What will I do with not just 1, but 2 cabinets? I plan on working on them at the same time so that I can have 2 finished cabinets. 1 Will come to the house, and I’ll probably keep the second in storage until I get some more room. Or maybe convert it to a sit-down driver-style arcade for racing games. Or sell it.
So it looks like I have yet another project on my plate. This will go under world domination, but above spring cleaning.
Having done this before, I offer up some advice:
- Replace all of the buttons and joysticks. These can be difficult to find, I recommend Lizard Lick. If you have wood control panels, use the iL Eurosticks and Happ Competition pushbuttons. If you have metal control panels, use the Sanwa JLA and Sanwa pushbuttons.
- If you plan on making it a MAME cabinet, and it’s wired for JAMMA, use an Ultimarc J-PAC. It literally takes seconds to hook your PC up to the arcade controls that way. (If there isn’t a JAMMA harness, Ultimarc’s I-PAC is a good alternative)
- On the topic of Ultimarc, if you want to also use the arcade monitor, and it’s in decent condition, I would suggest purchasing an ArcadeVGA card. It outputs the correct 15KHz signal to work directly with standard resolution arcade monitors. It will never look more legit than that.
- If the monitor is NOT in good condition, it may be able to be easily repaired. With some basic soldering skills, many common repairs to arcade CRTs can be made. Often, all that is required is a “cap kit”, a replacement for the on-board capacitors. Also, sometimes the flyback transformer has to be replaced. None of this is really hard, just time-consuming. It’s worth it, though, if you want to use an arcade monitor. A new Wells-Gardner 19” K7000 goes for over $200, but a cap kit and flyback for it runs just over $20.
