DIY Arcade Machine Construction Images – Part 2
How to Build a MAME Arcade Machine at Home
Hey guys! I have been really busy this week but I have finally got around to posting the next series of pictures from the Arcade Machine construction.
We did more work on the Arcade System last Friday including creating internal mounts for all of our PC hardware, and dry fitting the parts in the system to make sure everything would fit properly.
We used an old PC case that we cut apart with an angle grinder so we could utilize the mounts on the metal plates. One thing to be aware of when constructing your own Arcade Machine is that MDF does not hold well for screwing PC hardware directly into it. Keeping this in mind we used the inside of the computer case to avoid any issues.
Below are the pictures of the next phase of the construction with a brief description of what is going on in each. If you would like to see all the pictures check my set on Flickr here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/diyromarcade/sets/72157614491536643/
Here is a picture of the computer case we are using to mount the PC hardware into the Arcade Machine. It is from a Foxconn 626 PC case, a relatively basic and inexpensive case. I found a few out by a dumpster and kept them for this project. If you do need to buy a case you can get a cheap one in the range of 20-30$ usually.
We cut the case apart with an angle grinder so we could use the piece from the case for securing the PC hardware into the Arcade System. Here we are cutting out the top piece and top rear piece so we can use the mounts for the power supply in our Arcade Cabinet.
Here we are dry fitting the power supply mount into the Arcade System. You can see the power supply has been mounted into the section we cut out of the PC case. You can also see a picture of the motherboard mounting plate we will be using in the system. Once the side and the back of the case had been cut it was very easy to slide this motherboard try out of the enclosure.
In the next picture we have cut out a rear fan grate from the case to use as an exhaust cover for our power supply. Because the Arcade Machine we are building is smaller than normal I have designed spots for rear exhaust to blow heat out of the system. This piece will eventually be painted black when we paint the system. The system is currently covered in a black primer for when we do get to the painting stage.
Here we are creating a mount for the LCD monitor in the Arcade System. I am using an ACER LCD monitor for the project. One nice thing about Acer monitors is they all have 4 screws hole in the back for mounting the LCD. Because the standard placement and easy access to these screw holes you are able to mount the LCD to almost anything without the need for a mounting kit. Here we are mounting the LCD to a pre-cut panel we made that will be mounted in the system to some cleats we will install for the display.
Now we are installing the cleats that the monitor mount panel will rest on in the system. Once the panel has been dry fitted into place and we know everything fits we will secure it into place with screws so it does not fall out of the system. We pre-measured the placement of these cleats during a dry fit of the LCD earlier.
The LCD Monitor has now been mounted into the system and fits perfectly. After doing this dry-fit we will screw the mounting panel into the cleats to hold the monitor in place inside our Arcade Cabinet.
Here you can see the inside of the system with the cleats we have installed for the LCD monitor and the motherboard mounting place. You can also see a cross section we installed where the controller will be in the system. The Arcade Controls will slightly overlap this piece and rest on top of it. It is there to provide more stability and strength for the controller and also to stagger the controller away from the display slightly so I will still have access to the buttons on the LCD monitor.
We have now mounted the motherboard mounting place and power supply mounting plate into the system. I realized as we were doing this that the motherboard plate was oriented in the wrong direction and would case the I/O ports to be pushed up against the wall. We will need to cut this piece down and rotate it in the system so the motherboard is facing the correct way for easy access to the cables.
In this picture we have cut down the motherboard mounting plate and aligned it so it is facing the correct way. You can see now that the I/O ports are accessible from the left side of the panel. We have also cut out the PCI slot mounts from the PC case. This way when we install the video card into the system this will keep the card from falling out of place.
We cut out the 3.5" metal mounting bays from the PC case and will be installing it into the front of the system. There is room on each side of the mounting cage for the speakers in the system. Having the hard drive mounting cage in the system will allow me to easily change or add a hard drive down the road if I run out of room in the system. I am currently using a 500gb SATA hard drive for storage.
Finally we have all the hardware and mounts dry fit into our Arcade Machine. In this picture you can see the power supply on the bottom which has been mounted into the top section from the PC case. In front of that is the hard drive mounting enclosure we installed into the front of the Arcade Cabinet. The gap to the right of the power supply, is where we will be installing the power strip which will power and protect all the hardware we are installing into the system. Above the power supply you can see the motherboard mounting plate along with the video card mounting piece (PCI plate) that we installed. The I/O ports will be accessible from the right in this picture. Above that the LCD has been mounted into place and fits perfectly.
We did this to check where all the connections, cables, edges, and tabs will line up. Dry fitting your parts is very important because it is easy to overlook something as simple as a cable being blocked, or screw getting in the way of something. Things never look quite like they do on paper in real life so we felt this was a very important step.
A final picture of the system with all the PC hardware installed (Dry fit into the system). The next time we work on the Arcade Machine we will be securing all the loose parts into place since we now know they fit into the system without issues. In the next phase of the build we will:
- Permanently install all the hardware into the Arcade System.
- Install the speakers and surge protector in the Arcade Machine.
- Finish up the mount area around the LCD monitor.
- Install the Cold Cathode light kit where the marquee will go.
- Create a plexi glass cover the LCD monitor.
- And start working on the Arcade Controls.
I hope you enjoyed the latest article. If you have any questions or feedback please feel free to comment below. Thanks for all the suggestions and thanks for checking out my site!
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!
Pictures – DIY ROM Arcade Machine Construction – Part 1
Building a DIY Arcade System – How-To Guide and Tips
Behold the first shots of the DIY ROM Arcade Machine! With the help of a friend I was finally able to start on the construction of the Arcade System this weekend.
The shots below are of us building the Arcade System based on the designs I posted in my previous article:
Build Your Own Arcade Machine - Plans, Designs & Guide
My friend is a commercial carpenter and really helped me out a lot because I don’t have the best wood working skills in the world. He also gave me a lot of great tips that I will share below. For extended details about the pictures checkout my Flickr account here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/diyromarcade/
I started taking pictures from the beginning of the construction process so I have quite a few from the first part of the build so far. My friend started cutting some of the pieces ahead of time, but waited to do the side panels so we could take some pictures of how that was done.
(NOTE: I have only featured key photos from the construction in this article. To see all the pictures with extended details and tips checkout my Flickr account at the link listed above.)
01. We started out by getting the building materials. In this case we are using MDF, and PBR. The MDF was on sale at $12.50 for a 8 ft’. by 4 ft’ sheet and the PBR was regular price, $15 for a 30 pack. ^_^
02. My friend pre-cut many of the standard shaped pieces. We figured most people wouldn’t have any trouble cutting out a square. The two tips he gave me here are that if you are using an 8’ ft. by 4’ ft. piece of MDF you can cut all the square pieces in my design out from one strip of wood off the side. This leaves you with a large piece that you can cut the two side panels out of and still have some left over for a controller and misc purposes. Also when you measure your pieces take into account that your saw blade is usually about 1/8 of an inch thick. That means you need to add an eighth of an inch onto each piece you draw (measure) out onto your MDF, otherwise once you cut 8 pieces out the final piece will be almost an inch too short.
03. To transfer the side panels to MDF as accurately as possible we used protractors, and a compass to get the angles correct. My initial plans are a little rough and do not include these angles. I will be adding an updated set of plans to the site that include this information.
04. Once the first side panel was cut out we used it as a stencil for the second side panel. When you trace your initial side panel the second panel will be slightly larger because it was traced from the original. This is to be expected and can be fixed with a router to make the pieces match perfectly.
05. Once both the side panels have been cut out we clamped them together so we could router the edges to get both pieces to be a perfect match. It is crucial that the two pieces do not move when you are using the router to get the most even edge possible.
06. We used a table saw to cut a bunch of small strips of wood to be used as cleats in the construction of the Arcade Machine. These are extremely useful for anchoring your panels together to get really clean seams between the wood. It also helps you avoid splitting the MDF by trying to screw directly into a piece of half inch board.
07. Using a piece of scrap wood we drew guidelines for the cleats. Use a piece of wood as thick as your panels and line it up as close to flush as possible with your side panel. Then trace a line so you know the width of the panel. Once you have guidelines for all the sides you will be attaching panels to you will know exactly where your cleats need to go.
08. Measure your side panels so you know how long the cleats will need to be. They do not need to run the full length of the panel. It is a good idea to leave an inch off of the ends for installing the other cleats and in areas that you think may be a tight fit for other parts of your Arcade Machine. Once you have them measured, cut the pieces to size and fit them into place.
09. Here we have measured and fitted the cleats into place. We cut them down to size and then used wood glue to attach them to the side panels. Once they had been attached we stapled them in place to ensure a solid construction. If you do not have access to a pneumatic staple gun you should be able to use standard screws to attach your cleats. Make sure you drill holes before attempting to screw into your MDF.
10. The controller area on the system was pretty tight so we had to make a mount for the panels out of scrap MDF. My friend showed me a good way to do this.
To make a piece that will fit perfectly cover the area you need to make the piece for in masking tape. Overlay the tape slightly on the edges to create a piece of paper. Since masking tape is thin you should be able to see the lines you traced through the tape. Use a ruler to trace the shape onto the tape. Take your scrap wood and then line up a straight edge on the tape to the straight edge on the wood. You can now use a saw to cut out a perfectly sized piece. Checkout my Flickr pictures for more shots of this.
11. Once all the cleats are in place on the side panels the front, bottom, top, and back panels can all be fixed into place fairly easily. We wood glued all the pieces and then used the staple gun to fix them into place.
12. Once the rear panel was in place we moved onto the front panels and the controller section.
13. Doing some small touches like rear mounted screws for easy access to the inside of the Arcade System. We also took the router and rounded the corners in the shape of the side panel to give the system a more authentic look.
14. A shot looking into the front of the Arcade Machine. Here the side panels, top and bottom are all in place. Now we need to focus on the controller area and bottom front panels.
15. We dry fit the front panels into place and because of the angles on the controller section we had to re-cut some of the edges on the pieces to get them nice and flush. All the pieces fit together tightly because of the angled edges which allowed for a very snug fit in the controller section.
Here's my friends business card. He's a really talented builder who does beautiful carpentry work. If you are in Dane County, Wisconsin or surrounding areas and need a professional for the job, Clayton is the guy to call.
Arcade System Construction Progress - Phase One
Above is the partially finished cabinet after phase one of the construction process. So far the build has taken about 4 hours and we still have more work we need to do.
We left the front open because next time we will be adding in the monitor and internal parts. The back panel on the system comes off so we can easily access the inside and install the PC hardware into the Arcade System.
The wood panel in place on the controller section is a place holder as the controller is being redesigned to give the system a more interesting look. One other thing that changed is I scrapped the fold out keyboard idea from the system. It was an unneeded feature for the first system as I can just plug in a keyboard when I need one. As someone on the Arcade Controls forum mentioned to me “KISS – Keep it Simple Stupid”. This is always great advice, especially for a project like this.
The next time we build we will be adding the internal mounts for the computer hardware. I will add updated plans to the site once we determine were the mounts will be inside the system.
Tomorrow I will be ordering the remaining parts from Amazon.com and checking some reviews on Arcade Parts vendors to find the best place for my controller hardware. If you know of any good resources please feel free to share them with me in the comments.
Keep checking back for updates on the progress of the system. I will be posting updated designs to highlight changes, and additional details to the existing plans. I will also be posting my controller designs in the next few posts on the blog. Thanks for checking out my site!