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Monday, 03 July 2006

Crazed, obsessed, deranged, addicted...all terms my wife uses for my video game habit.

After years of having a slikstik arcade set-up, I decided to build myself a cabinet.

I could have built my own from scratch. I have the general skills and tools to do so,

but I chose to find a cabinet and refurb it. Luckily I found a cabinet ultra cheap (thanks Dave in Madison Illinois).

So this is where I began and these are the objectives to this project:

1. I loved Donkey Kong Jr., so I will use the same artwork.

2. Not upset my wife or newborn son while I am working.

3. Last, but not least, complete the cabinet for under $200 bucks.

The debacle begins now...........

If you have a choice when picking up a used cabinet, try to find one with vinyl covering.

They are so much easier to strip than paint. I had this stripped in 1/2 an hour.

That is when I found the heavy water damage. So I replaced 8 inches all the

way around.



After this I decided to strip the parts I wasn't going to use,

I tore out everything including old speakers and power supply.

I was also fortunate to get a working coin mech for cheap.

The next step was waiting for the wood putty to dry so I could sand it.

I knocked out the sanding pretty quickly and laid the cabinet on it's back.

While I had it flipped over I put on the casters. I used 3 inch castors and

lag bolts to secure them.

Also in the pics you can see I started priming the cabinet with KILZ.

I sanded after the first coat of primer and laid on the 2nd coat real thick.

This turned out very smooth on both sides.

From there I had to cut a new control panel mount. I cut into it

about 5 1/2 inches to accomodate my controller.

Im glad I have the right tools for this job. This would of been difficult

with a jigsaw. From there I cleaned up the mess and moved everything

into the house. Now the fun stuff begins !!!!!!!!!

I chose to paint the cabinet next. Home Depot color matched

the original DK Jr cab color, and it looks awesome.

Did I mention I collect Nintendo and Atari games? That is about 1/4 of

my collection, my arcade obsession comes in a close second.

Installing the speakers was the next item to tackle.

I am using a 5 piece 460 watt logitech set, so it should sound insane.

After that I ran the wires for the new marquee light.

It works perfectly. I tested it with a Mr Do marquee.

I waited for the paint to dry and I applied another coat.

I ended up doing 4 coats for a smooth surface.

When everything was dry I installed the coin door and coin accepter.

This is where I had to stop for a while. The next few days I had to wait

for my Nintendo white t-molding. (thanks Dream Authentics)

After the t-molding arrived it was installed and I mounted my controller.

The paint is really shiny as you can see in the picture below, the camera

flash reflects on the paint.

Well thats it for this week. I ordered sideart and a marquee so I can complete the cabinet. After that will be monitor and p.c installation.

The artwork finally came in and I couldn't be happier.

I trimmed all the excess around the artwork and carefully put it on.

I also purchased an original Donkey Kong Jr marquee.

The marquee was in beautiful condition so I was very happy.

After I installed all of the artwork I hooked up a 17 inch monitor.

This monitor is only to test it out I have a 21 inch for the project.

I would guess this will be finished in the next few weeks.

I will run down my list of emulators and software shortly.

I may even spill the beans on where you can get full rom sets for any platform.

Thanks for looking.