The next dilemma

Ok, now we are up to date. As I said before, in hindsight, I would have changed so much. It likely would have been less work to start totally from scratch, as really the only reason not to would have been keeping the sideart. I'd gladly pay for the sideart on a new cab if it meant my cabinet would not look so, well, CRAP Mame-worthy. I had to make lots of sacrifices to keep the cabinet like it was, with no lighted marquee, place for speakers, overlapping control panel, and all the other ugly stuff. I certainly plan to do much better on cabinet #2, eventually.

I do need some advice, primarily about speakers. As it is right now, I am using the speakers on the TV. However, as I will be putting on a bezel, I am in a bit of a dilemma. Do I cut holes in the bezel to allow the TV speakers to be used, or do I put some dedicated speakers somewhere else on the cabinet. I suppose the top would be the best place, but that surely seems odd. To be frank, I really want to get this thing done, and looking "pretty good", so I can start building the replacement. I'd love a nice bezel with lexan/glass on it, but I doubt that will work if I keep using the TV speakers.

A few more pieces fall in place

Friday night, I used black paint to touch of a few nicks and scrapes on the cab, and also to cover where the new cuts were made a few weeks back. It looks much, much nicer. I think one coat will be fine, as most of the areas will be hidden by the bezel or else on the back of the cabinet where they can't be seen.

I picked up a new piece of black foamboard and a hobby knife for bezel 2.0. Black poster board was on sale for a quarter a piece, so I picked a couple up. I haven't decided whether to use the foam board, or black posterboard with a cover of plexi or lexan. Also, black carriage bolts and T-Molding to fix the scraped up control panel edges are on the way in the mail.

Not much labor on Labor Day

My original plan was to touch up paint yesterday, but I got lazy and instead worked on cutting a hole for the monitor in the foam board bezel. I got it to work pretty well, first try. However, the cut is rough and the foam board was pretty bent after being stored for 2 years. I'll probably get another piece of foam board and cut it with a sharper razor blade, first, and then upgrade to a piece of plywood at some point in the future.

I did wipe the cab down with a damp cloth to prep for painting, so the time wasn't totally wasted. Tonight, or Thursday, I will get the paint touched up.

I've spent some time looking at changes to the actual software used in the cabinet. I think I can use a different, customized layout for Maewah, which matched the cab better. I also plan to use either CPViewer or Johnny 5 to show what the controls are for each game. Lots of advances have taken place even in the three or so years it has been since I put the cab together for the first time. I plan to fiddle with my ROMs, getting the list pared down to just what is playable on my cab, and isn't a duplicate. Lots to do, but getting closer all the time!

Dust to dust...

Well, today was a very dusty day. I managed to clean up the messy cuts using a combination of a rouater, a zipsaw, a jigsaw, and a sander. It's not perfect but it's 1000% better than it was, and that was the big thing.

Using some good old ingenuity, I decided on using some Jenga pieces to support the bezel. Yes, it is ghetto, but I don't have most of my tools right now and this way was quick, easy, and workable. No one will see under the bezel, anyway. I cut a black piece of foam board to size, and adjusted it to fit snugly against the TV. I still haven't figured out a way to keep the TV from moving around during serious play; I suppose I'll just have to rely on gravity and friction. Here's a shot of the bottom two Jenga bezel supports and the cool new buttons.


Slowly but surely, I am getting there. Slowly crossing things off the list, I am left with:

1. Touching up some problem areas of the paint.
2. Ordering a marquee/plexiglass, and mounting it.
3. New hinges on the door to replace old ugly painted ones.
3. Putting it all back together and playing some GAMES!