I want to give a huge shout-out to a few people who made this project possible. First, thanks to Crafty from the Aussie Arcade website for selling me the gutted cocktail cabinet back in March 2009. It sat in Mitcham, Adelaide for a while until I figured out what to do with it, but then life happened. I moved back to New Zealand—shipping it 3,243 km from Adelaide to Auckland—and it has traveled another 200 km moving around the city since then.
A massive thank you goes to my mate Craig in Waiuku for his incredible help. He gave me space in his garage to work and contributed a ton of effort, including 3D printing the standoffs and clips for the LCD. Craig builds custom sim racing rigs (I’ve included pictures of his wireless steering wheel system below—all the buttons and screens work with no cables!).
I also want to thank Jaycar (Auckland and Adelaide), AliExpress, and KAR in East Tamaki, who cut and bent the control panels. We mocked up the controls using CAD (Cardboard Aided Design) before finalizing the metalwork.
The Rebuild: My goal was a complete restoration starting from the ground up (literally from the old gum stuck to the bottom!). I wanted to avoid drilling any new holes so the cabinet could eventually be returned to its original state. I’ve kept the original lid, control panel, and a box of spares.
Upgrades include:
Screen: 19-inch HP LCD.
Wiring: Complete rewire with tidy wiring sleeves.
Audio: New Jaycar speakers.
Controls: Two new control panels and buttons.
Ports: USB ports installed in the original keylock holes (a perfect fit!).
Coin Mech: An AliExpress unit (though I found the original in a box later). The coin reject button is currently wired to add credits.
Internals: 19-in-1 PCB and a spare power supply.
Finish: Sanded the cabinet, applied new wood-grain vinyl, and repainted the trim black to keep it looking as original as possible.
What’s Next: The cabinet currently resides in the garage in Waiuku. I still need to find a see-through top to keep the dust out, install a few parts that went missing during shipping, and fill the hole left by the coin bank. I also need to replace the legs—they are pretty ugly at the moment, definitely not as nice to look at as Daisy Duke’s!
Quick Links for Parts & Inspiration:
Electronic Components: Browse for speakers and parts at Jaycar Electronics.
Hardware & Mounting: Find 3D printing supplies or arcade spares on AliExpress.
Metal Fabrication: For custom panel cutting, contact KAR Precision in East Tamaki.
At this point the bill is around $600 , its like having a classic car with a late model engine fitted
Cabinet with a bag of spare
Sanding started and adding some fillers to holes more sanding
CAD Cardboard Added Design cardboard duct tape made a mock up of the contols love them
top to bottom new steel one CAD and the injected moulded ogrinal
wiring of 1 controller
2 controllers wired
Chassis tag
mock up of cabinet witring
90 % finished new vynal new top painted black controls in place
