Robotron bartop - Finished!!!

[LeedsFan]

I've been meaning to do this project for some time. It's going to be a 50% size bartop to be as close as possible to the original. Of course there will be some compromises here and there with the size, but I will attempt it to be as close as possible.

I got the artwork from Scott at Gameongraffix before Christmas. I just got the marquee and control panel overlay printed at 50% size. I find it better to get the artwork first and then build the panel and cabinet around it. The bezel I will be printing myself as I had to make one or two tweaks in Microsoft Paint to get the monitor aperture to accurately match the monitor I will be using.

The monitor will be a 10" CRT which in fact is the exact same model that Leapinglew used in his mini Galaga bartop. Because it's a CRT of course the depth of the bartop will allow me to add sideart. I'm aiming to get the full "2084" graphic down the side which will need to be reduced in size to get it to fit (and other tweaks), as of course the "2084" artwork is normally the full side of the stand up machine.

The controls will be 2x Ultimarc U360s. These are excellent for Robotron with the round restrictors fitted. I have built a panel on a previous project (Defender bartop) using genuine 8-way Wico leafs with which I fitted brand new grommets. However I did find them quite stiff whereas the U360s take a lot less effort to play the game with. So although I'm veering away from original controls I will still be very happy with the U360s I'm sure.

I've already started work today on the control panel. I felt this was gonna be the most awkward part of the entire project. Getting the dust washers to fit just under the artwork and modifying the U360s so that they fit in the 50% sized panel took some working out. But I've managed it and promise to get some pics up asap. I didn't have my camera with me today.

Only real issue I had was one of the aluminium standoffs for the PCB on one of the U360s snapped off. So that one will only have three standoffs now. Shouldn't affect anything though, just a shame it snapped. It also needs lubricating a bit which I will sort out later. The left stick is silky smooth but the right stick feels like it's snagging slightly. It is only slight but it's there, and with the left stick being perfect I want the right stick to feel the same.

Again, sorry for lack of pics but this will be rectified asap.

[Nephasth]

Excited to see this build!

Only real issue I had was one of the aluminium standoffs for the PCB on one of the U360s snapped off. So that one will only have three standoffs now. Shouldn't affect anything though, just a shame it snapped.

Had the same thing happen to one of my U360s. Still need to get after it with my left hand drill bits...

[LeedsFan]

Excited to see this build!

Only real issue I had was one of the aluminium standoffs for the PCB on one of the U360s snapped off. So that one will only have three standoffs now. Shouldn't affect anything though, just a shame it snapped.

Had the same thing happen to one of my U360s. Still need to get after it with my left hand drill bits...

I kinda blame myself really. I've had issues in the past where a standoff is stiff or doesn't want to screw in easily. I took a pair of small pliers to it and it was winding in OK. Then it got a bit stiffer and..... snap! You have to get them all to screw in the same or the PCB won't sit perfectly flat. I should have messed about a bit more, swapping the standoffs around etc. etc. I reckon it will be fine with three.... even just two opposite each other would be OK.

[Nephasth]

Yea, I've been running mine with 3 stand offs for months with no ill effects, but it bugs me knowing it's there.

[wp34]

Glad to see some love for the U360's and Robotron. 

I'm anxious to see how this turns out based your other builds.  Should be awesome.   

[Zeosstud]

Pictures would be awesome.. Totally on board with this idea, bet it turns out just great.

- Zeosstud

[LeedsFan]

As promised here are some pics of where I am up to with the control panel. Firstly we have the artwork from Scott at Gameongraffix. Awesome quality as per usual! Thank you Scott. 





When it came to planning the panel I realised that the stock U360 and mounting plate simply would not fit correctly. I'm using 18mm MDF and where the joystick shafts come through the panel there would not be enough room behind the front panel for the joystick body to sit. So I had to make some alterations to the way the U360s mount. I basically trimmed the mounting plate so it was square with the plastic housing and then drilled through the housing in each corner and down through the mounting plate itself. Looks a bit rough and ready but it works a treat.





I also had to route out behind the front panel to that the joystick shafts could come through the holes correctly. The bottom of this panel still needs trimming to the correct height.





When it came to mounting the sticks I wanted something strong and sturdy because by moving the mounting holes closer together you can lose some strength. I'd seen these "nut inserts" before (that's what Screwfix Direct call them anyway) but I'd never used them. I wasn't sure how they would work but they are excellent. You just drill into the panel without going right through and then wind in the insert with a hex key. Getting them straight is easy as you just pull them straight after the first turn or so. Then they wind in perfectly.

I'm using 30mm furniture bolts to fix the U360s in. They have nice large heads and are the perfect length for the U360 body + nut insert. Again, these just wind in with a hex key.








The only thing to watch for is that you must get the insert to perfectly match up with your holes. I simply stuck the U360 with some strong double sided strip to the underside of the panel with the shaft perfectly centred in the hole. Then I drilled down gently through the mounting holes I'd made to make four small pilot holes. Then I removed the joystick and drilled with the correct 8.5mm bit to wind the nut inserts into. Doing it this way ensures the nut inserts will line up properly with the bolts.

Here's a close up of the inserts when they are in place.








I wanted to get the top of the panel looking like a regular Robotron panel. Which means getting the dust washers to be just below the artwork. On an original Robotron panel the washers sit in a recess in the top of the Wico joysticks. When the stick is bolted up to the underside the washer then appears directly below the artwork. So to replicate this I routed out two levels into the upper side of the panel. The washer sits in the lower part and then I placed a small piece of 2mm plexi on to the upper part which traps the washer in between. The washer does move smoothly though, it doesn't rub against the plexi. At the moment the plexi is just glued into place flush with the top of the panel. The little gaps around the plexi will be filled with wood putty and sanded smooth.








Here's a pic of the panel with both U360s installed. The left stick in the pic is actually the right stick which was snagging slightly. This pic was taken just after I'd disassembled it and lubricated with some grease. It feels much better now. It's still not silky smooth like the other stick but the slight snagging has gone. I can move the stick in all directions even slightly and it feels good and returns to centre. Before when moving it slightly there would sometimes be a slight jerk or roughness to it's movement. All sorted now though.





This is a side on pic of the panel showing that there is a built in slope to the top of the panel. Having looked at many pics of a Robotron cabinet I was never really sure if there was a slope or not. Some look like the top panel is flat but others don't. So anyway, I've gone with this slope which I'm sure is correct.





I'm still not sure what buttons to use for Player 1 and Player 2. On an original Robotron these are illuminated blue. I'm thinking of using some tactile momentary LED buttons which are about 7mm in diameter. I will need to think about how to mount them though, although I do have an idea in mind. To add credits I will utilise a shift function on the U360 so that I can Press P2 while holding P1. I would add a separate credit button like I did with my Donkey Kong bartop, but I can't think of a good place to put one with this artwork.

[Zeosstud]

Looks as good as I expected it would.

- Zeosstud

[LeedsFan]

Just ordered some tactile momentary LED buttons for P1 and P2. These should arrive this week and I will get some pics when they arrive. They have clear caps on the buttons which veers away from the original blue. But when illuminated they are blue.

I also had to work out the resistor needed to sit in series with this pair of LED buttons.   R=(Vs-Vl)/I   Knowledge is power!  (lol I had to learn this new but it was fun working it out)

Anyway, the upshot is I need a 250 ohm resistor and the nearest standard is 270 ohm. Which my local Maplin sells for about 26p.     Shame the buttons, caps, postage and VAT was £21.      But I'd spent ages looking for blue LED buttons on the internet this weekend and these were the closest to the end result I wanted.


I've also been working on the bezel which I'm gonna get printed myself. I took the original bezel image and resized it to 50%. However I found I needed to resize to 43% in order to get the aperture to fit my monitor screen even close. And then I had to make further tweaks as the original bezel isn't exactly 4:3 ratio to the screen. You can see here the comparison. On the left is original bezel image. On the right it's been tweaked slightly. Again, not totally original but I dunno if anyone would even notice the slight adjustments.

EDIT:  Sorry for the poor quality of this pic. Looks crappy. But the original is at 300 dpi and looks lovely on screen. Just hope it prints out as nice. 

[nexusmtz]

Nice work on getting those bases mounted! Those sticks don't look like they're going anywhere, but I'll throw the question out there anyway. If strength is a concern, are the inserts better off on the top of the panel, or do the outside ridges themselves provide sufficient support?

I'm thinking along the lines of a T nut. If that doesn't work with inserts (because they'd unscrew themselves or something like that) feel free to set me straight.

Either way, keep up the progress. Minis with CRTs make my iCade hide in shame. 

[LeedsFan]

Nice work on getting those bases mounted! Those sticks don't look like they're going anywhere, but I'll throw the question out there anyway. If strength is a concern, are the inserts better off on the top of the panel, or do the outside ridges themselves provide sufficient support?

Well to be honest with you it's the first time I've used these. And I've never used T-nuts either. I'm not sure how you mean mounting in the top of the panel though. The whole point is that the top of the panel is flush with no signs of any mounting at all. The nuts are 13mm long going into 18mm MDF. As you say, they aren't going anywhere! It really is a solid setup. The outside ridges work really well into an 8.5mm hole. Obviously had I made the hole much larger then yeah, the ridges would eventually have no wood to bite into. I did practice on a some scrap wood first to see what size hole was best fit to screw them into.

[Woodshop Flunky]

Love all your builds... looking forward to this one as well! 

[nexusmtz]

I'm not sure how you mean mounting in the top of the panel though. The whole point is that the top of the panel is flush with no signs of any mounting at all. The nuts are 13mm long going into 18mm MDF.

Thanks for the clarification. I saw the pictures all at once, so inserts from the top made sense to me, as they'd be under your plexi squares. But with the routing and plexi having been added to solve the dust washer clearance, 'top' wouldn't have seemed like an option originally.

The way it would have worked is to drill all the way through with a bit sized to the bolt, then 13+plexi mm down from the top with the bit for the insert. (Something to try next time you have to suspend a closet rod instead of a joystick I guess)

Anyway, stop reading and go make more progress for us to be jealous of.

[LeedsFan]

Update time!   

The LED buttons I plan to use have arrived. Here are pics of them:





I bought three buttons (one a spare) and the caps came in a pack of ten. So a few spares there then 





Couldn't resist a quick test to see what they looked like lit up.





It wasn't until a bit later that I hit upon the idea of spraying the caps blue with some of that lens tint that boy racers use. Those spare caps came in handy... if it didn't work out I'd still be OK. But as you see they came out very nice. Look more in keeping with a real Robotron now. They light up a little darker than in the above pic but somehow it's nicer. More of a deep blue.





Here's the little board I put together for the final circuit. My soldering skills still need some work, it's not exactly professional under there.    But it all works fine. I also wired in the button wires and earth so I can just tap into them later. In hindsight I wish I'd lengthened the wires to the 12 volt molex for when the control panel is ever opened, but that can be sorted out later.





I was thinking of various ways to cut out the holes in the artwork. I had to be as neat and accurate as possible. No dust washers or button shoulders can hide any bad cuts here. I eventually used a circle stencil and a Stanley knife with a new blade to cut them out. I'm pleased with how it turned out. Had this come out badly I'd either have to live with it or get new artwork printed.








The two pics above are one stage of the panel build. You can see I routed out as neat as I could to get the joysticks to fit. But this was prior to getting the PCB button board or the locking latch installed.....





.... so here's where I'm at now. Not so neat as before. 

I fitted the circuit board in position and then padded out the underside of the board with adhesive rubber strip till it was slightly proud of the underside of the panel. Then I screwed the small metal strip over this to hold it firmly down. I had to use a different bracket on the right of the pic in order to fit the PCB in. I also had to fiddle around a bit to get the latch in place positioned perfectly. To lock the panel you just put the latch in place through the hole in the base and pull it down closed. It's not spring loaded like an arcade latch so it needs locking in place with a small bar or padlock through the hole. But when locked the panel is firmly secure and does not wobble or move at all.

Again, you can see that everything isn't perfectly neat looking. It was a case of routing out bits and pieces to get things to fit. Brackets and screws don't match as I'm making do with stuff I have lying around from previous projects.





Here's the top view of the panel with the buttons installed. This panel is now finished and just needs artwork installing. Not doing that till the end though.

I've also had to make a change of direction as regards the monitor. I cannot use the CRT I intended to use as it simply won't fit in the project well enough. The depth is just way too large. It would mean extending the depth of the cabinet by around 70-80mm which would just make the side profile look odd. I could get away with 10-20mm but having drawn out the side profile necessary it instantly looked silly. So I'm gonna go with an LCD, but this does have some advantages. It means more room to get the other bits in, a lighter end product and I can also use the original bezel art albeit at 50% size.

[Well Fed Games]

This build is looking great!

[rockyrocket]

This is gonna be good.

[ArcadeAddict77]

Love what your doing here, and with your other builds. 

[LeedsFan]

Here's an update on what's been done on this last weekend. I started to make the side panels:





Now I searched high and low for plans or dimensions of an upright Robotron cabinet. Couldn't find anything anywhere except for a few tidbits of information. I know what the width of my bartop will be because I'm sticking to the artwork Scott printed. I asked for 50% size of original so I must be confident that his full size art is spot on. I'm sure it is.

I also found out the depth of the full size cabinet on two different forums and both measurements were the same, so I'll take that as accurate. Then I found this template of a side on profile. No measurements came with it but I just adjusted the image so that the depth was half the size of original. Those curves look accurate to me so I went with this template.





Here's one side cut out. I just roughly cut the second side out a couple mm larger. Then I put the two sides together squaring up the back and bottom edges and used the flush trim router bit to get two identical sides.





Here's the sides installed with a temporary piece in between. Yes... it's spring and we need to do some weeding.  





Here's the monitor I intended to use. I have three of these! Shame I couldn't use it.....





..... and here's why. It just sticks out too far. I could extend the side panels but the finished cab would look silly. The monitor would even stick out further than in this pic because the monitor needs tilting for the screen to match the slope of the bezel. In this pic it's just sitting flat. I've got a nice Dell 15" monitor I got cheap on eBay that will be fine. May need to turn it to portrait mode though.





Here's the top panel temporarily installed. I switched to 12mm MDF for this panel and the speaker panel for reason that will become apparent later. I want this top panel to be removable so that I can easily get to the marquee lights and speaker etc. I just put it in like this to make sure that everything is square before I put the wood bits in I will eventually screw it to. The back of this panel has been chamfered off at 45 degrees so that it will meet the top rear panel (also chamfered) perfectly. Well.... maybe not perfectly. I do have a degree of tolerance with my build techniques.  

I also had to put those two heavy duty angle brackets in there to help keep the side panels square. The smaller brackets alone weren't up to the job.





And here are the bits of wood glued in place after checking everything is square. The brackets will be removed once this has dried and is screwed in place properly.

[LeedsFan]

Did a bit more this afternoon. I basically wasn't happy with the way the inside of the cabinet looked with all those different brackets. I wanted it to look cleaner so set about it. I know I'm not doing anything ground breaking with this project, but I want to push the envelope a little further as far as my own work is concerned. I want things to look neater inside as well as out.





Much cleaner now but still not professional by any means. I will probably place a piece of hardbaord over those wooden bits to put the motherboard on later.





This is the marquee section I cut out. It's stepped in by 6mm each way. I did this because on previous projects it was so easy to just place the marquee up against the MDF and have marquee holders top and bottom. But of course by doing this the top and bottom of the marquee don't get any light as they are pressed up against the MDF. Depending on what thickness panels you have it can make the marquee look poor when lit. I definitely didn't want this with Robotron as there is a blue line that runs across the top and bottom. So long as all this is lit up then I'll happy with it. Marquee will be sandwiched between two pieces of 3mm clear plexi and then sit in the recess. 10mm corner trim from B&Q will act as marquee retainers overlapping the edge of the art by around 3mm... easily enough to hold it in place.





Couldn't resist a test fit of the marquee just to make sure it sits in there nice and square in all the corners. Marquee did need trimming a couple of mm or so at each end to fit the recess. Marquee art was slightly wider than the control panel but I don't mind trimming a bit here or there. Better than being too small. 


Not sure what to do about speakers yet. Might just fit one mono one as per the original. Dunno how that would sound from a PC though.

[ark_ader]

Shame you could not fit in the CRT that would have been awesome.  You would have added some needed extra weight.  What are you going to use instead, so it doesn't move around when you play it?

I like the build, and you are doing a great job 

[LeedsFan]

Shame you could not fit in the CRT that would have been awesome.  You would have added some needed extra weight.  What are you going to use instead, so it doesn't move around when you play it?

Some extra grippy sticky rubber feet. 

The U360s are very light to control compared to the original Wico's. I don't think it will be a problem really.

[opt2not]

What if you de-case the TV?  Is there enough space to get it in there without the plastic?

[LeedsFan]

What if you de-case the TV?  Is there enough space to get it in there without the plastic?

I actually had to take the casing off to remove the touch screen overlay that was fitted. These monitors came from a bowling alley I was told. Once the case is off though there isn't any way to save more room. So it's the LCD now utilising HLSL effects in Mame.



More updates of what's been done.....






These are the speakers I've decided to go with. iLuv Boom Boxes... yeah right!    But I'm sure they will be ample good enough for this little bartop. They were only £13 from my local Argos and the very square design helps with installation. I've cut the wires and removed the little pcb inside so I can have volume adjustment on the back of the cab. Just need to solder stuff up later when the PC goes in.





Here's the speaker panel cut out together with a sheet of perforated aluminium which will form the cover for the entire panel. The original was like this too, except of course that had a single mono speaker in the centre.





Here's the inner side of the same panel. The aluminium has been trim fitted. I routed out about 5mm for the speakers to sit into. When the panel is in place there is about 3mm or so between the top of the speakers and the top panel. But this will be taken up with some double sided sticky pads on both the front and back face of the speakers. This should help reduce any vibration or resonance that you can sometimes get with speakers mounted directly to the wood in cabinets.

The front side of the speaker boxes will also have a piece of perspex running the width of the marquee to which the cold cathode tubes will be attached. Yes... these little cube speakers do help with other stuff in their design.  





Here's the perspex cut to size and sitting in place together with marquee retainers.  I've not decided whether to use tinted perspex or not for the "inside" piece. (Bezel artowrk will be sandwiched in between). I got three pieces cut anyway (one tinted) so I can go either way with this decision later. I've got to paint these retainers because I wanted "L" shaped trim at  20mm x 10mm so I had room to install the screws - remember I took out 6mm  step for the marqee plexi so 10mm up top would have been too tight. And B&Q only stock this trim in white.  





Here's the cabinet upside down with the speaker panel now in place. Screws heads will be covered with those little screw caps. Once I was happy with the installation I then removed the speaker panel and retainers and got them primed ready for spraying satin black tomorrow.





Here's the short rear panels between the door. I've tried to copy how a real Robotron looks at the back too. Not exact of course. Those holes will be covered on the inside with the same perforated aluminium as the speaker panel. I've still got to fit the power switch and volume control and they will sit between the cut outs on the upper panel. On a full size Robotron this space had a handle fitted to help when moving the cabinet around. But I have to put the power and volume somewhere and that panel section is only narrow so I don't want to give the impression that someone could pick the cabinet up with any handle I may have put there.





Last thing I did today was to get the door fitted up. Still need to drill and fit arcade lock with will go up centre top.

[rockyrocket]

looking very good!, real shame about the screen but HLSL is still going to look good.

[firedance]

Nice work so far

quick question where did you get the perforated sheet from and how much,if you don't mind me asking ??

am planning my own bartop ( haven't worked on it for a few month yet tho) based in the uk.

Cheers

Firedance

What if you de-case the TV?  Is there enough space to get it in there without the plastic?

I actually had to take the casing off to remove the touch screen overlay that was fitted. These monitors came from a bowling alley I was told. Once the case is off though there isn't any way to save more room. So it's the LCD now utilising HLSL effects in Mame.



More updates of what's been done.....






These are the speakers I've decided to go with. iLuv Boom Boxes... yeah right!    But I'm sure they will be ample good enough for this little bartop. They were only £13 from my local Argos and the very square design helps with installation. I've cut the wires and removed the little pcb inside so I can have volume adjustment on the back of the cab. Just need to solder stuff up later when the PC goes in.





Here's the speaker panel cut out together with a sheet of perforated aluminium which will form the cover for the entire panel. The original was like this too, except of course that had a single mono speaker in the centre.





Here's the inner side of the same panel. The aluminium has been trim fitted. I routed out about 5mm for the speakers to sit into. When the panel is in place there is about 3mm or so between the top of the speakers and the top panel. But this will be taken up with some double sided sticky pads on both the front and back face of the speakers. This should help reduce any vibration or resonance that you can sometimes get with speakers mounted directly to the wood in cabinets.

[Woodshop Flunky]

Nice work so far

quick question where did you get the perforated sheet from and how much,if you don't mind me asking ??

am planning my own bartop ( haven't worked on it for a few month yet tho) based in the uk.

Cheers

Firedance

You can use modder's mesh... http://www.frozencpu.com/cat/l3/g43/c12/s450/list/p1/Case_Parts-OEM-Misc_Case_Parts-Modders_Mesh_Panels-Page1.html

[rockyrocket]

Here in the uk B+Q have a selection of mesh sheet its over by the bondage section, sorry the chain section.

[firedance]

thanks for the advice, will check out B+Q 

[firedance]

http://www.diy.com/nav/build/building-materials/materials/metal_sheet_material/-specificproducttype-steel_panel/Round-Perforated-Steel-Steel-Coloured-L-500mm-x-W-250mm-9284158

seems expensive for a small sheet 

[LeedsFan]

B&Q don't have the mesh in small enough hole sizes.

This is where I got the mesh from.......

http://www.greatart.co.uk/PERFORATEDALUMINIUMSHEET-modelling.htm


Bear in mind that this website states "UK's largest range of art materials" but in actual fact my mesh came from Germany, delivered by DPD courier. This added £8.00 for the postage which at first I thought was for guaranteed next day delivery. Not until I checked the tracking did it dawn on me where it was from. DPD being a German courier I probably should have known.  

But this mesh is with very nice and is easily cut with scissors. I bought the second one down in the list (80013) which has 1.5mm holes. I received two sheets as well, not just the one you see in the pic.

That B&Q sheet you linked to is steel which will be a little harder to work with. Won't cut with scissors anyway.  

[firedance]

thanks for the link, will look into it

[LeedsFan]

Managed to make a bit more progress, but it is slowing down now as I reach the detail and painting stages.





Here the top panel is trimmed in satin black vinyl together with the upper rear panel. I hate painting as I don't have the patience, so I only painted the inside edges of the side panels. Rest of the cab will be trimmed in satin black like I did with the Star Wars mini. It still doesn't come out perfect as the vinyl is thin and any imperfections in the panel can be seen. But I still think it's better than painting.





Front view of cab with speaker panel now installed after painting. Speakers are not yet fixed in because I need to solder up the wires etc. The front face of the speaker enclosures (as you see in the pic) will support a piece of plexi or hardboard to which the cold cathode tubes will be attached. I also ran some wood putty over the slight edge of the front of the control panel. This will need sanding and cleaning up before the artwork gets put in place.





Close up of the top. Speakers are padded out with some rubber strip so that when the top panel gets screwed down they are gently pressed in slightly. As you can see MDF dust is everywhere! Gonna need a good clean up soon.

The volume control is sitting on that brace across the cab which will be tie-wrapped down securely. It needs to be set back like that because I need to plug in a phono lead for the other speaker and that would otherwise have fouled the power switch. I had to make an extension of sorts with some aluminium tube for the volume control.





Here's the only bit of PC internal hardware I had to buy - Geforce 6200 PCI graphics card. The donor PC was given to me by a mate for services on his Mame project. It's only a Dell Dimensopn 2400 which is plenty good enough for the Robotron. However the onboard graphics chip doesn't support Pixel Shader 3.0 which is required for HLSL support in Mame. So I had top get this second hand card from eBay.

[rockyrocket]

Gonna bump this as its a fav wip, and I keep wondering how its going to look?.

[LeedsFan]

Gonna bump this as its a fav wip, and I keep wondering how its going to look?.

This project is on hold for the time being, although it will definitely be finished off with the progress posted here. I basically got into another bigger project which was juicing up the Anglia van (can see it in the background on some pics) with new engine, suspension etc.  All non arcade related of course, but it has taken a lot of my time and money over the summer.

I will be exhibiting again at Play-Expo in Manchester in a couple of weeks and I was even asked to bring this along in it's current state as a "work in progress" for the home brew section. They seem to think people may be interested to see what one looks like part made. If I've got room then I will take it along. Dunno if peeps would be interested in seeing it though. 

[Jigenjuke]

As promised here are some pics of where I am up to with the control panel. Firstly we have the artwork from Scott at Gameongraffix. Awesome quality as per usual! Thank you Scott. 

Hey there LeedsFan,

Great work!!

How much did the CPO and Marquee run from Scott at Gameongraffix?  What size are they?  Again looks awesome.

Jigenjuke

[yotsuya]

Gonna bump this as its a fav wip, and I keep wondering how its going to look?.

This project is on hold for the time being, although it will definitely be finished off with the progress posted here. I basically got into another bigger project which was juicing up the Anglia van (can see it in the background on some pics) with new engine, suspension etc.  All non arcade related of course, but it has taken a lot of my time and money over the summer.

I will be exhibiting again at Play-Expo in Manchester in a couple of weeks and I was even asked to bring this along in it's current state as a "work in progress" for the home brew section. They seem to think people may be interested to see what one looks like part made. If I've got room then I will take it along. Dunno if peeps would be interested in seeing it though. 

Yay, LeedsFan! Long time no see!

[rockyrocket]

Gonna bump this as its a fav wip, and I keep wondering how its going to look?.

This project is on hold for the time being, although it will definitely be finished off with the progress posted here. I basically got into another bigger project which was juicing up the Anglia van (can see it in the background on some pics) with new engine, suspension etc.  All non arcade related of course, but it has taken a lot of my time and money over the summer.

I will be exhibiting again at Play-Expo in Manchester in a couple of weeks and I was even asked to bring this along in it's current state as a "work in progress" for the home brew section. They seem to think people may be interested to see what one looks like part made. If I've got room then I will take it along. Dunno if peeps would be interested in seeing it though. 

Cool, I was worried you had lost inspiration when the monitor did not fit, glad it`s not over!.

[retrofuture]

Your stuff is great mate    If only I had the time... 

[Ryglore]

First off, This project is awesome. I'm glad someone else has thought of doing a Robotron bartop and if I ever get around to making one I'll be following your lead!

Secondly, I was struggling with how to do the dust washers to mimic the original Robotron set up for my Retrotron project. And this is an excellent idea! I think I'll need to borrow this from you. 

[LeedsFan]

Project Resurrection!!!


Time to get back on with this project.  I always intended to get it finished, but another project got in the way. Much bigger and much more expensive, and no... it had nothing to do with arcade games.

Anyway, got quite a bit done recently and I do have some pics. Just not uploaded them yet as my phone battery is dead. Will post soon.

Got the software side of things sorted out on the donor PC. I did intend to use HLSL on the latest version of Mame but unfortunately that has turned out to be a no-go. The Geforce 6200 card I got earlier simply cannot handle it. Yes, it does support Pixel Shader 3.0 but the performance of Mame with HLSL enabled is simply awful.

So... a step backwards. But I will just use scanlines as of old. I do however have the very latest version of Mame with the latest Blue patched ROM and updated Williams drivers. This makes Robotron as close as possible to the original arcade. The brain stages aren't as hectic (ever noticed how manic Robotron was in Mame compared to the arcade version?).  Also the "shot in corner" bug is fixed. Some will cry foul at that and say it should still be there, rather like the PacMan split screen and Donkey Kong kill screen. But those games are 100% consistent with their bugs. We all know them and there's no way to avoid them (assuming any of us are good enough to get that far. I'm not!). But with Robotron it's not like that at all. And I don't want my game resetting on me if I ever got that good at it.

You can read more about this Blue patched Rom here:
http://www.robotron2084guidebook.com/technical/gameplatforms/mame/


Got the donor PC stripped down and placed in the cabinet now. All wired up and ready to test. But..... I then found out that the mains plug socket I'm using is a silly one with an obstruction in it, and so none of my power leads will fit! 

I will be replacing this plug tomorrow and have a preliminary test of the installed PC. And pics will be forthcoming soon!

I still have a way to go. U360s need to be wired in and software installed and tested. Marquee lights and artwork. So plenty to do.