Awesome, the arcade is back online

[gurnie]

So after the arcade has just been sitting around, we finally got the thing running yesterday, and my husband and I spent New Years playing with it

Here's a few images of the cabinet so far.  It's an old solar fox cabinet







and of course a video




I may sound a little drunk in the video... It was New Years after all.


So i need some guidance as there's a few things i really want to improve on this system.

1. Display.  Currently I am using a TV that receives its data from my computers video card.  I've been debating on replacing the TV with a LCD because being close to a TV hurts my eyes.  But maybe there's a plastic i can put over the TV that will dim the TV and i can prevent my eyeballs from melting

2. If I keep the TV, I need to cover the bezel in the TV because it kinda feels like a TV in an arcade box.  I have a plastic bezel thing i can cut but it's actually too small for the screen (it'll overlay about 1-1.5" around the screen).  Not too bad but this arcade is in our kitchen so when i prep dinner like a good woman i like to watch something to pass the time, so i don't want to cut down too much on viewing screen.

3. control panel.  as you can see that's an hotrod, which over time the encoder for the hotrod broke and i replaced the left joystick with a 4-way to 8 way stick, and jammed a trackball in the unit (this is all prior to my wood working classes, which reminds me you should totally click on my etsy link and look at my badass woodworking).  Anyways i need to get rid of that yuck purple and make it look awesome so i designed this in photoshop:



also is there a generic PSD file with the hotrod's setup?  i want to overlay my photoshop file and see that it truly does fit my panel.  But i need to be pointed in the direction to a company that prints this kind of control over lay.  I need something that will last and will survive my husbands buddies banging or drinking around the thing.  and i need a critique on the control panel design.  is it redundant to have "right, left, up, down" on the controls?   I was also going to put some sort of blurb on how to switch the controls from 4-way to 8-way... a warning not to press play 1 & 2 at the same time (unless you want to exit)... any other ideas?

4.  How can i keep my coin door from swinging open (where do i get a latch) and i think a quarter bucket that hangs on the coin door would be nice.  Right now i have a cardboard box that catches the quarters = ghetto.  Let's get this machine a little more classy.

anyways, I'm happy with it now but it needs those improvements.  I appreciate any help

[Afterburner]

Great sideart on that cab.  Love it!

After nearly two years of being down due to a hard drive failure, I just got my homebuilt cab back up.  Feels good to have it back and now I'm motivated to seek a few upgrades myself.

Don't know if there is a Hotrod CP image in PSD format, but I'm sure you can find a decent jpg or png file of it that you could put in Photoshop and scale it up until it was at the correct dimens.  That would give you a way to check it.

As for the coin door, you should be able to get a cheap cabinet lock.  Something from a file cabinet would probably work.  Try the hardware store or Lowes/Home Depot.

[SavannahLion]

#1 Up to you o replace the TV with an LCD. There's a catch though, it's getting harder and harder to find 4:3 LCD panels. Most are 16:9 or, worse, some bizarre ratio that's only convenient for the manufacturer. Compare the native resolution ratios of the different androids to see what I mean. To that end, you can keep the original TV and compensate by installing a tinted glass or acrylic bezel. The advantage, IMHO, is that you can add black trim to hide the  TV bezel and it can be made of anything, construction paper even. And yes, I've gutted cabs with far more ghetto setups than what I described.

#2 See above.

#4 Check the BST section for a coin door lock. As for the coin bucket.... Whatever works. I misplaced on of my cabs coin buckets and I'be been using a box I found elsewhere. If you're still not satisfied, check BST again.

[mgb]

The cabinet really looks nice.
I agree that a bezel and then some solar gray plexi over that would look good and probably help your eyes.
I think the hot rod stick looks pretty good in there

[gurnie]

Hey Everyone.

I didn't even check, did I post this in the right forum?

Anyways.  So if i get the Solar gray http://www.tapplastics.com/shop/product.php?pid=519& acrylic from tap, i assume i get the 1/8" thick piece, correct?  and will my TV remote read through this plastic, or will i no longer be able to turn on/off the tv via the remote control?  Another stupid question, where exactly should the bezel glass be?  If you look at the photos below you will see that my TV sticks out a bit further on the top than the bottom.  I didn't know if there should eb some space between the TV and the acrylic, or if the acrylic should basically lay right over the tv.  

Is the TV a more "authentic" look than the LCD screens?  I mean based on the screen capture i posted is that what an arcade should look like?

Ok and the other pointer i need where do i get my control panel printed?  I seem to recall a company that printed that sort of thing, but i can't recall the name.  edit:  is this them now?  http://www.gameongrafix.com/

[SavannahLion]

It should be fine for IR receiving, but don't quote me on that. I never tested it. The gray tinting isn't generally IR blocking. If you can go to a TAP store, I believe you can obtain a small sample with which to test the IR transparency before you shell out the money for a full sheet.

I didn't notice the monitor sticking out like that. If you really want that acrylic, you'll need to either move the TV back so it clears the mount (visible in the picture) or construct a new mount/bracket that is moved forward. Depends on what look you want.

For short term, you can, in theory, place the acrylic against the TV. Long term, I wouldn't do it. Leave a gap so that heat can escape between the screen and the acrylic. I had to go through the effort of recreating the artwork on a recent cab because the acrylic sat so close to the screen and the bezel trapped so much of the heat that the acrylic warped. Rather annoying when you can't just buy NOS artwork anymore.

1/8" will work fine. It's for home use so one wouldn't expect any abuse. If, however, you or you have drunk friends that come over often and beat the ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- out of the cab, you'll want to go a little thicker.

As for a TV being more authentic. That's an ongoing debate. Don't ask.

[mgb]

I would definitley reccomend Gameongrafix for the overlay

[gurnie]

yeah unfortunately that TV is jammed as far back as it can be.  It was a total PITA to install, and i still don't understand how the heck we got it in there (or whether it will ever come out)

and unfortunately there's no tap plastics near me.   how big of a gap should I leave in between the screen and the acrylic?  i might have to make a wooden bezel to go over it, and then insert an acrylic cover.

[HaRuMaN]

Tap plastics ships, and their shipping charges aren't bad. 

[newmanfamilyvlogs]

My acrylic from Tap Plastics is mounted flush against the glass of my monitor. It's a 'true-flat' CRT, but in the event of a traditional curved glass, flush with the front most point would probably be fine.

[Gray_Area]

You do good work. Reminds me of Melissa's humble beginnings. I think it's really neat you're so into this. As for the display, the question to ask is: what do you want it to look like?

PS: Tapper used two joysticks.

[eds1275]

For the coin bucket, I ended up getting an 8" cake pan from the dollar store, drilling a hole in it, and then using the bottom bolt on my coin door to hold it in place. It works really well and has that "sound".

[mgb]

Just a quick note on the solar gray plexi. You were asking if your remote would still work through it. I quickly tested it and it worked fine.

[gurnie]

You do good work. Reminds me of Melissa's humble beginnings. I think it's really neat you're so into this. As for the display, the question to ask is: what do you want it to look like?

PS: Tapper used two joysticks.

Who is Melissa?  But yes i love to do wood working

True, tapper does use two joysticks, but that set-up won't work on my arcade

For the coin bucket, I ended up getting an 8" cake pan from the dollar store, drilling a hole in it, and then using the bottom bolt on my coin door to hold it in place. It works really well and has that "sound".

That's friggen brilliant

Just a quick note on the solar gray plexi. You were asking if your remote would still work through it. I quickly tested it and it worked fine.

Thank you so much for testing that!  I am hoping i get my parts this week as I am switching from a TV to a 4:3 LCD that will also convert to a tv when needed.  It's not a tv/lcd combo, but i ordered the parts for it to be a combo.  after i get that situated I will order the plexi because I'll have a better idea on how much i need.

[Kevin Mullins]

Who is Melissa?

http://www.nicecarvings.com/

[gurnie]

you're right.  She does amazing work

[mgb]

Through the peep hole, its like coin mech voyeurism

[eds1275]

Just watch as I put it in. A coin, that is.

[AmIEvil]

Gurnie,

I was wondering if you ever found the dimensions for your CP overlay for your HotRod & if you found a place to print them out?  I am in the same boat.  I am designing graphics to go over the Hotrod but would really like to see a .jpg or other file that has the correct dimensions.  http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=117019.new;topicseen#new 
Thanks for any help you may offer.