MAME Arcade Machine

Here's another project I'm working on.  A year ago or so, my brother mentioned something that sounded interesting.  He was thinking of making a game cabinet to hook up an old gaming system and controls he had so that it would be like an arcade machine.  I got to thinking about it and thought it would be cool to set up something with all the old arcade games that I played as a kid.  Turns out people are already doing that with arcade machine emulators.  Ive set up an old PC to be the emulator and purchased an old arcade machine for $65.

Here's the cabinet:

Interesting thing is that it works just fine.  I plan to gut it and put the pc, monitor and controls in to it.

Here's the inside:

Even found a few bucks and tokens inside it!

Here's the PC:

Rear Projection TV

About two weeks ago, I bought a 55" Philips rear projection TV (DPTV340) off Craigslist.  The idea here is that I can drop $100 bucks on an older TV but can't drop $900 on the projector I ultimately want to get for my basement.  The snow is flying and the kids are inside most of the time now.  This, along with the other games I've collected over the last few months, should keep us well entertained during the winter.

When I got the TV, there was a blue shadow around everything on the picture.  In addition, it was very dim.  A little research told me that this type of TV has coolant as an optical coupler between the CRT and projection lens.  Apparently, it's common for that coolant to get cloudy and need changed.  I went to a local electronics store and picked up some coolant for around $25 and went to work.  After cleaning everything up and changing the coolant, it looks like a new TV.  Not bad for $125...

The coolant should be completely clear.  You can see what the old coolant looked like from the green and blue lenses.  The red one was fairly clear.  In fact, I needed to reuse some of it.

After cleaning out the coolant area.  The white area is the face of the CRTs.

Ultra Shuffle Alley

I'm done for now. The machine is now all together.  I had to spend an evening adjusting contacts but now have it running as it should.  I spent a little time getting the pins cleaned up as a final step.

We were able to play it over the long Thanksgiving weekend. It's a great feeling to have the project done!

Ultra Shuffle Alley

I've got the coin box all put together and mounted now.  The pics...

Ultra Shuffle Alley

I painted up the metal last night.  Everything looks good.  I was able to get the legs installed as well.  It will take a while to get all of the components back in to the coin box.

Here are a couple of photos...

Ultra Shuffle Alley

My buddy did an outstanding job of sandblasting the metal parts for the bowling game.  I plan to get them painted up in the next few days.

The pictures...

DIY Knives

One more time...  After seeing the sheath for my knife, my son wanted to make one for his.  We spent about an hour last night making one together.  In addition, I modified mine to make the belt loop larger.  Here are the pictures...

DIY Knives

After the knife was all glued up and set, I decided to make a sheath for it.  Here are some photos of the finished project...

DIY Knives

I had a crummy week so it's back to tinkering in the basement for therapy.  I started back on the knives since my mandolin is out getting a new nut made for it.  Here's the latest...

I've got it all glued up at this point.  Can't wait to see how it sets up.  I'll do a little buffing on it tomorrow.  A good sharpening and it'll be all done.

I've got a couple others waiting in the wings.  One is another antler knife and the final one will be birch bark.  Here's what they look like so far...