Buy this book, it was incredibly valuable in my project: http://www.amazon.com/Project-Arcade-Build-Your-Machine/dp/047089153X

It also comes with some plans. I personally went with Ultimate Arcade II.

For wood, I actually went with sanded finished birch. 60% of the weight of MDF and doesn't have toxic dust. Easier on blades as well. Ended up paying the same price as mdf and I went through 3 1/2 4x8 sheets.

Controls: never buy from happ. Overpriced and average at best. Groovygamegear.com has buttons for the same price and they're full leaf switches. Better performance and nearly silent. If you want to save some money their standard buttons are still great.

2 - solid plan

3-probably just need one. Joysticks are really subjective. I went with happ competition from GGG because they're cheap and passable. Not a huge fan. Zippy sticks are good and cheap and will probably look similar to the mag stick but there's better sticks out there. If you do get zippy sticks from GGG pay the extra few dollars for quiet switches.

5-ultimarcs trackball is great for a flush mount option. I love it.

Monitor: I have a 27" TV. It's great for 4p. I wouldn't go bigger (27 is pushing it for closeness) and I wouldn't go smaller than 25.
CRT TVs look almost as good arcade monitors. Biggest drawback is if you connect it with anything other than rgb Mame won't be able to adjust the refresh rate of games that are slightly off. Most are close enough and given the cost of the TV (free, I had it) and my video card already did s-video, I'm just fine with it.

Disabled gamer here. I have my own cab which is designed for someone of my short stature to use. I'd offer blueprints but we made it over a decade ago and I don't think it'd work for wheelchairs, anyway.

I can add a suggestion for the PC inside it, though. If you get a PC that boots up on power events, you can have a wireless remote control power socket handle booting up the cab and getting it ready to go. No futzing around with switches behind the cabinet or anything like that. I've got one of these and it works great, I click a button on the small remote control and a minute later I'm in my front-end and gaming.

I'd also suggest checking out my spreadsheet of PC games with cabinet support and accompanying video as they may be relevant. Steam has a lot of games which can work well with limited and rebindable controls, for both cabinets and disabilities alike... but a few landmines where games that look like they should work are a complete pain to configure.

Lastly, consider checking out AbleGamers, a nonprofit dedicated to doing exactly what you're doing -- adapting controls and game systems for disabled access.

Happy gaming!

> I used 3/4" birch plywood. Plenty thick, plenty strong. 1" is probably overkill. And if it's a countertop/bartop machine? Even 1/2" is probably enough.

Yeah, 1 inch is probably way overkill. I want it sturdy though, you know? Maybe have some handles on the top to make it easier to move around.

I just want something small that I can squeeze between the screens.

> And no on the Pi. I tried my best to find favorable reviews for it working in MAME but I wasn't able to. Hours and hours of research and all I came away with was it's not a good idea. Intel Atom boards aren't that expensive and probably run a lot better.

Alternatively, something like this.

http://www.amazon.com/Android-RK3288-Bluetooth-headphone-standard/dp/B00AZR1TG2/ref=pd_sim_e_4?ie=UTF8&refRID=16EY2FBXFGX0F6D962CX

or this

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00D05XSMY?tag=laptop-magazine-20

I've found some online that haven't been too bad for just the cabinet. From this site. I like some of the designs. But what you proposed is a good idea, of getting it cut at a local mill.

If you don't mind, I have another question. what is a good place to order joy sticks and buttons from? I found some on Amazon for $73, it comes with 2 8 way sticks, 20 LED lit buttons, wiring, and two control boards. Link do those sound okay, or would you recommend something else?

I mounted my motherboard and components to a 1/4" piece of MDF which was then mounted on the bottom of my cab. I attached the motherboard to the 1/4" piece of MDF with nylon spacers and pan head sheet metal screws. This allowed for air to get underneath the motherboard. I didn't bother with fiber washers or anything.

Depending on how much space you have in your cab, you might need less fans than you think.

As far as speakers go, you are better off buying cheap car speakers and wiring them to an amp. This allows you more flexibility with mounting. If you do want to use the 2.1 speaker system you have, you can use a smart power strip to power everything on, like this:
http://www.amazon.com/Smart-Strip-4941-Autoswitching-Technology/dp/B000P1QJXQ/

And yes ipac2 is good for 2 player setup. You can just wire up an arcade button to turn on/off your computer.

It is obviously a HUGE risk, but the alternative is getting rid of it and having nothing. So, really what do you have to lose? Be creative, and do your best to weather-proof and critter proof it. They even sell mini dehumidifiers (https://www.amazon.com/Improved-Eva-dry-333-Renewable-Dehumidifier/dp/B000H0XFCS/) you could stick in the cabinet to keep it dry internally. Odds are you'll be shit out of luck in a year or so, but you are already shit out of luck with no space in the house so... good luck!

You want the highest clock speed INTEL CPU you can afford. That's really the most important computer stat. Some games in MAME use multiple cores, so a quad-core or dual-core with hyperthreading is worth getting. A good current CPU choice is the Intel Core i3-7350K Dual-Core 4.2 GHz which sells for around $150. If you want to use any of the MAME HLSL shader effects, pick up a discrete video card. I think as long as it supports DirectX 10, it should be fine.

Don't buy a piece of crap computer from 10 years ago off of craigslist and expect it to perform well.

I'd recommend picking up used arcade cabinet with a large control panel rather than building one. Look for something with a 4-player control setup for lots of room. Search for an "amusement auction" in your area and you'll probably get a good deal on an empty cabinet or a broken machine.

Also, I highly recommend this book: Project Arcade: Build Your Own Arcade Machine. It came out in 2011, so it's not totally up-to-date anymore, but there's still lots of good info. The author of the book runs the Build Your Own Arcade Controls (BYOAC) website. Spend some time browsing their forums and asking questions:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com

I would recommend Sanwa buttons over anything else except maybe gamerfinger. Those are new and use Cherry MX switches. Industry best stick is the Sanwa JLF but if you want the traditional bat top feel of a street fighter cab go with Happ IL competition joysticks. I would recommend the Zero Delay USB Encoder just search for them on ebay there 10 bucks a pop. Less lag then a ipac and dirt cheap plus they will work with a PS3 so you can do a dual cab. You need a special powerstrip like http://www.amazon.com/Smart-Strip-LCG5-Auto-Switching-Technology/dp/B000L9635G you can probably get one cheaper with some googling. If you go with 2 zero delay usb encoders you have a maximum 19 inputs not including joystick thats enough controller space for 8 buttons plus 3 mode buttons which are start select home on a ps3. But you can map them to Player 1 coin and Escape. You should be able to get by with 20 buttons . Most front ends emulators and software let you map whatever buttons you want you only have to use specific buttons if you dont want to have a specific button tied to something. I would recommend Hypserspin for your cabinet front end.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00XKWX4F8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

After some good research I found that this GBS-8100 works pretty good at downscaling a 31khz VGA signal to CGA at 15khz. I just used an active HDMI to VGA converter and then went into that board. Then that board just plugs into the CRT. You may have to do some cutting and soldering if the connector that comes with the board doesn't attach directly to the CRT. That's what I had to do.

I'm sorry, I don't quite understand what you mean by using a switch. Care to elaborate? To expand on my current plan, I will be using one of these on each box (my controller and my coin mech). Inside, I will strip a cat5 cable and pick a pair of cables to attach to signal/gnd on my IPAC2. I will do the same thing on the other cab (using the correct, corresponding pair of cables within the cat5, of course). That way, I can quickly connect the controller and the dedicated coin mech with a piece of cat5 whenever I want and, hopefully, the IPAC will register it as if it was one unit.

These look like a pretty cheap solution. Probably easy to take apart and paint to match the cabinet too. They have buttons and have a retro feel about them.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0058FN036/ref=pd_aw_sims_4/177-3213713-9385453?pi=SL500_SS115

Yes, it has both s-video and component

Something like this cable?
http://www.amazon.com/pin-mini-Component-YPbPr-Adapter/dp/B0042LHBJ6/ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1346587551&sr=1-4&keywords=s-video+to+component

Will I really see an improvement using component over the s-video? The TV is 27" if it matters

While that can happen, it's not always an issue. Case in point the Xbox One default controllers are wireless WITH audio and mic even... No lag. All the high quality wireless controllers going back to original Xbox and PS2.

Also, what about the tons of wireless USB keyboard and mice? A mouse has to be accurate and fast, and you would notice bad lag. Not as intensive as a game, but still the technology is flawless for that. Controllers CAN lag but don't HAVE to. The new Retrons use BT and are pretty slick example of BT option.


OP: look up "wireless USB transmitter" (not wireless USB adapter; that'll get you all the wireless internet dongles). You'll find ones like this:

www.amazon.com/Cables-Unlimited-Wireless-Transmitter-Receiver/dp/B0036VNZHA#

Check reviews about lag, pick one of those with your favorite stick!

Understand why you like the model you posed since it's external use, but like many here said to MAME it's a mouse. So why not consider an actual trackball mouse like this: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B002Q42S4E/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_yJDSDbNDBWZ8J ?

My cp fits perfectly snug with these clips. Holds it in place nicely.

If the stubby joysticks are by design / working for you, that's awesome. If you'd like them slightly taller, you might consider ordering a set of these: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GHBIOIA

Rope lights and light strips are great options. For my bartop cab, I got something like this at Home Depot for $10. The light hasn't burned out in 5 years. I even wired a power switch to the outside of the cabinet to turn it on and off.

Buy this book and read it - it is your arcade bible.

http://www.amazon.com/Project-Arcade-Build-Your-Machine/dp/047089153X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1330997076&sr=8-1

Good luck on the build.

Amazon preorder : https://www.amazon.co.uk/Namco-Museum-Mini-Arcade-Electronic/dp/B07L3YYPZN/ref=pd_sim_63_3/261-9002661-5608764?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B07L3YYPZN&pd_rd_r=f6079dd6-714f-11e9-9c07-456f1e30d3e2&pd_rd_w=4iGWQ&pd_rd_wg=ygdVC&pf_rd_p=1b8636ae-4f21-4403-a813-e8849dd46de4&pf_rd_r=9H0VN72NZ3PP3333ZHM3&psc=1&refRID=9H0VN72NZ3PP3333ZHM3

My Arcade Namco Museum Collection - Hong Kong Electronics Fair - 2019, April 15

Video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvUJHyZ9g7s

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I used to have a cab set up that way. Then I got this. http://www.amazon.com/Smart-Strip-4941-Autoswitching-Technology/dp/B000P1QJXQ

It made it much easier, since getting to the regular power strip/outlet/computer power button was a pain. Now I just need to turn on the switch for the cabinet, and go. :)