oreo's first cab

[oreo632]

Ok,

First of all, all of you guys on this forum are so helpful and insightful. Thank you ahead of time for all of your help.

So I have been following many posts on this forum about byoac and decided to give it a try. I've been at it now for almost a month and have spent lots of blood and sweat already on my cab.     Last night I shed some tears. That's stories to come. I decided to name my arcade "Twisted X" because I am utilizing my original xbox (that already has mame and emus on it) in the cabinet. Two weeks ago I purchase the cabinet from a scandia about an hour away. It was originally a four player midway style cab. Now comes the sad part...


The guy I bought the cab from told me that it had originally had a 25 inch screen monitor in it but that it could fit a 27". So this week, I went out and bought a beautiful crt 27 inch rca tv w/ auto power on and channel memory. My buddy and I spent the entire last night trying to cram that   in the cabinet. Finally after removing all of the braces inside it fit only to find out that the tube and chassis would either be protruding out the back of the cab or the screen would be up too far in the front. Meaning I would have to do some serious modifications to the cab for the plexi or bezel to fit. The screen was supposed to be angled and that was the problem and the reason why it was obviously too big for the cabinet. Frankly I should have never listened to the tool I bought the cabinet from. Now I am stuck with a 27 in screen crt tv that I have no use for.

Thought about removing chassis and just using the monitor, but I question if it would still be too big for the cabinet. And I frankly don't like playing with that many volts (someone on here said "I choose life  "

Since money has been the biggest set back for my project, I have accomplished the cheaper parts the marquee I designed myself, and installed the sound myself. My goal is to have the arcade be laid out as a two player each player will have three joysticks, two analog, one digital and 10 buttons one button implemented on top of two of the joysticks. That's why I needed the cabinet a four play cp for the extra space. Sorry about the  .  Last night sucked. Feel free to let me know what you guys think so far of the cabinet. The white cp is just paper that I laid out underneath the plex so I could use a dry erase pen  to experiment with various button layouts. I have a longs ways to go....

Thanks,
-J

[oreo632]

Update:

I have a 19 inch flat screen tv that  I know will fit in the cab, it's just a little depressing going from what I thought would be 27inch  to a 19 inch.  Anywho, obviously from the pics you can tell I am going to need to build a new frame surrounding in the cab that will fit the smaller tv. I'd also like to use this cab as kind of a shooter. I don't know if that will still work with the tv being tilted or not. 

 HarumaN is in the process of building me a controller hack. Once I have the controller hack, my friend and I are going to purchase  a seimistu LS-64 analog stick (10k pot) and a couple of hollow shafts to implement together. First thing first we are going to solder the joystick in place of the toggles on the xbox controller. (pics will be coming when this happens...) I am going to switch the standard balls to bats for the two four analog sticks. I believe that it will give handling games like halo, fifa, black (any of those xbox games) better controlling on the arcade. I am also thinking it will be able to add a smaller push button on top of them. Those smaller button on top of the joysticks will be for shooting or zooming in in halo. We'll see how it goes. I'll post pics as soon as I  the joystick, hack pad, and frame set up. The frame will probably be done first so pics of that will be coming.

[BadMouth]

Let the tube hang out the back and stick the cab in a corner.
Build a little bump-out on the cab for it or just hack up the original shell and use that.

Been waiting for someone to do an analogue joystick gamepad hack!

I didn't know that seimistu joystick existed....definitely got me thinking.

[oreo632]

Let the tube hang out the back and stick the cab in a corner.
Build a little bump-out on the cab for it or just hack up the original shell and use that.

Been waiting for someone to do an analogue joystick gamepad hack!

I didn't know that seimistu joystick existed....definitely got me thinking.

Thanks for the advice man! The only thing about have the back of the tv stick is how common is that for people to do? I haven't seen someone have half their tv sticking out the back. Wouldn't that look a little tacky? I dunno. If other people on here do that than I might. What I am thinking about doing is the other thing that you mentioned was build an enclosure on the backside of the cab to fit the tv or just add on to the back of the cab completely. We'll see. I don't know how difficult either of those would be.

As for the analog stick, yeah I was very happy to find it. I was not so happy to see the price. The size of the joystick from what I understand is colossal. Here's a link to the stick I am talking about. Remember, after I make sure that it works THAN I need to buy another 3 of them. That's getting close to 300 bucks alone!!


Here's the website I am looking at, there is also a video on youtube that shows this stick:

http://www.arcadeshop.de/Joysticks-LS-64-Analog-Stick_718.html?osCsid=c704988ab977701660be5a4acf6f2df2

[oreo632]

I did some measuring and even if I wanted to place the 27 incher vertically not angled about a third of the screen would be covered by the cp.      Just not my week. So that tv is now on B/S/T All is not lost though, I got my speaker covers in the mail and I know that my amp for my speakers is on its way as well. My wife suggested just getting an LCD. Any one have any thoughts on this?  I know I am going to miss out on the original kinda looking feel that the crt TVs provide. That being said my goal is to not only play mame emus but to also play xbox games on it as well.

My last concern is about the topgun since it's the only LCD light gun I saw for the Xbox. I have read mixed reviews about the topgun. Some reviews sounded more like they were user malfunction (not able to setup calibration) others sounded like it just didn't work.



Any input on LCD screens versus CRT or the Topgun is appreciated.
Thanks.

[Malenko]

you shur it wont fit? I put a 32" tube in a midway cab vertically and it fit, just barely, but it does need de-cased.  27" TV should fit int here fine the depth is the same as a 25" monitor tube

[Turbo Biscuit]

There's nothing wrong with settling with the easier to manage (and cheaper) LCD.  I finished my cab back in June and used a 3:4 19 Inch monitor.  I got two of them (One for a future build) for $50.  It's cheaper, lighter, and just easier to mount ( Had to haul it up 3 flights of stairs, so lighter was better  ).  My shell looks to be the exact same one you're starting with too.  When you're standing there right in front of it, 19 Inches is plenty of screen for the 4 players on my machine.  The only downside is that most 3:4 19inches are older and don't have a very wide viewing angle.  If kids will be playing, a high stool would remedy this. 

To mount the 19inch monitor, I used 2 little 1x2 slats that go vertically across the monitor hole, and just screwed the back of the monitor into them.  For a bezel, a large piece of Black Mattboard looks fantastic.  You can always print out something to lay over the bezel.  I had the original glass, but some plexiglass looks great too.

[oreo632]

you shur it wont fit? I put a 32" tube in a midway cab vertically and it fit, just barely, but it does need de-cased.  27" TV should fit int here fine the depth is the same as a 25" monitor tube

Malenko - Thanks for the thought and I did consider going this route. I did want to use the TV again for future use outside of an arcade possibly. That and the voltage makes me a little nervous, and I used to be an electrician, go figure      That was great info for the 25 inch monitor you mentioned. I didn't know that the depth was the same size. So you did answer a problem that would have came up had I bought another tv. Big 1 up for that. I don't think I could have taken buying another CRT TV for no use. 

Looks like I will be going with what Turbo biscuit said

There's nothing wrong with settling with the easier to manage (and cheaper) LCD.  I finished my cab back in June and used a 3:4 19 Inch monitor.  I got two of them (One for a future build) for $50.  It's cheaper, lighter, and just easier to mount ( Had to haul it up 3 flights of stairs, so lighter was better  ).  My shell looks to be the exact same one you're starting with too.  When you're standing there right in front of it, 19 Inches is plenty of screen for the 4 players on my machine.  The only downside is that most 3:4 19inches are older and don't have a very wide viewing angle.  If kids will be playing, a high stool would remedy this. 

To mount the 19inch monitor, I used 2 little 1x2 slats that go vertically across the monitor hole, and just screwed the back of the monitor into them.  For a bezel, a large piece of Black Mattboard looks fantastic.  You can always print out something to lay over the bezel.  I had the original glass, but some plexiglass looks great too.

Turbo - +1  and thanks for the advice. I am definitely going with something similar and sticking to an LCD screen. Might go with 22" or 24" and mount as far back in the cab as I can. Great tip for the mattboard. I might use that as well as some black Formica I have left over for the interior walls. Thankfully I already have plexi that came with the cab and I will simply cut that to size.

All I need to do is save up the cash for the screen now.

Thanks again guys!

[BurgerKingDiamond]

Do you know what it will look like on an LCD? Some people don't seem to mind, but personally I really prefer the authenticity of a CRT over a LCD screen, even if it's just a TV through S-Video. The difference is the most apparent on the older games which have very simple graphics. The pixels look super blocky and rectangular on a LCD. Just a thought. It may not bother you.

[gazz292]

you do know that going for anything bigger than 21 inches in an lcd means you will have a widescreen??? and if using an lcd in the first place wasnt bad enough, using a widescreen one is just evil

you can get CRT tv's for almost nothing nowadays, everyone wants an lcd screen, so picking up a 25 inch 4:3 crt tv shouldent be that hard,

not sure about the angled screen and shooters tho, i read it wasnt good so when i chose my cabinet, i went for the upright screen version (i'm using a golden tee cabinet, they come in 3 different sizes and 2 screen angles, so it took me a little while to find the maxi cab with the upright screen, but it was worth it as i want to play shooters on my cab when i get round to finishing it)

[Donkbaca]

Yeah, why don't you look for a 25" tv?

I am also a little concerned about your cp that is a LOT of joysticks an buttons going on for a 2p CP.   I understand that you want to play xbox games on it too, but I'd it worth it to drop 300+ dollars just to play xbox games with joysticks? 

[oreo632]

Do you know what it will look like on an LCD? Some people don't seem to mind, but personally I really prefer the authenticity of a CRT over a LCD screen, even if it's just a TV through S-Video. The difference is the most apparent on the older games which have very simple graphics. The pixels look super blocky and rectangular on a LCD. Just a thought. It may not bother you.

you do know that going for anything bigger than 21 inches in an lcd means you will have a widescreen??? and if using an lcd in the first place wasnt bad enough, using a widescreen one is just evil

you can get CRT tv's for almost nothing nowadays, everyone wants an lcd screen, so picking up a 25 inch 4:3 crt tv shouldent be that hard,

not sure about the angled screen and shooters tho, i read it wasnt good so when i chose my cabinet, i went for the upright screen version (i'm using a golden tee cabinet, they come in 3 different sizes and 2 screen angles, so it took me a little while to find the maxi cab with the upright screen, but it was worth it as i want to play shooters on my cab when i get round to finishing it)

You make a very good argument for CRT screens. I mean they are cheaper, I won't have to deal with top gun issues I've heard (yeay), and both old and new games will look fine on it. The only downside I am seeing to this is having to do some woodwork which isn't that big of a deal. Back to the CRT choice I am. Next time I will have a lot more to consider when I am getting a new cab for my next project. Thanks guys  

Yeah, why don't you look for a 25" tv?

I am also a little concerned about your cp that is a LOT of joysticks an buttons going on for a 2p CP.   I understand that you want to play xbox games on it too, but I'd it worth it to drop 300+ dollars just to play xbox games with joysticks?  

I'm surprised I didn't here this earlier. No need for concern mate, I am almost done with the layout for the control panel, and no it doesn't look like frankenpanel!  The majority of the work for the xbox game will be from the two analog controllers. Remember I am trying something here I haven't seen yet-adding a button on top of the analog sticks for shooting, zooming, etc. I am confident it can be done my main concern is actually whether or not the LS-64 will replace the xbox toggle easy enough and still be functional. We'll see.

As for the money, someone else replied to a different post of mine and said "anything on here that hasn't been done yet is going to cost a lot." I took your thought into consideration before I even consider this endeavor but thanks. I mean Rome wasn't built in a day and neither will my cab.   If your curious about the layout of the buttons I can try to explain.

The primary xbox buttons on the cp will be in the same fashion as they were on the controller. I'm even gonna have them light up for their corresponding color using Ond's light button mod for each one. Anyways so that is for buttons in the shape of a diamond, the L R and Black and White buttons will be in the same shape just above the primary buttons I previously mentioned.  :blah:Wow that a mouthful, I'll add a pic from ms paint. I don't own any cad so please don't make fun of the not so great art. It's late and I'm tired.

Feel free to comment on your thoughts on the cp layout. The pic I am posting is just one player and I drew this up very quickly and sloppily (is that a word?).

Thanks again for all of your feed back guys.  :cheers:And I'll be expecting an argument for why to buy LCD tomorrow.

[Malenko]

thats a pretty terrible lay out, no offense. why no go:

(B)(Y)(RB)(RT)
(A)(X)(LB)(LT)

back/guide/start at the top

[Donkbaca]

I think its a little confusing having 3 joysticks next to each other like that, and then the two clusters of 4 buttons.  Do you really need 3 joysticks?  Can't you get away with 2?

I would also just move the buttons so that they are in a row, it would make things simpler. 

I am just a big stickler for keeping things intuitive and easy to use, but hey, its your cab!  If you like it then go for it!  I am just giving you opinion about what I would think if you asked me to come over and do some gaming with you on your cab

good luck!  Please keep us posted with your progress!

[Seith]

What about putting the 27" down in the base of the cab pointing straight up at a mirror that is angled toward the player?  The bottom half of that cab is plenty deep and wide and should have no trouble holding that TV.  Then all you have to do is reverse your video output so that everything on the TV shows backwards and you're golden.  Not to mention it would give a really cool "field of depth" feeling to the cab.

[oreo632]

I think its a little confusing having 3 joysticks next to each other like that, and then the two clusters of 4 buttons.  Do you really need 3 joysticks?  Can't you get away with 2?

I would also just move the buttons so that they are in a row, it would make things simpler. 

I am just a big stickler for keeping things intuitive and easy to use, but hey, its your cab!  If you like it then go for it!  I am just giving you opinion about what I would think if you asked me to come over and do some gaming with you on your cab

good luck!  Please keep us posted with your progress!

Sorry it took so long getting back to you guys, had to work. Anyways, yes I do have to have three sticks in order to play both xbox games and mame or emus. You see the emus and mame require a digital stick which will be the middle one. This one I am going to have recessed a bit more and up a little further on the board so as not to get in the way of the other two analog sticks. When I get the board a little more setup and have the cash, , I will post what it will look like. Honestly it still will be quite user friendly unless someone's drunk....

thats a pretty terrible lay out, no offense. why no go:

(B)(Y)(RB)(RT)
(A)(X)(LB)(LT)

back/guide/start at the top

I'm halfway there with you on this Malenko, , only thing is I am trying to gear the button layout more toward the layout of an Xbox controller. That's why I had the primary buttons in a diamond shape. I am also running into a space issue. On slagcoin, they suggest that there is at least 8 or 10 inches between the last 1 player button and the beginning of the 2 player joystick. IF I have it setup like this than I am at about 9inches so we're  good. The other thought though is having the four buttons curve like they show here only with a lot more curve to it:
http://www.slagcoin.com/joystick/layout/inclines36.png

If I were to run it like this the space drops from 9 inches to like 6.5 or 7. That's pretty tight. I am still playing with the button layout a bit but yes the start and select buttons will be on top. I've personally never liked having all four buttons straight across like that. It always left my pinky with a lot of work. And I have big hands (big gloves I know....).

What about putting the 27" down in the base of the cab pointing straight up at a mirror that is angled toward the player?  The bottom half of that cab is plenty deep and wide and should have no trouble holding that TV.  Then all you have to do is reverse your video output so that everything on the TV shows backwards and you're golden.  Not to mention it would give a really cool "field of depth" feeling to the cab.

I really like that idea, and I might try to do that for my next cab. Only thing is I couldn't use the light guns then.  However that idea is great, I even googled around for a tut on how to reverse that but couldn't find anything. Do you know where I could find a tut on how to do that. Anyways for the time being I have a 19" here that is a crt flat screen that I am going to throw in there for the time being. If a 25" lands in my lap then I will swap them out. I've been using the 19" for years now from about 15feet away and have had no issues seeing anything. I'm content with having the 19inch for now especially considering the fact that I will be closer to the screen. Thanks again and will keep you posted. You guys are all great!
 






 

[drventure]

You see the emus and mame require a digital stick which will be the middle one.

I'm not sure I follow.

Have you checked out the u360 from Ultimarc?

You could use a U360, which is a digital USB stick. Would that not work with xbox stuff?

and if it doesn't, Mame can use a standard 8way or 4way just as well as it can use a u360.

Or does the xbox require something particular that can't be integrated into mame?

[oreo632]

Hey there Doc,


I actually did look at these and yes on a computer they would work awesome. I probably could integrated them into the xbox I just feel like I would be opening another can of worms. Running an older version of linux on the xbox would be the only way to set up this stick. And I'm not to familiar with it. The other thing is I know there are tuts on how to create other usb ports on the xbox on the web, but I would need to add 4 extra ports in order to run the xbox games. I don't think the hardware in the xbox could handle that extra load. However that was a good idea, thanks a lot.

A little update, someone is looking at my tv this week who is also making an arcade and hadn't heard about BYOAC. I told him how awesome everyone here was and now he is probably going to join. Anyways, the cash I get from the TV should provide me with enough cash to buy the LS-64. Then all that is needed is some solder and we'll see what happens. If it works, I'll post a video of it in action, but we'll see.

Here's something else bouncing around in my head. Once I buy the hollow shafts for the joystick and drill a small hole on top of the bat, how should I mount the micro switch to the bottom of the joystick? My intent is to run something stiff and non conductive through the hollow shaft and have it be long enough for a button the be put on top of the bat. This long thin piece would touch or connect to the micro switch which will be mounted to the bottom for the joystick. I was thinking maybe one of those red dixie coffee stirrer straws? Does this idea make any sense to you guys? This would allow a button to be pushed on top of the joystick. Maybe epoxy to mount the micro switch?

[oreo632]

Ok so a lot has come so far in recreating this cab. I'm wondering if I should call this a conversion cab?   You'll soon see why.. The cab was originally a midway cab of some sort with a tilted screen, but I have now put in my old 19 inch CRT and converted the cab to be an upright. That way the upright cab can be used for shooters too.  I laid out Formica inside the cab and painted the inside walls as well. Tonight I just finished painting the plexi and last night I installed the light in the marquee. I was really impressed by the way this turned out. The picture I have of the cab lit up does not do it to good of justice. However I can tell you that when it is lit up, the lightning bolts and Title light up beautifully!

Unfortunately the CRT tv I am using doesn't have auto power on, and you can't hold the power button on or else it will turn off.  ::)It does go into a sleep mode, so I might just leave it on all the time? Either way I'd say that about 8 inches of it stick out the rear of the cab. So I will have to give my cab a badonka butt. Oh well.

As for news regarding the cp I am going to be buying the LS-64 stick next week and by that time I believe I should have HarumaN's controller hack. So there will be progress to be posted when that happens. Still waiting for the 180 watt amp from DXextreme to be put into the cab.

Feel free to let me know what you think of the cab so far or the pics. Thanks guys,