Bartop Build

djsim101

Lads, can I ask some advise. I got a quote for these parts, are they fair enough:




£64.99 Widescreen cabinet with free template upgrade
£50.00 side art & marquee
£30.00 Control Panel Art
£ 6.00 chrome edging
£20.00 bezel Perspex
£20.00 speakers
£10.00 monitor mount
£ 5.00 marquee light
£20.00 x 2 joysticks
£30.00 x 16 player / function buttons
£4.00 1&2 start buttons
£44.99 mini ipac with harness
£15.99 trackball


This is my first build so don't want to get burnt.


Thanks lads
James.

Myrddin

I could be wrong, but it seems very expensive. Not sure I'd go with a widescreen setup either

Tomo.Murphy

Not sure on the price front, so I'll stay out of that, but I agree with the comment of widescreen. It'll stretch the picture on the older stuff to fit the screen. I spent a couple of days wondering why Mario looked oddly misshapen before I realised I was playing in 16:9. . .

brianon

Have you seen the VCabinet stuff ?
http://www.vcabinet.es/

He has done allot of work on it recently and they look great even just on a desktop monitor rotated.



Using a widescreen monitor you rotate vertically and you use a VCab MAME build that creates a Bezel that fills the screen with a marquee.



*I've a good few buttons and joysticks spare/for future use. I'm sure I could do you a real good price.

http://www.vcabinet.es/software.html

Myrddin

brianon wrote: »

Using a widescreen monitor you rotate vertically and you use a VCab MAME build that creates a Bezel that fills the screen with a marquee.

That's actually very cool. Can it be made to work properly with HLSL etc?

brianon

Myrddin wrote: »

That's actually very cool. Can it be made to work properly with HLSL etc?

Yep.
http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/forum/showthread.php?25236-Default-Vertical-theme-for-MAME

Someone built there own using VCabinet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snOI9ly9p-M&spfreload=1

djsim101

I am going to need all the help on this guys. I thought it was on the expensive side alright. The cab is going to be 60cm wide, so I was thinking of putting in a 19" monitor. I'm used of playing emulators on a 47" so the wide screen doesn't bother me that much, I think :-)

djsim101

Thanks pal I might take u up on that offer on buying the buttons / joystick

brianon wrote: »

Have you seen the VCabinet stuff ?
http://www.vcabinet.es/

He has done allot of work on it recently and they look great even just on a desktop monitor rotated.



Using a widescreen monitor you rotate vertically and you use a VCab MAME build that creates a Bezel that fills the screen with a marquee.



*I've a good few buttons and joysticks spare/for future use. I'm sure I could do you a real good price.

http://www.vcabinet.es/software.html

djsim101

Is there anywhere I could save on the build prices, defo need the Cab pre-built , flat pack, and I'm okay for a monitor and PC, just need the rest of the stuff. I thought 100 quid was extremely high for the artwork but then again, I could be wring on that too. I'm sorry I bloody started on this thing now :-) :-)

Myrddin

Not sure how The Last Bandit is fixed, but he made my bartop shell for me.

Optimus Prime

Honestly, i dont see any prices on there that are overally expensive?? everything seems about right to me. except maybe the speakers unless they are good ones.

artwork is expensive to get printed, good prints anyways. tmolding price looks right, a tenner each for a joystick is probably cheap, buttons are about 1.60 each i think. I honestly think most of that is decently priced.

The Last Bandit

I'm up to my neck in stuff at the moment so no hope of taking on another cab for a while.

£20 for a bit of perspex ? Daft...

Damien King

djsim101 wrote: »

Lads, can I ask some advise. I got a quote for these parts, are they fair enough:




£64.99 Widescreen cabinet with free template upgrade
£50.00 side art & marquee
£30.00 Control Panel Art
£ 6.00 chrome edging
£20.00 bezel Perspex
£20.00 speakers
£10.00 monitor mount
£ 5.00 marquee light
£20.00 x 2 joysticks
£30.00 x 16 player / function buttons
£4.00 1&2 start buttons
£44.99 mini ipac with harness
£15.99 trackball


This is my first build so don't want to get burnt.


Thanks lads
James.

I might be able to help out with the artwork, and possibly a cnc cut cabinet drop me a PM

djsim101

Thanks lads, for all your help, appreciate it. As I said, this is new terrority for me.


Thanks Damien King, I will PM.


Thanks also The Last Bandit, no problem, totally understand regarding time strains.


keithgeo - you reckon the parts price are okay so, besides the speakers \ Perspex?

Oh by the way, I can get my hands on 19" non widescreen monitor also, would that make a difference?

brianon

I've an old iPac here also. Not the mini but it should do the job if you are interested.

If you went for the VCabinet build you would at least save on a marquee. Although you'd be tied to just MAME and not consoles really.

**If/when I do-over my own cab I'm going to get rid of the console emus. My CP is trying to be a bit of everything. Less is more

Tomo.Murphy

They're out there, but the supply seems to be getting smaller and smaller. Probably be easier to find a CRT one, but that would be far too big for a bartop. Most old LCD monitors should be 4:3 though. I know all of the old Dell monitors in the school I went to were non widescreen. Check adverts, should be a few on there.

FixitFelix

I know people charge premium prices for custom designed artwork,but if it's just a picture pulled off the Internet and cut to fit I wouldn't pay it, perspex and speakers are Def overpriced

djsim101

brianon wrote: »

I've an old iPac here also. Not the mini but it should do the job if you are interested.

If you went for the VCabinet build you would at least save on a marquee. Although you'd be tied to just MAME and not consoles really.

**If/when I do-over my own cab I'm going to get rid of the console emus. My CP is trying to be a bit of everything. Less is more

Thanks Pal for the offer, but for this build, I will def. go multi build setup. Don't have room for one than one of these, don't really have room for one either but that's a different story :-)

Optimus Prime

Yeh i think so anyways, have a look at http://www.arcadeworlduk.com/ and compare the prices on there for the buttons\joysticks

Tmolding.com for the tmolding, you have to take into account shipping to Ireland though.

and check out the prices for artwork at http://www.gameongrafix.com/ too and you will see how expensive it can be. I bought off here for my first cab i built from scratch and it was real expensive, i wouldnt do it again. A friend done me a favour and printed my artwork for me the last few times, he doesnt like doing mixers though.

Mini pac prices here http://www.ultimarc.com/store/section.php?xSec=3

Ive bought sheets of plexi before in B&Q and cut it myself, it can be expensive too. might be cheaper though to get that yourself, could be cheaper elsewhere ive only got it there in the past. the other guys would know better.

Speakers i think are expensive there, you dont need anything mad for arcade games i dont think. I do have a jukebox running on hyperspin in my mame cab so that has a subwoofer in it!

djsim101

Well lads, I am on the purchasing the buttons \ joysticks stage.

Just wondering did any of you chance buying from here:

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/group/DIY-Arcade-Parts-Bundles/607318_211611922.html

The prices seem very cheap and I reckon the quality will represent that...