Jubei:Rob's Arcade Cabinet

It's All In The Details...

At this point things really are starting to look excellent. The T-Molding is in place, so the edges really look a lot cleaner. The stain and polyurethane on the side panels looks really excellent. Although there are obvious things that need to be done yet, at this point it is functional and playable, even if it doesn't look quite right in my dining room.

Some interesting issues have popped up at this phase of development. First off, there is going to be major light leakage. Around the marquee, but also out of the back of the cabinet. This is easily fixed. The other problem is that the cats really seem to like hanging out in Jubei's Bowels. Not such a big deal, excep that there is no protection for the PC since I just took the case off for easier access... and also that darn keyboard. There's nothing like suddenly having your game freak out because a kitten is perched happily atop the keyboard. They don't understand why they are being kicked out ;) But when the coin door is in place, I'll need to put a screen or something in the back, but that'll be fine. I'll still have good ventilation, but I'll be cat proof.

A few people asked about the Marquee. It was actually fairly easy: Kathleen designed it, and printed it out on a piece of velum (its a translucent plastic. Kinkos or whatever can do this for relatively little cost). That is sandwiched between 2 pieces of plexiglas. The glass is held in place with something called a Marquee Bezel that you can get at an arcade supply place (like Happ Controls). It's pretty trivial really, but its a detail like this that really makes the cabinet look great.

Also, note my Joust cabinet off to the side. Its in really good condition considering its almost as old as me, and hoo-boy do I have some great high scores on that monster.

Update August 15 I've been pretty busy this summer so even taking the time to post the updated pictures has been a bit of a stretch. Where are we at? Well since May the coin door is mounted, but not hung. Its just sorta sitting there... I need to hinge it, but I'm a little unsure how I'm going to handle it. Kathleen made this very excellent bezel and marquee and both are in place. I think I need to put some electrical tape around the edges just to seal in the light from the flourescent light behind it. Whats left?
  • Hinge the Door (Done)
  • Mount Glass
  • Tape some spots to prevent light leakage

The code fixes are numerous and minor. Mostly things like making it so pressing the 2P start button can launch a game, and accepting motion from the 2P joystick as well for selecting games. Also, a few buttons need to be remapped just to make things make sense from a UI perspective. It still is confusing for someone to just stand in front and start playing, but a few minor fixes, and it should be all set. As it stands its playable, fun, and doing those things is a fairly low priority.

Many people have asked for plans. I really don't have any available. Essentially I took the plans on Lusid's Arcade Flashback and narrowed them a little, rounded the front panel, reworked the control panel, changed the material to a birch plywood, and modeled my side panels after Joust instead of using his design. At some point I'll throw up more details, but honestly none of these are significant changes, so if you're interested in doing this yourself, this shouldn't slow you down. Just go ahead and get started! If I can do it, you certainly can.