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!
Using a LCD Monitor for a DIY Arcade Machine
Convenience, Cost and Capability Make LCD Monitors the Top Dog.
Ok, so I have finally decided on what I will be using for the DIY Arcade machine. I have choosen to go with a 17” LCD monitor for the project. This is different than what I was originally planning so I wanted to outline my considerations so people know why I decided to go with this choice. This is also to help people with ideas and suggestions if they are planning out their own DIY Arcade Machine based on these articles.
Originally I had been saying I wanted to go with a small LCD so I could build a mini arcade system. This will still be a goal of mine for a future DIY arcade machine but for the first one it doesn’t seem reasonable, with the main factor being cost.
Mini LCDs tend to be about 3 times more expensive than a standard LCD monitor. I am not sure exactly why this is, but I imagine it has something to do with factors like demand, specialty use, and touch screen functions.
I looked into mini CRT displays too which also tend to be used for specialized applications. A lot of these displays are built to industrial or military standards which I would assume increases their cost quiet a bit. The sources I found for these types of monitors did not list prices so as the old saying goes “If you have to ask… you can't afford it!”.
Being the persistent person I am, I tried asking and contacted one company via voicemail. I mentioned I was interested in purchasing one unit and would not be buying in bulk. Needless to say, I never received a call back. So going back to LCDs…
Most Miniature LCDs are design to be used for specific computer applications like POS (Point of Sale) machines, vehicle computers and displays, and systems that require touch screen functionality. Because of these factors some of least expensive mini LCDs are around $300 for a 7” inch display, with better models costing upwards of $500-800 dollars.
In contrast, you can purchase a 17” LCD Monitor for about $100 to $150 dollars. Because of pricing issues and the budget I have to work with for the first DIY arcade machine I finally decided a mini LCD was out of the question (for now).
The next factor in purchasing a standard sized LCD was availability and convenience. A lot of the sources I saw for mini LCDs monitors were Chinese companies or vendors that I have never heard of.
I work in the computer industry for a living so I am pretty familiar with most reputable vendors. (Even smaller ones) I checked with our distributors for these same displays and they were unable to source them. What it came down to was taking a risk purchasing from an unknown company because of poor availability on a product.
Because I am structuring this project as a guide people can refer to for ideas on building their own DIY Arcade machine, I wanted to make sure the parts I used had standard availability incase other people where purchasing those same items for their arcade machine.
Some of the final considerations cam down to weight, size, capability, and ease of use. As I mentioned in my previous article:
The Right Display for a DIY Arcade Machine?
In this article I outlined some of the advantages of LCD monitors over other types of displays. If you are interested in those details checkout the article link above. The main benifits being monitor connections, resolutions, refresh rates, etc.
In addition to those things an LCD monitor is light weight so it will not add much weight to my arcade system. LCD Monitors also have mounting holes in the back of the display since people commonly mount them on the wall. This will make it easy to mount into my arcade cabinet.
Conclusions
In the end, after doing a lot research and shopping around a standard LCD monitor seemed to be the best choice for a project that is concerned with both functionality and budget. While this type of display will keep me from creating a true “miniature” arcade machine, it will meet my current budget for my first arcade machine. (Which is the biggest ruling factor at the moment.)
Because of the affordable price on standard “15-19 LCD monitors it makes LCDs some of the most convenient, and cost effective solutions for this type of project. They also support most current video standards and utilize a refresh rate which is ideal for most console systems that are available as emulators.