Expandable Modular CP – Finished - Mouse buttons Update

[TopJimmyCooks]

Greetings and Salutations-
I am wrapping up work on a standalone CP with fixed controls for P1 and P2 with hot swappable center sections.  The gameplay layout borrows heavily from Knievel's tried and true setup.  Using sliding hardware, the sides expand while being indexed together via gear racks.  If you move one side out they both move together so the swappable panel section is always centered. I have already built the Kneivel trackball/spinner center section, flight stick and sidewinder wheel panels; others are possible in the future.  It would be trivial to add Asteroids, Defender, etc. if the need arises.  It’s basically done; I’m wiring it up now and intend to be back at work on my Galaga HS by this weekend - we'll see.

Considerations:
•   I mainly play mahjong classics and analog flyers but wanted a lot of options for my young kids and family.  
•   I needed to be able to interface with a possible future cab – Like the Woody or DNA Dan's build: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=110471.0  It would be around 24" wide, so that is the smallest dimension when the wings are slid in.  
•   I didn’t want to limit the future cab design/art options, so I did a quick faux carbon fiber-ish paint job instead of committing to and investing in a cp overlay at this point.  The top mounts are left exposed and painted black to complete the quasi "racer" look so at least there's something to look at.  FWIW the dust washers are under the lexan.  

CP with a center section inserted:


a peek on the inside prior to any wiring:


Running gear:
•   P1 and 4 way buttons– U360 via usb, arcade classic buttons from GGG, and I’m trying a Microleaf on the primary button.
•   P2 and pinball buttons– Happ super and happ pushbuttons.  
•   Turbotwist 1 spinner
•   Happ 3” TB
•   Ms Pac/galaga microswitch 4 way
•   Interfaces are Ipac2 on PS2, Optiwiz on USB.  
•   Four port usb hub to connect flight stick, sidewinder, etc.
•   I also am putting the wireless KB/mouse dongle in there if I’ve got the milliamps available on the hub.

The expansion mechanism presented some build issues that I will note in the build photos to follow.  The swappable connections were handled with typical methods (cat 5 patch cord, USB) and will be detailed as well.  I have a very trick solution (I think) for mouse buttons that is being implemented now. Any thoughts or suggestions are welcome and appreciated, just realize it’s pretty much a done deal-Thanks.

TopJimmy

[Nephasth]

Tits.

Are the trackball and joystick mounting screws under the lexan (hard to tell from the pics). And post some pics with the other panels in place!

[TopJimmyCooks]

Everything's underneath.  The lexan is pretty thin and its only the  buttons and t mold holding it on, we'll see how it goes.  Right now I don't have enough Lexan and T-mold to completely finish the other panels, so unfortunately here's what they look like right now, sans their various hardware, stood up against the wall.  The wheel panel is larger to extend forward far enough in front of the CP box to fit the mounting clamp for the wheel.



The flight stick is a logitech 3D extreme pro (I like to play X Wing alliance, etc) and the wheel is a used MS sidewinder.  Not much to them. 

[TopJimmyCooks]

Carpentry work:
Center box bottom set into dados on the front and back.  3/4" birch plywood.  There were a couple of spacers used to keep it square, not part of the finished product.


Wing boxes of 1/2 and 3/4" ply, routed, dadoed, ready to glue up


Wings glued up.  Each wing has a bar across the front to carry the hinges for the fixed sections of top, which have to move with the wings and extend to the center of the box when it's closed.  I'm mortising for the hinges here so there is no gap between the box and the CP top.


Blanks for P1, P2 and the larger driving panel.  3/4" MDF was selected since there was a lot of routing to be done.  I had to fiddle with it to use 3/4" T-mould with a 3/4" top and .187" lexan, but apparently, fortunately, 3/4" t mould is more like 7/8".  It works.


Next post will be the hardware for the wing expansion mechanism. 

[eds1275]

That's pretty slick looking. I like it! Can you give a little more info about the "faux carbon fibre" paintjob? More and more of use are trying to make these things beautiful in a furniture sense of the word so that we can sneak them into the living room. That finish looks good. How did you do it? Spill the beans. Spill them.

[drventure]

Nice job! I love the whole swappable CP concept

[TopJimmyCooks]

Can you give a little more info about the "faux carbon fibre" paintjob?

I will do a full post about the painting in the next day or so, but it was done with the mesh shelf liner technique.  I found it online discussed on some car sites and also some casemod sites.  (just to be clear, I am not a casemodder!  Yuck.  computer = tool not art in and of itself.   )  I could make an exception to recase a pc inside a marshall 2x12 combo with amp emulator software.

Nice job! I love the whole swappable CP concept

I appreciate it and have enjoyed reading up on #18.  If you're a reader check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Difference_Engine, a great SF book featuring mechanical computers.

[thatpurplestuff]

Great design that hopefully functions as nice as it looks!  I've considered doing an expandable CP as well and this blows my idea right out of the water.  Awesome job!

[TopJimmyCooks]

A few last pics on the carpentry and metalworking: 

Since my top mounts were going to show I templated everything.  Trackball inner and outer plate, trackball ball opening, inner and outer for 2 different sizes of joystick, etc.  While routing for the trackball plate I came to the startling realization that my template bearings (nice, Porter Cable) were not anywhere close to concentric with the center of the router, (nice, Porter Cable) so I switched to a top bearing pattern bit with much better results.  I learned the hard way you have to be very careful drilling the .187 lexan from home depot.  It is brittle.  Basically I only drilled it with a sharp 5/16" bit to get a hole started and then routed it from there, otherwise it's going to crack.  If I ever do this again I am going to fork out the $ for the 1/2" mdf (would have to buy a full sheet) and the 1/4" plexi.  It would have added about $100 to this project though.

Rogues gallery of templates. 


Tops routed, lexan routed with a laminate trimmer bit to match the tops. 


I didn’t have a trackball mount plate, so I got a piece of 3/32” mild steel from Lowes and cut this one out.  I used a utility knife to mark the cuts, angle grinder with cut off wheel to make the cuts, laid out the four mount bolts and center punched to locate them for the drill, 3” hole saw for the hole, rounded off the corners with the grinder and belt sander.  The four mounting bolts are countersunk to be flush with the top of the plate but they are loose in there.   Later I sanded the top to get rid of a few scratches and prep it for paint.

TB mount plate fab.



Next Up: the expansion mechanism . . .

[TopJimmyCooks]

@Thatpurplestuff - Thanks!  What was your idea?  For about 6 minutes I had concepts along the lines of those dining room tables where the center leaf rotates and folds under the table top, but when I figured out it would require a joystick up/down lift mechanism it started to hurt me brain.    I had to stop and go get a beer.

[TopJimmyCooks]

Its A L I V E

                          

[drventure]

Wait. Did I miss something here?

Is that a ratcheting cam system in there that spreads the "leaves" of the control panel out?!   



Where'd you get the racks and gearing and such?

I've been digging for something similar to drive my whole rotating monitor design...

[TopJimmyCooks]

My Good Doctor,
I was going to dribble this out a little slower, but for you . . . .

On to the expansion mechanism:
 
My two main hobbies are woodworking and messing around with computers, so woodworking informs anything I happen to be working on in the shop.  I purchased a 4’ aluminum sliding t slot pair.  The inner and outer pieces mate together and slide, with a very tight tolerance.  They are used for woodworking jigs, router tables, miter gauges, etc.  These guide the wings and hold everything together.
 
Case with T Tracks mocked up:

 
 
I decided I wanted to index the two wings together, to keep the center panel, well, centered.  It also makes it easier to put a limit stop on the expansion.  I did a lot of shopping for gear racks.  I was originally looking for nylon, but it’s not available in A) small quantities or B) large sizes.  Once I got the steel pieces I ended up with I realized the stiffness of the steel is very helpful to my system.
 
I ended up ordering Boston gear parts sourced through McMaster Carr (mcmaster.com).  A four foot long ½” wide rack and a matching ½” wide by 1 Ό” diameter gear with a ½” bore.  There are a lot of considerations and options when spec’ing out a gear and rack – tooth pitch, pressure angle, etc.  I had to give myself an education.  I couldn’t get the ½” width gear I needed to match the rack I wanted, so I ordered a wider one and cut it to size. The gear racks have to be drilled for their mounting holes.  It’s mild steel but having a drill press is basically a requirement for doing this stuff.  The sliding gear added about $65 to the cost of the project and probably 3 days of extra work since everything’s impacted, more painting, wiring concerns, etc.
 
Gear racks:  view from underneath, the racks are on the wings and the gear will be mounted to the bottom of the case.

 
 
The gear and the piece cut off to get the correct width

 
 
I didn’t order bearings to interface between the gear and it’s attachment to the case.  It would have been $35 to get two of the right size, shipped.  Since this is not a real machine or high speed application, I made my own bearing out of a stack of flat washers on a 1/4-20 bolt.
 
“Bearing” before final sizing

 
Filing the bearing to size on my "vertical lathe", aka the drill press.

 
the mechanism closed
 

 
Wings extended, installing some rollers to keep the racks tight to the gear.  Here I drilled a hole in the wrong place so I’m gluing in a dowel in preparation to re-drill the hole.  The holes would have overlapped otherwise.
 


Next up, painting. 

[emphatic]

That is extremely cool.   

[drventure]

Nice! I bookmarked McMaster Carr ages ago, but I guess I never ran across this mechanism (that site is huge!).

Now I've got an idea what to look for.

Thanks!

[VanillaGorilla]

That is taking it to the next level. What a great solution. I have nothing but praise. Is this standalone, or will it be mounted in a cabinet? Is that grey paint on the interior, or did you line it with sheet metal? Just wow.
 

[TopJimmyCooks]

Emphatic - Thanks!

drventure - McMaster produces a catalog, about the size of a Grainger catalog if you've seen one of those, but it's more hardware oriented.  I don't get it anymore since their web catalog is so good, but it is awesome to flip through just to see what's available out there.  They'll probably send you one. They are super to deal with, fast shipping etc.  And they will ship you one gear rack, which is hard to find with that type of obscure hardware. 

VanillaGorilla - a woody style slim cab with rotating LCD is a possible future project, and it's set up to attach to that.  Standalone for now although it's too tall for desktop and too short for standing, so I'll need to figure something out (or cut the legs down on a barstool).  More on that in the OP.  Everything is painted wood, no overlays, laminate, etc.  Painting update post to come this weekend at the latest. 

I appreciate your comments guys.  I am surprised at the interest in the painting!  It was pretty quick and dirty compared to many projects here.

[TopJimmyCooks]

Painting:

I disassembled everything, sanded, and puttied the few brad and staple holes for painting. 



I should have spent more time on the hole filling, the semigloss black shows everything.  I puttied over the exposed endgrain of the plywood pieces to smooth them out a little.  You can see it’s plywood in the finished product but only when the top is open.  I routed the endgrain sections exposed to the exterior to receive T mold.  basically the only place this was required was the front and back of each wing box endplate.  I could have gotten a better finish with primer, but I find it doesn’t matter as much when using spraypaint.  (I self prime with a light mist coat then go back heavier a few minutes later)

I sprayed the gray interior color first, including the underside of the tops.  Then, the gray was masked off with tape and paper and I sprayed about 3 coats of semigloss black. 



I left some areas bare wood on purpose – the wings are pretty tight to the case and I didn’t want paint to paint rubbing together where I could avoid it.

Got done with the black and I masked for the CF areas on the top.  I lightly sanded the base coat after masking to get a better grip.




The shaped masks were made with painters tape on kitchen parchment paper.  I laid down a field of tape, then taped a full size pattern drawn in Sketchup over top, and cut the outline with scissors.  Then I peeled the parchment paper off and put them on the CP like stickers.  The quarter round inside corners were done by laying up a stack of 10 pieces of painters tape and drilling a 5/8” hole through them with a forstner bit.  Then, the resulting stack was cut into quarters, peeled apart and overlaid on the inside corners of the tops.

Carbon Fiber:
I followed a tutorial I found online by some casemod dude who spent about a year on a Halo themed case sculpture thing.  First coat was metallic black.  Then, I placed foam shelf liner mesh over the whole thing.  I oriented the squares diagonally since in real CF things rarely run straight, the axis of strength is on the bias.  Next coat is supposed to be metallic silver but I used aluminum since I had it on hand.  Then, lift the mesh and blend some more metallic black over the top to taste. 



Shelf liner after metallic silver. 


Tops after silver


Finished CF treatment


Closeup of the piece I experimented/practiced on.


I spraybombed the U360 and track ball plates black as well.  I misted the bottom of the case and wings with black since it could be seen from underneath when the wings are out in a future cab install.  You can see the woodgrain through the black but it looks pretty cool. 

I later scratched the front of the case by moving the wings while the tops were flipped up; they rubbed a line in the paint.  and I blew out a huge chip on the inside when I drilled for the cord exit hole.  So there will be another round of repair painting in the future.

Next up, installing the controls and wiring.  Thanks for taking a look.

[DNA Dan]

Very nice! You have to post a video of that thing in action. Are your modular sections fitted with a universal connector in the same spot? Or do you just plug it in?

I had visions just now of hitting a high score in a game, then the CP opens up and reveals a bucket full of cold beers.  Sort of also reminds me of pinbot.

[TopJimmyCooks]

DNA - For the panel with the four way and buttons, those go through a cat 5 patch cable to a single RJ 45 jack, then are wired to P1 on the ipac.  I looked at the keystone type cat 5 jacks like Doc's modular mame cab, but right now I only needed one place to plug in, and it was $2 for the single jack v/s $12 for the parts for the keystone 2 place box.  I busted the controls budget with the u360 so I wanted to economize where possible. 

If I add another panel with more buttons I will upgrade to a 2 RJ 45 setup.

The spinner and trackball on that panel are on the optiwiz and plug into the usb hub.  The separate driving and flight stick controls just use USB as well. 

[TopJimmyCooks]

A couple of beers and some ice would fit in there . . .  some drain holes . . . .  Hmmmm.    


Actually, its more like a humidor.  Incorporate a cigar cutter into the mechanism, recess a desktop lighter . . . .

[TopJimmyCooks]

Controls and Wiring:

Pretty quick here because there’s nothing groundbreaking going on.  The main challenge was not being able to mount the ipac to the bottom of the CP top as normal, due to the mobility.  Then, I couldn’t mount the interface in the obvious place – middle of the case - to serve P1 and P2, because the turbotwist projects down to almost the bottom of the case, taking up room in the middle.  So I had to move the Ipac to the left, and the usb hub was slid to the to the right to balance out.  They are mounted to the lexan so I notched the bottom panels of the wings on either side for mounting bolt clearance.  I had to do this on the finished, painted wing box so it was some white knuckle routing, let me tell you. 

Interfaces installed



I cut up two stranded cat 5 patch cables for each side to get the 16 conductors required to serve P2.  The Pinball buttons are connected by stranded wire as well to survive flexing.  Everything else is solid wire.

On the modular trackball panel, the connection for the stick and buttons was through a cat 5 patch cord with RJ 45 jack as used in Doc’s Modular cab.  I mounted the $2 single RJ45 box, painted black, on the back of the case.  I borrowed the 10 pin header plug that came with the U360, and repurposed it for the trackball connection on the Opti-wiz.  I got a 6 pin molex from rat shack so I could leave the TB harness intact.  The trackball/spinner and all the other swappable panel controls are going to plug into the usb hub.   I did something with the mouse buttons which I will show later, not pictured here.  I'm considering cutting down the worlds longest USB cable since I only need 12" here. 

Trackball panel wiring


Button and stick wiring is as per normal.  I used disconnects for maybe a little flexibility if I want to change switches or something later.  I didn’t leave a lot of slack so if leaf switches or something came along, I would be rewiring.  No problem, it was kind of fun to do.

P1 and P2 wiring with cat 5 patch cables started


I installed the P1 and P2 panels via hinges to the wing boxes, and moved onto the case wiring.  Enough cat 5 was looped into each side of the case to allow the panels to move, and it was twisted and routed to keep it down near the floor to avoid snagging.  I kept the cat 5 well strain-relieved and avoided sharp bends for reliability.

Case wiring complete:


Close-up of interface area:


My smallest strippers were still a gauge or two larger than the Cat 5 (26 gauge?) so it was a bit of a pain to get them done. 

Notice a little screw up here?

Skillfully camouflaged screw up:

Thanks for taking a look and commenting. 

Next up:  Finished product, button labels and hopefully a fairly complete matching Mala theme. 

[DNA Dan]

Very clean wiring. I went wiht a minipac and the premade harness so I doubt it will look as simple. Just an observation, but why did you route the wires through the mechanism area? Looks like its just asking for trouble later on.

[Nephasth]

Nice and clean wiring job! I've thought about using cat 5 cable to keep things tidy in my cab, still undecided though. Still looking forward to seeing the steering wheel panel finished.

[emphatic]

Looking very tidy. The cat 5 cable is a favourite for me for control wiring as well. 

[TopJimmyCooks]

Thanks Guys.  Any allegedly clean wiring work was directly inspired by project posts here.  I'm not an electronics genius so if something goes wrong I need to be able to trace and diagnose it without going insane. 

DNA Dan-its hard to see in the wiring pix, but the cables are above a fixed lexan floor.  The mechanism is below.  You can see the edges of the lexan 'floor' on the first pic in the wiring post.

Nephasth - Steering gear is a bit on the back burner until I can fix mala losing focus on mame exit.  Also, I didn't plan to do much with it.  It's going to look suspiciously like a sidewinder clamped to a board unless I can think of something cool to do.  Fair warning.

(edited due to loss of internet svc while trying to post this)

[drventure]

Nice wiring! This is what things look like when you think things through. My cab is what you get when you don't....

or as my dad likes to call it, "seat of the pants engineering" 

[EvilNuff]

...My smallest strippers were still a gauge or two larger than the Cat 5 (26 gauge?) so it was a bit of a pain to get them done.  ...

Very nice looking wiring job!  For future reference the cheapest type of wire strippers out there like these:


Actually work quite well for cat5 cable.  Because you just adjust them to whatever size you need.

[drventure]

I picked up a wirestripper like this at one point. It's my go to tool for this kind of thing. Works on virtually all size wire and is completely automatic.

A tad more expensive though



Just google "Automatic wire stripper". This one is by Ancor.

[emphatic]

I always use my teeth.   

[Nephasth]

I always use my teeth.   

I've done that and bit right through small gauge wire

[TopJimmyCooks]

I actually have a cheapo example of one of those automatic ones.  I didn't like it for larger gauge wiring, but I need to try it again next time I mess with cat 5.  I can't do the teeth trick since I had my teeth filed to points a while back.   

[Erik]

One of the many things I love about this build is that it came out of nowhere, had no dramatic buildup, no teaser pics, lost momentum, or lengthy pause for comment.   It's like BOOM -- my rack and pinion is in your face -- you're drawn hopelessly in before you can turn away, like so many lapdances 

[mgb]

Awesome project!!! Very nice work. great original design.
keep up the good work.

[TopJimmyCooks]

Thanks Erik, MGB.  Update post on mouse buttons, button labels and final touches coming up this weekend. 

[TopJimmyCooks]

Mouse Buttons Update:

I wanted to get the mouse buttons on the same center panel with the trackball and spinner/scroll wheel, but not show them on top of the CP.  I came up with an idea to have them slide out from underneath, and be accessed by sliding the wings apart.  Things got too tight underneath to mount an assembly that slid straight out, but I had room to the side of the trackball to have a small piece rotate out.

Fabricated mouse button plate.


Installed, wired mouse, with buttons flipped out/extended, from the underside of the panel:


Retracted:


From the top, with mouse buttons in the gap between the center and P1 panels.  Note Pongo mouse button label vinyl.


The buttons are concealed underneath when the wings are slid in.  I also installed my Pongo button vinyl:


I also installed pins to positively locate the center panel.  Thanks for the comments. 

[drventure]

Nice. I'd have probably just put in a set of three buttons over the trackball, but the swing out buttons are slick!

[Crazy Cooter]

How are you keeping the leaves 'closed' so they don't spread apart during play?

[TopJimmyCooks]

I was originally planning to use rare earth magnets on the edges of the cp tops.  However, after some light use it hasn't been a problem, theres enough friction in the system to keep it together. 

I expect when I get my cab built and somebody wants to play 2 up fighters, something more may be needed.  The two concepts are:
1. magnets, with the negative of they will make it hard to get open.
2. pins in the bottom of the cp top with a couple of different holes in the case to slot into matching the different sized center panels.  a picture is worth a thousand words here, If I do it i'll post it up. 

[gbeef]

This CP is just the thing ive been looking for.
I was thinking of building my CP from a 2 players via 4, and when i dont have company over i can scale it down to 2. Just wonder how much those rails cost?