Checkered Past (now a disposed of project)

[Uncle Monkey]

Pretty sweet man.....

[Malenko]

TV Cut down, it should be a TIGHT fit on the sides.

Before :


After "weight loss":


Still need to solder wires to the input and power buttons, that or fill the holes I drilled in the top of the cab, heh

[BadMouth]

see you got the CRTs stockpiled 

[Pinball Wizard]

What are you using to emulate things like Crusin' USA and the Daytona stuff?

[Malenko]

see you got the CRTs stockpiled 

I have the 27" I pulled out of the MAME position, another 25" that has composite and Svid inputs, a 19" with NO inputs other than coax, and a 42" plasma  I wish ppl pn my criagslist gave them away like everyone else's craigslists.

What are you using to emulate things like Crusin' USA and the Daytona stuff?

The  Cruis'n games (USA and World) in MAME and Daytona in Model 2. I haven't even attempted a front end yet. You have any luck with the cab you got from me?

so I got the TV in:


I flipped the PolePosition glass over and painted it black where the art was. If you flip it over you can't tell I painted the back. I put it in the cab upside down and I think it looks pretty awesome. I *MAY* still end up buying some tinted plexi. I think the end result is pretty neat.


I am probably going to fill in the buttons up top, I even bought a dowel rod today to patch it up, I may leave a button up there to exit games, who knows! Tomorrow Im going to take the Dyson to the basement and clean all the dust and dirt out of the cab. While at work Im going to work on the molex to coindoor wiring, which includes both coining up and lighting the lights.

[Nephasth]

so I got the TV in...

Jesus! How much lube did that take? Looks good, nice n' tight.

I am probably going to fill in the buttons up top...

Where are you moving them to?

[Malenko]

so I got the TV in...

Jesus! How much lube did that take? Looks good, nice n' tight.

I am probably going to fill in the buttons up top...

Where are you moving them to?

I hear with enough KY you can put a Cadillac in a dog house. The buttons up top were for TV power and input. The TV I have now powers on automatically when I reach in the coin door and turn on the power strip. I havent really ever changed inputs so there isnt a need for the buttons (and I can change the input with the remote control) I might leave the red one up there though, the idea of reaching up to exit a game seems like a great idea to me. I havent gotten that far yet though. The LED you made me are still the best part of this project.

[Pinball Wizard]

You have any luck with the cab you got from me?

Been super busy lately so I haven't put much time into it. I have gathered some parts for mame, and think I can use an arcade monitor in it. Tested one of the several monitors you gave me. It powers on, but I haven't had a chance to give it a good video picture. Will hopefully be done before April 7th

[Malenko]

I find it hilarious that I spent 5 hours working on this today and you cant even tell. So after I put the new TV in I cleaned out the cab of all the dust and plastic scraps from trimming the TV and got it totally cleaned out inside.

I also rerouted most of the wires and bundled them together. I am still going to tap 12v for the coin door lights, but I'm not going to hook up the mechs, the coin button below the start button is fine for me (I plan to put as many games on free-play as possible anyway)

Here's the Windows 7 ratings screen:

the 5.9 is the hard drive, its a SATA drive so the transfer rate is fine for playing some arcade racing games. Everything else scores a 6.2 or better, which isn't bad for a free computer. Also note, this is back on Svideo display because the component in stopped working on the TV I put in there and I cant be bothered to take it back out.

All those shots of Daytona and Cruisn running, heres the 24hr GT game running:

Note that the 7" LCD has been removed from the marquee area, while it being up there was neat, getting the marquees to change was a bit of a pain and to me, not worth it. I also want as little extra stuff running in the background as possible. I think Im going to need to run some sort of gamepad to keyboard mapper so I can hit the button on the top of the cab to exit games.

Here's the back of the TV:

I cut a little piece of plastic out of the back of the TV shell and put it back in place, I kinda like it, even if you cant ever really see it.

And down here's the bottom where the computer sits:

I put a blue cold-cathode light above the gas pedal on the inside, it lights up the entire inside of the cab which is great for when you need to look in there, and when the rooms dark it lights up the pedal area, I think its pretty nifty.


I grabbed a surprise form the Home Depot for the back of the cab, if it works I'll take a pic and post it, if it doesnt, you'll never know what it was =D
 

[Nephasth]

Note that the 7" LCD has been removed from the marquee area, while it being up there was neat, getting the marquees to change was a bit of a pain and to me, not worth it.

Damn, I was really liking that feature.

[Malenko]

Damn, I was really liking that feature.

I wouldn't be opposed to putting it back up there, once everything else is squared away. Its just causing too many problems I dont wanna deal with right now (like on random boot ups the VGA because the primary display and that makes me want to club a baby seal.)

[Malenko]

All this talk of blue glows at night and I never took any pix, until now:


I also installed hyperspin, Im not sure if I'm gonna keep it or go MaLa, Its mighty pretty. However I do need to make an intro video. I am having issues selecting games with the wheel, but I think I can dial down the sensitivity on the wheel using the logitech profiler. Or I can just map the game selection to the Dpad build into the wheel. Another thing I need to do is map the escape key to the button up top, using joy2key or something of the same ilk.






and I need to make some custom graphics for it too.

[Malenko]

goodness how time flies. Ive been pulling 50 hour weeks for a while so progress has slowed to a crawl.
I do have an art request thread up:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=119908.0
so feel free to check that out and chip in if you can.  I'm going to change a few things around with how you navigate the front end, no more wheel, going to use the VR buttons instead.

I did get the last of the t molding around the gas pedals changed out:


while watching a little motocross on the TV:

[Nephasth]

Updates?

[HaRuMaN]

Updates?

I think this one fell off a truck, too...

[Malenko]

Updates?

I think this one fell off a truck, too...

I'll throw you off a truck! :p

I am working far too much to make any *real* progress, but I have bought some more plexi including a piece to replace the pole position monitor glass and a piece to go behind the buttons. I am working on some art, and I've attached what I think I'm going to use. Prolly wont change the marquee mostly because I'm pretty terrible at photoshop =) The instruction card is going to go under the monitor and will be roughly the same size as whats attached here. I got some frog tape so I'll tape off what needs to be transparent and paint the rest black. I'll try to update before too long

[Malenko]

decided to make the colors a little brighter and the logo pop a little more. I made this a little too big and I need to resize it down a bit to make it fit.

[Purple Tophat]

TV Cut down, it should be a TIGHT fit on the sides.

Before :


After "weight loss":


Still need to solder wires to the input and power buttons, that or fill the holes I drilled in the top of the cab, heh

Wicked!!! This is exactly what I've been looking to do! Do you know exactly how wide it ended up being once you got that part of the case off from around the glass? Was there any hazard of electrical shock whatsoever? Probably not, right?

I have a 27" TV that I want to use, but the case is a bit too wide to fit on my cabinet. My opening is only 24.5".

[Malenko]

Wicked!!! This is exactly what I've been looking to do! Do you know exactly how wide it ended up being once you got that part of the case off from around the glass? Was there any hazard of electrical shock whatsoever? Probably not, right?

I have a 27" TV that I want to use, but the case is a bit too wide to fit on my cabinet. My opening is only 24.5".

I can measure when I get home, but I believe the opening is exactly 25" and the TV trimmed down was 24 15/16th" lol I had to take out the speaker area and wood that the glass leans against in order to get the tube in there.  I secured the tube in place but I dont think I needed to, its got NO WHERE to go.  You can always turn the TV sideways like I did in KI2MAME (link in sig)

[Purple Tophat]

Yeah I'd hate to bust it all up and then find out that it's like 1/4" too wide to fit!! Maybe I'll see if I can unscrew it to get at the glass to measure without having to break anything. I mean, the TV was only $10, so it wouldn't be a big loss, but to be honest, it's nicer than a couple of the bedroom TVs I have, so I don't want to break it unless I know it'll fit.

I'm still confused though. I thought there was something with some huge capacitor where if you take the case apart, you risk death by electrocution. I'm kind of scared to take the case apart!!!

I guess I could always go with a 25", but I just like the idea of having a 27" in there better! Hehe!!

[Malenko]

I'm still confused though. I thought there was something with some huge capacitor where if you take the case apart, you risk death by electrocution. I'm kind of scared to take the case apart!!!

That's the anode cap, you only need to disconnect that if separating the tube from the chassis. I checked and the opening is exactly 24 inches, and there is no daylight between the TV and the sides, but there are light scratches on the side where I slid it in , lol. I did some work tonight, pix coming soon.

EDIT: 24 inches wide NOT 25 inches

[Malenko]

So here's me working in photoshop for the shroud art:


And for a mere $33 (ouch! $11 a pop) Kinkos printed me out 3 copies:


Clamped the plastic down with 1 of the copies taped to the back:


drilled out the button holes:


Wired it all back up, I think it looks pretty good!




I'm working on the instruction card that is going go below the monitor. Now to figure out how to add Model 2 and Model 3 games to MaLa. I'm not loving Hyperspin that much.

[Nephasth]

Wow!

The shroud really looks polished now.

[TopJimmyCooks]

Pretty soon you'll be done and you can roll it out, set it in the back of the truck and  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

[BadMouth]

That panel looks awesome with the illuminated buttons! 
Very original. 

[HaRuMaN]

Pretty soon you'll be done and you can roll it out, set it in the back of the truck and  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Hahahahahaha

[Purple Tophat]

Love it! Looks great! And thanks for the advice on the monitor!

[Malenko]

Decided to stop dragging my feet on this and get some ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- done.

First I reprimed the insides, then I found a better way to mount the wheel. I used to have the wheel on a shelf and the wheel sticking through the whole in the front. Little back story to that, I had to cut a line from the top to the hole then pry the metal apart and slide the wheel in, good times. When the wheel was on the shelf it worked but it didnt leave much finger room between the shelf and the shroud. Well I eliminated the shelf and I put screws in the wheel housing from the front of the metal CP. Then I JB Welded a blank outlet cover plate behind the control panel, then filled the gap in with JB weld.  Ghetto as hell, but it works and its behind the scenes, and has much better finger clearance all around.

Reprimed:


Computer in, and wires tidy:

Yes, thats a tiny speaker inside, Im waiting to grab 2 new 6x9s for the inside.



Next Ghetto-ness, the shifter. When I got the shifter from UncleT everything was fine, it was either in storage or my first attempt to mount this thing that I broke 2 cherry switches. I couldnt find 2 replacement switches, they are oddly small, so I hacked them, kinda. I basically mounted 2 regular joystick cherries:

then I just decided to just replace the 2 working ones with 2 more regular sized cherries, so all 4 gears felt the same:


Then I mounted the shifter to the control panel , I had to drill 4 bigger holes but in a pinch this could still be converted back to a PP if for some odd reason I ever wanted to. Once the wheel was secure, and the shifter was bolted in, I mounted it to the machine, and ran the shifter wires to the Zero Delay encoder that was originally used for just the camera buttons.

you can see the blank plate in all its ghetto glory!

Re-added the blue cold cathode behind the pedals for the glow:


Cruisn World for no apparent reason:


You cant really see in the cab, but the back door being off and the flash makes it look like you can. That's where the 6x9 is going to go.



I also installed all the locks (keyed the same) and the only things left do do are the front end set up and wiring in 2 new 6x9s

[BadMouth]

I couldnt find 2 replacement switches, they are oddly small, so I hacked them, kinda.

For future reference, radioshack sells that size. 

Cab looks good. 

[griffindodd]

Here's a Marquee idea using that little LCD screen for your dynamic Marquees, just a thought to embed it in generic 'driving' art, it would be cool if the outside marquee art was still illuminated as it would blend with the LCD art, very rough idea attached.

[Malenko]

hmmmmm.........

[Malenko]

new Marquee?

[Well Fed Games]

"Checkered Past" is a brilliant name for this cab- love it! Really coming together nicely.

[yotsuya]

I love the name - but keep working on the font!

[msinks]

Any post-project suggestions or regrets, Malenko?  I'm getting ready to start an extremely similar project with a gutted Pole Position cabinet and a Driving Force GT wheel.  It seems like everything revolves around mounting the steering wheel.  Is the angle of the wheel comfortable mounted on the original steel panel?  How's the room behind for your hands?  I keep flip flopping on whether I want to mount the wheel further out with a custom panel or whether to just reuse the existing panel like you did.

[Malenko]

Well project isnt done, Im hoping it will be soon though.

As for the wheel, I have as much clearance as I could squeeze out of the shaft of the wheel. Hands clear fine, and rare occasions my fingers will rub where it says "Malenko Motorsports" between the start and camera buttons, I doubt this would have happened if I used a vinyl overlay and not removed 14/" of clearance by using plexi there. I need to update this thread (and probably will tonight) I pulled the CRT and put a 24" LCD in there instead, and there is a 7" LCD in the marquee that will change when a game is selected.

The angle of the wheel is actually really good, but Im too tall for the cab to race for long periods of time, I race comfortably from a stool. My only regret really is using a PS3 wheel instead of genuine arcade parts, but this was so much easier. If you have the skill I say got for the custom panel, I just didnt want to sink anymore money into this   If you have any questions or want any specific pictures of anything, let me know.

[Malenko]

Heres some better pictures. I still havent set up all the software yet, I plan to add PS1 and PS2 driving games, and some PC games too.

Here is the LCD installed, with vesion 1.0 Marquee:


This is with all the stuff put back where it belongs:


Heres the cab, with the bar stool I use:


Trusty wireless mouse on the button bezel:


I still need to cover the CP with something:

[opt2not]

Very cool Malenko!

You driving cab guys got me to put one of my cab up for sale so that I can join the driving cab club!
Been drooling over these builds for a little while now, it's time to get one

[msinks]

Thanks for the update, Malenko.  I think I will end up mounting my wheel the same way that you mounted yours.  I just don't think that there's a good way to make the control panel look good without keeping the guts of the Driving Force completely hidden.  It's time to start my own project thread and stop hijacking yours!

BTW, that shroud looks great with the lighted buttons. 

[Malenko]

Thanks for the update, Malenko.  I think I will end up mounting my wheel the same way that you mounted yours.  I just don't think that there's a good way to make the control panel look good without keeping the guts of the Driving Force completely hidden.  It's time to start my own project thread and stop hijacking yours!

BTW, that shroud looks great with the lighted buttons.

Hijack away, no ones reading this one anyway.  I actually have an extra print out of the shroud if you want it. You can just print some small logo out and tap it overtop my name.