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Custom Cocktail (finished!)
popsicle:
Updated plans:
3/4" mdf for black sides and cp top
1/2" stained birch for front/back panels and top bezel
24" clearance for knees when seated, and gap at bottom for foot room
both cps - spinner, joystick, 4 buttons
cp's are 7" deep (7.5" with slight angle) That seems *just* deep enough for resting wrist comfortably.
total cab dimensions 32.5" x 20" x 30"
popsicle:
Ok, I've been spending waaay too much time here every day. My wife keeps asking me when I'm going to join the family again ::)
The new plan is to go with white melamine coated 3/4" mdf from the local Home Depot for the sides and control panels, black trim and bezel, and lit buttons for both players, possibly also white to keep a sterile futuristic look. Of course I might wreck all that when I add dark stained wood for the front panels. Think 'Intellivision meets space shuttle'. I bought a small shelf of the white melamine to practice cutting on, and already have a satisfactory mdf cp template with holes drilled out, which looks kinda like this.
GGG:
2 x turbo twist spinners usb (both masters for longer cable reach, as I understand)
2 happ competitions, black
black t-molding
slot cutting bit, various wiring supplies
Ultimarc:
I-Pac
Pac drive (LED driver use with mala)
white LUX buttons and LEDs (4 buttons/player, plus 4 total admin buttons)
LUX daisy chain harness
I tossed around splurging for U360's, esp. for better feeling vertical 4-way games (and Q*bert, Food Fight, Sinistar, etc.) but damn those spinners are already driving up the cost, and I really want me some spinner action.
With U360s I can control all the buttons and bypass buying the keyboard encoder, but doesn't having inputs show up as joystick buttons in windows limit your options with non-mame emulators? Not that I can think of any other emulators that utilize a vertical screen setup anyway...
Are they worth it?
popsicle:
Months go by, and the world turns. Gray hairs populate my beard, and it's increasingly harder to maintain a steady stream.
Also, my cocktail plans have changed quite a bit.
I've used Home Depot 3/4" plywood/birch veneer instead of melamine, the cp has changed shape, and the sides that face the players have been angled to allow more foot room (thus getting closer to the cabinet). All pieces have been sanded, cut, routed, stained, polyUr-ed, and t-molded. I've also decided against using the crt and bought a 4:3 21" Hp LP2065 upon numerous recommendations from Blanka (thanks!)
With the v-shape of the front/back, there won't be a lot of room for pc mounting, but I think I can make it work. The control panels use zippy ball top 8-ways, a turbo-twist spinner, and 6 white led lit buttons. I have yet to secure a pc and decent set of speakers, and will have to get glass cut to fit (the glass will not hang over the cps but fit just inside the top of the four sides). This is a pretty small cocktail cabinet - it is only 19x32x30".
As there is t-molding on the entire top of the cab and the tops of the joysticks will sit *just* under the top pieces, I plan to eventually add a felt table top to turn the cab into a 2-player card/board game table.
stuckpixel:
Looks like a good start!
How are the viewing angles on that LCD?
Really dig the color of the wood - what kind of stain did you use?
Do the zippy sticks switch between 4/8 way easily?
popsicle:
The stain is minwax red mahogany and I had to put it on rather thick and leave it for a good week to dry as opposed to wiping it off like the directions say. When I wiped it off the color was not nearly dark enough and made the grain look tiger striped. I then used a fine steel wool to get it smooth and added multiple coats of spray poly.
The viewing angle is good on that particular lcd, according to Blanka in many posts like this one
--- Quote from: Blanka on February 19, 2010, 04:03:10 am ----Do you want 4:3 or WS?
-Response time is pretty useless information
-Input lag and moving-image artefacts are much more important, and never told in specs.
19 inch non wide screen is not 4:3 either, it is 5:4
19 inch TN panels should not be mount vertical.
The best LCD for vertical classic use is the HP LP 2065 or the Dell 2007FP (non-W model).
These are true 4:3, IPS (wide viewing angle) screens with low input lag and good game response.
--- End quote ---
The zippy sticks can switch to 4 or 2-way by removing 2 screws on the bottom and moving the green plate. The reason I bought them is they had multiple colored ball tops available and they mounted easily from the bottom of 3/4" wood panel. I ended up using bolts from the local hardware store and had to sand off the letters on the top and then spray paint them black.