Most of you remember my retro game collection, I have also been interested in building a arcade of sorts. Decided on building a bartop arcade as they are smaller and since I have limited space in my apartment went with that. Had a CNC guy do all the cutting on 1/2" black melamine board and use a 2 player design. I saw there was a few people interested in building one so here is my design feel free to ask any questions as I have put a bit of time into it thus far.
Each player will have 6 buttons that can be used for various games, the front end or arcade platform that I will use is Hyperspin. I can add tons of systems to it that can be played on this. It will house a mini-itx board, hard drives and power supply. The buttons I plan on using RGB programmable color buttons that can interface and only light up certain buttons for whatever game I am playing at the time. As of right now I have about 30 different systems ranging from Atari all the way though gamecube. Most can be played with the buttons but also can use a bluetooth controller such as a PS3 controller. Total hard drive space is 3TB but if i plan on adding PS1 and 2 games i will need a bigger drive.
Still need to get a lot of the parts like a 23" monitor and buttons but its really not that expensive all together.
The edges of the melamine will have T-molding to cover up and the marquee I will design and be backlighted like a real arcade
Hyperspin front end
http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/content.php
Pics
Glueing the pieces together
http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w264/justinwebb24/IMG_0049_zpsf8cb1d72.jpg
Finished drying- the control panel is removable for wiring and adding stuff
http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w264/justinwebb24/IMG_0104_zpsc49d1cf5.jpg
http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w264/justinwebb24/IMG_0103_zps7e4401ed.jpg
http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w264/justinwebb24/IMG_0105_zps4b9d39d3.jpg
The back just held in place, I will attach a hinge so I can access the PC components
http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w264/justinwebb24/IMG_0108_zps34d92d6f.jpg