Bartop Arcade Cabinet From Scrap and E-Waste

A minimalist MAME cabinet built mostly from scrap and recycled materials

valkyrie0528

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Description

This is my bartop MAME cabinet, scratch-built from common materials at very low cost. It's powered by an old Dell Inspiron all-in-one PC running Pegasus Frontend via Linux Mint. 

Controls are interfaced by an Xbox360 gamepad hack, and audio is handled by Logitech amplified desktop speakers. Joystick and buttons are IL-knockoffs originally sourced from Microcenter. Cabinet system devices are controlled by relay to respect the power state of the PC. 

The cabinet was designed to be as compact and portable as possible within the size constraints posed by the hardware and monitor. It is constructed of scrap plywood and finished with vinyl laminate, pvc edge trim, and masked/painted acrylic sheet overlays. The control panel is built to allow for easy panel swaps for different control options.

This was a really fun project to put together and complete, offering lots of fun little engineering challenges. It's proven to be popular at parties and a lot of fun to play.

Details

This machine was built to allow for interchangeable control panels, and the first alternate panel made was a keyboard+HID interface so that the machine can also be used as a retro-terminal and retro-computer emulator.

You can see the 'terminal' interface panel here

Discussions

Sam wrote 06/10/2025 at 16:09

Absolutely beautiful, well done!

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valkyrie0528 wrote 06/11/2025 at 07:18

Thanks, kindly!

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soni wrote 05/21/2025 at 18:48

this keyboard is replacable?

I can use yoistick or keyboard in this same device? (flip the board?)

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valkyrie0528 wrote 05/22/2025 at 03:19

The joystick and keyboard panels are two separate control panels which are interchangeable; both connect to the cabinet internally via USB. It does not have a flip/rotate mechanism - you just install the panel you want to use as necessary. See link above to the project page for the keyboard control panel.

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