Good god.  I wish I could make one.

On one hand, that cabinet is awesome and this guy deserves tons of praise.

On the other hand, you can get an ITG2 dedicab for approx. 10k. This guy says that he spent 5k and hundreds of hours making it. If this guy works a job that pays him more than 24 dollars an hour (assuming that when he said "hundreds of hours making it" he meant two hundred hours, which is conservative, and assuming that he values his time the same way that his employer does,) this cabinet actually cost him MORE to make than it would have cost him to buy a dedicab - so I wouldn't suggest that anyone here gets any ideas. This would be great project for fun, and I get the impression that that's why this guy was doing it - for fun; it's simply not a cost effective alternative to buying a machine.

Yeah......second of all. Dedicabs are basically impossible at this point to buy anymore.

I've been pm'ing the guy on youtube. He did it because he wanted. He doesn't care what anyone thinks. He loves his machine. I love it. Everyone loves it.

I dunno when the last time you looked at the job market was, but almost nowhere will pay you over 24/hr without a degree and experience in something useful (or just extensive experience or a REALLY lucky connection). And frankly building an ITG machine at your own pace would probably be a hell of a lot more fun than said job. Shit, I want to make one, and just for my personal home use I bet I could get the cost down to 2-3k... Would be epic

I remember when this guy posted his machine on DDRFreak a few months ago. I would've posted it here if I had known there would be such a WOW factor from people other than myself.

It's definitely a kick ass custom cab. I love how nice his pads look, and that's usually the most important part for a player. I would just get a used DDR cab and mod the hell out of it, but I can understand the "fun" in making something yourself. I'm always building model kits and constructing things that, for a few bucks more I can buy pre-painted, or pre-constructed. It's just not as fun or not worth having if I can't say I did it myself.

I'm not saying that this guy shouldn't have built the machine - I think it's awesome, and it's great for him because it was a personal project! I'm just saying that it doesn't necessarily save money to build one, so other people shouldn't get any ideas about it being a COST EFFECTIVE alternative. If you have the money and want to build one for fun, that's great and I think you're way cooler than me.

As for the job market... I think that people with college degrees greatly outnumber those who don't have college degrees on this site, so I don't take back what I said, exactly, but I see your point, Allan.

I so want to rant about my profession right now, but I'll try to keep it in. All I want to say is this; If any of you ever have spawn, I suggest you encourage them not to get a degree in architecture.

I've heard that it can be brutal! You have a Master's though, right? A friend told me that being an Architect with a Master's is a LOT easier than just getting your Bachelor's.

I'll admit, though - life sucks, and sometimes the hardest jobs have the lowest payoff. I thought about being a teacher for a little while, but then I learned that teaching at a High School wouldn't actually pay me any more than I was making as an Administrative Assistant, AND would require me to have certification (as well as a BA) - I got my Administrative Assistant job after graduating with a general AA and proving that I could type. Teaching is a challenging job! By the same token, we all know the joke about how High School guidance counselors are useless, but (and keep in mind, this is after a BA and a Master's in Psych or Counseling) they make 50-60 a year plus benefits. That's 20-30k a year more than a teacher...

A little healthy ranting is good every now and then.

not good news for future spouses either.

Howdy peeps...

So I looked at my 'insight' information on the YouTube vid, and noticed people from here visited, so I thought I'd come see what was said

So, first off thanks for all the comments =)

Secondly... was it 'cost effective' that's debatable...

However, part of my logic was this...

Ok, lets say I do FIND a ITG dedicab... it's prolly 4 years old or so now... and decently played...

1) I could very well possibly need new sensors...  so at least 150 bucks there...
2) How's the screen? after 4 years? might be kinda shot... Oh and it's not HD... 200 for a new Tube screen... or switch it over to HD... and pay 600 (that I paid for mine anyway)
3) The panels could be worn down and I'd need to get new panels... (75 each from official channels) soo... 600
4) Decals prolly are shot from 4 years of play... and well, If I wanted to switch it to the ITG 3 Themeing... i'd need to buy all new decals anyway... (so there is eh, 600 bucks?)
5) Computer in there won't run HD, so I'd need to get a new computer anyway if I got the new HD screen...

So there could still be quite a bit of things to do / buy on top of that cabinet price...

Also, my cabinet has all LED lighting (minus the speaker tubes), 32" LCD HD display, full custom ITG 3 theme, nice Sony dual 1200 Watt Max Sub system, nice sony speakers... etc, etc...

This cabinet has a lot more than an actual cabinet has... AND hasn't been though several years of 'abuse' and beating...  Yes, arcade machines are designed to take that... however, it still wears them down... (The place I used to work would get 3000 plays on our DDR machine a month, easily...) and we had two of em...

But anywho... I enjoy building things... I actually built my bathroom / bedroom / living room in the basement suite I live in...

http://gallery.me.com/babramic#100043
(Ooooh bathroom)

However, on another note... if I was to build another... I could get the cost down... MAYBE to 3K, but that might be pushing it... I'd have to do some number crunching. But might be possible... 4K would prolly be more dead on. *shrugs* Depends how nice you wanted it to look lol!

Also a side note... if we all wanted "Cost Effective" we'd be running around the block, not stepping on arrow panels for exercise *laughs*

(FYI, please don't take my comments as an attack on you Laura... I do understand your point... and you are right in some aspects... Just depends what you're looking for. I choose experience / quality over money... where as some people money is more important than quality / experience...) I had one person tell me I was stupid to build it... (says the guy who spends hundreds of dollars on medieval equipment, armour, etc.) I don't think he's stupid for spending money on that... We all have different hobbies, and interests... and this was mine... But, the difference in opinion and ideas can be interesting sometimes =[D}

I'm just so awed by how simple the idea is, how few major components there are to building one of these.

I'm also really stunned by the price of all the damn stuff you'll need to get to make this. I intend on working on my own, as a personal goal in my HS life.