These are the cabinet design and measuring pages

The control panel needs a cabinet to hold it off the floor :o)

Cabinet design

There are a number of sites available that have free downloads of cabinet plans. These are usually based on the "classic" cabinets like centipede. You can also buy "plans" from online sellers, but I am a little wary of people selling things that are freely available online, especially when most of the sellers haven't actually built a cabinet themselves. Below is a profile that I especially like (my cab's)

I suggest looking around online for cabinet plans, visiting an arcade, and drawing out your own designs on paper. Don't forget to draw to scale!

Width

You need to determine three things when deciding on a width for your cabinet:

• How wide does your control panel need to be; will it be wide enough for controls for one, two, or four players? Once you have designed your control panel, you're mostly done with this step.
• What is the narrowest space the cabinet will need to pass through to get to its final destination (this could be a door, stairway, etc.—don't unintentionally build a cabinet for your garage)
• How wide is your monitor (I failed to take this into account correctly and was forced to take the TV out of its plastic body to make it fit—learn from my mistakes!)

Height

There are several important height dimensions you need to account for:

• What is the lowest space the cabinet will need to pass through to get to its final destination (this could be a door, stairway, etc.—again, don't unintentionally build a cabinet for your garage)
• What is a comfortable height for the top of the control panel.
  
  

Depth

• If the cabinet will go up stairs to get to its eventual home, measure, measure, measure!
• Remember that larger TVs (21" and above) are usually deeper than they are wide. If you will be buying a TV or monitor, get outside dimensions from the manufacturer's Web site. If you're reusing something you already have, measure it.
  

Other considerations

Toe kick—if you will be standing at the cabinet, either step in the body under the control panel, or allow for a toe kick (an inset space where your feet can go). This eliminates the need to bend forward to reach the controls.

Coin door—if you want that "real arcade feel" and will be installing a coin door, make sure that the space on the front of the cabinet has room for the door. Visit an online retailer like Happs for dimensions

PC access—the heart of a MAME cabinet is a PC. Make sure that you plan a door in the back of the cabinet that will give you easy access to the PC for adding peripherals, checking connections, and other troubleshooting tasks.

Modular controls—some gamers like to play a lot of a particular type of game that require special controls. However, you may not want to have a steering wheel or Star Wars-type yoke in the middle of your control panel while playing Pacman or Centipede. There are several cabinet designs out there that allow you to "modularize" the control panel, either by creating a rotating design, or by making the panels easy to sway out. If this is something that you are interested in, plan ahead!

On to design internals .