Basic Guide to Building a Cabinet

So you want to build yourself a cabinet? Here is a basicguide to get you on the road. Some things mentioned might be daunting at first, but take a look at the things mentioned on this page and it might notify you on something you otherwise had overlooked. If you have questions, never be afraid to ask in the Build Your Own Arcade Controls forums.

Things to consider first

You can't rush out buy yourself a piece of MDF and fire up your power tools in your workshop. First things first:

• What kind of cabinet do you want?

Cabinets come in all shapes and sizes. There are sample plans available, see here on the BYOAC site. There are also Vendors whom sell full cabinet kits.

If you want to design your own cabinet, take a look here. Things to keep in mind when figuring out your dimensions are:

1. How tall are you. You don't want to end up with a control panel you can't reach conmortably or look at a screen that is too low for your comfort.
2. The size of the monitor. If you want to put in a 36" screen, make sure it fits.
3. The size of your control panel. If you want to have a gazillion controls on it, but you made it only 10" wide you are probably going to run out of space.

Instead of building your own cabinet, you can also restore or convert an existing cabinet. See also notes on converting a cabinet.

• What do I use to run the software?

Do you plan to use a PC and run Emulators? Does the PC fit in the cabinet you designed? Or do you plan to wire a JAMMA board?

• What controls are you going to want on your cabinet?

What kind of games do you want to play? Take a note what controls those games use. How many players? The control panel needs more space if you want a 4 player cabinet. Generally if you want to play fighter games, you will need 6 buttons per player. If you want a 4 player cabinet keep in mind that there are currently no games that support more than 4 buttons for player 3 and 4. Take a look at Arcade Control hardware section for more info on joysticks, trackballs, spinners etcetera. See also the vendors page on where to get these items.

It is also possible to buy ready made control panels, see also the vendors page.

A hint when it comes to control panel design, is to 'test fit' your controls on a piece of cardboard or cheap wood. Your layout might look good on paper (or in your design software), but nothing beats testing it the real thing.

• How to interface the controls?

Once you have decided what controls you want, how do those controls connect to the PC? See the interfacing controls with your PC section for various options. Things to keep in mind when selecting an interface board, are the number of available connections and the amount of controls you plan to use.

• What display device do you want to use?

There are various options, ranging from Televisions, PC Monitors and even real Arcade Monitors. Keep in mind that these have different connections and might need a special videocard. Also an arcade monitor is mounted diffently in a cabinet than a television (which might sit on a shelf in your cab).

• What about artwork?

Artwork can make your cabinet stand out and look authentic or personalised. What art are you going to use and what size do the images need to be? Do you want art on your Control panel?

• Any extra's?

How do you want to control your emulator software? Do you want special administration buttons on your control panel (or hidden elsewhere on your cabinet?). Do you want to add a drawer to have access to your PC's keyboard? Add a coin door or have 'insert coin' buttons? Speakers with volume control? Special lighting (lighted buttons? marquee?)

Building the cabinet

Once you settled on your cabinet's design, it is time to start the hard dirty work. Your arcade experience is basically two parts. The cabinet itself and the computer that runs it.

The building materials and tools sections might give you hints on what to use. Always keep in mind the golden rule of woodworking: measure twice, cut once!

Building the guts

Once the cabinet is built, you can install the controls and wire everything up.

Setting up the computer

It is probably a good idea to get your emulators up and running before you move your PC into the cabinet. While a cabinet is great for playing arcade games, it is not a very confortable working spot to fix your software's settings. If you have more computers in your home, you might want to consider hooking the arcade cabinet computer into a home network. This allows you to update files from another PC or even control the computer using a remote desktop client tool.

Relevant links

• SpyStyle's DIY Arcade walkthrough A step-by-step guide for building a cabinet.
• LuSiD's Arcade Flashback Many DIY cabinets have been based on this guide.
• MiniMame PDF plans An excellent printable guide. The document describes a scaled down version of an arcade cabinet, the used techniques are usable in full scale projects as well.