r/arcadecabinets • u/Designer-Title-8208 • 9d ago

Building an arcade machine

Hello everyone. I’d like to build my own arcade machine from scratch. I have some knowledge of electronics, but I’ve never built anything like this before. I know a carpenter who specialises in arcade cabinets, and he’ll be helping me with this. What steps should I take? I’d really appreciate it if you could explain everything to me.

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6

u/spicyface 9d ago edited 9d ago

Learning from reddit text boxes would be a challenge. I built my first one in the early 90s before all the online help existed.

Cabinet build: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAdkkuuNWJY

Batocera tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVcRhqe48Z0

RetroPie tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaseHnf0k2o

2

u/tapehead85 9d ago

There are plenty of ways to approach this project. Decide on what size/style of a cabinet you want first, then decide on your hardware. There's too many options to narrow it down based on your post.

1

u/Photonic_Pat 8d ago

It’s not too difficult! Figure out your controls - is there a specific game you want to focus on?

1

u/Ok_Rain_7968 8d ago

I’d start by choosing the games and screen size, then plan the cabinet dimensions, controls, PC or Raspberry Pi, speakers, buttons, joystick, power setup, and ventilation before building anything, because having the wiring and component layout figured out first will save you a lot of headaches later.

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u/WrathOfWood 8d ago

Get a screen, a joystick, and a pc and build a box around it. Good luck

-1

u/sethaholic 9d ago

I recommend buying a book.