Intro To Mame Em' Up

This is my first MAME cabinet I have built. So far, I'm having a lot of fun with this project and I can't wait to finish this thing up. I've read a ton of posts on the BYOAC forums and am trying to take into account other Mamer's experiences (screw-up's) so that this process goes as smoothly as possible (...and inexpensively, more importantly). Much prop's to BYOAC and it's members! As I have done, I urge anyone interested and new to the Mame scene or planning their first build to spend a month or so researching and planning before building and ordering parts. These cab's are not cheap by the time you get finished, so try to think of everything you plan to do with your cab and design accordingly. the BYOAC site has everything you need to know, so use it!

The design of this cab originated around the fact that it had to be skinny enough to fit through the small doorway leading into the room where the MAME will remain. I love the style of showcase cabinets but their is no way that I would be able to fit one in and out of the door. As I am determined to get what I want, or at least close to what I want one way or another, I decided to create plans for something unique, that will fit the space allotted and also support all the bells and whistles. As this is my first MAME cab, and the house I live in currently will only fit one cab, I decided that I will go nuts on this one and do something with a "Modern" look to it, and will have everything I can drum up to pack into this thing. I figured instead of insulting mine and everyone else's love for the classic and original feel of arcade machines, I would go outside the bounds and design a cab to fit my ideas for this machine. So in all, I have decided I will have to wait to get my Primal Rage dream cab.

Half way though my designing process, someone pointed me to Taz's Mame Marvel cab. That thing is awesome! It seems that he is the inventor of the skinny cab design and would like to give him props on the awesome design! It seems that we were following a slightly similar thought process as far as 'skinny' cab, although mine was less sparked from creativity and more from the fact that 'I had too' :) As I am a firm believer in giving credit where it is deserved, I did use a couple of Taz's idea's on a couple portions of my cab. I used his Idea of a base for the cabinet and the control panel box. I do not think it is right to copy another's idea's but rather use them as reference to customize your own thought's to your liking; So as you can see in the photo's I modified these a bit.

I caught myself in the design process and relized that I should probably set the control panel back another six inches from the main body for use of the trackball with Golden Tee in an attempt to prevent broken fingers/screens while playing the game (this game will be played quite a bit on this machine). However, I think that it gives the cab a little more of a 'showcase' feel, so I am happy with this decision. UPDATE: Recently I have added on an additional plan to use a small portion of this space for a surprise that I will write about later on when the time comes. I'm really excited, hopefully someone else is out there too...I know my girlfriend isn't ;)