Originally published as three separate posts on the old depletionmode / 2of1 blog — Design, Unit construction, and (Almost) Finished — combined here into one post.
Design
After being inactive for a long while on my fullsize Mame cabinet project (put on hold indefinitely until I get some perspex/stop being lazy), I was inspired by Victor Coleiro’s “Worlds Smallest Space Invaders” project to do something similar myself.
After contacting Victor for some pointers (he’s extremely helpful), I’ve started the design for my Namco arcade machine (basically a GBA SP running ‘Namco Museum’ in a fancy housing).
It’s to be constructed out of 6mm MDF. I’ll need to send it in somewhere (probably a company the UK) for routing as I don’t have a CNC (does anyone know anywhere in Israel that can do this at a reasonable cost including the wood?).
I’ve already got the buttons, etc. and will post a few pics and specs in my next post.
Quite a few scrunched-up pieces of paper later, and here’s what I’ve got so far for the housing.
All the pieces for the housing
Control panel (joystick + controller buttons)
‘Coin door’ panel (select and start buttons)
Back panel (power and screen backlight buttons)
Unit construction
Ok, so I constructed the unit over the past two evenings. I stupidly didn't take photos during the construction and seriously messed up the paint job.
But anyway this is what it currently looks like without the electronics:
You can see the scale of it (that thing on the right is the gas stove).
(Almost) Finished
And the (almost) finished machine running Namco Museum's Ms. Pacman...
(Sorry for the grainy 3.2MP mobile-phone pic)