Home Built MAME Arcade Machine Project – Part 6
Building Your Own DIY Arcade Machine - Pictures
Hey guys. Sorry for the delay in my latest post. A lot has been happening in real life lately so I have been a little behind. We got some work done of the system this past Friday but then on Sunday my friend text messaged me with some big news…
His son was born!
I want to congratulate him on his first kid, and I know he’ll be a great dad. That kid is going to know how to build the hell outta stuff!
Anyway, because he is preoccupied with his first child, we are going to be taking a week or two off of building the Arcade Machine. It’s ironic because the timing couldn’t be better.
The last time we worked on the system we did surface work, priming and painting. Short of a little paint here and there, and a few small drill holes and additions that need to be added the system is almost completely done.
In the interim I will be using the extra time to start working on designing the Arcade Artwork for the system. I had been procrastinating about doing this, and now with the kid being born I will have some extra time to get this done right without feeling rushed.
With that being said I will be writing some follow-up articles soon about doing Artwork for an Arcade Machine from the Marquee and Side Panel Artwork to the Arcade Control panel artwork.
But before we do all that, let’s take another look at where we are with the Arcade Machine.
Below I have shots of a latest progress on my home made Arcade Machine along with captions for each picture with information and building tips I have been learning from the project. As always if you would like to see all my pictures for the project you can find them on my Flickr account here: DIY ROM Arcade on Flickr
[Sorry the latest pictures are a little grainy. I had to use my camera phone to take them.]
Home Built Arcade Machine Pictures & Guide - Part 6
We picked up where we left off last week and finished up Priming the system in any spots we are going to paint. We used Auto-body Primer and Filler since it goes on pretty thick and does a nice job of leveling any imperfections in the surface of your Arcade Machine.
You can see in the picture that we also started priming the Arcade Controls. Make sure you do surface work and sanding prior to priming and painting so that you get as smooth a surface as possible.
While the Primer was drying we did some work on the Arcade Controls. In previous week we drilled out holes for where the Arcade Buttons and Joystick will go. Now we needed to start soldering the wires to the USB gamepad we are using so it can be connected to the Arcade Controls.
It helps to have a device like the one we are using in the picture. It holds your circuit board (PCB) in place and makes it easier for soldering connections to it.
We didn’t do the best job of sanding the Arcade Controls down before we Primed the piece and it showed. Once we noticed this we waited for the Primer to dry and went back and sanded down the Arcade Control panel.
As I mentioned before make sure you do a job of sanding and filling any gaps or cracks on the surface of your Arcade Machine before Priming. Using Grey Primer is good because it can be painted white, or black very easily but also does a great job of exposing areas that need work. These areas are much harder to spot if you are using a black primer.
Once the Primer has dried it gets pretty hard and can be sanded down to correct problems without gumming up your sandpaper. (Unlike paint, which is much more of a mess to sand.)
Here my friend is filling some of the gaps and cracks we noticed on the Arcade Controls after we applied the primer. We had used Bondo to fill a lot of gaps on the surface prior to priming but there were still some spots that needed work.
We were trying a couple things out to see how different surface fillers would work on the system. Here we are using a very light weight spackle to fill in very small holes along the beveled edge. Adding the bevel to the MDF resulted in small holes along the rounded edge.
This is a shot of the rear grill we will be using on the system. We are adding a top or rear fan (Haven’t decided on placement yet.) to exhaust any heat that may build up in the Arcade Machine.
We cut this piece out of the PC Case we cut apart to use for mounts inside the system. As you can see we are priming and painting any parts that will be used on the outside of the system.
Here you can see we have Painted the outside of the system and I took a picture of some of the areas inside the Arcade Machine. Once the parts are reinstalled into the system many of the unpainted areas you can see in this picture will be covered.
Once they have dried and we are completely done with the Artwork and Plexiglass we will reinstall the Arcade Joystick and Buttons and wire them up to the gamepad we have been getting ready for the controls.
Here is the final shot of were we left off last Friday. As you can see the system has been completely Primed and Painted. We wanted to make sure it was completely dry before we handled the system so we did not leave finger prints in the paint.
The next time we work on it we will be applying the clear coat to protect the paint job. Eventually I will be applying custom designed Arcade Artwork to the side of the system. But this is still in the planning phase at the moment.
Overall I am very happy with how well the paint job came out and how smooth and polished the system feels.
Building Your Own MAME Arcade Machine Summary
As you can see from the pictures above the project is really coming along. I am very happy with the progress we have made so far and now that the construction part is almost finished I am moving into more of the difficult parts of the project.
Building the system has been a challenge but I have had my friends help and he is very knowledgeable when it comes to building things. Some of the next parts of the project I will be figuring out as I go.
I know there are a lot of guides and resources online that can help with this type of stuff but I wanted my first Arcade Machine to be built through trial and error before I started reading through all the information online.
For some of the next steps in this project I will be doing the following:
- Designing a coin plate for the Arcade System.
- Designing Arcade Artwork for the Cabinet.
- Designing the Marquee for the Arcade Machine
I will be documenting each of these projects just as I have done with the rest of this project, so people can follow along and see what I have done through trial and error.
As always thanks for checking out my site, I really appreciate it! Please feel free to leave any comments, feedback or questions below and I will do my best to answer them.
For now, keep checking back to see what develops with the system in the coming days. Thanks!
Designing Your Own Arcade Controller or Joystick – Plans
How to Design and Build Your Own Arcade Machine Controls
So I am finally getting close to building my Arcade Controls for my DIY Arcade Machine. I have been sick over the past week so we missed a weekend of working on the Arcade Machine.
There are still some finishing touches that need to be done in the third phase of the build. We still need to mount all the hardware now that we have confirmed it fits into the system. We also need to do some small touches like finishing the area around the display, and adding the light for the marquee.
While I plan on completing these things in the next phase of the project I wanted to share my plans for the Arcade Controller we will be building. The first part of the controller construction will consist of mounting the joystick and buttons into the panel along with the trackball mouse that I purchased for games like “Breakout”.
The plans outline the size and shape of the Arcade Controls along with the measurements to help you determine the angles of the cuts. The button placement I have laid out in the plans was from the resources at:
Slag Coin is an excellent website with everything you ever needed to know about Arcade Controls including the button layouts and measurements. I highly recommend reading through his site for more information on building your Arcade Controller.
I also purchased my Arcade Joysticks and Buttons. I picked them up from XGaming.com
I picked up the “Arcade Bundle” for my first project which includes two Arcade Joysticks, and 20 buttons including a one or two player select button. There may be more premium brands out there but I figured this would be a good place to start for my first project.
For now I am posting my plans for the Arcade Control Panel. The plans are in PDF format and will outline:
- The measurements and size of the Arcade Machine Control Panel.
- The measurements of the angles and shape of the Arcade Machine Controls.
- The Joystick and Button Layout on the Arcade Machine Controller.
You will need Adobe Acrobat to print the latest Arcade Machine plans in PDF format. You can download Adobe Acrobat Reader here.
Click Here to Download the Arcade Machine Controller Plans in PDF Format
Once we finish the third phase of the Arcade Machine construction and my parts arrive we will begin working on the Arcade Controller itself. Most people are very particular about the layout and construction of their Arcade Controller. Because of this it is a good idea to look at the construction of the controller as a sub project to your Arcade Machine.
This way you can design something really nice that you will be happy with and install it into your system. Working on the controller by itself also allows you to install the finished product into your Arcade Machine, which also means you can uninstall it if you decide to change or improve it.
Thanks for checking out the site. I hope you enjoyed this article!
Updated Build Plans for my DIY Arcade Machine
Design Updates for my Home Built Arcade System
Hey all. As I mentioned in my previous plans post I had a feeling some things would change in the design of the Arcade Machine as the project went along. Well I am pleased to say that because of the initial planning phase, and my friend’s talents as a carpenter, the arcade system is almost 99% to spec.
So I will be keeping the original plans on the site for anyone that wants to take a look at them. The original plans can be found here:
Build Your Own Arcade Machine - Plans, Designs & Guide
I am however updating the plans for the layout of the internal components as this has changed. I will also be adding a more legible plan for the side panels of the Arcade machine.
Updated DIY Arcade Machine Designs
The first download below is for the improved side panel plans. My friend recommended to me, that I remake the side panel plans so they are easier for people to read without the need for a compass, or protractor. In the revised version of the plans we've marked that the back of the system and the bottom of the system are a 90 degree angle. You can match the side of your wood with this for a starting point. From here we have measured the length up the wood and the distance out for each angle in the side panel. Using this plan you should easily be able to determine the shape of the side panel without the need for a protractor.
Download (Arcade Cabinet Plans - Side Panel)
In the next two images I have shown the slightly revised layout of the parts inside the system.
We decided against the fold out keyboard in the first Arcade Machine as it just seemed to be unneeded. (Maybe in a future project) This space is now being utilized for the hard drive mounting area. The next change we made was moving the speakers down to the lower section of the Arcade Machine. This was for two reasons. First there was not enough room for them up top, and second I did not want them blocking the light for the marquee.
Download (Arcade Machine PC Hardware Layout - Side)
Download (Arcade System PC Hardware Setup - Top)
These are the most noted changes in the layout. If you have any comments or suggestions please feel free to leave a comment! Thanks for checking out the site!