Wall Candy! :)

Here’s the cabinet! I wanted to engineer something that took minimal time, skill, and money to produce. Also, most MAME cabinets are as  shapely and unobtrusive as the monolith from 2001; I wanted this one to be mod and have the smallest possible physical footprint. I “pioneered” some wood working methods and leveraged my CAD skills and this is the result. It has no footprint because it is wall-mounted. It is essentially a shelf and then a shell that fits over top; the CP drops in to hold it all together. Which means if you can install a shelf, you have the skills and space to make one of these! You probably have the money too. MDF is cheap and the system runs on the very affordable Raspberry Pi 2. Here’s an abridged how to!

Step 1: Engineer.

Step 2: CnC the parts.

Step 3: Glue/screw everything together

Step 4: Bend MDF and balsa to complete the shell.

Step 5: Spray paint it.

Step 6: Wire stuff together and load the software and ROMs over the network.

Step 7: Wire the CP. The CP wires directly into the GPIO pins on the Rapsberry Pi 2!

Step 8: Play!

Step 9: Honeymoon (consult your state laws)!

For those wondering why the bezel isn’t “finished,” painting the bezel contextualizes the color palette of the games being played. It’s the reason all arcade bezels are black and art gallery walls are a neutral color. The lack of bezel is beautiful as is the overall design. It represents a tiny triumph of engineering: minimal money, minimal material, beautiful/minimal form, whole lot of function. Ultimately, a whole lot of fun!

Check out this upcoming Freebie Friday for MAME related software! Thanks!

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