More pics

Strip n' Stuff

So Ive come along way in the creation of my MAME cabinet as of late.
Ive removed the joysticks,buttons and entire control panel. I'm still in the process of cleaning the plexi and control panel. I purchased some a black vinyl sticker I plan on using under the plexi. I'm hoping it will hide a few imperfections. The adhesive on the control panel has proven to be a bitch! I'm yet to fuss with it more.
Ive removed the monitor and stored it safely in my basement for future use in other machines. Ive removed the coin door, marquee, and speakers from the cabinet. I'm still in the process of removing all the wiring, but I hope to complete that in the next day or so. Ive filled a few holes, but been rather impatient in fixing every minor scratch and dent. I havent decided if I will revisit this, or just see if the paint hides them. The cabinet has been taped and is ready for paint. There is still some wiring id like to remove before I begin that. Over and above that I'm very happy! My JPAC came in today, its at my parents. Ill pick that up and perhaps on the weekend begin testing the controls. That's it for now !

Thanks for reading!

The final four

I was having a little trouble with the buttons for player two. Four of them didn't want to leave home. I decided at that point to remove the control panel and work with it on the floor. I dint know that it was a major help, but I managed to get all the buttons off. I then removed the metal brackets on the side (they keep the control panel locked in place) I also separated the plexi from the control panel. Once all that was done I started to remove the overlay. This has proven to be a major pain, and will be another thing that requires major "sweat equity." I purchased some goo gone and left it on for about 10 minutes. But this glue just doesn't want to move. Sat I was involved in a car accident with my wife, we are both OK, but we are in pain. So for now the project will need to take a back seat. Ill search the web for ideas of removing the remaining glue.

Take me away!

"All the King's horses, And all the King's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again!"

that's sorta how I felt when I took a look inside my machine. I know I can pull this apart, but can I put it back together ? That part could be tough, so I decided I would map out everything. I labeled each micro switch with a number. I indicated the number placement on the underside of the control panel. I did the same with the joysticks and there respected micro swtiches. This way I know button one goes here and its red, green, blue, etc. All in all i feel confident I will be able to rebuild the machine.

What I started with

So my cabinet itself was everything I wanted. Two players, 6 buttons per side, plus your player 1 and 2 star buttons. I needed to remove everything so I could begin to restore the control panel. Once the control panel has been refinished Ill reassemble it and wire it to the IPAC.

The cabinet itself

Here is a picture of the cabinet itself. The idea here is to (depending on cost) get some custom side art done. The cabinet itself will be a blue similar in color to Donkey Kong. The front of the machine will feature a second shade of blue. The cabinet interior will be black,as will the t-moulding and coin door. I plan on doing the control panel (seen above) in flat black. I might do it two tone also, and the under half a nice blue. But that hasn't been decided as of yet.

Marquee

The first thing I did when I started work on the cabinet was remove the marquee. Nothing really special here, simply remove four screws and I was done.
I cleaned the plexi with goo gone, wiped the marquee with soapy water and thats about it. I did notice that the marquee for Marvel vs. Capcom was nothing more then a computer print out. The other marqee, X-Men vs. Street Fighter is nice. It has a small crack in it & fits a little small. I think for now I will indeed use it, but black out some areas with poster board to compinsate for the size difference.