Building a MAME cabinet NOOB style

[Flip The Switch]

Hi guys, been reading this place for a while.... a wealth of information.

Im currenty building a mame cabinet, ive got it all in bar the controls, i have all buttons and joysticks and a screen...

i have already tried connecting the buttons and joystick to a logitech pressicion gamepad with no success, im very new to soldering and electronics, is there a BETTER pcb to use? as i believe the logitech one wasnt the best to start with, i was thinking about using a wired 360 controller as theres alot of info and tutorials on the internet, is there a better board than that for a beginner to build his controls up on?

im in New Zealand so any parts/boards suggest would have to be imported or sourced locally.



heres the cabinet, its had the old screen removed and fitted with a 19inch LCD

any help/suggestions would be sweet guys!

[Smoker]

get an Ipac http://www.ultimarc.com/ipac1.html
or a gamepad encoder from http://groovygamegear.com/webstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=76_81&products_id=234

[Turnarcades]

Yeah, gamepad hacks are sooo five years ago.

If you have old joypads lying around and are doing a budget build or a single joystick then fine, but for a proper full machine control panel, you should really use the plethora of encoders available today, particularly as you are now shopping around anyway. As you have no clue about soldering and this is a simple first build, you should use a mini-pac interface from Ultimarc as all the connections are pre-wired with spade connectors so hooking it up is much easier. However, you fail to mention what screen you are using - if it's a PC monitor or TV fine, but if it's an arcade monitor you should use a J-Pac interface instead.

[solidteezme]

you fail to mention what screen you are using - if it's a PC monitor or TV fine, but if it's an arcade monitor you should use a J-Pac interface instead.

heres the cabinet, its had the old screen removed and fitted with a 19inch LCD

So the Mini-pac will be fine, hacking controlers really is not worth the hassle. 

[Turnarcades]

sorry, missed that bit under the picture

[Flip The Switch]

Thanks for the replies guys, the wiring for the buttons is already done inside the cabinet from the previous setup (SF2) , im not sure about how i would go about plumping the wiring to that I-Pac is there a tutorial around also i gather you make your own USB cable to go to the PC??

Is there a link to this Mini pack as it sounds a tad better as the less wiring for me to do the better.

Thanks again guys.

[Flip The Switch]

/Edit

Ordered the I-Pac as ive already got all the wiring done on the joysticks, buttons

just needs to arrive and plug it in!

[helpmebuild]

I LOVE that cab btw! I've never seen it before, but I love the look of it.

[Flip The Switch]

Thanks it was from the local Plutos video game arcade, salvaged it from my teen years, wife has always complained about it lying round draggin it from house to house but i always new id get round to MAMEing it