Two-Headed Beast -- Finished

[Vigo]

Yeah, but I bet he charges a dollar for that Christmas bow.

[TopJimmyCooks]

That ultracade is worth at least $2900.  I live and sell in a "resort" area.  Plus theres a lotta added value to a ms pac sporting vinyl sideart and a bootleg jamma gameboard.  plays frogger/galaga too, yo what's up:

CL:  ultra ms pac cade, 3 in one, $3900 or trade for air bagged low rider mazda pickup straight up.   

NO LO BO'S!

[yotsuya]

That ultracade is worth at least $2900.  I live and sell in a "resort" area.  Plus theres a lotta added value to a ms pac sporting vinyl sideart and a bootleg jamma gameboard.  plays frogger/galaga too, yo what's up:

CL:  ultra ms pac cade, 3 in one, $3900 or trade for air bagged low rider mazda pickup straight up.   

NO LO BO'S!

You should also accept offers for quads or guns. I see a lot of that out here in Arizona.

[yotsuya]

I could also get this Ms. Mac-Man for $800.

http://phoenix.craigslist.org/evl/vgm/3015866939.html

[alfonzotan]

Did you just get that, you son-of-a----smurfette---? 

 

It's too hard to pass up a freebie.

I hate you now.

[Nephasth]

Thanks guys!

Ok, back on topic...

Got a little prep work done for mounting the Invaders to the cab. First I had to make a template in Visio. This template will be used to install the hardware onto the Invaders and also be used as a drilling template for the cab.



After months of thinking about how I wanted to mount these things, I decided to use a combination of machine screws, spacers, and weld nuts. The template was necessary in order to get the weld nuts installed in the same places on each Invader, to make sure the holes could be drilled properly in the cab, so the Invaders would be mounted straight. I went with 1/4-20 hardware. The base of the weld nuts are 3/4" and are about 5/16" high. The length of spacers to be used has yet to be determined, but probably in the 1/2" to 3/4" range. The "MAME" in the marquee will also be mounted in a similar fashion as the Invaders.

An Invader with the template on, ready for weld nut installation.


All the Invaders with the weld nuts installed and drying (JB Weld).


Hopefully will be able to tackle the LEDs on these bad boys by Monday.

[Nephasth]

I couldn't help myself, I had to see on lit up tonight.

LEDs installed. (Black PCBs!)


Wired. Soldering these was a PITA... but well worth it!


Lit up red with the lights on.


Lights off.


Viewed from an angle you can see the reflections of the LEDs (24 total for each Invader).


These are turning out just as I had hoped! So excited to get the cabinet lighting done.

[lcmgadgets]

I just discovered your project & did a quick scan thru the posts. Sweet machine! Inspirational! 1 point, unrelated to the value of your project: I read early on that u don't like sports games. I don't either--I wasn't even a hyper olympics fan. But I did love, absolutely love, 1 sports game relevant to your project--cyberball. Try it (preferably 2 player) if u haven't. My bet is that u will like it, maybe even love it. & u have the perfect machine for playing it 2 player. I've been quietly grieving the fact that I won't b able to afford to build a true 2 player cyberball style machine (my plans r for something like 'Ghost in the Machine').

[yotsuya]

 

[TopJimmyCooks]

No luck getting them to light up black, huh?   









 

[Santoro]

Fantastic....

[jmike]

 
          Those LEDs look awesome! Got a link for those bad boys?


 

[Nephasth]

Sweet machine! Inspirational!

Fantastic....

Those LEDs look awesome!

Many thanks guys! The positive feedback helps with the motivation to get this tedious stuff done.

No luck getting them to light up black, huh?   

One can only dream...

Those LEDs look awesome! Got a link for those bad boys?

Got a 5 meter roll off ebay for ~$27 shipped. 3M adhesive backed and "waterproofed".
http://www.ebay.com/itm/320894921877?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649
The leftovers will be used for floor lighting in my Tundra...

[GIZMOGAMES]

OMG those are insane  from the lower angle it looks like they have eyes AND TEETH haha very well done giving me more and more ideas everyday

[AlienInferno]

Think I'm going to have to make a few of those to mount on my imaginary bar.  (Meaning they will get stuck on a wall in the house wether my wife likes it or not.)

[Malenko]

ok, so how much you gonna charge me for 4 of those invaders with or without LEDs? I need em for my game room

[Nephasth]

Crazy Climber over on KLOV still makes these as far as I know. He's running short on color choices though. When I got mine he was just making the Invaders, now he offers a full Space Invaders set for $40 shipped: http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=221977 (it's in a restricted forum though, you might have to be a member to see the thread)

[Malenko]

yeah I thought you already upped my account there.

    The most common cause of this problem is that your account has not been upgraded to allow you to post on these forums. In order to be validated to post, you either need a recommendation from an existing member, or you need to make a donation of $2 or more so that that we know you are a real person (We figure if you have a PayPal account that you really exist). See the instructions in the New User forum section for more information.
    Your user account may not have sufficient privileges to access this page. Are you trying to edit someone else's post, access administrative features or some other privileged system?
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wheeeeeeeeeeeee

[Nephasth]

Says you've already been verified... might try sending Crazy Climber a PM. You might have to be over you "new poster" status before you can view restricted threads...

[Nephasth]

Toiled away at the cabinet lighting today. I got all the LEDs wired and secured on the Invaders and the marquee. Absolutely HAD to see them in action, so I wired up a few to an LED-Wiz and messed around with LEDBlinky for a few. Man do they look tits! Can't wait to get everything all mounted into the cab... just waiting on the hardware to show up.

A couple animation videos... don't mind the background noise (looking at you old farts).

[jmike]

 
That looks insane!! Can't wait to see it all lit up.

 

[yotsuya]

      

[GIZMOGAMES]

Bottom animation absolutely gorgeous
  keep up he great work

[Vigo]

Mind.
Blown.

[elkameleon]

I believe I heard the devil in the background chanting some magic words in order to make them lights KICK ASS!

[Nephasth]

  Guys!

I believe I heard the devil in the background chanting some magic words in order to make them lights KICK ASS!

 

Just in case anyone is curious, here's what the back side of the marquee looks like.


84 LEDs on the marquee. The LED-Wiz will be running a total of 180 RGB LEDs for the cabinet lighting, although that's only for 8 independently controlled sections. The PACLED64s didn't have quite the muscle I needed for these, but I might have something else in store for the unused outputs on my PACLED64s...

[GIZMOGAMES]

you said the pacled's running the control pannel and other parts
So whats controlling the marquee ? and how do you wire the breaks in the lettering.
 Im curious as I have a 48 led bar and i would love to split it

[Nephasth]

you said the pacled's running the control pannel and other parts
So whats controlling the marquee ? and how do you wire the breaks in the lettering.
 Im curious as I have a 48 led bar and i would love to split it

I've got 2 PACLED64s running the LEDs (5v) in the control panels. I've got an LED-Wiz (not yet installed in the cab) to run the marquee and Invader LEDs (12v). The LEDs I used for the marquee and Invaders came in a roll and are cuttable every 3 LEDs. There are contact points on the cut lines of the strip, and I had to solder wires to the ends of the cut strips for each lit "section" (see the Invader pic a few posts up for wiring).

Edit: Not sure if I answered your last question correctly... If not this might, for the breaks in the lettering (having "M" seperate from "A" and so on) all of the LEDs on each letter are wired together, and each cluster of LEDs for each letter has 4 wires running to the LED-Wiz (1 power, and 3 grounds for RGB), as can be seen going towards the top of the last pic. Kind of hard to tell in the pic, but the wires from the LED-Wiz go into the bottom right contacts of the LED strips for the "M"s and "A", the "E" was a little funny. Those wires are hot glued close to the LED strips and will go through the marquee, into the topper, just under the mounting holes for these letters.

[TopJimmyCooks]

you did a fine job of soldering those led strip contacts. 

[Santoro]

wow.   




WOW

[GIZMOGAMES]

ahh gotcha ill just put some tape on the top edge so when i split it up ill know which wires goto where as i dont own a multi-meter
also i just ordered a led-wiz from Andy @ Ultimarc along with a few more happ buttons for my flippers
I just couldnt handle the thought of static on or off for my buttons and led bars next machine ill account for a pacled instead

[Nephasth]

you did a fine job of soldering those led strip contacts. 

Thanks! It was a ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- ton of soldering, 224 points with 26 awg wire, took a while to find a groove.

wow.   


WOW

Thank you, thank you!

ahh gotcha ill just put some tape on the top edge so when i split it up ill know which wires goto where as i dont own a multi-meter
also i just ordered a led-wiz from Andy @ Ultimarc along with a few more happ buttons for my flippers
I just couldnt handle the thought of static on or off for my buttons and led bars next machine ill account for a pacled instead

Just so you're aware, the PACLED64 (from Ultimarc) and LED-Wiz (from Groovy Game Gear) are 2 completely different devices with different capabilities. The PACLED64 is great if you are only hooking up one LED per output (or one RGB LED per three outputs) to control them independently, you will need an LED-Wiz if you're using strips like this that have mulitple LEDs which draw more current than the outputs of the PACLED64 can handle.

[TopJimmyCooks]

...... where as i dont own a multi-meter

GTFO of this thread.
 

Get  ed up and get going!

[GIZMOGAMES]

  "facepalmed" Yes sir, ill get right on it sir,
Can you sir say E-sir-Bay Sir lol 

[Nephasth]

Got a little work done today, nothing exciting or anything. Made a template in Visio to fit the front panel with the spacing for the Invaders...

Mounted it to the cab, verified level, and center punched all the holes.


Drilled 3/32" pilot holes and followed with 1/4" holes.


Next I'll have to remove the right side monitor to drill the one of the two 5" (yes, five inch) access holes inside the cab. The big holes are necessary because the front panel is one side of a triangular box, and as it stands right now, there is no way to get to the back side of the holes I just drilled. I'll wait for some 8-32 torx screws to show up before I remove the monitor. The monitor glass brackets and marquee bracket are held onto the cab with wood screws right now. I'll be replacing these with machine screws and installing threaded inserts in the existing holes (a few screw holes are already stripped out).

[Le Chuck]

Nephasth, I just realized that I have never dropped in to let you know what an awesomely badass build this is.  Everyting from the industrial look to the miles of wire it is top notch.  Can't wait to see the side lights get put on.  Keep it up bro!

[Nephasth]

Nephasth, I just realized that I have never dropped in to let you know what an awesomely badass build this is.  Everyting from the industrial look to the miles of wire it is top notch.  Can't wait to see the side lights get put on.  Keep it up bro!

Thanks man! I know I mentioned keeping an "industrial look" early in the build/planning process, but to be honest, when I look at this thing that word never really comes to mind...

I'm stuck home for the long weekend (on call for work). Still haven't gotten my hardware from Fastenal yet. So I found some busy work to do today. I finished up the Invaders and marquee with some dual row 4 pin Micro-fit Molex connectors.



Also made these...

...what could they be for?

[BadMouth]

...what could they be for?

It's a bit hard to tell from the pic, but it appears that there might be some protective coating peeling back. 

[yotsuya]

Mounting plates of some sort?

[Nephasth]

...what could they be for?

It's a bit hard to tell from the pic, but it appears that there might be some protective coating peeling back. 

You know what's up.

Mounting plates of some sort?

Nope.