Cocktail MAME is my project cocktail table. I've always wanted one like this but the current prices of a Ms.Pacman are a little out of my league.
So I decided to make my own. After browsing all of the hot spots for this sort of thing I found Kyle Lindstrom who kindly provided me with the CAD files of the one he and a friend had made. Below you will see the current status of the machine. I am close to finishing it, probably a couple more weeks.
I have had to make adjustments to the plans for things. Currently i am using a 13/16" top that is out of the same material the rest of the box is constructed of (13/16" Mahogany veneered maple core, which was substituted for the 3/4" MDF that was called for as it was free) so that being said I had to get 13/16" t-molding vs the 1" the plans call for. I substituted .236" plexiglass/lexan clone for the 1/4" tempered glass that was also called for as the tempered glass would have been almost 100$ for the rounded corners and ground edges.
I've got an issue with the company that I ordered the control panels from, they said the email them the jpg's of the layout of the panels, I emailed them 2, one each of P1 and P2 ... they sent me 2, P1's. So now I have 2 panels with 1/2" button holes. What do I do with the P2 panel if i don't need a Player 1 & 2 button? All of the mame buttons are going to be mini momentary recessed in the bottom of the P1 panel (ESC, Return, Tab, shift for the KeyWiz, so that i can remap all of the buttons)
The computer I have to run this is a cobble bit of stuff, I bought a Slot-1 board some time ago and it flopped for the purpose it was intended as it appears that the USB and possibly the serial ports are dead, or are now. :-) and sometime during its life at my house it had the AT keyboard jack broke off the MB so it won't stay. I have since figured that for a Mame machine it will work just nicely. I hacked a PS/2 style keyboard connector onto the solder pads from the AT connector and have a tail coming out from under the MB and clamped down to plug the encoder into. So with the board back in action i put a ATI Rage2C (AGP,2MB) on it and in advmame and probably DMAME it runs faster than some of my higher powered machines with Geforces in them in windows w/winmame32.
components:
ATC-6130 Slot-1 MB
Celeron 400
256M RAM
AGP ATI Rage IIC 2MB
4.3 Seagate hd
8x cdrom
230W AT power supply
Keywiz keyboard encoder (https://www.groovygamegear.com)
computer speakers
1 * 120mm fan
2 * 80 mm fans
so as it continues i have still to cut the monitor bezel to match up with the 19" Gateway monitor I scored at a computer show for 100$, the trick was to find one that had a latching on/off switch so that i can turn its power on with the main switch along with the computer and speakers.
June 14-18
Over the last few weeks i have been looking at this and scratching my head. I bought a bezel to cover the monitor and mask off the opening with a nice plastic molded frame so that the mountings and other monitor unsightliness wouldn't be seen. The problem with it was how to locate where it would be and some other wood work that would neet to be done and other stuff. I gave in and decided that I will be putting an underlay on this and felt in around the opening. That should make it look good enough for anyone. After that decision was made it was time to move on and get things mounted. I am itching to play this thing. I now have 4 mounting brackets to hold the monitor in its location. Hopefully i didn't get too weak of brackets. If I did then i can put a sling under the back side of the monitor made out of that pipe strap like I used in the previous machine to take a bit of weight off.. Here you see it hanging in the location where it will be final. I might have to put a couple washer shims on the near side as the monitor seems to be low on the back side.
Still to do:
cut a small piece of angle to make a bracket to hold the bottom to the sides of the control panels.
Locate and attach the cleat to brace the joint between the top and the back cover so it swings and is strong.
sand, seal, finish
build clips to hold down the top glass to the top
reassemble
locate/cobble up a paddle for the lock so it can engage the door frame when locked
configure computer
play and have fun
