How I Made My 3rd Bartop Arcade Machine, A Step by Step Process

This is my third arcade machine that I ever built and it is bigger and better than anything I previously built. This bar-top arcade is going to a friend as a thank you gift. I ordered a Pandora's Box 4S arcade kit that came with joystick buttons, a Pandora's Box 4s, power supply, speakers, speaker covers, amplifier, coin slot, jamma cable, and cabinet lock. The kit was about $150 dollars and was purchased on Aliexpress. The T-molding was about $15 from ebay. The monitor was given to me by my friend. The angle aluminum was $7 from Home Depot. The marquee acrylic panel, LED light strip, and back panel was sourced from my own stock of left over parts.

I'm most proud of the coin slots that are incorporated into the marquee panel. I got inspiration from the numerous cardboard coin sorter projects on Youtube and thought it would be a great idea to incorporate it into an arcade machine. The coin slots work using optical switches and a credit is registered when the optical switch is interrupted by the coin rolling through it. The chute will filter out coins that are of the wrong size so only quarters and larger will be registered as valid credits.

This video is a step by step process of how I built the arcade machine and is broken down into the following sections:
Introduction
Stage 1: Design
Stage 2: Drafting
Stage 3: Cutting
Stage 4: Mounting Blocks
Stage 5: Test Assembly
Stage 6: Mount Monitor
Stage 7: Make Holes
Stage 8: Routering
Stage 9: Painting
Stage 10: Assembly
Stage 11: T-Molding
Stage 12: Marquee Frame
Stage 13: Joy Buttons
Stage 14: Back Panel
Stage 15: Coin Slots
Stage 16: Wiring
Stage 17: Marquee Lighting
Final Stage: Play Testing

This project was started some time around June, it was finished around October after a long hiatus. The video took much longer to make as I had many things competing for my time but I'm happy that I was able to finish it. On to the next project!

[davelynch]

Very impressive. A couple unique features here that I have not seen before. The toggle switch to enable free play mode, and the coin slots in the marquee with the optical switches registering only quarters and above. Innovative. Well done.

[theblowupdollsmusic]

Very creative build! Thank you for taking tyhe time to show us your process.

[silverandblackentertainment]

the coin slots with cardboard was genius! nice work man!

[tonybrown]

Thanks means a lot there are a lot of hard work that goes in to your Bartops Would love to see more videos 🕹👊🙌

[ClbnaMusic]

I love the coin insert...it makes it authentic :) Great video

[cralxk]

What is the monitor angle? I don't see anybody mention this info. Thanks... Looks very nice.

[NeilHunter]

Awesome tutorial here. Did you have more details on how to setup the optical switch, wiring it, etc?

[miraclechild_]

very nice and unique build can you take us through a in dept tutorial on how to do the coin slot with a separate video so i can get a better understanding please

[tonybrown]

I love it I had a go at building my own .but it's not as awesome as yours haha 👾🕹👊

[StonyAcresEstate]

Great video, thanks! One question, how does the monitor "turn on"? I am doing a project that is similar, and I don't want to have the monitor power switch visible. Does your monitor automatically come on when power is applied?

[llewellyn]

that's so cool...a lot of mistakes from the company...i like the coin slots different to all other people...

[stephengiacobozzi]

how do you get to power button on Monirtor

[darrellflippojr]

Nothing wrong with your joystick you are trying to play a 4 way directional game with an 8-way jostick

[daninpeterborough]

Very nice video! Certainly not telling you what to do, spending the extra $30 for an actual Suzo Happ JAMMA harness can save some headaches :-) Nicely done! Did you have plans for the bartop or did you just come up with it?

[alubaldini]

whats the best option for a bartop? i own a pc with 320 gb 4 ram and core 2 duo and i own a rasberry pi 3

[gane]

If anyone knows of a vertical bar-top arcade kit then please let me know, thanks

[MrDevilwing]

can u please provide dimension of the cabinet !

[stephengiacobozzi]

my Monirtor S2031 HP say 20'' not 20'' 19''

[TLil]

Would you happen to have a link to the optical switches? That's a genius idea! I"m almost done building my first cabinet and I came across your video and would love to incorporate this idea!

[JoeCnNd]

I'm going to glue nickels together and I'm gonna bring those glued nickels to defeat your quarter slot.