Posted by Mr Arcade on 17, 2000 at 11:26 AM:
In Reply to: Best cabs for Mame cab? posted by Brian on 16, 2000 at 11:50 PM:
I prefer wooden control panels....so extras can easily be made and mounted.
I have built several machines....and here are my observations :
Pac cabinets have metal control panels...I modified one so wood could be used...panel is shallow and not very wide either
Defender cabinet uses wooden panel...has shelf in case you want to use a PC monitor...panel seems pretty good....still a bit shallow though
cocktail cabinets...not much room for anything...if you want it to look right you can only have 1 joy and 2 or 3 buttons per side...kind of cool....but if you are only bulding one machine I would shy away
cabaret cabinets.... a bit better than cocktails....still pretty tight... esp the control panel....but you can fit 2 joys and 4 or 6 buttons per joy if you pack 'em tight...cool factor is high here as well....plus they aren't as overbearing in a room....they blend into a home better
3-player cabinets....the last machine I built was in a Rampage cabinet....it was great...the large control panel gives you room to do just about anything...the side art is generic enough to fit into most decors (sp?) plenty of room inside
I would suggest you get a wide cabinet ( around 29") with a deep control panel. Go for a 25" monitor cabinet if you can afford it...that way the vertical games are about the right size when displayed horizontally, and the horizontal games are nice and big !
Below is a link to the machines I have built.
Good luck !
Mr Arcade