I’m setting myself the challenge this year to do something that I’ve wanted to do for ages… Build my own arcade machine. I’ve had this on my list for about 5 years now and I feel that this year is the year to do it. Or the year to start it at least!
I was originally going to try to hunt down an old arcade cabinet that I could refurb, but I just think that could be difficult and a bit hit and miss, as I think a lot of them can have things wrong with them like water damage etc. It would be great to have a cabinet with some authenticity and history to it but it might not be the easiest route in the long run. I’ll still look but I think I may have to go down the other route which is to make a cabinet myself.
My bible for this project will be the awesome Project Arcade: Build Your Own Arcade Machine by John St. Clair.
Other resources I will be heavily relying on include the following:
I’ll probably even get some inspiration from these mini arcade build videos
I’ll be blogging about this project at various stages. You’ll find it under the tag Home Arcade Machine on this blog #HomeArcadeMachine on Twitter. I won’t update about every little thing but hopefully every couple of months or so I’ll post an update. And I’ll try to do it in a way that someone else in the future who is an absolutely beginner at this sort of thing, like myself, might find useful.
For this post today I’m just going to list a few questions that I will be asking myself or researching before I actually get my hands dirty. Most of these pertain to the first stage of the project which is making the actual physical cabinet…
Let the ambitious project begin!
PS – I’ll be posting two blog posts in the next week about my Top Ten Arcade Games and also one about what games I would actually like to own myself. Stay tuned.
Banner image above sourced from http://www.tofugu.com/
Here’s a list of all the posts about my arcade build.
Part 1
Part 2 – Decisions
Part 3 – Cabinet Design
Part 4 – Control Panel Plans
Part 5 – Initial Questions and Concerns
Part 6 – Online Resources
Part 7 – Cabinet Plans
Part 8 – Buying and Cutting the Wood
Part 9 – Tools and Materials
Part 10 – Building the Cabinet
Part 11 – Building the Control Panel
Part 12 – Sanding and Painting
Part 13 – The Coin Door
Part 14 – Artwork
Part 15 – Printing and Applying the Vinyl
Part 16 – Adding all the T-moulding
Part 17 – The TV Monitor
Part 18 – Making the Bezel
Part 19 – The Marquee
Part 20 – Installing the Electronics
Part 21 – Setting up MAME
Part 22 – Issues to Watch Out For
Part 23 – The Finished Cabinet
Top Ten – Arcade Games | Retromash
Jan 7, 2015 -
[…] posting a few days ago about my plan to build my own home arcade machine I thought I would do a Top Ten based on my own favourite arcade […]
What arcade games would you actually want to own? | Retromash
Jan 9, 2015 -
[…] already posted this week about starting to build my own home arcade machine, and then I also posted about my Top Ten Arcade Games. But to round up my flurry of arcade posts […]
Holly
Sep 29, 2015 -
this is cool.i wish that i had the skills to make my own arcade machine.
Building a Home Arcade Machine – Part 2 | Retromash
Jan 23, 2016 -
[…] been over a year since I last posted about my plans to build my own arcade machine. I stupidly started my plans a month before we had our second child. A lot of things have been put […]
Top 10 Websites About the 80’s – GEORGIE WATTS
Mar 16, 2016 -
[…] a website for showing his retro themed collections and memories to us lot whilst trying to also build a Home Arcade machine and being a Dad and […]
Building a Home Arcade Machine The Final Cabinet | Retromash
Jun 1, 2016 -
[…] Part 1 Part 2 – Decisions Part 3 – Cabinet Design Part 4 – Control Panel Plans Part 5 – Initial Questions and Concerns Part 6 – Online Resources Part 7 – Cabinet Plans Part 8 – Buying and Cutting the Wood Part 9 – Tools and Materials Part 10 – Building the Cabinet Part 11 – Building the Control Panel Part 12 – Sanding and Painting Part 13 – The Coin Door Part 14 – Artwork Part 15 – Printing and Applying the Vinyl Part 16 – Adding all the T-moulding Part 17 – The TV Monitor Part 18 – Making the Bezel Part 19 – The Marquee Part 20 – Installing the Electronics Part 21 – Setting up MAME Part 22 – Issues to Watch Out For Part 23 – The Finished Cabinet […]
Building a Home Arcade – Control Panel Plans | Retromash
Jun 13, 2016 -
[…] Part 1 Part 2 – Decisions Part 3 – Cabinet Design Part 4 – Control Panel Plans Part 5 – Initial Questions and Concerns Part 6 – Online Resources Part 7 – Cabinet Plans Part 8 – Buying and Cutting the Wood Part 9 – Tools and Materials Part 10 – Building the Cabinet Part 11 – Building the Control Panel Part 12 – Sanding and Painting Part 13 – The Coin Door Part 14 – Artwork Part 15 – Printing and Applying the Vinyl Part 16 – Adding all the T-moulding Part 17 – The TV Monitor Part 18 – Making the Bezel Part 19 – The Marquee Part 20 – Installing the Electronics Part 21 – Setting up MAME Part 22 – Issues to Watch Out For Part 23 – The Finished Cabinet […]
Building a Home Arcade Machine Part 11 | Retromash
Jun 13, 2016 -
[…] Part 1 Part 2 – Decisions Part 3 – Cabinet Design Part 4 – Control Panel Plans Part 5 – Initial Questions and Concerns Part 6 – Online Resources Part 7 – Cabinet Plans Part 8 – Buying and Cutting the Wood Part 9 – Tools and Materials Part 10 – Building the Cabinet Part 11 – Building the Control Panel Part 12 – Sanding and Painting Part 13 – The Coin Door Part 14 – Artwork Part 15 – Printing and Applying the Vinyl Part 16 – Adding all the T-moulding Part 17 – The TV Monitor Part 18 – Making the Bezel Part 19 – The Marquee Part 20 – Installing the Electronics Part 21 – Setting up MAME Part 22 – Issues to Watch Out For Part 23 – The Finished Cabinet […]
Building a Home Arcade Machine Part 13 | Retromash
Jun 13, 2016 -
[…] Part 1 Part 2 – Decisions Part 3 – Cabinet Design Part 4 – Control Panel Plans Part 5 – Initial Questions and Concerns Part 6 – Online Resources Part 7 – Cabinet Plans Part 8 – Buying and Cutting the Wood Part 9 – Tools and Materials Part 10 – Building the Cabinet Part 11 – Building the Control Panel Part 12 – Sanding and Painting Part 13 – The Coin Door Part 14 – Artwork Part 15 – Printing and Applying the Vinyl Part 16 – Adding all the T-moulding Part 17 – The TV Monitor Part 18 – Making the Bezel Part 19 – The Marquee Part 20 – Installing the Electronics Part 21 – Setting up MAME Part 22 – Issues to Watch Out For Part 23 – The Finished Cabinet […]
Building a Home Arcade Machine – The T-moulding | Retromash
Jun 13, 2016 -
[…] Part 1 Part 2 – Decisions Part 3 – Cabinet Design Part 4 – Control Panel Plans Part 5 – Initial Questions and Concerns Part 6 – Online Resources Part 7 – Cabinet Plans Part 8 – Buying and Cutting the Wood Part 9 – Tools and Materials Part 10 – Building the Cabinet Part 11 – Building the Control Panel Part 12 – Sanding and Painting Part 13 – The Coin Door Part 14 – Artwork Part 15 – Printing and Applying the Vinyl Part 16 – Adding all the T-moulding Part 17 – The TV Monitor Part 18 – Making the Bezel Part 19 – The Marquee Part 20 – Installing the Electronics Part 21 – Setting up MAME Part 22 – Issues to Watch Out For Part 23 – The Finished Cabinet […]
Building a Home Arcade Machine- Making the bezel | Retromash
Jun 13, 2016 -
[…] Part 1 Part 2 – Decisions Part 3 – Cabinet Design Part 4 – Control Panel Plans Part 5 – Initial Questions and Concerns Part 6 – Online Resources Part 7 – Cabinet Plans Part 8 – Buying and Cutting the Wood Part 9 – Tools and Materials Part 10 – Building the Cabinet Part 11 – Building the Control Panel Part 12 – Sanding and Painting Part 13 – The Coin Door Part 14 – Artwork Part 15 – Printing and Applying the Vinyl Part 16 – Adding all the T-moulding Part 17 – The TV Monitor Part 18 – Making the Bezel Part 19 – The Marquee Part 20 – Installing the Electronics Part 21 – Setting up MAME Part 22 – Issues to Watch Out For Part 23 – The Finished Cabinet […]
Building a Retro Arcade Cabinet – Part 1 – Colin2France
Dec 10, 2018 -
[…] I wanted a project that would put this to use. After some googling I found this excellent blog by RetroMash about building an arcade cabinet. I grew up in Weymouth and spent my every waking hour visiting the […]
Building a Home Arcade Machine – The electronics | Retromash
Jun 3, 2019 -
[…] Part 1 Part 2 – Decisions Part 3 – Cabinet Design Part 4 – Control Panel Plans Part 5 – Initial Questions and Concerns Part 6 – Online Resources Part 7 – Cabinet Plans Part 8 – Buying and Cutting the Wood Part 9 – Tools and Materials Part 10 – Building the Cabinet Part 11 – Building the Control Panel Part 12 – Sanding and Painting Part 13 – The Coin Door Part 14 – Artwork Part 15 – Printing and Applying the Vinyl Part 16 – Adding all the T-moulding Part 17 – The TV Monitor Part 18 – Making the Bezel Part 19 – The Marquee Part 20 – Installing the Electronics Part 21 – Setting up MAME Part 22 – Issues to Watch Out For Part 23 – The Finished Cabinet […]
Building a Home Arcade Machine Part 10 | Retromash
Jun 11, 2019 -
[…] Part 1 Part 2 – Decisions Part 3 – Cabinet Design Part 4 – Control Panel Plans Part 5 – Initial Questions and Concerns Part 6 – Online Resources Part 7 – Cabinet Plans Part 8 – Buying and Cutting the Wood Part 9 – Tools and Materials Part 10 – Building the Cabinet Part 11 – Building the Control Panel Part 12 – Sanding and Painting Part 13 – The Coin Door Part 14 – Artwork Part 15 – Printing and Applying the Vinyl Part 16 – Adding all the T-moulding Part 17 – The TV Monitor Part 18 – Making the Bezel Part 19 – The Marquee Part 20 – Installing the Electronics Part 21 – Setting up MAME Part 22 – Issues to Watch Out For Part 23 – The Finished Cabinet […]
Alan Lantz
Dec 16, 2021 -
Excellent information. I’ve been going through the same thoughts and processes building my own full size Gyruss Arcade machine. I’m just at the beginning of my project, working on the cutouts and painting stage.