So as expected, I did some work on the cabinet this weekend. I don’t have any pictures on me to update the MAME page but I did make some major headway.
First off, since I had all of the electronics stripped out of it, I figured I would try and mount a 17″ monitor inside the cabinet to see how it would look. Turns out, it fits ok with the casing still on so I thought I’d try and take the back off and mount it without the case and it fit perfectly, but left a little bit too much room on either side for my liking. SO. Thanks to FutureShop.Ca, I bought a 19″ refurb monitor for under $200 and the shipping was free. I’ll test it when it arrives and if it works well, I’ll keep it and mount it directly into the box as I think I should be able to reuse the existing mounting screws and brackets for it. Otherwise, I’ll take the monitor into FS here and return it.
I also worked on the coin door a bit. I wanted to be able to fix it so it would accept all kinds of change instead of just quarters. The validators are too old to be able to accept loonies and twonies but I was able to rig it so it will take all other change and not just quarters. I took a piece of the validator out and jammed and nickel and a dime in a specific spot, which makes all coins now go down to where it hits the switch, giving the player a credit. Nice little piggy bank!
I also managed to basically figure out how I could reuse the existing control panel with my controls. I took all of the old ones out and found extra holes so I think I’ll be able to get everything I want, minus the 4 computer buttons, on the control panel, and I’ll drill 4 holes in the front for the pc holes I need (to control the computer part). It looks like this is going to be a hell of a lot easier than I originall suspected. There’s a few things that need to be done but everything is going along well. YIPEE!