DIY ROM Arcade Blog Build Your Own Arcade Machine

DIY ROM Arcade Machine Construction Pictures – Part 3

More Pictures of My Home Built Arcade Machine

Well it has been a long time since I have posted! Sorry for the delay in my updates. I actually had a pretty rough couple weeks. I don’t want to bore anyone with the details so a brief recap of what happened to me in the last 3 to 4 weeks.

02/23 – 02/27 – Got the Flu and a Fever of 102 degrees.
02/23 – 03/10 – Contracted a Bronchial infection and cough from a coworker.
03/05 – 03/08 – Stomach bug with flu like symptoms that I caught from my boss.
03/11                      – Had all four of my Wisdom Teeth removed.
03/11 – 03/18 – Contracted a case of “Persistent Hiccups” that lasted about 156 hours straight (almost 7 days) and ended up in the Emergency Room on Friday night and Urgent Care on Monday, and Tuesday. I was so doped up on Thorazine when they finally fixed me I couldn’t think straight until Friday. (03/20)

Needless to say, it has been an eventful month. >.<

Now that I have got all that off my chest (no pun intended.) I would like to give an update on the status of the project.

We finally had a chance to work more on the Arcade Machine I am building this weekend. Since our last round of work consisted of dry fitting all the parts into the system we needed to actually mount all the PC Hardware into place inside the Arcade Machine.

Below are pictures from the latest round of the construction of the DIY ROM Arcade Machine. Please feel free to ask questions or leave comments below if you are interested in the project.

DIY Arcade Machine Construction Pictures

Since we did a dry fit of all the PC Hardware inside the Arcade Machine last time we needed to finally mount all parts into place. We decided to glue in a layer of plywood over the MDF we built the system with so we would have a more solid surface that is better for holding screws.

We simply used wood glue to mount the plywood into the bottom of the system and let it set. We now had a great surface to screw into for mounting our PC hardware into the Arcade System.

Once the plywood was in place we started mounting the PC hardware into the system. Here is a shot of the motherboard mounting plate and hard drive mounting enclosure mounted into the system. We were able to screw directly into the plywood to hold all the parts in place.

To mount the Surge Protector and Speakers into the system we attached the hardware to smaller plywood panels we cut out. This way we could screw the panels directly into the plywood we installed into the bottom of the Arcade Machine. 

To determine where we need to install screws into the panel for the Surge Proctor we did a rubbing of the bottom to determine where the screw holes were. Once this was done we could cut out the paper and tape it down to our panel so we had a perfect template for where the screws needed to go.

Once we had the plywood panel mounted onto the Surge Protector we were able to mount it into the system. We are going to do the same thing with the speakers which will go on both sides of the hard drive enclosure we have installed into the Arcade Machine.

Once the Surge Protector was in place we mounted the speakers into the Arcade System. We did the same thing as before and mounted plywood panels to the bottom of the PC hardware so the panels could be screwed into the plywood base we installed in the Arcade Machine.

Next I mounted the Motherboard and Video Card onto the motherboard mounting plate we installed onto our wooden panel. We cut slots in the cleats on the back of the system so the wooden panel can be slid into place once the motherboard has been installed. This gives us easy access to the parts incase we need to modify or repair the Arcade Machine.

In this picture you can see that all the PC hardware has been installed into the system, and is mounted in place. Every has been securely screwed down so the system can be easily transported without having to worry about the hardware shifting back and forth inside the Arcade System. This is the lower level of the Arcade Machine that houses the Power Supply, Hard Disk Drive, Surge Protector and Speakers.

Here is the second level inside the Arcade Machine that houses the Motherboard and Video Card in the system. The plywood panel for this sits directly above the Power Supply and Surge protector giving me easy access for wiring up the system. At this point all the basic wiring has been done and I have started to zip tie cables to clean up the inside of the Arcade Machine and keep it nice and organized.

This is a shot of the Power Cable from the Surge Protector running out of the back of the system. The Surge Protector serves two main purposed in the Arcade Machine. First it protects all the computer hardware in the event of an electrical issue, and it makes it so we can plug in our monitor and PC and still utilize just one cable from the Arcade Machine.

These are the buttons and joysticks I ordered from Xgaming.com. I decided to bring them even though we were not working on the Arcade Controller this time so that we could experiment with the idea I have for the controller. We will be using a USB controller and soldering on to the existing points in the controller to add the Arcade Sticks and Buttons.

Here you can see the first Button for the Arcade Controller attached to the USB joystick. The USB joystick in the picture is one that I had from a while back that was just being used for testing purposes incase we messed something up.

You can see in the picture the wires have been connected to the controller and the button has been wired up. The initial tests worked great with good response from the button in an NES Emulator.

I will be posting more information on this topic once we move into the construction phase of the Arcade Controller for the system.

Build Your Own Arcade Machine “To Do” List

So there you have it. That’s the third week’s progress on our Home Built Arcade Machine. As you probably guessed from my health update above things have been going a little slow but now that I am feeling better I want to get back to more regular updates on the side which means more regular work on the Arcade Machine.

The pictures above of just a few of the massive stockpile I have been adding to my Flickr account along with extended details on each picture and the project. If you are interested in more information or would like to see more of what’s going on with my DIY Arcade Machine check my Flickr profile at the link below.

DIY ROM Arcade Flickr Profile

Due to the fact that I was unable to drink beer during our last construction phase we actually got a lot more done than normal so I was looking the system over and planning out what needs to be done next time we have a chance to work on it.

TO DO

1. We need to install cleats on the sides of the display so we can attach a piece of plexi glass over the monitor to protect it from finger prints and dust.
2. Attach a cleat in the top of the system behind where the marquee will go. Drill holes in the sides of the cleat so we can mount the White cold cathode into the system.
3. Run a power button up the side of the system into the top so we can install the power switch into the top of the system like in many authentic Arcade Machines.
4. Splice together two Red LEDs for the PWR Lead on the motherboard. (Power Light) so they can be installed behind the faux coin plate I will be building for the system.
5. Build a faux coin plate for the system.
6. Drill holes in front of the speakers to improve system sound. These holes will need to be covered by some sort of front plate for aesthetic purposes.
7. Get front plates for the speakers.
8. Cut the plexi glass for in front of the display and the marquee section of the Arcade Machine.
9. Come up with a way to mount the Marquee into the system.
10. Cut the panel for the Arcade Controller.
11. Bring a keyboard, mouse, and CD-Rom to start installing the operating system onto the Arcade Machine.

These are just a few of things that come to mind for next week’s project. As always I expect some things will come up as we go, but we have been taking our time with things and I am very happy with how the system is turning out.

I will post more updates next week after we have another chance to work on the system. As always Thanks for checking out my site, and please feel free to leave and comments or feedback on the article below.