Scrap Yard Mame Project: Entry #1

For a long time I have wanted an Arcade Cabinet, but not only are they too expensive, they take up more room than I have free, after looking into mini arcade cabinets the price factor was still fairly high with people reporting prices of $500 - $900+, so an idea hit me, why not try to build one with nothing but recycled parts, as so I have set up a small challenge as my next project, a "Scrap Yard Mame Cabinet", it will most likely take awhile to complete as I have no idea when I will find resources, but these are the rules I have set myself.

My Pixel art is awesome! Roughest mockup, EVER.

Scrap Yard Mame Cabinet Challenge Rules
. All construction material must be found in the wild
If you hunt around on hard rubbish collection days there is a massive amount of wood out there for the takings, not to mention half finished tins of paint and other things that can be recycled for use on the cab.

.Electrical components must be found in the wild / free
Again there are heaps of old computers that people put in there hard rubbish for collection that can be reused for the guts of your arcade cab, you don't need much power for a mame computer, so be on the lookout. People through out CRT screens all the time!

.Things that can be purchased
While most of the things people can pay up to $500+ for in a mame arcade cab can be found in the wild at the nice price of $0, some things such as the buttons and joystick generally can not so for that purpose the following items cam be purchased.

. Arcade controls
. Screws, glue, other construction needs
. Perspex for the screen, though if free options are available, I will use them
. Items for finishing touches (While the cab may be completed I may wish to buy some decals, etc to give it that 'arcade' feel

At the moment I have an AMD 64 rig with 1.5gb of mismatched DDR ram which I have got from random computers being thrown away as hard rubbish and at TAFE as well as a 7600GT is from a random old rig, I don't remember ow I came into its possession, but it didn't cost me a penny. I do not have a case, but this is fine for what I am after as it will be smaller and have better air flow. I also have a 40GB SATA drive that was being thrown out (It was in an unopened static bag) in someones hard rubbish, I am yet to test the set up, as I don't have a power button, but I will bridge the connection and test everything sometime soon.

So far I have collected most of the 'guts' for my cab.

Keep an eye out for updates on the project, but keep in mind it will take quite a long time to not only build and put together, but to gather resources, so lets find out just how cheaply someone can make a Table Top Arcade Cabinet.

Stay Retro!