Main > Project Announcements
First project, bartop - Only took me two years to post it
Ozzy_98:
After wanting one for a while, in the winter of ’08 I broke down and bought the first parts for a Mame cab. Since that time, except for the actual wood of the cab, not one piece has remained the same as when I first put it on, and even some of the wood pieces (Control panel, front and top) have been replaced.
Since I’m starting the blog well after the project started, I’m still going to try to keep the posts “in order”. I have some old posts from an old forum, so I’ll be using that for the first few blog post.
Overview
I decided to go with a bar top model for the first cab, and it’s worked out very well. I first used a 15″ CRT, but have moved on to a 17″ LCD. Since the control panel isn’t as deep as a full sized cab, you stand somewhat closer to the screen, so the 17″ LCD seems MUCH larger then a 19″ or 21″ standard arcade machine. The cab itself was pre cut and used cam screws, like a piece of Ikea plywood. It has a programmable analog joystick, 9 “action” buttons, 6 “pinball” buttons, 2 start buttons and two insert coin buttons. Buttons seem like overkill for many, but they all have uses, and not those “Let’s cover the panel with admin buttons” bs some people do. I have 8 buttons in 2 rows “street fighter” style, only real reason I have 8 and not 6 is for PSX games, 4 face buttons, and 4 shoulder buttons. The 9th button is the “run” button. If you played Mortal Kombat much, you would know the button, but it also forms a “neo-geo” style button set up. I’ll go more in depth on the controll panel in a later post, and why I wanted 11 action buttons, not 9.
The control panel also has a spinner that doubles as a steering wheel thanks to a removable 5″ wheel. To add even more fun, the analog stick can be used as gas, but this is something that I’m still working on for a setup. I first used gas as Y and brake on X axis, but discovered the brake never fully turned off. I think I had it working well in Outrunners for a while but then stopped working on the project for a while, and lost the configs.
A future expansion for this cab is two player functionality. For those who know a bit about networking, they key to this is a 66 block and amphenol cable. For those who do not know what these are, an amphenol cable is a 25-pair cable (50 total wires) and a 66-block is a punch-down block to connect wires to the cable with ease. The project works like this: Buy a second cab, do the artwork, add monitor, add speakers, a new IPac and controls. I will not, however, add a computer. The new machine, called the “secondary” cab, will have a 66 block and a longer amphenol cable with a male adapter. This 66 block will use 15 wires running to the monitor, 10 for 2 dedicated USB lines from the host, and 3 wires for audio, total of 28 of the total 50 wires used. On the “master” cab, there’s a 66 block on there with a much shorter female cable. There’s also a frame buffer inside the cab, think of it as a VGA video splitter. The end result is the second cab mirrors the first cab’s screen, and offers controls for player 2.
Here's some out of date pics, I'm now using a 17" CRT monitor. I've also changed the center buttons on the front panel to nova-gem coin buttons.
I'll try to get more pics soon. I've got more info on it over at my blog in http://rhwiii.info/blog/category/mame-cab/ Please note it's not exactly work-friendly language in all the posts. And if the comments seem strange to you, another hobby of mine is editing the posts of spammers for fun. The bold + italic text is mine.
MikeyMerse:
I like the idea of using the amphenol cable. Instead of tailing the female cable connector from the original cab, you should try to mount it flush (much sexier).
Great work on the bartop, are you planning on doing the second one from scratch?
cmoses:
Looks good. I have considered doing a bartop once I have my full size done. I have a couple of questions I am hoping you can answer.
1. You mentioned that the cab was a kit, where did you get it, what are you overall thoughts on it, quality, build, etc. You mentioned you changed some of teh wood pieces?
2. Is your spinner the Turbo Twist 2, with the 5" mini racing wheel? The last item I am going to add to my cab is a spinner, probably the TT2 and a 5" mini racing wheel. How is do you like this setup? Easy to swap out the wheel and spinner? Does the wheel enhance the experience or is playing with the spinner almost as good? What spinner top did you go with?
3. The spacing looks a little wide on your buttons, was that intentional? Did you consider a more ergonomic layout, slight curve?
Please post more pictures.
Thanks
njay:
Sweet cab, do you have plans for this? i want to build one but i am not handy with wood , and my shop requires plans for it... thanks
Ozzy_98:
--- Quote from: MikeyMerse on September 17, 2010, 09:28:50 am ---I like the idea of using the amphenol cable. Instead of tailing the female cable connector from the original cab, you should try to mount it flush (much sexier).
--- End quote ---
But that would be less lazy!
Actually the problem I run into is I do not want to mar the sides, they're completely covered with the graphic sticker (No edges). And the entire back comes off, it isn't hinged, so if I mount the connector there, it'll pull away when I remove the back. So my plan is to just let it hang out the same hole as the AC cord.
--- Quote ---Great work on the bartop, are you planning on doing the second one from scratch?
--- End quote ---
No, just cause I want them to look matched. First from all scratch project I do arcade wise will be a pinball table. I think. Who knows what my mood will be.
--- Quote from: MikeyMerse --- You mentioned that the cab was a kit, where did you get it, what are you overall thoughts on it, quality, build, etc. You mentioned you changed some of teh wood pieces?
--- End quote ---
It's from Mameroom\north coast customs, it's a great piece. It uses cam screws ,that seems weird, but has worked out really well for me, especially when you're still in the "Hey let's try this" phase. I redid the controll panel, and I have a new piece for the front piece, other than that it's pretty much adding holes for the power switch and moar buttons.
--- Quote --- Is your spinner the Turbo Twist 2, with the 5" mini racing wheel? The last item I am going to add to my cab is a spinner, probably the TT2 and a 5" mini racing wheel. How is do you like this setup? Easy to swap out the wheel and spinner? Does the wheel enhance the experience or is playing with the spinner almost as good? What spinner top did you go with?
--- End quote ---
Yep, TT2 and 5" wheel. The spinner uses a set screw, so what I ended up doing was setting the set screw part-way, so you can still just pull the spinner off. The Wheel doesn't need a set screw, it stays put. I used the default spinner, but honestly I almost always use the wheel. I generally only use the spinner for looks when I play fighers or psx, when I need all 8 buttons. Overall very easy to use, it shows up as a mouse. So think about this: This is a mose for left\right. Doom also uses a mouse to turn left\right. Map the joystick for forward\back\strafe, and I use the yellow run button to fire. Got me some doom arcade!
--- Quote ---The spacing looks a little wide on your buttons, was that intentional? Did you consider a more ergonomic layout, slight curve?
--- End quote ---
Yep. Big hands. And I HATE curved layouts, too easy for me to hit other buttons.
--- Quote ---Sweet cab, do you have plans for this? i want to build one but i am not handy with wood , and my shop requires plans for it... thanks
--- End quote ---
I'm pretty sure north coast sells plans for it besides the kits.