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I toyed with the idea of using an original arcade monitor, using Brian Lewis's ArcadeOS front end to sync the graphic card to the correct frequency and resolution. However I still wanted to use other emulators and win-doze software so I decided to use a standard SVGA PC monitor. The cabinet would originally have housed a 14" VGA monitor but I'm using a 15" digital SVGA. It has 6 factory modes and 9 user modes so the display fills the screen most of the time without readjustment. On vertical orientation games the display is stretched all the way to the top and bottom of screen. I like to get as much image on screen as possible - why pay for a 15 inch and use 12 ?! :)
Unfortunately the monitor was a little long ( 1/2" !) for the cabinet. I didn't want to remove the back cover (safety first!) so I made a small modification to the back to get the monitor inside. (picture here). As you can see there is very little to give away that it has been modified. To keep it from moving in the cabinet I used two pieces of 2" x 2" planed timber. These are positioned top and bottom of the rear monitor case, the bottom one being screwed to the left and right hand side of the cabinet. Then I used metal studding to bolt then together, so acting as a large clamp. Lateral movement at the front was dampened by foam insulation either side of the case. Once held in position the monitor will not move even under the most intense gaming circumstances! Using this method it can be easily removed by loosening four hexagonal nuts accessed from front top rear and pulled forward and away from the cabinet.
You can also notice the black insulation tape used to mask off the screen casing. This is superb as you can mask right up to the screen edges and will stretch to almost any contour, also it's a nice matt black so no reflective shine. I didn't want to paint the monitor as spray paint tends to go every where and I may want to use/sell it at a later date.
Bezel
The monitor bezel is made from matt black card, the type used for picture frame backing. To get the right measurements for the aperture I first traced the monitor screen with masking tape stuck to the outer cabinet glass. Then by taking the glass away and measuring the side and top distances to the tape it gave me the cut-out measurements to the correct size.
The marquee aperture at the top was also produced in the same way. The image was printed on photo paper at 1440 x 720 dpi and back lit with a strip light. I tried a fluorescent light but being only a few inches from the monitor I got too much interference.
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