Motorized cab keyboard!

[grafixmonkey]

Hi all!  I just completed this cab addition (well all but...  need electrics to drive the motor) and thought you guys might like it.  

It uses a $4 battery powered screwdriver from Lowe's that I took apart, and miscellaneous off-the-shelf hardware and bolts.  I push a button on my cab and the keyboard lifts up into view, and push the button again and it sinks back down out of sight.  Great for making little .ini modifications, games where you type in your high score instead of joystick-selecting it, having access to all the Mame keys without putting them on my panel, etc. etc.

I'll post a couple pics but keep them small.  

[hyiu]

 hey... cool idea....  

but from the pic.... is it in the way of the joystick ??...
I mean.... if you're standing there playing.... will the keyboard too close to your body ??....

it would be SOOOOOOO COOOOOOOL if it folds inside the cab !!!!......

now.... all you need is to motorize the monitor to rotate and the CP to rotate also !!!....  

[nighthawk2099]

  -  wow... i like that.... any possibility that you might be able to put a little tutorial together for it... I had thought of something like that for the drawer, but wasn't sure how to start.

[grafixmonkey]

The last pic showed the keyboard going up and down from the back of my cab...   this one shows the motor that raises and lowers it.  It runs off of 6v worth of batteries, but runs nicely off the 5v power I'm drawing from my computer too.  

The electric screwdriver used to have a battery case coming off the back of it (where that bolt goes through it), and after taking the battery case off I noticed the hole it left already had washers in it, and was the perfect size for the 1/4" bolts I used for everything else.  The electronics inside are incredibly easy to hack, too.  It had nice wires that are plenty long enough to come out of the casing, a PCB that's easy to solder to, and all you do to turn the motor on or off is touch a pair of contacts together.  It came with some bits, so I jammed a phillips bit into the hole in the little wooden spool with a hammer, and stuck it right into the socket.  

How it works:  When the drill turns, it coils that nylon rope around the spool, pulling the long aluminum bar towards the drill.  The aluminum bar pushes on the metal bar that you can see in the picture in the first post.  It hinges on the pushpins that are bolted to the case, and lifts right up.  

[RedSquirrel]

hey... cool idea....  

but from the pic.... is it in the way of the joystick ??...
I mean.... if you're standing there playing.... will the keyboard too close to your body ??....

it would be SOOOOOOO COOOOOOOL if it folds inside the cab !!!!......

now.... all you need is to motorize the monitor to rotate and the CP to rotate also !!!....  

looks like the keyboard is at the rear of the CP. Problem is, if he has a cabinet where is it gonna go?

[hyiu]

Ahhhh !!!!!  

stupid me..... thx RedSquirrel.....
Now I understand.....

so he has one of those control panel stand by itself....
and a BIG screen tv (or something else) as the screen....

now I completely understand....

hmmm... with a big screen... no need to rotate the monitor....

that leaves the control panel.....

again.... nice... (and now I understand it better...) NICER !!!!...  

[grafixmonkey]

Wow, fast on the replies!  I have to finish the post then I'll get to 'em...


From there, all that's left is the circuit.  It can be easily done with a simple rocker switch - hold it up to raise the keyboard, hold it down to lower it, and that wouldn't require anything but the switch itself to work.  But, you all know me, I'm adding a microswitch that presses at the top and another that presses at the bottom, and using a pushbutton on my panel to toggle it up and down.  It will automatically raise itself and stop, then automatically lower itself and stop when you tap the button.

looks like the keyboard is at the rear of the CP. Problem is, if he has a cabinet where is it gonna go?

Well, I did kind of think of that...  this being here does make adding a built-on screen tricky, but that at least was not in the plans for the immediate future.  No money, no space, just planning on hooking to the living room TV as a podium-style control.  But, if I did add a screen, I bet I could put it where the keyboard would not get in the way of it, and both could be there.  The top of the keyboard would raise to meet the bottom edge of the screen.  That's about the depth the screen is comfortable to look at from all four controls anyway.

Another possible design that I scrapped in favor of this one, was a drawer that slid out from the side.  The whole mechanism could have been built just under one side of the CP, using parts from Lowe's designed for making dresser drawers, but that would have involved springs or counterweights, or a better motor mechanism that can push both ways.  I also didn't have the wooden supports in the easiest places to add it.  But, if a cab were designed to include it from the beginning, the side-drawer mechanism would be easy to build too.

[grafixmonkey]

-  wow... i like that.... any possibility that you might be able to put a little tutorial together for it... I had thought of something like that for the drawer, but wasn't sure how to start.

Yeah sure, I'll post a tutorial.  It uses a bunch of parts I got just by scanning the shelves at Lowe's and looking for things with holes that 1/4" bolts fit into.  I ended up using two kinds of parts, those L-shaped brackets and those T-shaped brackets.  They seemed to fit together in the right ways.  Then, there are some miscellaneous nuts and bolts, nylon spacers (the white things you see in-between the metal L-brackets), a 2-foot 1/4" threaded rod, and a 3-foot aluminum corner piece, and a length of braided nylon cord.  (and the U-shaped thing you see holding down the front of the drill.)

The brackets all came with wood screws, so I'm set for wood screws for a while, and some of those got used to attach things too.  

[Howard_Casto]

I really like it, but isn't it a huge waste of energy?  If you have a good front end and your cabinet is setup properly you should never ever have to use a keyboard.  Even if you do it wouldn't be nearly enough to justify such an elaborate rig.  

[grafixmonkey]

well, like I said, I have games that make you type in your initials for high scores, don't have or want any admin buttons on the panel, frequently have to push tab and adjust the analog sensitivity, and use the computer that's in the cab for things other than games.

Yeah, a simple mame setup can run keyboard-less...  but even Mame-only, the spinner and trackball sensitivities always seem to need tweaking, and 3DArcade is easier to configure with a keyboard too.

Besides, it took me maybe a week to build it, and that's with scrapping lots of designs, and going with no plans.

Now, if I were building an automatic, motorized, beer-fetching mechanism...    

[Hammerbot]

Sweeeet idea.

To the point of "Isn't this a waste of time?" NO WAY. Or at least no more than a waste of time to have a 1 button power switch or a rotating monitor or whatever...

If I could have figured a way to motorize the cabinet wheels and throw on a steering wheel for under $100 you know I would have tried it...

[CCM]

It is pretty cool, but I have to agree with Howard.. wouldn't a good old fashioned keyboard drawer been easier/cheaper/quicker/more convenient?  But I guess to each his own...

[hyiu]

well... according to this logic...
there's no need to build a cab....
desktop CP(s) would have been sufficient...

why build a full cab ??... when functional wise... its the same....

its all about the "feel".... heee hee....

well.... yes... its not "TRUE" arcade....
but who cares ??...

if I have the skill / budget... I would motorize the whole thing....

haa haaa haa......

[CCM]

well... according to this logic...
there's no need to build a cab....
desktop CP(s) would have been sufficient...

why build a full cab ??... when functional wise... its the same....

its all about the "feel".... heee hee....

well.... yes... its not "TRUE" arcade....
but who cares ??...

if I have the skill / budget... I would motorize the whole thing....

haa haaa haa......

sure there's reason to build a cab.. the whole point of this hobby is to build arcade cabinets  .  That motorized keyboard thing wouldn't even fit anywhere on a cabinet....  and as I said in my orginal post, to each his own...

[rockhopper]

I say, great work grafixmonkey!

who knows where this will lead? Sure it may turn out to be useless, but someone may use the same mechanism for something else.  There are too many killjoys in life who go around criticising someone for being different.

again, well done.

[grafixmonkey]

well, the point is not so much that there is a keyboard that can be reached with a little bit of effort, it's that I forsee myself frequently needing one.  Because, this isn't just an arcade cab!  It does lots of things.  The other thing is, there just wasn't anywhere to put the keyboard to type on.  There's no section of panel the keyboard can sit without pushing keys, putting it on the table behind is no good because I can't reach it, I don't want a little "end table" just for the keyboard, and it can't sit on the floor.  Also, the way I built the box, there is no drawer built in to it, and building a drawer would have been more work and less convenient.

You might want to reference the nature of my project, as it isn't really the standard cab thing:   http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=10;action=display;threadid=11196

Besides, how can you argue with a keyboard that pops up right here in the middle of the panel within easy typing distance, and doesn't get in the way of wires?  

[grafixmonkey]

btw, yes I know the setup kind of sucks with that old 17" monitor.  When I have a little bit of money, I'm getting a decent size svideo TV for it.

[Howard_Casto]

With the ipacs shift function you don't need any keys though.  Shift + left =tab go into the menu set your analog settings.  ect... ect...

Btw wish you hadn't have shown the control panel. The sheer size and clutter of it shows why you never saw the huge automatic keyboard rig to be impractical.  

[spidermonkey]

Don't listen to Howards ramblings Grafixmonkey If he is in fact "The Idiot Police" then he should lock himself up and throw away the key.  Nice work on both the control panel and your motorized keyboard.
Mmmm...motorized.

[grafixmonkey]

yeah HC, if you like playing arcade games on a 6" panel by yourself, go nuts...  but my 4-player layout has been used to its fullest every time I've had friends over.  Clutter?  I have the minimal number of buttons.  The only thing possible to eliminate and still be 4-player would be the coin switches.  Unless you just don't like my artwork, in which case if you wanna print me out a better one go ahead.

[hyiu]

you know....
assuning you have 2 player, 6 buttons each.... (+ a few others...) and a shift button....

theorectically.... you can actually map almost all keys (definitely all alphabets maybe + numbers) on the panel for typing....

but typing my name "Henry" would be like....
player 1 button 4 for H....
player 1 button 2 for E...
player 2 button 6 for N...
shift + player 1 button 5 for R....
shift + player 2 button 5 for Y....

for HC, maybe he already have memorized how to type and can use his panel and his shift key as if he's typing on a keyboard at 60 words per minute....

but retarded as myself.... I would ask gfxmonkey to build me another motorized keyboard any day.....

hey... who knows.... maybe its fun enough just to bring the keyboard up and down !!!.... haaa haaa haaa.....
(people has been spinning and watching and timing a spinner that just spins for 3 minutes doing nothing and say its addicting.... heee heee.... so, I guess it could also be fun motorizing the keyboard up and down.....hee hee....)
 

[grafixmonkey]

No matter what button I assign as shift (unless it's dedicated) it causes problems.  I'm trying to remap it from P1 Start but having trouble because the software it came with is having trouble programming it, and I can't figure out how to do it in manual mode, so every time I hit start to buzz myself in all the other players freeze in their tracks and/or execute system commands.

But anyway.....  Even if I had a beautifully configured shift key system, I would still need the keyboard to type in initials for high scores in MixwaverII (Beatmania) and to modify .ini files.  I just decided to have the "cab" double as a console for accessing the PC it's attached to.

Here are some plans (part 1) for the people who were interested in how this was built!  It involves drilling and hacksaw-ing aluminum and steel parts.  When drilling steel, use a slow speed and put a drop of oil where you're drilling.  It helps to have a hole to put the drillbit through when you start, because it will want to wander around for a bit before a hole starts.  Drill-presses are ideal, but not necessary.  Drilling aluminum is much easier, no oil necessary, just stick with a slow speed.  When using the hacksaw, you can often just go a little way into the steel and then break it off by bending back and forth, to save time.

I also used a round file and a flat file, to smooth sharp edges and to enlarge holes that needed it.  But, if you plan your hardware well, you can make sure everything fits beforehand and not have to enlarge any holes.

This is the plan for one side of the bracket that holds the keyboard  and lets it hinge on the back of the box.  You can modify it to make it attach in different ways, i.e. have the keyboard pop up from the side, etc.  Build two of these, one a mirror image of the first, and you have what you need to hold the keyboard on the hinge.  From there, you can motorize its movement, or just do something to latch it in place when you pull it up manually.

[grafixmonkey]

You can eliminate some hardware and just not make the hinge quite as sturdy, by getting rid of all the spacers and only using two L-shaped pieces instead of four.  I think it would still work ok.  (it might have a tendency for the keyboard to flop over horizontally though.)