Choosing to build or buying used.
Well there are two schools of thought imposed here.  I myself muddled over building my own, as I am a bit handy although I have never built a cabinet.  There are a ton of really good sites out there that have dimensions for cabinets, but unfortunately, they seem to target the Defender Cabinet more than any other.  I don't particularly like that cabinet shape, so with that in mind, I decided that buying old one and refurbishing was more my style.  I decided on a few cabinets shapes that I would be happy with and set out looking for them.  I chose, Asteroids, Berzerk, Centipede or Robotron.  I based my decision on Control Panel size and Cabinet depth.  Very important to consider these dimensions as they will effect the amount of controls and the maximum size monitor you use.  Asteroids provides the best overall dimensions for Control Panel and Monitor size, Centipede being the smallest Control Panel. 

After a little shopping around I came across this old, beat-up Frenzy cabinet an arcade repair shop owner had in a garage.  Is was in fair shape, but I wasn't about to pass it up.  I looked at other places but the prices were way out of reach even for a damaged cabinet.  I got this one for $200.  Not a bargain by any means but I knew if I didn't take it, I wouldn't see another Berzerk/Frenzy machine again.  There weren't as many of these made as let's say Pac-Man or Galaxian, as they were not as popular.  So I coughed up the cash and took it home.  I told the proprietor of the Arcade store what my intentions were and he thought it was amazing.  I promised a picture of the cabinet when I finished it. Maybe he'll give me my money back or offer me a job.  HA!

Here's the before and after shots:   
frenzy.jpg (41258 bytes)  finished1.jpg (37770 bytes) frenzy3.jpg (35752 bytes)  finished2.jpg (38716 bytes)


Berzerk was a good choice of cabinet as it has a few very nice standard features.  First off, it's made of 3/4 plywood, which is a lot lighter than the flake board that most others are made of.  It stand 6 foot 3 inches at the peak and is 28 inches wide at the control panel.  It has a very classic look in shape and very smooth curves in design.  Unlike Defender, which is very straight and square in design.  The side panels are set in deep so two players can easily view the entire monitor without any blocking.  The monitor angle is shallow which is perfect for both style games like Robotron and Pac-Man.  It comes with a door in the front that Stern used for the "pull-out board" PCB maintenance access.  Perfect for the PC and Keyboard access as I didn't want to add a keyboard drawer.  My goal was to keep the cabinet as original as possible to the look of Berzerk.

 
cabinetdoor.jpg (45164 bytes)

The original cabinet offered a nice option, the ability to pull out the PCB setup from the door on the left.  If you were a technician, this was a huge advantage.  Although I did not intend to use the slide out panel in the door, I knew he access door would do very nicely for accessing the PC.  I had thought about mounting everything on the slide panel, but opted to remove it as I felt with kids in the house, this was the safer option. 

With the width of  the average Mini-Tower being about 7-8", mine fit it perfectly.  The keyboard on top and my modified Intellivision controllers in the front.

I placed the two db9 ports for the Intellivision controllers under the main panel.  Berzerk's control panel protrudes enough to allow this and hide them as well.  I drilled the holes, cleaned them up with my Dremel tool, and fed in the wiring.  Worked out nicely.		 ports.jpg (33273 bytes)