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Author Topic: First MAME project - Budget upright Cabinet  (Read 24658 times)

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nordemoniac

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First MAME project - Budget upright Cabinet
« on: October 21, 2011, 07:31:12 am »
Hello everyone!

I'm new to this forum, new to MAME, but well known to emulators.

Building a MAME cabinet was something I randomly searched for on eBay, and suddenly I found out that it actually was a market for this, and joysticks and buttons could be found.

I saw several projects which I searched up on google, but I was shocked by the amount of money people were putting in. Everything from $1.000 to $5.000! I was a bit shocked - HOW is it possible to use that much money on a homebuilt arcade-machine?

After googling around, reading several threads at different forums, I saw that a clever mind could make a cabinet with a CP for a couple of hundred bucks, and started thinking more on this project.

Me and a friend of mine started joking about it - "Maybe we should just build one now, what do you say?" After thinking a couple of hours and looking for parts on eBay, we suddenly found ourselves in the local stores buying materials.

I must say, we both own big thanks to Koenigs which inspired us to our project. Our MAME cabinet is based on the "Project MAME" upright cabinet, with few modifications.

I will continue updating this thread further. And I will try to keep the chat to a minimum, and as much visual candy as possible.

I will still write our ideas around the project - WHY we chose the particular parts and solutions etc.

Keep in mind, you will not see the most awesome cabinet in the world in this thread. This is a project we started just to have something to do in the weekends. It's also a proof that cabinets doesn't have to be costly to be good. And hopefully, some of our ideas here will inspire others to start their own project(s).

I hope this thread will be of interest for you :)

PS; I also wanted to say that I bought the book to support the forum! Although I'd already read most of it on different forums, I still think it's nice to have a book about it.
« Last Edit: October 21, 2011, 07:33:02 am by nordemoniac »

nordemoniac

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Re: First MAME project - Budget upright Cabinet
« Reply #1 on: October 21, 2011, 07:50:04 am »
We ordered joysticks + buttons on eBay. This was from "dirtcheaptrading". We were going for a Super Nintendo button layout, as SNES is one of the emulators we are going to have installed in addition to MAME.

$33,95 + $14 in shipping for;
- 2 x Happ Ultimate joysticks
- Player 1 button
- Player 2 button
- 2 x Yellow buttons
- 2 x Red buttons
- 2 x Green buttons
- 2 x Blue buttons
- 4 x White buttons

Total of $48 is not considered expencive by me. Although we are trying to keep a low budget, this is a necessity, and we can't go cheap on the actual player controls.

Btw, picture is from eBay store.
« Last Edit: October 21, 2011, 07:54:31 am by nordemoniac »

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Re: First MAME project - Budget upright Cabinet
« Reply #2 on: October 21, 2011, 08:04:43 am »
Quote
HOW is it possible to use that much money on a homebuilt arcade-machine?

Oh, stick around these parts long, and you'll find a way!  ;D

There's an ark of the covenant build with gold laminate, there's builds that use linear actuators to open and close doors. Fun stuff!

Welcome aboard!

nordemoniac

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Re: First MAME project - Budget upright Cabinet
« Reply #3 on: October 21, 2011, 08:16:43 am »
I can understand it on those kind of projects. But for a normal upright cabinet, you should be able to get away with a lot less.

I guess we'll have to wait and see what this project will cost. I will keep you updated on the progress!

Nephasth

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Re: First MAME project - Budget upright Cabinet
« Reply #4 on: October 21, 2011, 08:34:21 am »
Total of $48 is not considered expencive by me. Although we are trying to keep a low budget, this is a necessity, and we can't go cheap on the actual player controls.

I'd say you've done pretty good on sticking with a budget. And $48 for your player controls, well, you can't get much cheaper than that. I've spent $525 +/- a couple tokens just on the control panels of my Two-Headed Beast, and that's with getting my metal panels supplied, cut, and bent for free.

nordemoniac

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Re: First MAME project - Budget upright Cabinet
« Reply #5 on: October 21, 2011, 02:45:49 pm »
Materials are in-house.


Not to happy about the particle board type, but this was the cheapest, and easiest to get (actually the only particle board in stock).

« Last Edit: October 21, 2011, 02:49:01 pm by nordemoniac »

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Re: First MAME project - Budget upright Cabinet
« Reply #6 on: October 23, 2011, 08:04:55 am »
(Sorry about the picture errors, I think I managed to get the links correctly from Picasa now).

As Iīve written earlier, this is based on Koenigs design, but we're just going to wing it with the details (yeah I know - risky!).
As we are still on a tight budget, we will need to adjust all dimensions to match the products we buy.

Over to the project:

Cutting has started, as the boards are 120cm over, and the cabinet is going to be 60cm deep, we decided to cut both sides from the same plate, with the CP front facing each other. First one, then draw around and cut the other (we want to make them as similar as possible).



We're also on a budget on the tools. We have a drill, an electric sander and a jigsaw, so it's a bit hard getting all the parts nice and even. We are not focusing on the finish atm., we just want to get the cabinet put together, and then start thinking nicer corners etc. It's easier that way, should we want to do any changes to the design or layout.

Everything was cut out in a couple of hours (used a long time on the sides!!!), and everything is ready to be fitted and sanded.

Quick tip; Mark all the parts you cut. It can be easy to be confused. Also, be careful with the corners on the plates with this material. It can also be wise to make sure any markings etc. is on the inside of the cabinet, or else you could have trouble hiding it under the paint. also if you were to damage some of the plate, mount it in a way where you won't see the damage, and hide it when you start the finish.

Bottom, speaker and CP front... (I think)  :laugh:


We clamped the sides together and sanded the biggest one so the sides matched. The best thing here, is to make the smallest one perfect, and then use a router with a flush trim bit. That way you can clamp them together, and make the other side in a matter of seconds/minutes.


After getting a bit tired over the woodworking, we started looking at a controller layout + color arrangement (even though this is hours in the future). This is a nice guide, we used the Super Nintendo one:


We decided to go with this controller layout. It's taken from SlagCoin (btw, who created that site? Why hasn't it been updated in a couple of years etc? The site is SO good! I would want it in a book). Anyways, we removed the two rightmost buttons, as 6 buttons were more than enough.


We also noticed an old shelf-plate laying around that we are going to use as for the CP. It's a wooden plate, so it should withstand the pressure of drilling and mounting the buttons etc. Good luck in trying to use 12mm particle board for that :P The plate is the one to the left of the cabinet.


Well, that's it for now. Hope you enjoy reading about our little project   ;D
« Last Edit: September 24, 2014, 07:49:26 am by nordemoniac »

nordemoniac

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Re: First MAME project - Budget upright Cabinet
« Reply #7 on: October 23, 2011, 09:31:45 am »
Controls have arrived!

Strange enough, there were two types of microswitches. 3 of one that's much harder than the rest. I put two of these in the player 1/2 controls, and one under a white button. I guess A + B buttons are the ones getting more pounding than the rest . :D
(Btw; Which type of crimp connector do you use for the microswitches? I though 4.8mm should be good? I bought 100 of eBay. It said 5mm, but I guess it was 4.8mm. They were fully insulated. The width seems to be correct (4.8mm) but the HEIGHT is wrong(?). All of them are loose on the tongue on the microswitches, they don't "click on".)

Anyways, here are some pictures of the nice delivery:





All assembled, tested, and ready to be installed  ;)

nordemoniac

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Re: First MAME project - Budget upright Cabinet
« Reply #8 on: October 23, 2011, 10:17:30 am »
We've now also assembled the cabinet. We used 2" x 2" which we screwed the plates to. As you could see on the first pictures in this thread, the particle boards have notches on the sides of the plates, which meant we had to try to hide these on the backside. So to be honest, the backside of this cabinet really doesn't look to good. We've let the backplate be a inch further in, so that we can have some ventilation on the back.
Even though it doesn't look to good on the backside, the sides are very clean and nice. It will stand against a wall, so it really doesn't matter anyways. I will post more pictures of the cabinet later.
We've also mounted the bottom panel a bit higher, so there are room for wheels beneath it.

This is the cabinet after assembly. As you can see, we've also cut and sanded the shelf which will be the plate for our control panel, and we're fitting it at the moment.


In addition to the woodworking, we have tested our computer. I got a 20" 4:3 LCD + an old computer for free, both working OK.

After giving the old desktop computer a full cleanup (both inside and outside) we installed XP, and HyperSpin - And gave it a spin  :laugh2: (Sorry...)

We tested with some clips from emu movies, cover art + some NES roms. Everything was running OK, but when we tried some MAME games, we ran into some problems.
The computer has a P4 with around 3Ghz. I thought this should be able to cover it, but MAME was more demanding than I imagined, the same is for HyperSpin - VERY resource demanding! Problems we experienced was choppy sound and 95-100% CPU use on games like Bubble Booble, TMNT etc. On Bubble Bobble 2, the game slowed down, and music was very choppy! Gah...

After fiddling around with the performance settings for both MAME and HyperSpin, we gave up on this computer, and gave it away (once a desktop, always a desktop.)
I got a couple of small esprimo computers, so I used one of these. Itīs an C2D 1,5Ghz installed, so I guess it's a bit faster than the P4.

We installed Windows 7, and tried again with HyperSpin and Bubble Bobble. No problems! Well, HyperSpin is not fast, but it's at least running at an OK speed. Bubble Bobble 2 is not running as it should. It is still choppy, but I guess that is because it's much more advanced than Bubble Bobble 2, and MAME is only running on one core, meaning 1,5Ghz is all it gets. It's still better than the old desktop, and a WHOLE lot smaller. We still haven't configured everything, we're still missing the wheel art for the games, plus videos for a lot of the games (you have to download packs for all games, we're not going to have all of them for legal causes). I guess I have to register on the HyperSpin site to get access to extra art (25USD).

Ah... Guess it's back to the woodworking again. I think the control panel will take some hours, just to get the measurements correctly. We have ordered 3 extra buttons (random color for $1 a piece). These are for dedicated "ESC/Enter" buttons for Hyperspin, and a power on button. The ESC button will be a QUIT button for the games, and shutdown in HyperSpin. The Enter button will be a Pause button in the games. Although these are not completely necessary, we thought it could be nice to separate these from the rest of the panel.
« Last Edit: December 09, 2013, 09:03:15 am by nordemoniac »

nordemoniac

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Re: First MAME project - Budget upright Cabinet
« Reply #9 on: October 23, 2011, 10:30:51 am »
We printed out a couple of layouts for the CP, and started drilling. Being as stupid as I am, I drilled the holes before getting the hole saw. This meant that the hole saw would't have anything to guide it. I actually have no idea why I did this. I think I was planning to drill a small hole, then use the hole saw. Instead I used the biggest drill bit I could find :banghead:



Luckily, my clever friend had a good idea, drill the hole in some scrap wood, clamp this over the control panel, and use that as a guide.


With this guide, our hole saw could easily drill through  :applaud:

« Last Edit: October 23, 2011, 11:41:12 am by nordemoniac »

nordemoniac

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Re: First MAME project - Budget upright Cabinet
« Reply #10 on: October 23, 2011, 12:14:00 pm »
It's starting to take shape! The joysticks have the same hole diameter as the buttons, so they will have more than enough room.


After sanding the holes lightly, I tested with the buttons - perfect fit!
Still looks a bit weird just having the wooden plate though. The colors look to much like a toy, but I guess with some good artwork, the CP will look better.


After test-fitting the buttons, we started thinking about the joysticks. We originally thought we could just bolt them to the plate, and everything would be great. After testing the length of the joystick, the 16mm of the plate (this plate is a bit thicker than the 12mm cabinet) is actually enough to make the joystick shorter than comfortable! I guess size DOES matter!  :afro:

Well, we dealt with this by buying a router. I just bought a cheap one, I've always thought of buying one anyways. The bits are the most expensive parts here  :laugh:



I must say, for the first time ever using a router, I'm satisfied! As you can see, I didn't bother using smaller bits on the corners. It wasn't that important, as this is underneath the CP.




A router is a pretty neat tool! Too bad I didn't just buy one at first to use with the cabinet itself. Its use is something you'll find after you buy it. After trying a router, you realize it's a necessity in woodworking!

We fitted the joysticks, and after removing 8mm, it felt much more natural and comfortable in the hand. It's crazy how much those few millimeters counts! We also cut out a couple of holes for the player 1 and player 2 button.


It might be hard to see why we placed them as we did, but if you tilt you head a little to the right, you'll see that the players' CP is just a tilted six-button panel where the green and yellow button is a bit lower than the rest. You can se that the player-button is following a line on the yellow and green buttons. Hopefully this will make more sense when there is artwork covering the CP.
We also cut out the esc and enter buttons. We actually did get two red and one yellow of the ones we ordered randomly. The yellow is on the top of the cabinet, acting as a power on for the computer, which again will activate a Master/Slave power outlet.

Here's a shot over the complete panel:



It's starting to look like an arcade machine!  :cheers:
« Last Edit: September 25, 2014, 06:10:50 am by nordemoniac »

nordemoniac

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Re: First MAME project - Budget upright Cabinet
« Reply #11 on: October 23, 2011, 01:21:57 pm »
The next step on the control panel is to make it be able to send signals to our PC. The IPAC is an excellent product, but as this is on budget, it's a bit to expensive for this project. That's why we are going to use a couple of cheap $5 PSX clones from DealExtreme instead. This will require some soldering, but I think I need some practice in that anyways  ;D

The brand is "TESUN", and we bought two of these. It's a total of 10 buttons + 4 directional buttons. Should be more than enough!


Not looking quite that nice... $5 seems correct :P


Removing the cheap plastic


We have what we're after! A PCB with a USB cable. We ripped off those two break-out cables for the "R1/R2" and "L1/L2", as we are going to solder directly on the PCB. We actually had to re-solder some of the original parts, as it only recognized the controller as "Unknown USB-device".


There are actually solder point (I guess test points) on all buttons. Makes it easy for us! The plan is to have common ground, and one wire for each button. We are going to get the wires from some network cables (FREE!). 8 wires in each cable.


Some detail pictures. I am going to drill a small hole besides all solder points:




Some help for you who are thinking to do the same. I'm not sure if I was to sleepy, or if this is normal; but not all of the directional buttons had common ground.
Take a look at my (poorly soldered) directional panel. Notice that at point 3, I failed in soldering to the actual buttons (up and right) because they didn't have a solder point. I scraped off some of the PCB plastic, and soldered to the leader between them:


G + 1 = DOWN
G + 2 = LEFT
3 + 2 = RIGHT
3 + 4 = UP

As you can see, it doesn't make much sense. But it worked this way. This means that I had to connect left and right to each other, and up and right to each other. I don't know why this is, but it seemed like they had their own ground or something.

It was much easier on button 9 and 10 (Start and Select on a PSX-controller). I drilled a couple of holes by the two solder points, and put the wires in from the backside.


On button 1, 2, 3, 4 (Triangle, Circle, Cross, Square), it was just as simple as button 9 and 10. As you can see, my solder skills are coming back. 8) Quick tip: Be sure to heat both plate and the wire at the same time while soldering, that way you are sure you have good connection. Also don't use the pointy tip, use the flat side on the tip (hold the iron in an angle) to be sure you are heating it evenly. Apply solder to the wire and pad, not the iron. Also, do not heat for a long time, that could desolder the solder pad from the PCB. Notice K6, G and K8 up to the left. That is Button 6 and 8 (R1/R2) + their common ground. I soldered a couple of wires directly on these as well.


I used hot glue to secure the wires on the backside. It's not necessary, but highly recommended. This way you won't accidentally rip the cables off.


I did the same to the other controller, and screwed them on the wooden CP.




Ready to be connected to the microswitches.
« Last Edit: October 23, 2011, 01:27:46 pm by nordemoniac »

nordemoniac

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Re: First MAME project - Budget upright Cabinet
« Reply #12 on: October 23, 2011, 01:45:47 pm »
As I posted earlier, we had problems with the crimp connectors being a bit to "tall". This means that they don't click on. We just bent them a little, and they now fit. But I would really appreciate if someone would give me a link on eBay for crimp connectors which will fit microswitches.

To end todays posting here, I will attach a picture of the latest received eBay package:


What do you think is hiding inside all that tape?  :angel:

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Re: First MAME project - Budget upright Cabinet
« Reply #13 on: October 23, 2011, 02:38:01 pm »
Mountains juke kit?

nordemoniac

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Re: First MAME project - Budget upright Cabinet
« Reply #14 on: October 24, 2011, 05:32:58 am »
Hehe nope. It is related to the Arcade project. Will upload some pictures later tonight!  ;D

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Re: First MAME project - Budget upright Cabinet
« Reply #15 on: October 24, 2011, 02:07:26 pm »
So what is behind all that tape?

Oh yeah!


Bought two of these. It's the CH-924, which can register up to 4 coins (926 has 6 coins etc). Only problem is that two of our four coins have holes in them. The CH-series actually locks up when trying to sample these coins, meaning only a couple of coins will work. We decided to add those coins (they are going to give 10 and 20 credits), worth $2 and $4, and in addition we ordered a bunch of .984 tokens. Those will most likely be used for this cabinet later anyways.

Another photo:
« Last Edit: October 24, 2011, 02:25:46 pm by nordemoniac »

nordemoniac

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Re: First MAME project - Budget upright Cabinet
« Reply #16 on: October 24, 2011, 02:19:33 pm »
We continued working on the buttons. We had to bend all the crimp connectors, because they didn't fit on the microswitch tongue. Please anyone, give me a link to an alternative on eBay?

One problem we met; The wires in the network cables are 24AWG and single, not braided. It's hard to work with as they break easily! We couldn't have used any thicker cables on the PCB from the USB-gamepads, but what we should have done differently, was to connect them to a wire connector strip, and then use thicker, braided wires for each button. That way the wires would tolerate more. A lot of these actually snapped while we were trying to clean up the cable mess. I guess 18-20AWG braided would have tolerated much more.

So, quick tip; Don't use network cables for the whole connection, just from the PCB to a wire connector strip. That's much better if you need to relocate any wires as well, because then you won't have to re-solder if the wires are to short.

Anyhow, we got it to work. We managed to tidy it up a bit. We might have to replace these wires in the future though, the connection is not good!









The cables to the red control buttons have to be soldered, so I'm going to wait a bit with them.

I'm still looking for correct 4.8mm crimp connectors for the microswitches...:
PLEASE SOMEONE GIVE ME A LINK TO SUITABLE CRIMP CONNECTORS ON EBAY :hissy:
« Last Edit: October 24, 2011, 02:33:46 pm by nordemoniac »

nordemoniac

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Re: First MAME project - Budget upright Cabinet
« Reply #17 on: October 24, 2011, 02:49:52 pm »
The woodworking has also continued. We have fitted the speaker panel and the monitor panel. In addition we also added a panel under the CP (it was nothing there before). We were thinking of having it nice and even with the front on the control panel, but we actually lifted it up a bit. This way it's about 1 inch up in the CP, and we can add a couple of N64-connector. These will therefore be hidden when not in use, but can easily be plugged in to when needed.

We tested it with the monitor, which is hanging on a simple $10 VESA mount I had laying around. Seems to fit great!


We had also cut out the plate in front of the screen. We actually bought some picture frames from IKEA which had some thin styrene plastic (or something like that) instead of glass. The frame was around $5. It was easy to cut. It's around 1mm, so VERY thin. But it had protection plastic on both sides. We cut it slowly with a fine blade at high speed. Tip: Make sure you have good support, or else it can crack. The same with to low speed. The only problem we had, was my friend dropping the speaker mount on it, so it cracked :P
Not a problem though, we're just gonna use it for the marquee or CP. We have a couple of extra frames  :cheers:

We've also fitted wheels underneath it. Made it easy to move around. It's actually not that heavy, and two people can lift it easily.
The speaker panel is also in place. We are going to remove it again though, as we need to find some way to attach the speakers.


The line for where the bezel is going.


Our cabinet at the moment. It's coming along quite nicely! I guess we are going to fire it up soon, just to see how it works, and if we want something changed.

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Re: First MAME project - Budget upright Cabinet
« Reply #18 on: October 24, 2011, 03:43:43 pm »
Those look like the connectors that I used, they say .187 inches and google says that .187" equals 4.7498 mm so it seems like that is the right thing.  Maybe the ebay item was misrepresented?  I bought all my stuff from groovygamegear.com  Have you checked out the venders on this forum?  I was going to go ebay but didn't when I found out that the venders here are just as reasonable as long as you get everything at once so you can save on shipping.  Seems like you are probably on the other side of the world from me but I would check the vendor list to see if you can find anyone around.

nordemoniac

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Re: First MAME project - Budget upright Cabinet
« Reply #19 on: October 24, 2011, 03:56:56 pm »
Hi! Thank you. I'm in Europe, so yeah, ugly prices on shipping etc.

I could have ordered wrong. I think they were 5mm. I just ordered anyways, as 5mm crimp connectors doesn't exist AFAIK.

I guess I could try ordering again. The width was actually perfect, but the height was way wrong.

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Re: First MAME project - Budget upright Cabinet
« Reply #20 on: October 24, 2011, 04:11:39 pm »
Yeah, that's weird, must have been for some other application.  I'm using happ controls that look just like yours, not sure if I have the same switches but they are the cheap/base level ones.

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Re: First MAME project - Budget upright Cabinet
« Reply #21 on: October 24, 2011, 06:28:40 pm »
I just slightly crimp them with a pair of wire strippers- does the trick.
***Build what you dig, bro. Build what you dig.***

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Re: First MAME project - Budget upright Cabinet
« Reply #22 on: October 25, 2011, 04:43:04 am »
Yup, what I did as well. But I can't see why that is necessary? It's supposed to click on.

Anyone know any stores on eBay?

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Re: First MAME project - Budget upright Cabinet
« Reply #23 on: October 25, 2011, 07:54:44 am »
Where in Europe are you? There are European arcade shops you know? www.arcadegames.se and www.arcadeshop.de for example.

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Re: First MAME project - Budget upright Cabinet
« Reply #24 on: October 25, 2011, 08:11:39 am »
Hmm.. Didn't know about those! Shipping is still expensive, so eBay is actually cheaper.
I think maybe I have to check the height on crimp connectors. Width of 0.187" is correct. 0.02" thickness (0,5mm) should also be correct.

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Re: First MAME project - Budget upright Cabinet
« Reply #25 on: October 25, 2011, 11:00:29 am »
.110" (2.8mm)
.187" (4.8mm)

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Re: First MAME project - Budget upright Cabinet
« Reply #26 on: October 26, 2011, 06:33:56 am »
Fired it up yesterday. Awefsome! Yeah, awefsome!

Was a bit of a Frankenstein hookup, but it worked! Not to good sound from our speakers, as they weren't pointed towards the players, not in a cabinet etc. But at least it worked! Master/slave outlet with 5-10 second delay, worked perfectly!
Bubble Bobble and Double Dragon II has never been this great!

Oh, that's right! I didn't tell you about our speakers?!

Well, stay tuned.

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Re: First MAME project - Budget upright Cabinet
« Reply #27 on: October 26, 2011, 06:52:38 am »
This was actually the most pricey part. We got it 50% off, so we just went for it.

The Corsair SP2200.


It delivers a NICE punch! I guess the sub will add some extra punch when installed in the cabinet. We have ripped apart the speaker cabinet (didn't feel to good to do that :'( ) and we have re-soldered the wires, and added extra long cables to both speakers. The volume control will most likely be placed on the plate under the CP. This plate is as stated earlier a bit recessed, meaning that we can add N64-inputs, maybe SNES etc. This means that we won't see any of them, but everything is there when you need it.

The volume control has a bright blue LED which we are going to try to direct straight downwards, creating a cool blue light effect running in front of the cabinet.

I guess we'll do a permanent install this weekend. We have to use the router to get the speakers mounted correctly, and we're going to use a holesaw through the board. We will try to use the original speakergrills, so we'll have to try to match the size.

Will keep you updated further on!

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Re: First MAME project - Budget upright Cabinet
« Reply #28 on: October 26, 2011, 10:23:43 am »
Looking good - nice job. Whats the t-molding plan? If you still plan on cutting a slot, be careful that no screws are in the way. Most of us cut the slot before assembling.

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Re: First MAME project - Budget upright Cabinet
« Reply #29 on: October 27, 2011, 03:37:20 am »
Actually I didn't know about t-molding before we started the project.

I'm now thinking of applying it, as it isn't that costly.
The alternatives:

- Sand the whole cabinet clean and nice, make the corners look good, paint the whole thing
- Vinyl (fabric) with t-molding

I need to get a router bit for the t-molding, and we'll also have to find 12mm molding. I guess most of them are 16mm?
The vinyl will add a couple of millimeters, so maybe 16mm t-molding would work?

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Re: First MAME project - Budget upright Cabinet
« Reply #30 on: October 27, 2011, 08:47:36 am »
Actually I didn't know about t-molding before we started the project.

I'm now thinking of applying it, as it isn't that costly.
The alternatives:

- Sand the whole cabinet clean and nice, make the corners look good, paint the whole thing
- Vinyl (fabric) with t-molding

I need to get a router bit for the t-molding, and we'll also have to find 12mm molding. I guess most of them are 16mm?
The vinyl will add a couple of millimeters, so maybe 16mm t-molding would work?

Some people have cut down their t-molding with a razor blade after installation and it seems simple enough. What you'll want to watch out for is cutting the slot. Check the depth of all your screws and make sure the bit has enough clearance without hitting a screw. It can cause a dangerous kickback if you hit a screw with your router.

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Re: First MAME project - Budget upright Cabinet
« Reply #31 on: October 27, 2011, 09:07:19 am »
Ooh... Thanks for the advise!

I think we should have pretty good clearance all the way around. Actually, I think we have 4-5 cm!

We'll most likely not do anything on the backside though. This is still the first cabinet, and also a budget project. It's going to be my friends cabinet when finished.

I think I'll start a couple of projects later, when this is finished. I have learned a lot through this project, and a mini Bubble Bobble cabinet + a full size multi-emulator cabinet might become my next projects.

I've bought controls for two players, LED lit. Some zippy-joysticks - almost like sanwa!

But that's in the future! I have some plans on the mini Bubble Bobble, but not the bigger cabinet. Maybe I'll do a dual monitor project etc.

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Re: First MAME project - Budget upright Cabinet
« Reply #32 on: October 27, 2011, 09:22:59 am »
Awesome. It's looking great. Good job.

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Re: First MAME project - Budget upright Cabinet
« Reply #33 on: October 28, 2011, 05:01:59 am »
I appreciate the good comments!

We'll most likely continue tomorrow. Mounting the speakers etc.

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Re: First MAME project - Budget upright Cabinet
« Reply #34 on: January 10, 2012, 07:41:14 am »
Wow...really? My last update is from the end of october?!
Time really flies by sometimes!

Will be updating with some new pictures soon! We haven't actually been working on this project for 2 months! We've both been busy with work etc.

Hopefully we'll continue this weekend!

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Re: First MAME project - Budget upright Cabinet
« Reply #35 on: January 11, 2012, 11:52:38 am »
Looking forward to updates on this machine - what you have so far looks really nice!

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Re: First MAME project - Budget upright Cabinet
« Reply #36 on: January 19, 2012, 04:14:03 pm »
PLEASE SOMEONE GIVE ME A LINK TO SUITABLE CRIMP CONNECTORS ON EBAY :hissy:

Why not just solder the wires directly onto the micro-switches? Eliminate any chance of loose connections right from the get go.
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Re: First MAME project - Budget upright Cabinet
« Reply #37 on: January 20, 2012, 09:46:02 am »
I think that is what we'll do in the end. After everything is finished, we might replace the cat5-cable.

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Re: First MAME project - Budget upright Cabinet
« Reply #38 on: September 24, 2014, 08:13:52 am »
Almost two years since I last updated, almost 3 years since we actually did some work on this cabinet - I'm embarrassed!
I guess life caught up with me, new job, renovating my apartment etc., car needing some love... I was over at my friends house (where the cabinet is) a couple of weeks back, and we decided we just have to get it done! This was supposed to be a cheap budget one, we've stalled, trying to find out what more we want to do with the cabinet etc, but now we've decided on just finishing it, not making it great, but good enough to have a nice time. A future cabinet might be nicer, this one might be scrapped for parts etc, we don't know yet.
We'll be continuing soon, wood filler and painting etc. T-molding will probably not be used on this cabinet, I think the sides are to thin. We'll probably just smoothen it out a bit.
We have all the electronics ready. We might replace the computer again, as I've come over a bunch of powerful Alienware computers for free. 5 years old, some of them a bit unstable, but I guess 2-3 built together will create a stable computer which easily runs HyperSpin.

I love this forum, and keep coming back all the time, but I just haven't had the time to finish any of my projects.
When this budget one is finally completed, I think I'll put my experiences with this project into my next project, a mini bubble bobble arcade.

Hopefully I'll be able to contribute to this site with some of my own projects in the future!

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Re: First MAME project - Budget upright Cabinet
« Reply #39 on: September 24, 2014, 12:15:02 pm »

Welcome back and good luck on getting it finished!

 :cheers: