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SeverdHed's 4-Player Showcase cabinet - keywiz frustrations
severdhed:
harbor freight is awesome. i have so many tools from there, it isn't funny. it maybe isn't the best stuff, but for hobby use, it is perfect.
severdhed:
got some more done this weekend...still alot to do though. The biggest accomplishment was replacing the 17" LCD with the 27" TV. this is a Sony Trinitron Flat CRT tv with component video input. i had to remove part of the case on the TV to get it to fit in the cabinet. i also had to cut a few inches off of the front of two of the wooden supports to get the TV to slide in there. ( i didn't want to destroy the TV, in case i replace it someday, i could use it for something else)
i screwed a few boards together to create a brace to use to hold the TV in place.
I have since trimmed the front board so that it doesn't hang down in front of the screen, but i forgot to take a new pic.
i also got a piece of foam core posterboard at a local craft store to make a bezel for the TV. it isn't perfect, but it works well enough for me. i will probably use some black tape on the silver tv bezel to make it not stand out as much.
while this isn't exactly related to the cabinet, my wife picked up a Donkey Kong figure to sit on top of the cabinet...i love it. now i need to get the mario figure to go with it. (yeah there is a lot of crap piled up on top of the cabinet, i have to keep everything up high so my kids don't get into it.
Here is a shot of the cables where the two pieces of the cabinet come together. i set it up so that i can easily disconnect the control panel portion to move it out of the way if i have to. visible here are 4 usb cables (two u360s, two guncons on the PS2) one RCA video cable (guncon) and a PS2 cable (keywiz)
i just managed to get my ps2 installed this afternoon. the PC and PS2 all sit in the cabinet below the monitor, i haven't taken any pics of that yet, since i need to clean up the wiring first.(and also add an exhaust fan since it gets pretty warm in there. the PS2 is only there for lightgun games, i dont have any of the joysticks or buttons wired up to the ps2. i wanted to be able to easily connect and disconnect my guns, because i don't want the kids to destroy them.(also my wife doesn't really like them playing with guns).
the guncon2 guns require a USB plug, and an RCA video plug wired either to the composite or the green cable in the component video cables. naturally, i went with the component cables since they give a much better picture. there is a switch box that i use to change between the PC and PS2. anyway, since the ps2 is in the back half of the cabinet, i had to extend the cables up to the other part. i had two usb ports i pulled out of an old pc case, so i spliced some cables together to add actual USB ports to the cables, and ran them down so that they plug into usb extension cables at the place where the two pieces of the cabinet meet. i also got two RCA jacks at radio shack, wired them together and added a long cable with a male RCA connector on the other end, this plugs into the special video cable that comes with the guncon guns. i quickly mounted them to a scrap piece of plexiglass and mounted it to one of the coin return openings on the coin door. i figured i'm not planning on using the coin door anyway, so i can utilize this space. it makes a nice easy place to plug in the guns. conveniently the two guns fit perfectly into the coin box below for storage. ( i need to get another lock for that door.
the panel i cut for the usb ports doesn't exactly look real nice, but i can redo it later. my goal this weekend was to get the cabinet functional, now i can play it a while tweak what i need to, and then work on the cosmetic stuff. the plexiglass bezel is really scratched, i dont know if there is anything i can do about that or not, it is annoying at first, but after a few minutes of play, you don't really even notice it.
i got to play some TMNT with the kids this weekend and they had alot of fun. (my 3 year old loved it, my 19 month old just pounded buttons and wasn't really playing)
well, that is it for now, hopefully over the course of this week, i can get the wiring cleaned up maybe work on the plexi bezel.
i also forgot to mention, but i am using a phillips smart strip i picked up at walmart, there is a button on the top of the cabinet that powers up the PC, and the strips turns everything else on. fortunately, the TV powers on and goes to the proper input upon receiving power, so that works very well. i have a remote control i use to adjust the volume.
andrewbean90:
i like it
severdhed:
thanks.
i also forgot to mention, but i disconnected the small TV speakers and connected the cabinet's speakers directly to the TV. the sound is OK, i have no complaints there, and it is easy to adjust the volume using the TV remote.
Dr Zero:
Looks good! :cheers:
Keep us posted, I like the big ol showcase cabs!