Lots of questions - probably doomed to fail anyway

[mnewt]

OK - so after lurking on the forum for about a year and reading the Project Arcade book, I'm finally ready to start building my bartop CAB. I have a wife (who for some reason is not keen on the idea), no design skills, have never picked up a power tool in my life, and my first 3 cardboard mock-ups (thanks goodness for cardboard) have been limited in their success to say the least. Although all these factors seem destined to lead me to failure, I am going to give it a go nonetheless.


Before I start though, I would be most appreciative if some one on this forum could lend me a hand with a few questions.

1 Does anyone know how to de-case a LCD monitor? - more specifically a HP LP1965. I can't seen any screws and can't figure out how to do it. It's not a massive issue, but will have a bearing on how I mount the thing

2 I am looking at some small 5cm diameter speakers for the sound, linked up to an amp that takes a 12V input - something like this one

http://www.amazon.com/Sure-2x15W-TA2024-Class-D-Amplifier/dp/B003XRNRB6/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1318579848&sr=1-1


Can I just strip the relevant molex wire(s) on a PC PSU and connect it to the relevant terminal on the amp? Is this safe to do? Will I get distortion? The reason for the small speakers is that I wish to mount them under the marquee and being a bartop, the space is limited. I don't want to mount the speakers on the side of the CAB as I may wish to put side art on later


3 What sort of graphics card do I need to play MK3 at 100% with HLSL enabled?

4 I am thinking of using 2 U360 joysticks on the control panel. Can I plug both into a USB hub and then the hub into the PC? Will this work or are there problems doing it this way? The reason I ask is that I am thinking of using a removable control panel and would rather just have the one USB cable to connect to the main unit.

5 Will the aimtracks work through tinted glass at shallow (12 degrees) a steep (102 degree) angle? (or does this depend on the darkness of the tint)


Lastly, a big thankyou to everyone on this forum. I've learnt loads from the people who have taken the trouble to document their builds and answer questions from noobs like me.

Cheers
Mark

[newmanfamilyvlogs]

Decasing an LCD usually isn't worth doing. Most modern LCDs have built-in mounting points on the back that are useful to screw into. The plastic on the outside is not going to give you that much more space by removing it as would be the case with a CRT.

That's an interesting little amp. An issue you might run into when powering an audio amp from a PC PSU is picking up 'noise' from the computer. The CPU itself, the harddrive, and other components introduce noise into the DC line which some amps will be affected by, resulting in odd sound coming quietly out of your speakers. You might be best served by finding some regular PC speakers and decasing them.

I haven't played with HLSL yet. Your CPU will determine how well MK3 will play, the video card will determine how much of a speed hit you take by turning on HLSL.

Yes, you should be able to run both U360s from a single hub, however you may have trouble if that hub is unpowered. You may want to settle for 2 wires, one usb, one power for the hub.

My AimTracks are looking at the bar through "Solar Grey" tinted acrylic from TAP Plastics. It's rather dark. So far I have had some issue with sensitivity that I think might be related to the darkness. I haven't investigated it fully yet. But yes, the darkness of the tint will be the issue here.

[Jammin0]

You could easily remove the bezel on that LCD and just leave it in the back case.  This would let you have a flat front surface to work with.  There is sometimes 1 screw on the bottom of the front bezel.  If not then it is just clips together.  To get the bezel off, start with the bottom.  Try to pry down on the bottom towards the bottom, once you are able to pull the bottom off the rest will pry off fairly easily.  As long as you don't pry on the side where the bezel touches the screen, you shouldn't harm anything.  Another cool thing about most Dell monitors is that they have 12v out for external speakers.  You could either power speakers or your marquee directly from the monitor, just plug into the DC out jack that is meant for the speakers.

[mnewt]

Thanks to you both for your replies.

-I think I'll go for the powered hub as suggested
- With regards to the aimtraks I'll probably go for a lighter tint of glass and see how that fairs

Thanks Jammin for the LCD info. I would prefer the flat surface to mount the monitor flush with the glass. I appreciate the speaker suggestion - however, I have no speaker output on my HP LCD unfortunately.

Does anyone know of any small PC spekers that would be suitable (preferably USB powered)? Realistically, I have about 6cm width to play with. Alterantively, I'm considering the amp with a seperate DC power supply (I'm assuming I would get no distortion from this setup) + some seperate 5cm diameter speakers. However, I would probably prefer the USB powered speaker setup if possible.

Anyone running MK3 with HLSL at 100% speed? Love to know your setup if you are.

Thanks again for the replies so far. They've been useful.

[yaksplat]

In case you haven't taken apart the monitor yet, i put a how to on my site for a dell monitor.

Good luck!

http://yaksplat.wordpress.com/2011/10/26/monitor-dissection/

[Rando]

I have a wife (who for some reason is not keen on the idea)

Regarding this part,
Make one of your first goals to get the MAME PC up and running.  This way you can demo the working concept to your wife, show her how some of the games she remembers look and sound (for my wife it was Robotron, Centipede, and Donkey Kong Jr.) and have her try them out.  When she starts to ---smurfette--- about how poor the gameplay is using the keyboard/mouse, explain that the next step is the cabinet/control panel to create the realistic arcade experience.  At that point my wife bumped the arcade up the priority list and started pestering me about when it would be finished.

Isn't "finished" yet but is working, so she is happy, which means my work can continue.

Luck!

[level42jeff]

I have a wife (who for some reason is not keen on the idea)

Regarding this part,
Make one of your first goals to get the MAME PC up and running.  This way you can demo the working concept to your wife, show her how some of the games she remembers look and sound (for my wife it was Robotron, Centipede, and Donkey Kong Jr.) and have her try them out.  When she starts to ---smurfette--- about how poor the gameplay is using the keyboard/mouse, explain that the next step is the cabinet/control panel to create the realistic arcade experience.  At that point my wife bumped the arcade up the priority list and started pestering me about when it would be finished.

Isn't "finished" yet but is working, so she is happy, which means my work can continue.

Luck!

When I needed convincing of my folks, I did the exact same thing. lol worked like a charm!

[mnewt]

Thank you all for your suggestions. Unfortunately, the aforementioned strategies did not work on my wife. Instead I took the cowards' way out - waited until she went away for the weekend, ordered the parts, bought a large piece of wood, and had it waiting for her in the dining room for when she got back (along with yet another carboard mockup). I think it was at this point that reality dawned on her - that I was serious and it wasn't just another pie in the sky idea. I'm not sure she's exactly won over....but it's a moot point now.