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Raspberry Pi arcade cabinets are now extremely common, so it takes something extra special to stand out from the crowd and maker JamHamster has taken the challenge with an extremely impressive custom Raspberry Pi-based arcade featuring an all metal sleek, well-finished design. This cabinet isn’t just fun to play with, it’s fun to look at and looks great in any room. Earlier this year, we covered JamHamster's ZX Spectrum PC cassette project, another labor of love.
I had to stick it on the spinny table. ☺️ pic.twitter.com/DuBMi2TSDSAugust 27, 2021
The project is designed to use a Raspberry Pi 3 B+ with a custom breakout board for controller input. Everything is housed inside a custom built case made with metal assets and complete with a smooth, orange vinyl wrap.
The unit weighs about one pound but doesn’t move much while being used thanks to its sticky feet. The joystick was even fitted with an 8mm ball bearing that had to be drilled in order to be screwed into place. Moving the joystick presses the momentary switches on the controller board, then some clever code converts the input to control the game. There are also holes for not just the custom made metal buttons but also headphones and a port for the screen to be connected. Around the back we also see three more buttons for start, select and a latching power switch. JamHamster also managed to turn a fail into a win, a badly measured headphone drill hole was converted into a 9 pin Atari controller input.
The best Raspberry Pi projects look great but don’t cost an arm and a leg. According to JamHamster, the cabinet required about $88 worth of materials—or £75 for those in the UK. Other than the Raspberry Pi, he needed a 100mm aluminum pipe as well as a 6mm plate which was bent to form the control panel and bezel for the screen. A complete breakdown of the machining and drilling process is documented on this Twitter thread.
This is one of the cleanest Raspberry Pi arcade cabinets we’ve ever come across. To take a closer look, check out JamHamster on Twitter and be sure to follow him for more beautiful creations.
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Ash Hill is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware with a wealth of experience in the hobby electronics, 3D printing and PCs. She manages the Pi projects of the month and much of our daily Raspberry Pi reporting while also finding the best coupons and deals on all tech.
