New Mame Project... MORTAL KOMBAT!

[oddword]

Hey,

A while ago I posted a message regarding an xbox 360 "Mortal Kombat Klassic Kontroller" and how it would be good to build into a mame cabinet. Well it's almost done, thanks to my friend Drunkey Kong and my other friend Scott.

It started with a pc that I got off my sister which actually was my college pc that I gave to her. It is an old socket 939 amd with a 17inch square lcd monitor. I put hyperspin on it but it ran too slow. So I had some friends bring over replacement video cards and ram. The first video card worked great, but the fan was missing on it and as soon as I closed the case up it burned out. Anyway I couldn't get it working after trying a ton of different types of ram and video cards. I got sick of trouble shooting so I gave up and asked an old friend if he had any laptops with broken monitors. He did and he's great, so he gave it to me for free. It's a Dell inspiron 1525 dual core 2.16 ghz and 3gbs of ram but only a 130gb hd. It's a much better computer than the other and a lot smaller.

So the plan was to build a bartop cab. I got plans from here http://bartoparcade.katorlegaz.com/ and planned to do the second from the bottom. Lucky me I have a great new friend who has a lot of experience restoring EM and modern arcade/pinball games. He made that evil dead pinball I posted, and built himself a big bang bar style video pin that was sick. He built this cabinet while I watched and learned.

Ingredients:

3/4" mdf
piano hinge
t-molding from t-molding.com
industrial velcro tape
a laptop cooling fan
arcade style lock
14" fluorescent lamp
some paint and primer
vinyl side art and marquee
3/4" aluminum angle iron

Still Need:

Tinted Plexi for entire front
Plexi for marquee
Speakers

Tools:

Scroll saw
Jig Saw
Drill
Dremel
Screwdriver
Wood Screws

We modified the plans so that it better fit the kontroller. Removed the keyboard tray. Basically we only kept the shape, kinda. It's 32" tall 20" deep and 16.5" wide. We used the scroll saw to cut it out, a jig saw for the corners, and a drill with a hole cutter for the rounded corner between the monitor and marquee. We cut out the guts and one of the sides. Then we traced that side, cut the other, and sanded them down to match. It's screwed together with strips of wood and wood screws.

For the t-molding we didn't have a router so we used a dremel with a guide. At first we used a bit with a very small disc but it was thick. We ran that around the edges and then used a bit with a much larger saw like blade that took it in 3/4" - 1". The end result was in no way perfect. The dremel ran off the line a few times but it's worked, and the flaws are all covered by the t-molding which is never going to move.

We used a textured outdoor black paint that has an awesome finish. It didn't need a lot of coats and it dried in a half hour. We used it on everything but the sides. The sides we're primed with grey wood primer. Both paints were spray paints.

Then we rubbed down the sides with alcohol to clean them for the side art. We stuck on the side art with a squeegee. It's not perfect. I suggest printing it 1.5 inches larger than your plans. I ended up having some edges that weren't covered. The plan is to paint them with a paint stick. I already colored them in with a sharpie. Anyway if you print larger than your plans you can fold over and cut the sticker.It ends up looking awesome after you add the t-molding.

The cp was taken apart. We used the front panel for the front of the cab. It uses these Ikea metal bars that are held with these metal twisty things. We kept them to mount the front panel to the bottom mdf. Then we also used them to hold in the cp. We didn't lock the cp in so I can lift it off easily. It is rock solid for playing and easy access if I need in.

The monitor, laptop, laptop cooler, and lamp are all mounted in the cab with the velcro tape. Nothing moves. The monitor sits on the mdf front panels and an mdf beam running across it's back that has the velcro tape on it.

The only thing left is the plexi glass front and marquee, and speaker installation but it looks amazing already.

Please see the attached pics taken throughout the process. Construction estimate = 10 hrs.

I am going to buy another one of the kontrollers for the 2nd player and leave it untouched. Those controllers are awesome!

Thomas

[oddword]

more pics...

[oddword]

even more pics...

[oddword]

still even more pics..........

[oddword]

When it's done I'll update with final pics and vid.

[miner2049er]

Nice work.

It makes me want to make another one. I have all the gubbins to go in it but no cab or space to put it.

[SubaruBrat]

Nicely played, it looks very professional.

[MrFrumble]

Wow, that really looks great. I've been starting to think that I should pick up 4:3 lcds at yards sales for projects like this.

[oddword]

Yeah Drunkey Kong has some serious talent!

[Leathco]

Very cool looking indeed. Nice slimline factor. I had started on a mini cabinet a few months back, but haven't been able to put a lot of time into it thanks to the combo of work and working on other authentic cabs (that space invaders is beginning to clean up nicely). Recently I picked up an iCade, and said to hell with it and slapped a cheap 100 dollar 10 inch android tablet that had bluetooth on it to work with it, and to be honest its a great budget micro cab for only 150. But I wish I had the time to do great detailed custom stuff like this.