Neon Copy Started

[dexxy]

Hi everyone,  I'm kinda new here but I've been around the mame scene for ten years or so (multi-pac?).  I've started my build as of today.  I love the neon mame so I decided to build something close to kneivel's design. (The marquees and side art not figured out yet, but I do have my pimpin neon blue rings

Since I have a cnc machine in my back pocket, I was able to whip up a design in my cad program.  I'm going with a 32" LCD, if it turns out bad I'll yank it out and go with a crt. 

I am all Ultimarc controls, with the U-HID controller.  I'm not putting in a track ball.  Just two joysticks, spinner and six buttons per side.   

So without further ado, here is my design:



The thing that's nice about having a cnc macine is no jigsaw, circular saw or drill required





Time to get onto the second piece of plywood.

[restless1]

hey send me the vcarvepro file to me I'll make one too
i have a cnc too and most of the parts even the sound activated lighting for the sides i see you have
My table size is 4 foot wide by 7 feet long
cnc'ing sure makes quick work of things

[yotsuya]

Damn. That's awesome.

[Woodshop Flunky]

My co-worker and I repeatedly drool over the MechMate! 

[TopJimmyCooks]

Sweet CNC router.  I am a confirmed knievel cab-o-phile as well, evo's my future weapon. 

w/ the 32" display and the control layout you are talking about, consider not having the control panel stick out past the sides though.  its a lot of area and you won't need to spread p1 and p2 that far apart.  Either way, looks awesome. 

[dexxy]

Ahh yes it was fun building the MechMate, I changed quite a few things because I needed lots more Z axis. Turned out great and works super for 2d and 3d projects.  Building a MechMate is not much different than building a Mame machine, funny enough - you have an interface board (usb or parallel port) stepper motor drivers and stepper motors with rack and pinion.   The software is easier to configure than some of the mame front ends

restless - I have the sides as .dxf files if you want to try them.

so now I have two sides and a bunch of parts, I'm using 2x2's for the internal joiners, I'll get to work on that tomorrow.

[dexxy]

Sweet CNC router.  I am a confirmed knievel cab-o-phile as well, evo's my future weapon. 

w/ the 32" display and the control layout you are talking about, consider not having the control panel stick out past the sides though.  its a lot of area and you won't need to spread p1 and p2 that far apart.  Either way, looks awesome. 

Thanks for the advice Top!, I'll put the cab together and then lay out the cpanel and if there is too much room I'll trim it down a bit.

Dex

[yotsuya]

I just had to add that not only is your cnc awesome, but so is your avatar.

[restless1]

dexxy that would be great if you send me the .dxf file I'll just import it into vcarve then make the g code for mach 3...
I built myself a Finelineautomation cnc its closer to 4X7' modified it a bit so its got some extra parts...
I've held of doing much with it till i get my shed built because my garage has no room now
my shed will be 12X32 and be built in a few weeks then i will do the Mame cabinet and pinball machine good luck on yours although i Don't think you'll need much
Your off to and excellent start...

[Woodshop Flunky]

I know I could ask these sorts of things on the MechMate forum, but since your here...   What kind of bit life do you get cutting up a sheet of plywood like this?

Like I said earlier, my friend and I are both considering taking the MechMate plunge.

If you built that MechMate yourself, then I know this is going to be a great arcade cab. 

[leapinlew]

I just had to add that not only is your cnc awesome, but so is your avatar.

Mesmerizing. Needs more sneezes to finish the job.

[Yvan256]

Can we please see a video of a Mechmate cutting arcade cabinet panels? I know there's videos of Mechmates on YouTube, but they're all doing useless things like cutting letters and logos... 

[dexxy]

achooo  

Sometimes in life you find out about things you should never do... for me this is t-slot cutting.  You'd swear that I was a drunk norweigian trying to get the slots going straight!

Hi restless1 - here is a link to the dxf files.  Remember you still need to figure out your width (its set for 32 inches in the drawings) but you can always cut the cross pieces down to whatever you want.  Also, the base is not included in the dxf's but it should be 4-6" high depending on how tall u want your cab.

http://www.crosstrainer.ca/downloads/neonmamecad.rar

Yvan256, lol I agree but my video camera had no batteries when I was cutting, I'll be making another cab for a friend so when I do that I'll post some worthwhile MM vids

So the slots are cut, but I need to get the monitor before I assemble the cab!  I'm not happy about a 32"  - 28" is about right but they don't make em... at least for cheap they dont!

[restless1]

thanks for the dxf's cleaned them up for my software now appreciate that dexxy!

[yotsuya]

I wish I knew someone with a CNC here in Phoenix. I have a project with some intricate sides that I would love to use a CNC to cut a template.

[AlienInferno]

Just came across this.  Looks good so far and that cnc does make it easier and faster.  I have plans to build a cnc of my own but haven't had the time/money to really get into it yet.  I did get a demo of vcarvepro though and planned out my cab just for fun.  It's pretty fun to mess around with.

[dexxy]

Finally got a few hours to do the major cabinet assembly.  Went pretty quick!   Woodshop... the carbide bits last a long time cutting wood.  I also got a 21" crt that I'm using instead of a lcd.  Its starting to come together!

[Charlie97L]

that's lookin' great!  i'm envious of the CNC machine, especially from my perspective, i'm kind of stuck with kits.  seems like it makes life a lot easier.

[dexxy]

More progess!

- mounted my 21" crt, after decasing the thing, I bolted the monitor to a bezel board that will be hidden by the main bezel.  That was screwed to 2x2's that are attached to my side panels.  Its nice and easy to change out if I ever want to try a different monitor combination.
 
- I found an old pioneer gm600 18w x 2 around here and wired it to run off the computer power supply driving a couple of pioneer 6" speakers.

- I got brave and cut out my control panel    I'm not using a trackball, instead I mounted a spinner in the middle with two buttons on each side.  Of course I went and cut the thing out on the wrong side so I'm going to be filling and sanding before I get my artwork   I recessed the joysticks .25 of an inch, which gave my .5 for under side screws. Its a basic layout but will perfectly functional for what I am planning.

- I'm pretty stoked about where I am now, I will try and get the wiring setup and give the whole thing a test run before I finish the cab!  Thanks Knievel and everybody else for the inspiration, the quality of projects on BYOAC is incredible!!!

[emphatic]

Looks great except for the tiny screen. 

[Drunkraccoons]

agreed you could probably go up to a 26" or maybe bigger

[dexxy]

Well, so far I have around 400 bucks into this thing.  I can fit a 32" LCD but there goes my budget, and also I think its too big.  I have a 27" tv with svga input, but at least I can run the 21" at 800x600.  Once the bezel is on and painted and the thing is behind glass it'll be ok.    I thought discussions on beer holder placement would be far more important 

[emphatic]

27" TV sounds like a better option IMHO. Unless you have a 21" 800x600 right next to it running the same games/menus nobody will complain about resolution etc. Size matters, ya'll.

[dexxy]

gotcha, I'll do a side by side and compare, I think its a flatscreen toshiba 27"

[Yvan256]

If you have a 27" CRT that you can use instead of that 21", even if the 27" has a lower resolution or lower quality inputs, it doesn't really matter since most arcade games were extremely low-resolution anyway. Probably around 320x240 for almost all old titles and 640x480 at best for the most recent CRT-based games.

Count me as another "vote" for the 27 inches CRT. 

[leapinlew]

Love it. I actually don't think the 21" is a problem, but a 25" would be nice.

The only issues I have are with the control panel. I think player 1 and player 2 buttons in the middle are too far away from the player. I think they should be directly above each player.

The other issue is the staggered 6 buttons. I'm confused which button is the 1 button I would use for games. I think Knievel used to make 1 of the buttons a different color and make that the primary button for games that only required 1 button. 

[BurgerKingDiamond]

Please please please go for the bigger monitor. I have a 27" TV using S-video. It looks great. And pawn shops/craigslist practically give them away. A 21" monitor isn't necesarily bad, but for the size of your cab a 27" would be more proportional.

[Donkbaca]

Yeah, I am not a fan of the Knieval layout either,  I don't see any advantages to the weird offset, but a lot of people like it.  I agree the 21 inc is way too small.  If you were planning on using that monitor, you should have made the cab more narrow.  The 27 inch will look much better

[dexxy]

Well, as luck would have it, the 21" didn't work anyways.  So it is now ripped out of the cab.  My options are a 32" sony CRT (heavy as hell) or a 32" LCD?  Any suggestions 

[emphatic]

I'd go for the 32" CRT (if it is 4:3 of course).

[BurgerKingDiamond]

you MUST go with the CRT. Not even a question. You'll have a hell of a time ever moving the cab though, so make sure you have it where you want.

[Donkbaca]

I was goin to put a 32in CRT in my cab originally. Decided it was too big and heavy

[emb]

If it is a 4:3 and will fit, I would use the CRT, especially if the LCD is a widescreen.

[dexxy]

Well, its starting to look Neonish! 

Thanks Cory for the Duratex paint, the stuff is incredible!

Due to a lack of volunteers to help me lift the 32" CRT - with a vote of one the 32" LCD won.  I'll save the CRT for another project.  Now I only hope I didn't break the lcd panel getting it in!   (I cut two slots with a router in each side so that the frame fit exactly into the cab.   Next up is speakers, control panel artwork and computer 

[dexxy]

it's alive!  What a blast to actually play the old games again in a cab!

All thats left is the control panel graphic, get the smoked glass for the front and hookup and wrap up a bunch of details. 

This is too much fun

[Malenko]

Looks amazing.

When I mounted my 32" CRT (vertically) I laid the cabinet on its side, on the floor, slide the CRT into place and bolted it in. Just keep that in mind when you build the next one.

[Woodshop Flunky]

That's looking great!  Good job!   

[dexxy]

Thanks   I'm having alot of fun now with it!

Keyboard tray is in, neon is turned on, computer goes in next and then the control panel!

[dexxy]

Hi Again,

I managed to get my neon copy close to complete!   I ended up using a space image that Jeff?  used on theirs.  I tried lots of graphics but this one worked the best.  The nice part is I can change it up at any time, the pics are just sandwitched between lexan.   Still have the smoked glass to order.  Any I'm glad btw that I went LCD because the bevels work great.  Also I can play my rc sim stuff and other games using the cab, makes it far more useful in my opinion.



The U-HID was a dream to setup, their gui setup screen makes configuration a breeze.  My only problem is I can't get my spinner working right, its trying to move left and right at the same time, I hope Andy can help me figure this out cause Disks of Tron is waiting  

The Mala front end was a breeze to setup, and picking games was a sinch after finding the mala gamelist editor!

So now its a matter of fine tuning the front ends and adding more emulators to the machine.

Thanks to BYOAC and everyone who had suggestions and of course Knievel!

[yotsuya]

Nice job! I hope you and your avatar don't go away!