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Okay, gotta make myself a checklist so I can finish this project up in a reasonable amount of time.  It looks like a lot, but I can usually take out a number of these in a day.

Did I mention that a MAME cabinet requires a huge amount of commitment?

Stage One: Construction

• Round cabinet corner sides (optional).
• Attach 2x4’s to sides of cabinet for all edges, monitor and speaker/marquee shelves.
• Construct strong monitor shelf from already-cut wood and 2x4’s.
• Attach cabinet sides to base, using 2x4s to connect sides together.
• Install cabinet front using Blum hinges and key lock.
• Install cabinet back with Blum hinges and key lock.
• Cut 45-degree angles on cabinet back diagonal piece.
• Install cabinet top and back diagonal piece.
• Cut T-moulding groove with router and slot-cutting bit.
• Install T-moulding.
• Cut 45-degree angle for control panel back.
• Assemble control panel, using blum hinges and draw hasp for top.
• Install drawer slides in cabinet and control panel, attach control panel to cabinet.

Stage Two: Installation/Wiring

• Purchase 25” or 27” inch TV (possibly Sony Wega).
• Order buttons, joysticks, coin box, marquee light, marquee retainer from Happ Controls.
• Order Opti-Pac, i-Pac, joysticks and trackball from Ultimarc.
• Order spinners and spinner tops from Oscar Controls.
• Cut coin box hole in cabinet front.
• Install coin box.
• Drill speaker holes above display.
• Drill control and joystick holes in cabinet top.
• Test-install all controls, make sure everything is correct, remove controls.
• Sand, prime and paint all cabinet surfaces.
• Re-install controls.
• Wire all controls to i-Pac and Opti-Pac, test controls.
• Install TV on monitor shelf, secure.
• Construct paper bezel for TV (from arcadecontrols.org forum instructions).
• Install plexiglass (tinted and clear?) in front of TV.
• Install speakers in speaker holes.
• Install light behind marquee.
• Install marquee with marquee retainer.
• Install extra speakers, if needed.
• Install subwoofer in cabinet base.

Stage Three: Computer Hardware/Software

• Mount motherboard in cabinet by mounting in slotted 2x2 pieces of wood.
• Mount power-supply to cabinet interior.
• Mount harddrive and enclosure within cabinet.
• Install additional ventilation- top and back of cabinet.
• Install 4-port home-connect-style multimedia ports with ethernet jack in rear of cabinet (any other wiring?).
• Drill/cut hole for single external power cord.
• Install Fedora Core 2.
• Install MAME packages.
• Test-play system for kicks.  ;)
• Set-up front end and fancy boot process.
• … ?
• PROFIT!

I took the cabinet sides and used the circular saw to clean up some of the nastiness I left by using a spinsaw.  The trick is building a jig using a straight piece of wood and an aluminum guide.  You can use one edge of the wood to line up your cut and then use the aluminum to guide the saw in a straight line.

I also got the top of the control panel cut.  By the time I started I was getting pretty tired and really messed up the first cut.  Thankfully you can fix most cuts with more cutting.

My recommendation to anyone considering building a MAME cabinet: make sure you can commit for a couple of months.  For inexperienced woodworkers like myself, you’ll probably take a couple of hours to do cuts that a skilled worker could do in a few minutes.  I’m glad that I’ve been doing it- I can at least count myself as someone who can now use a power tool safely and figure out a way to make any basic cut that I need.

The MAME-cabinet-related posts are a little boring and repetitive, I know.  It’s mostly so I can keep a journal of when I’ve worked on it so I can string them together as a basic instruction guide after I’m done.  Bear with me!

Lots of cutting involved in creating a MAME cabinet.  This last weekend I managed to cut out the two side panels using my brand-new spinsaw from Canadian Tire.  It’s a sweet tool - a bunch of different rotary tools in one.  Like a Dremel, but more heavy-duty.

I went to a number of stores looking for the T-moulding that I’ll need on the cabinet edges.  None of the places here in Calgary stocked it, so I decided to order from t-moulding.com.  They also carried the 1/16” slot-cutting bit that you need to route the edges with.  I don’t know how long it’ll take to arrive.  At least there’s some assembling to do before it all gets here (the base of the cabinet can go together before anything gets routed).

Been busy over the last few weeks as we get married, took a week off hidden in the mountains of BC and then returned to Calgary to get back into our regular groove.  It’s been really hectic but a lot of fun.

Our wedding was in a mountain up around Abraham Lake, Alberta.  We chartered a helicopter company to take us to a little nook above a beautiful mountain lake.  It took six trips to haul our 20-person wedding party to the mossy outcropping.  The pilots gave us a great ride, even following a fantastic sepentine mountain valley river for a short while.  From the destination’s ledge the view was spectacular: a green, glacial mountain lake sitting at the bottom of two enclosing mountain chains.  There was even a small glacial waterfall on the nook that we used for all of our pictures.

There’s a surprising amount of work (and stress) to organize a wedding- even a small one like ours.  I can say one thing for sure: it’s definitely worth it.

Thanks to the nice guys at Brightspot Consulting and their “win an iPod draw”, I’ve come away with a brand-spankin’-new 15Gb iPod.  First thing I did was get myself one of those amazing iTrip FM Transmitters from Griffin Technology.

These devices together make up an amazing one-two combo of convenience.  To get music working in my truck, I just pop the iTrip into the iPod, hit my iPod station preset and go.  As long as you keep the iPod’s volume around 70-75% you’ll get a crystal clear signal.  I tried using a cassette-tape-adapter at first, but this is by far more convenient.

You should be able to find the iTrip at your local Mac dealership.