I discovered MAME while me and my buddy Ceptor were trying to hack many PCB boards into one unit and not have to swap them out altogether (yes, we were/are lazy).  We eventually came across the MAME website and thought, what the hell!  So we subscribed to a download service (big mistake), and downloaded all the files over a 2 week period.  My first try was modifying an existing cab.  It was originally an Altered Beast, a nice but boring game.  The cabinet had been modified from something else to Altered Beast, but I could never figure out what it was.  After I got this cabinet about done, I convinced my wife to let me built a nicer cabinet from scratch (or at least try!).  It took me about 6-8 months of research to figure out exactly what I wanted to do, how to do it, and to get the parts.  Finally started to build it in January of 2003 with no regrets yet! You can read my general "How To", but many more have been written then what I have to offer.  Since I have it I'll offer it to you.