RELOAD arcade, gun-cab (currently assembling two guns)

[broberg]

Hi all!

I'm still just in the planning stage of this project, sort of.
The goal is a unique design and hopefully with some cool features and topnotch finish.

Currently :
# Working on the reload-button
# Wiring the guns
# Will Learn how to program a PIC.
# Working on the cabinet design (more of sorting out what goes where, I do like the Terminator: Salvation arcade)
# Working on the front-end (Hyperspin IF I get to the damn download..)

Updated on 25/7 -2012

[Shortbus]

cool idea, I've thought of this as well, I will follow your progress and appreciate the info. Shooting things that don't shoot back always excites this old soldier....enjoy this site, it has all you could want and much more, the people here are tons of help on all of it.

peace.

[Nicodumas]

Sounds cool. Can't wait to see how you deal with all the buttons. Also, if you are using mame the Light Guns can be setup to work like mice (don't know if you were aware or not).

Finally, awesome idea for the graphic. Maybe add a bullet hole and some burn marks for more of a shooter feel?

[releasedtruth]

Definitely something I'm interested in seeing complete. Setting up some slick hidden admin buttons would be nice, especially if you won't have a traditional control panel. Have you looked at sourcing some metal holsters and the like?

Time Crisis does have a pedal and it functions as hide/reload. There are several modern gun games that do as well, but unlikely playable for some years.

[broberg]

I'm glad to see that there is interest in this project

About the buttons, In theory I have thought about having the trigger and two buttons easily reachable on the gun (one for alternate and one for the specials, duck and whatnot).
And the reload button in front so you have to do a "special" movement with your hand to actually reload, not to difficult but just so you get reminded of the real-life laws (clips don't hold unlimited ammo!).

Good Point! Admin buttons would be good to have.

the commonly occurring functions in the menus are;
Start, 1player, 2player, coin. And I guess an Exit button would be good?
Some more suggestions on buttons That would be good to have?



Edit : fun note, After I decided on the name for the project, I obviously googled it and some resources..
I wanted some sound playing when I booted the machine, Something like a hardcore marine yelling "Reload!".. Didn't find anything like that, but I did find Rob Zombies song Reload (from the Matrix Reloaded soundtrack) and it's perfect for the bootup sequence!

[tykenfitz]

You can use the pedal from rock band drums for time crisis, that's what I would do.

[DCsegaDH]

Nice project! I'm going to be watching this project

[broberg]

Yes!

DHL actually are quite fast, overnight delivery from UK to Sweden. Love it ^^
Well what did they bring me?

Som Candy from Ultimarc!


Got two AimTrak's and an I-Pac2 (also ordered some joysticks for future builds, or I'll just rebuild my first cab with some real joysticks).
And ---goshdarn--- the AimTrak's are small!



Now I'm just waiting for another delivery from the UK, hoping for it to arrive tomorrow.


ps. I added some bullet holes to the graphics, good idea Nicodumas! ds.

[tykenfitz]

I really think you should have a pedal in there for Time Crisis. It would be super easy to wire up and kick some serious ass.


Something like this
http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/DISTRIBUTED-BY-MCM-FS-60-/555-3100

[Nicodumas]

Love the new header. Can you play by play the light gun install?

[severdhed]

I really think you should have a pedal in there for Time Crisis. It would be super easy to wire up and kick some serious ass.


Something like this
http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/DISTRIBUTED-BY-MCM-FS-60-/555-3100

agreed.  i have a playstation 2 in my cabinet for gun games, i just wired up a reload pedal this evening and man does it make things alot more fun.  i used a similar pedal, it was actually a sustain pedal for a keyboard, it works great and adds alot to the experience.

[broberg]

Nico : I will document the install of the lightguns, and try to make a step by step version
I plugged the bar and a sensor in to my small laptop yesterday, it worked fairly well without any setup to my surprise!
Just plug it in and I could control the cursor, a bit jumpy when you got to the edges but in the middle it was perfect,
not to shabby considering my laptops screen is just 12" ^^


I'll have to think about the pedal and since I'm gonna have the I-Pac in the cabinett I have no trouble adding it!
I think I have some old gas-pedals from a steering wheel setup laying around somewhere, I could probably use those then

[Nicodumas]

If you are making a light gun cab, you NEED the pedals! 

Also, if you want to go all out: http://www.coinopexpress.com/products/parts/shooting_parts.html <- you can always get official parts from here. However they seem to be a bit on the pricey side.

[broberg]

SOO ---smurfin--- pleased with my last received shipment of goodies!  


It's the housing for the AimTraks, they are PERFECT! Atleast it will be after som gutting and cutting!

I winged it and ordered Two G36C "replicas", they are chinese bb-spring-guns (one-shot, two toned plastic, cheap!)
The pro's with bb-guns is they aren't sealed, just two halves screwed together witch is perfect for me (so I can close and open them as much as I want).
And has a function trigger (of course).

And as a bonus these two toys came with a WORKING(!) red-dot sight and a laser sight, which could prove useful when calibrating them

Pictures!




So what I need to do now is :
A - Change the barrel-tip to a wider one (it's almost perfect but it has to be 2mm bigger in diameter to fit the ir-lens)
B - Gut the Interior and mount a micro switch to the trigger
C - Drill out two of the indentations on the front stock (the ones closest to the gun body, on each side). So I could add two small buttons on the stock!
D - Fix the mag so it can't be removed, paint it black and cut out the bottom part off and make it a button (for reloading, as the terminator salvation game!)
E - Paint the green parts Blue and Red (one gun blue and one gun red, player one and player two, of course! )



And, I picked up the TV I'm gonna use for the cab to.. Got it for a fair price from a friend. A noname 32" LCD, Speakers are busted but hey, who need the built in ones when I've order some new GOOD ones? ^^

[Nicodumas]

Love the BB gun idea, and the reload clip is great!

[Domino]

any news on this project?

[broberg]

Sorry for the hold up, but I'm still waiting for parts for the gun-install, some parts where out of stock, but they should arrive any day now last thing I heard.
I couldn't find any switches for the front grip that fitted exactly, so I ordered a couple of smaller ones that I have to modify somehow.

[Nicodumas]

remember, you can always DIY a switch if you need. Look into modding a leaf spring maybe.

Also I want build shots of modding the guns! PLEASE!

[sstralkowski]

SOO ---smurfin--- pleased with my last received shipment of goodies!  


It's the housing for the AimTraks, they are PERFECT! Atleast it will be after som gutting and cutting!

I winged it and ordered Two G36C "replicas", they are chinese bb-spring-guns (one-shot, two toned plastic, cheap!)
The pro's with bb-guns is they aren't sealed, just two halves screwed together witch is perfect for me (so I can close and open them as much as I want).
And has a function trigger (of course).

And as a bonus these two toys came with a WORKING(!) red-dot sight and a laser sight, which could prove useful when calibrating them

Pictures!




So what I need to do now is :
A - Change the barrel-tip to a wider one (it's almost perfect but it has to be 2mm bigger in diameter to fit the ir-lens)
B - Gut the Interior and mount a micro switch to the trigger
C - Drill out two of the indentations on the front stock (the ones closest to the gun body, on each side). So I could add two small buttons on the stock!
D - Fix the mag so it can't be removed, paint it black and cut out the bottom part off and make it a button (for reloading, as the terminator salvation game!)
E - Paint the green parts Blue and Red (one gun blue and one gun red, player one and player two, of course! )



And, I picked up the TV I'm gonna use for the cab to.. Got it for a fair price from a friend. A noname 32" LCD, Speakers are busted but hey, who need the built in ones when I've order some new GOOD ones? ^^

I've been tossing around the idea of a gun cab for a bit now.  Can you tell us where you found these super cheap guns?  They're amazing. 

[SNAAKE]

I dont know anything about lightguns but is it possible to use ps2 lightguns with lcd/plasma tv?? Id love to play some time crisis 2.............

[Rick]

D - Fix the mag so it can't be removed, paint it black and cut out the bottom part off and make it a button (for reloading, as the terminator salvation game!)

If you can, instead of tapping a button on the bottom, mod the upper portion of the clip so that it has a leaf switch and that you 'slap' the clip into place to reload.  It might feel a bit more authentic, that way.

[broberg]

Rick : It will be a "slap-action" mag, but the trigger has to be on the bottom due to the construction of the bb-gun
How it will look is so far a mystery even to me.

SNAAKE : I think there is lightguns that work with ps2 and a lcd, guncon3 or something?

sstralkowski : http://www.airsoftworld.net/m41-g36c-two-tone-springer.html .. Based in the UK

[BobA]

Wow those guns are great.  Love to see them finished.   

[elvis]

Wow those guns are great.  Love to see them finished.   

Ditto.  This is going to be brilliant when it's done.

[Nicodumas]

Can we get a pic of what the guns look like open? Might be able to help out a bit then.

[broberg]

Okeeeeeyyyy,
I've finally found some more motivation to get working on this again, only been, what, a year? 


I'll just post whats been done so far, and to be honest, is not that much.

So we started with this :

The not yet out of the box g36c toy-airgun

Started stripping it


Easily opened, time to rip it's guts out!


Trying some barrel mounting positions, this one was no good. (later decided to use as many "original" placements I could, which turned out really good)



Quick forwarding a little bit, here I have removed everything I didn't need and re-purposed as much as I could. The leaf-switch needed to be lifted a bit from the body so made a riser in some plastic I had laying around, drilled it and then threaded the holes, so the switch can be removed and changed if broken/worn out.

Still have to figure out how to wire the solenoid, I want to use the trigger switch and current from the aimtrak to operate a relay, but I'm afraid that a voltage spike will burn the pcb-board of the aimtrak.



Blurry Picture but, here you can see that I had to cut away a little bit of the body near the barrel.



One half of the g36c, with the modified barrel-tip, using the barrel extensions original mountings (it's fixed between the two front stock-halves via pins on the barrel and holes in the stock)



And here you'll notice WHY I had to cut into the body, the hole in the front stock next to the body is where a microswitch will be mounted (one on each side). So besides the trigger and the reload button the guns will have two extra buttons (4 in total).




Well, thats all for now.
Hopefully you won't have to wait another year for the next update

[emphatic]

Looks cool, somehow I missed this project when it was first posted!  Heja, Heja, as we say in Sweden.

[broberg]

Okey, had to paint the g36c's before continuing with the wiring, here's a teaser :




And while waiting for the paint to dry I played around with some ideas for the frontend.

I do not have permission to use the images in this composition, so will not use it in the final production, this is just a quick sketch.


Btw. Are the Hyperspin crew on vacation? I have been trying to register on their forum so I can download the HS frontend, but no luck..

[broberg]

Nearly finished with the painting, some touch-up left todo, turned out quite ok despite spray-can-paint!

[broberg]

Got some of the wiring done.. Theres a lot of wiring going in to the front stock, more then the actual gun body

[SNAAKE]

time crisis play on mame now? last time I tried it was all glitch and unplayable

[Le Chuck]

Fun project!  Glad you're back at it. Those are some sweet shooters ya go there!

[Kman-Sweden]

Looks good so far.
Keep it up.

[broberg]

Haven't tried Time Crisis or any other games yet, heck haven't started configurating the hardware yet.


BUT.. Version 1 of the guns are ready (Version 1 don't include force feedback and has no reload-button).

Wired and ready for the first set of brutal punishment as a trial-run!

[broberg]

Okey, they actually work!

But having mayor problems getting them to work properly with the older games. the only game so far that have been okey to play is THOTD 3, which I do in this little clip :