This is the second MAME powered arcade machine I have built, I used 18mm MDF for the cabinet and built it originally to have a 32″ CRT TV mounted in it but when I went to install it the TV was broken so I decided to fork out for a 24″ LCD instead. The downside of using an LCD meant I had to change the angle the screen was mounted at otherwise the colours looked odd.
It is powered by a cheap $40 P4 3.0GHZ machine which has 512mb of RAM, this doesn’t seem like much but it is adequate for running all the old school arcade games from my childhood such as street fighter 2 hyper fighter.
As you can see I placed caster wheels on the bottom so it was easy to move around the house. The back wheels do not turn but the front ones can swivel freely.
I decided to go with a clean black and white theme for the machine which meant it would fit in with my house decor more then a bright yellow or other traditional arcade colour.
For the controls I originally wired it manually with a hacked game-pad but I had issues where buttons would stop working so I swapped it out for a keyboard encoder and never looked back, it was worth the extra cash.
Luckily I work for a road sign company so I was able to get the graphics printed/cut cheaply which once applied really made the machine stand out.
I have since sold this machine in preparation of a new build I am planning but never seem to get around to.
