Control Panel in the works

I installed two Mag-Sticks (from ultimarc.com) as well as several buttons. I had to replace the board under the control panel that holds the controls, as it was too small and didn't quite suit the project well. I got a new piece of 3/4" plywood from work, cut it down, drilled all the holes I needed, and mounted it to the underside of the panel. I then installed my joysticks and buttons, wired it all up to the I-PAC board, and started copying my ROMs to the hard drive.

I will have to rip all of the controls out again in a few days when I sand and re-paint the control panel. I'm thinking of going glossy black and putting some clear coat on it. I also have a lot of overlay stickers that will label each button and joystick for that authentic arcade feel.

You can also see in this picture that I've taken a monitor and mounted it in place of the original. I tore apart my 19" SVGA and seated it. It works great!

Welcome home, Asteroids

Ever since I was a kid, I've always wanted to have an actual stand-up arcade machine. I finally decided to pick one up. I looked for a few months on the Internet, did some reading about converting old machines into MAME cabinets, and got absolutely (re)hooked on the idea. I picked up an Asteroids machine for around $180 including extra buttons, decals, an I-PAC board, and lots of good advice and suggestions for my project. Couldn't have found a better seller!

My friend Josh and I lugged it into my apartment (good thing I'm on a ground level apartment) and instantly started really checking it out. Since then, I've been working on it almost every day. It's progressing quite nicely, but still has a ways to go.


Here's how it looked when I got the back open. As you can see, the construction is in tip-top shape, and the empty case leaves me lots of room to work with. Time for some internal modifications!