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SeverdHed's 4-Player Showcase cabinet - keywiz frustrations
severdhed:
Hey guys, as you may or may not know from reading my other threads, i managed to pick up an empty showcase cabinet a little while ago, with the intention of turning into a 4 player mame cabinet. It is not done yet, but i have enough progress i think to at least start this thread...this is my journey so far:
I somehow managed to talk my wife into letting me bring home a showcase cabinet...i don't know how i did it, i can only assume that the only reason she agreed is because she is pregnant with our third child, and her hormone levels are not right. But, no matter what the reason, I win :)
Here is the cabinet as it was when i first brought it home...it was too big to fit where I put it, so I eventually moved it:
the cabinet was pretty much gutted when i took it, however they did let me keep the happ gun (this will eventually be used for an aim-trak). the coin door is intact, but there are no mechs.
Here is the control panel opened up, apparently this cabinet wasn't always a Carnival King gun game...
after removing most of the old overlay, i discovered that this used to be a fighting game called Fighting Bujitsu. i have never heard of it.
i removed the old panel, traced around it onto a piece of scrap 5/8" MDF i found in my basement (it was there when we bought the house). i then cut the new panel about 1/4" outside the line:
then i flipped them over, clamped them together and went around the outside with a flush trim router bit, using the old panel as a guide.
I then decided to attach the hinges and latches, and attach it to the cabinet for a test fit:
while attached, i traced the outside edge of the control panel box onto the bottom side of the new panel, then removed it...while it was of, i measured and marked the thickness of the box so i knew where the controls could go without interfering with the box.
I then proceded to spend a very long time trying to lay out where the controls would all fit. this was difficult to do, because even though the panel is 45" x 19", the box is considerably smaller than that. I also wanted to leave room in case i decided to add a trackball later. to top it off, since all the edges were curved, it would have been really difficult to measure to determine where the box was, so i couldn't just mark the box location on the top side. this means i had to lay out all of my controls backwards since they were on the bottom. i should have printed out some templates or something, but i just did it all by hand with a ruler and a compass. it turned out OK
so, after a really long time in the hot sun, i was finally ready to start drilling. I picked up a drill guide from harbor freight the last time i did a control panel, it is great for keeping the drill at a right angle to the panel:
i drilled a small pilot hole through the centers of all of the button holes to guide the forstner bit through. i then started to drill from the back, just slightly to keep it from bljavascript:void(0);owing out.
i then flipped it over, using the pilot holes, i proceded to drill out all of the button and joystick holes with the forstner bit:
I then routed out the back side for the joystick plates, i routed out about half the thickness away, it still feels pretty solid and makes the sticks feel just right. I also used a countersink bit to recess the joystick bolt heads.
here is the panel with all of the controls mounted. i went with Happ buttons, with the colors matching up to the TMNT games. i have two U360s for players 1 and 2, and two Sanwa JLWs for players 3 and 4. i had purchased colored ball tops in case i wanted to use them, but since the colors don't match very well, i went with the bat tops.
the orange and red match up pretty well, but the blue and purple do not ( i got both the light blue and dark blue sanwa balltops)
i didn't want a cluttered panel, so i decided to move the coin buttons to the control panel box. this keeps the panel clean, and still gives you that feeling of reaching down to insert a coin. i normally just hook up the coin door, but since it is only a 2 player coin door, that won't work for players 3 and 4. i will probably eventually rig up the coin reject buttons as coins as well.
here is the back side of the panel, with all of the wiring done (at least at this point)
since the coin buttons are not on the panel, i wanted to be able to disconnect them easily. i wired the four buttons into a terminal strip, and then attached that to a wire harness i found in the cabinet.
i wanted the exit game button to stand out, but GGG was sold out of the novagems that i used in my last panel, so i did the next best thing...i got a translucent IL button, and an EXIT button insert and a red button blaster LED from GGG. i drilled the button and installed the LED, which is wired to teh 5v on the keywiz encoder i am using.
i still have to get teh 27" sony TV to fit into the cabinet, but it is a little too wide. i will either have to decase the tv (don't want to do) or modify the cabinet a little to fit the TV. until then, i didn't want to wait to test things, so i installed a 17" LCD that i had sitting around, it works, and it is amusing to look at:
there will be more to come. the reason i left the control panel bare MDF, is i want to test the button layout before i spent the money on plexiglass to finish it off. once i use it for a little while, i will take it off, make a new panel if i have to, or cover this one in plexiglass and T-molding.
HaRuMaN:
Nice work... :applaud: :cheers:
And yeah, that 17 inch does look funny in there... ;D
Hoopz:
Good write up and great work.
Are you connecting the PC to the TV via s-video?
I have a project like this waiting so I'm going to be following your progress. I am definitely going with a trackball though. Have you thought about the height of the CP on it's base relative to how tall you are? Will you have to sit to play? I'm pretty sure that's the only option for me and I'm not that tall (5'11").
:applaud:
severdhed:
thanks for the kind words.
i am connecting the TV via component video. after i get all of that done, i will also be adding a playstation 2, so i can play my lightgun games as well.
I have a feeling i will end up with a trackball in this one as well, however my other cabinet used to have my u360s and a trackball. after i get this cab done, i will be building a new panel for my other cab, basically just a 4way joystick, trackball, and 3 buttons. i will also rotate the monitor in that cabinet and basically set it up for classics. i figured since the only trackball games i really play are centipede and millipede, it makes more sense to leave the trackball in that cabinet. (my son does like to play world class bowling, but i'm sure he won't mind playing it on the other cab for a while). i just didn't want to spend the extra money on a second trackball right now, but there is plenty of space to add one if i get it later.
the control panel is a little lower than i would like...the front is about 33.5" from the floor, which is a full 6" lower than the panel on my other cab, which i think is perfect.
once i get everything else finished, i may end up building a small extension box to sit between the pedestal and the control panel box, to raise it, probably at least 4 inches....although the lower height might be better for the kids.
i'm really hoping i can find a way to buff out the scratches on the plexiglass that covers the screen...it is pretty marked up. but it is really large and the speaker grill slots are cut into it, so replacing it would be a pain in the butt.
saloonstudios:
--- Quote from: severdhed on August 24, 2010, 10:13:50 am ---i wanted the exit game button to stand out, but GGG was sold out of the novagems that i used in my last panel, so i did the next best thing...i got a translucent IL button, and an EXIT button insert and a red button blaster LED from GGG. i drilled the button and installed the LED, which is wired to teh 5v on the keywiz encoder i am using.
--- End quote ---
Can you take a couple photos of your LED mod? I'm going to be using the exact same buttons and LEDs for all of my buttons and I'm curious how you attached the resistor, secured LED into button, wired, etc. Also, which EXIT button insert did you use exactly, the ones meant for the novagems?
Thanks-