003 Would u shove a tv in there or what I dont quite understand this but would like to get one if the price is right it sounds very intersting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vardelith Posted March 31, 2003 Author Share Posted March 31, 2003 I'm still pricing out the cost of materials for the units, trying to balance cost vs. quality. After all, I want my cabinets to be sturdy and strong when done! But still be able to sell them reasonably enough! I'm hoping to have a better idea as to price within a couple, two weeks. I don't want to promise something today and not be able to keep it! allstater4by800: as for what you do with it...It will be designed to hold up to a 27" TV without side speakers, IE a unit with bottom mounted speakers. As for what you hook up to that TV, that is up to you! My personal intention will be to house a dedicated MAME Machine with a video card capable out outputting to a TV! I have a quick question for you guy's? Where else would be a good place to post a message about this cabinet of mine? I'm trying to find out how much interest there is in something like this, and I personally feel that a page mainly for Atari stuff may not be the best place to get my overall feel for the market I want to reach? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IceCold Posted March 31, 2003 Share Posted March 31, 2003 I'm still pricing out the cost of materials for the units, trying to balance cost vs. quality. After all, I want my cabinets to be sturdy and strong when done! But still be able to sell them reasonably enough! I'm hoping to have a better idea as to price within a couple, two weeks. I don't want to promise something today and not be able to keep it! allstater4by800: as for what you do with it...It will be designed to hold up to a 27" TV without side speakers, IE a unit with bottom mounted speakers. As for what you hook up to that TV, that is up to you! My personal intention will be to house a dedicated MAME Machine with a video card capable out outputting to a TV! I have a quick question for you guy's? Where else would be a good place to post a message about this cabinet of mine? I'm trying to find out how much interest there is in something like this, and I personally feel that a page mainly for Atari stuff may not be the best place to get my overall feel for the market I want to reach? Any help would be greatly appreciated. the BEST place for it would be www.arcadecontrols.com then go to the message boards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allstater4by800 Posted March 31, 2003 Share Posted March 31, 2003 Ya now I am more confused ok I could put a tv with like a ps2 in there? or what is a dedicated MAME Machine with a video card capable out outputting to a TV! ????? I kinda understand the whole concept of making this thing with wood and stuff that makes sense I just dont quite grasp the whole "inside" part Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allstater4by800 Posted March 31, 2003 Share Posted March 31, 2003 Ya now I am more confused ok I could put a tv with like a ps2 in there? or what is a dedicated MAME Machine with a video card capable out outputting to a TV! ????? I kinda understand the whole concept of making this thing with wood and stuff that makes sense I just dont quite grasp the whole "inside" part Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allstater4by800 Posted March 31, 2003 Share Posted March 31, 2003 I know I just double posted and now I have another thought I searched this MAME Machine thing and I found this picture ok If you can sell me stuff that will end up looking like this Im in like flin boyo http://www.jclement.com/arcade/newcab/2-16...-02_running.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IceCold Posted April 1, 2003 Share Posted April 1, 2003 I'll explain a MAME cabinet a little bit. Basically, you have a PC on the inside. It is running an emulator called MAME(multiple arcade machine emulator). This allows you to play thousands of arcade games. But just playing on a PC isn't good enough for some people, so they hook arcade controls to a computer, and sometimes actually put the computer in an arcade cabinet. This guy is selling the cabinet(or wood for the cabinet?), you supply the computer, games, etc. If I said anything wrong or if somebody wants to point out something I missed, please do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allstater4by800 Posted April 1, 2003 Share Posted April 1, 2003 Would this guy make the controls cause that would be the selling point... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IceCold Posted April 1, 2003 Share Posted April 1, 2003 Would this guy make the controls cause that would be the selling point... From what I read it sounds like he will have controls on it, but that leads to another point. If he's not including a computer, will he include an interface for the controls? Or just mount them? Please answer these questions Vardelith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vardelith Posted April 1, 2003 Author Share Posted April 1, 2003 Ok, here we go! allstater4by800: yes the cabinet will be designed to fit a TV! There will be two designs to start with. The first one will be a cabinet designed to interface with a PC, on this set-up you would basically plug your PC into the cabinet! the case goes underneath. And the Control panel would plug into your computer. (Very like the picture you posted.) You could use a monitor in place of the TV if you really wanted, but that would be a personal preference. The second would be a cabinet that looks almost identical to the one in the picture but with a blank consol (IE no joysticks or buttons) to be used more as a consol system cabinet. Note the one with buttons can still be used as a consol machine cabinet, but would be a bit of a waste. I will be placing my Atari and Nintendo in this cabinet along with my PC. IceCold: Thanks for the help on that, that is in essence what we want to provide. Note: once you have the PC installed you will be able to use the control panel with most emulators that allow you to map keystrokes to the different game functions, most NES, some Atari and so one emulators also have the ability to use the controls. IceCold & allstater4by800: We will be installing and wiring the controls so that you can hook a PC up as soon as you get the cabinet. As for the "KIT" version of the cabinet, we are still deciding if the control panel will be wired or if the buyer will have that responsibility. We may build them anyway just so we can verify functionality, and for quality control purposes. At this time the control panel will only ineffaceable with the PC, we may look into building other versions in the future that are capable of working with other systems, like some of the more popular consoles. This point is still in discussions. As well, please note that our cabinets will not likely be wood finished like the one in the pic linked by allstater4by800. We are aiming more towards the classic cabinet style, painted wood with decals. If there is enough interest we MAY look into a wood finished style for you people that want a machine that could sit in the family room and match the rest of the decor. There would have to be considerable demand for this to happen. Vardelith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeerGnome Posted April 1, 2003 Share Posted April 1, 2003 As well, please note that our cabinets will not likely be wood finished like the one in the pic linked by allstater4by800. We are aiming more towards the classic cabinet style, painted wood with decals. If there is enough interest we MAY look into a wood finished style for you people that want a machine that could sit in the family room and match the rest of the decor. There would have to be considerable demand for this to happen. Vardelith you could just provide the kit "as is" no finishing whatsoever, just bare wood. we can make this as complicated as you want, just the features your looking for, and the amount of preassembly work would reflect the over all price adjustment. the kit could just simply come in a flat shipping box and you assemble it yourself with a allen key lock bolt toggle thing, basicly just like any piece of fabricated furniture you would find at wallmart or the like. Just make the assembly as idiot resistant as possible, and requiring the use of basic hand tools that anyone should have around the house, like a #2 philips skrewdriver, or a cheap allen key that you could include with the hardware kit. you could also reduce your cost and labor by making a model that can accomodate some of the prefabricated arcade controllers allready on the market. as for my personal prefrence for a package, unassembled, natural unfinished wood, and assembled control kit. well.. would the pieces be made of Plywood or pressboard? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vardelith Posted April 1, 2003 Author Share Posted April 1, 2003 BeerGnome: Thanks for the input! I agree that they should be as simple as possable. And I think we will try to go with pre-drilled, holes and the use of glue and screws, I've never been a fan of those lock bolt things. The never feel secure to me. We are planning on having the main areas of the cabinet made from good plywood and the lesser seen sections like the TV shelf etc, made from MDF. If the cost of plywood is to high for a kit form we may go with all MDF construction, but I personally do not want to go that route. We are still finalizing the development, so these things may change closer to production time! And again thank you all for your input, sofar I've had more success getting feedback here then any of the other places I've posted! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeerGnome Posted April 1, 2003 Share Posted April 1, 2003 BeerGnome: Thanks for the input! I agree that they should be as simple as possable. And I think we will try to go with pre-drilled, holes and the use of glue and screws, I've never been a fan of those lock bolt things. The never feel secure to me. We are planning on having the main areas of the cabinet made from good plywood and the lesser seen sections like the TV shelf etc, made from MDF. If the cost of plywood is to high for a kit form we may go with all MDF construction, but I personally do not want to go that route. We are still finalizing the development, so these things may change closer to production time! And again thank you all for your input, sofar I've had more success getting feedback here then any of the other places I've posted! yer right about the cam lock things, And I'm pretty sure anyone who would buy your kit would have enough skill and paitence to be able to slap it alltogether the proper way. I also agree with your preception off all MDF. that stuff tends to disintigrate at critical joints. but for costs considerations I would think about being able to offer that material as a bare bones cheap alternative to a more expensive more finished product. I remember years ago, when nintendo first came out a arcade style cabinet made to hold a 23 inch television, a nintendo and built in arcade controls with plug ins for the nintendo with a slide out shelf under the console for the actual unit. it was at toys r us and cost a couple of hundred dollers. the material used to construct it was obviously the particle press board with a white vynl laminate and black edge molding. very basic, and did the job.. I would love to find one of these old cases inthe wild and modify it to my needs, but your idea sounds pretty close and more feasable. you might also want to consider creating a cocktail table design as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IceCold Posted April 1, 2003 Share Posted April 1, 2003 Vardelith - thank you for the information. Don't count on me buying one though, I was just trying to help out allstater4by800. I personally am working with a gutted astron belt cabinet right now, to make a MAME cabinet. Did you check out the message boards at www.arcadecontrols.com ? I would consider that the main site that MANY people making controls and cabinets check out. What kind of a price range are you thinking? Oh, and what interface with the controls? Keyboard hack? gamepad hack? i-pac? keywiz? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vardelith Posted April 2, 2003 Author Share Posted April 2, 2003 BeerGnome: Yes, I remember those Nintendo Cabinets! Didn't they have a big angled Nintendo logo on the sides? We are going to start with one design and go from there, if things take off and we are able to keep the flow of product positive then we will see about branching out to other product lines that have a similar appeal. Believe me I personally want a Cocktail table set-up just for Pac games! I've been hunting for a real one for a long time! (At an affordable price that is!) A small update on the material used, It's looking right now like we will be using melamine for the main aspects of the cabinet. That way we can go with a pre-finished look without a person needing to paint it. The possibility of a less expensive model made from MDF is a very possible reality, once we have the plans finalized, the materials used become less important as long as we can find a good price point for the different cabinets made with different products. The melamine gives us some flexibility in that we can make a few different looks all by changing the melamine used. IceCold: Yes, Thank you for the link! I have to go respond over there to a post, looks like I've received a few replies there. As for the control interface we are testing a few options but the i-pac is looking to be our favourite. Price range, the best I can say till the final materials list gets done would be that we are aiming for less then 1000 for a complete cabinet (assembled) with a basic control panel. (2 joy w/ 6 buttons each and the needed player and coin buttons etc., and probably a trackball or spinner w/ buttons) As a person added features like decals or a marquee, or an enhanced control panel etc. the price will vary. We will also be offering a cabinet without controls for the person who prefers to DO IT THEMSELVES The control panel will be removable to help facilitate this as well as for repair or replacement if a person wishes to upgrade! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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