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Author Topic: NEO GEO Evolution (EVS-1) - Experimenting with DIY trackball  (Read 127135 times)

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BadMouth

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NEO GEO Evolution (EVS-1) - Experimenting with DIY trackball
« on: April 04, 2012, 09:05:00 pm »
EDIT: Going to keep a running list of current specs here.  Will add pics and video when cab is final.

A png with the dimensions is attached to this post:http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,119308.msg1487246.html#msg1487246

Current State:




PC: 3.4Ghz Athlon X3, 4GB DDR3, Nvidia 9800GT 750ti, 500GB HD, Windows Vista  Windows 10, but I may revert to 7

Monitor: 27" Planar PX2710MW (low lag, but viewing angle from bottom sucks. therefore when vertical P2's view is much darker than P1's)
Monitor Rotation: 5-1778-A   6" Stroke 27.5 LB. 12 VDC Linear Actuator controlled by a Pololu Simple Motor Controller 18v7

Audio: Genius SP-HF1800A 50w rms Powered speakers.  Mylar tweeters replaced with MK Audio silk dome tweeters
           + Dayton Audio SD215-88 8" Shielded DVC Subwoofer powered by a 70w rms Dayton Audio SA70

Joysticks: Sanwa JLF, SparkCE Optical Sensor, GT-C circular restrictor, Hand Candy balltops
4/8 way switching: custom built circuit to adjust voltage to IR emitters in SparkCE controlled by Pololu Mini Maestro servo controller

Buttons: Seimitsu PS14 KN 30mm Screw in Button for most buttons, PS14 D N K 24mm for navigation buttons

Interface: Hacked xbox360 fight pads for controls.   Key Wiz.  I went back to keyboard encoder for everything after updating to Windows 10 and having connection and order problems with the hacked xbox fight pads.

Light guns: bigben interactive Walther P99 replica for Wii


           




ORIGINAL POST:
I probably won't get started on this for a few weeks, but figured starting a thread would motivate me.
I was trying to wait until I had everything painstakingly planned out before starting, but I've come to accept that I just don't get anything done that way.  :dunno

This will be my "upstairs" arcade machine that I won't share with my drunken guests (they get to use the x-arcade tankstick).

It will feature a 27" LCD and be built with newer games in mind (atomiswave, naomi, taito type x)
I'm tempted to make it one player, but afraid I might regret it.

Here's the basic concept, width not actually to scale, artwork not aligned etc.


Will use these seimitsu buttons:

Inserts painted silver, then applied letters from Pongo.

Button layout will be similar to a Neo 29:
EDIT: Tried it out and this button layout sucks as it is.  For Player 2, I rotated it counter-clockwise a bit and the top row feels awesome.
         Bottom row feels ok, but will probably be shifted left.  I'm amazed at how close you can squeeze these Japanese buttons together.


For joysticks, I have sanwa JLFs with stiffer springs, quieter zippy switches, & slate hand candy balltops.
Haven't decided on CP art yet.  I'd like something similar to the original neo geo stripes, but modernized.
Some people have criticized the narrower marquees, but I prefer how this looks in proportion to the rest of the cab.
Not sure about color.  I'm kinda liking the black and white.  Maybe some kind of grey or silver in place of the white?
« Last Edit: July 08, 2023, 07:18:06 pm by BadMouth »

eramsabe

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim LCD
« Reply #1 on: April 04, 2012, 11:40:19 pm »
I kinda like the slim/lcd cabs, and I really like those buttons  :applaud:

bigmatty77

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim LCD
« Reply #2 on: April 05, 2012, 06:14:24 pm »
Great concept and design, love those buttons.  :applaud:

This will be one to watch  :)

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim LCD
« Reply #3 on: April 06, 2012, 04:47:42 pm »
Looks really good.. I love slim marquee.

Only thing is, I would consider it's foot print.. just make sure it's not too top heavy, nothing major.

Those buttons are slick.
and you gotta go 2 player

but.. you sure you don't want to paint it big red!??

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim LCD
« Reply #4 on: April 06, 2012, 05:51:25 pm »
After working with a full size cabinet, I'm really starting to like the slim cab design.

The buttons are great.

wp34

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim LCD
« Reply #5 on: April 07, 2012, 12:02:10 am »
Artwork looks great.  I hope the cab will have the notch in the back you show on the artwork.  That's a great touch.   :cheers:


05SRT4

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim LCD
« Reply #6 on: April 07, 2012, 12:05:14 am »
Im with ^^^^^ The notch makes a big difference in style. I love when my pit makes those faces.

BadMouth

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim LCD
« Reply #7 on: April 07, 2012, 01:39:32 pm »
Thanks for the comments!

I'm going to incorporate a way to attach it to the wall.
It would probably be fine with some weights mounted in the back corner, but not going to risk it.

The notch in the back is indeed the shape of the cab.  ;D
It was originally just for asthetics, but it will also allow the cab to sit closer to the wall while still getting ventilation.

The pitbull is a throwback to neo geo advertisements in the 90's.

I didn't want it portrayed as rabid though.  
The one on my workup is just copied and pasted from the internet, but I'll probably stick with it.
There will be other, more subtle NEO-GEO references throughout.   ;)

I put the PC together a few days ago.  It's basically my old desktop with a new mobo and the processor leftover from upgrading my driving cab(3.2Ghz Athlon X2).
Much to my surprise, the system builder version of Windows Vista originally on the computer installed and registered without any issues.  
(it was my understanding that it was locked to the motherboard and not transferrable...was expecting to have to call microsoft and whine).
It's not bleeding edge, but should get the job done.  The only thing I had to buy was a budget mobo and CPU fan.

The reason I decided to use Vista is because I already had it and the newest version of Demul requires directx11 to see any improvements.
Since this cab will lean toward Atomiswave and Naomi games, Demul is a requirement.
I also haven't been able to get the Taito Type X2 game King of Fighters:Maximum Impact Regulation to work correctly on Win7.
I know they all work on this hardware and OS.

EDIT: can't get the directx 11 plugin to work now.  :banghead:  I swear it worked before reinstalling vista. 
         I'm using the same video card which is only directx 10, but it was working.
         Pretty sure I've done all the updates (been updating for 3 days now). Must be missing something.

My schedule opens up in a couple weeks and I'll be able to start on the woodworking then.   :cheers:
« Last Edit: April 08, 2012, 09:14:58 am by BadMouth »

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim LCD
« Reply #8 on: April 07, 2012, 02:02:39 pm »
LOL yeah the original dog looks like it may have some medical conditions!!

I cant wait to see the 27" LCD installed!!


BadMouth

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim LCD
« Reply #9 on: April 28, 2012, 05:51:11 pm »
After some more windows updates, the pc now has directx 11 and demul .5.7 is working just fine.  :applaud:

After tinkering with the Naomi & Taito type X shmups, putting the monitor on it's side and realizing how awesome they are with a vertical screen, I've decided to add monitor rotation.  ;D
That little design change has slowed me down a bit while I thought about how to go about it and ordered the parts.

I picked up the lumber today, but haven't made any cuts yet.
Here is the progress I've made on the rotating mech.

Started with a wall mount TV bracket and hacked some out of the center:


Added 200mm lazy susan bearing from fleabay.  The bracket is deeper than the lazy susan bearing is thick, so I'll have to add some spacers for everything to clear.  I could have flipped the bracket over, but wanted to do it this way.


Traced the monitor onto foamboard, drew on the screen position, punched a hole where the center of the screen would be, and then where the VESA mounts are.  This wasn't easy because sides of the monitor are slanted and the back of it is curved.  I had an "L" shaped piece of foamboard leftover after cutting out the monitor.  I used this as a square, holding it flat against the back of the monitor and marking the VESA hole locations while the other part of the "L" was against the top, then side of the monitor.  Note that the VESA mounts are not centered with the screen or the monitor frame.  By the VESA standard, they are supposed to be located at the center of gravity, but I don't know if that's always adhered to.


Then added some horizontal and vertical lines accross the center, lined the lazy susan bearing up with them (just eyeballing and lining up the lines in the center of the mounting holes), and marked the lazy susan mounting points.  So there's pretty much the pattern for the monitor mount.
EDIT: this pic is upside down
 

Foamboard monitor bolted on for testing:


The main purpose of doing all this was to see how much clearance it would have when rotating since the bottom frame of the monitor is wider.
Answer: hardly any.  I was planning to make the inside of the cab the same width of the bracket, but I'll have to add some wiggle room.
I'm surprised how accurate the center hole looks.  It appears stationary when the monitor is spinning.  I hope the real one turns out that good.


Here is the gameplan for the actuator:


I still need to make the mounting plate & actuator mounts.  Don't know how I'm mounting limit switches yet.  The cables have to pass through the center of the bearing somehow. etc etc etc.


I reaaaaaallly want to be centered when playing shmups.  I figure it's either squeeze in another joystick & 3 buttons in the middle, or make the CP slide to the right.  At least I have a width to the cab now (32"), so I can start doing some CP layouts and see what works.  The games will be unplayable from the player 2 position when the monitor is verticle because the viewing angle from the bottom of the monitor is so bad.  It looks awesome from the left or center.

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim LCD
« Reply #10 on: April 28, 2012, 05:58:29 pm »
^ And now you have my riveted undivided attention.   :cheers:

Excited to see how it goes with that bearing as I'm going to be experimenting with the same one later this summer.  Looking good so far. 

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim LCD
« Reply #11 on: April 28, 2012, 09:49:48 pm »
why not the standard "street fighter plus 1" button layout with XYZ along the top?

I'll be keeping a close eye on this thread for sure.
If you're replying to a troll you are part of the problem.
I also need to follow this advice. Ignore or report, don't reply.

BadMouth

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim LCD
« Reply #12 on: April 28, 2012, 11:40:19 pm »
why not the standard "street fighter plus 1" button layout with XYZ along the top?

Just personal taste.  My fingers instinctively go to the top row of buttons, so I prefer ABC up there.
My guests are the same way.

My theory is that people who have played a lot on modern consoles go for the bottom row because that's how things are arranged on modern controllers.  People who haven't played a lot on modern consoles go for the top row.  :P  I have no idea if it's true, but that's my theory until someone is bothered to disprove it with a controlled study.  (not just anecdotal evidence) 

The main reason for the curved layout is  that I wanted to do something different from what I've done before and also more modern.
Especially since this cab is focused on modern games (2000 and up) that came in candy cabs which had curved button layouts.

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim LCD
« Reply #13 on: April 28, 2012, 11:43:56 pm »
does me being 33 throw a kink in that equation? I used to map the punches to R(weak) X (medium) A (fierce) and the kicks to L (weak) Y (medium) B (roundhouse) in street fighter on SNES; so maybe Im just an oddity , lol
If you're replying to a troll you are part of the problem.
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BadMouth

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim LCD
« Reply #14 on: April 30, 2012, 09:41:35 pm »
Cut the sides out today.  The original design forced the coin door to be mounted too low, so I modified it.
It doesn't look as balanced to me now, but I think it will look better once the CP is there.

I still don't understand what happened, but after everything else going smoothly, the router decided to climb toward the top of the panel instead of staying centered.  I have no idea what happened.  It didn't feel any different than it did going around the rest of the cab and the depth of the router didn't move, but somehow this happened (my camera decided to focus on the grass instead of the project):

It looks even worse after routing the correct path next to it.

Pretty horrible, but I had bondo glass on hand:


EDIT: Forgot to mention that after that, I was cutting down the center of a large piece of mdf on supported by plastic sawhorses and as soon as the cut was complete, everything fell in toward the center and made a big mess.  I had two sawhorses on each side, but I guess they weren't close enough to center.  When I went to make the next cut with the circular saw, I couldn't get the blade lined up, then realized that it was bent.  It must have hit the floor before the guard closed.  Good thing it was just a concrete basement floor.  No choice but to stop working and go get a new blade.  One of several points that I should have just stopped working at :timebomb:

Obligatory side panels against wall pic:


Got some of the non-angled panels cut too.  Here's an idea of the width:


This thing is becoming more of a beast than I'd planned.  Slim or not, 2 sheets of MDF is heavy.
It was originally going to be one player and just over 2ft wide.  It's now 32" wide to (barely) accomodate the rotation of the 27" monitor.
I measured a 32" lcd tv and it would also fit, but I wouldn't want to be that close to a 32" screen.
I'll post templates once I get this thing together and makes sure everything fits.

There happened to be a disc of aluminum stock on fleabay the size I needed for the monitor mount, so that was ordered and should be received by weekend.  It's 3/4", which is thicker than I wanted, but the price and diameter was right.  I should make good progress this weekend.
« Last Edit: April 30, 2012, 09:49:59 pm by BadMouth »

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim LCD, Now with Bondo!
« Reply #15 on: April 30, 2012, 09:50:25 pm »
That looks eerily similar to my slipping t-molding slot bit fiasco. I feel your pain. Screw the bondo though. You should recut. It's early enough in the game to get the foundation right. The boards here talked me into recutting mine and I couldn't be happier that I did.

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim LCD, Now with Bondo!
« Reply #16 on: May 01, 2012, 12:01:27 pm »
great bondo job! Like it never happened!

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim LCD, Now with Bondo!
« Reply #17 on: May 01, 2012, 12:22:58 pm »
Is that a Periodic Table of Beer Styles?   :lol

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim LCD, Now with Bondo!
« Reply #18 on: May 01, 2012, 01:10:10 pm »
Is that a Periodic Table of Beer Styles?   :lol

Why yes, it is.

EDIT:  Small update, not worthy of bumping the thread.
Messed around with the artwork concept a bit more.  I had some red t-molding laying around,
put a small strip of it on the cab and decided that I'm sick of black cabs with red t-molding.  
So this one will be red with black t-molding.  ;D


I hope to have the cab standing and the mechanical parts of the rotating mechanism done this weekend.
There are still quite a few things I haven't decided how to go about doing, but I'll be able to visualize them better with the shell of the cab in front of me.  
« Last Edit: May 05, 2012, 10:59:21 pm by BadMouth »

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim LCD
« Reply #19 on: May 05, 2012, 07:58:56 pm »
Im just not feelin the pitbull :/  Why not the 100Meg shock face?
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BadMouth

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim LCD
« Reply #20 on: May 05, 2012, 10:56:26 pm »
Im just not feelin the pitbull :/  Why not the 100Meg shock face?

I like the pitbull....and the button layout.
Wait until you see the CP.  ;)

I got the shell together less a couple angled panels that I don't feel like doing tonight.



That is one skinny marquee (lit area 4" x 30.5"), but I like the way it looks from the side.

I didn't stop to take any pictures (I'm a bad example anyway).
I went with these levelers instead of casters.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/270932581070?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649
Not a bad deal for a dozen.  I do wish the plate would have been bigger.

To compensate for the base plate being small, I angled them in the corners and added some extra bracing.

The panel opposite the coin mechs is on a piano hinge.  It will flip out and have the PSU, mobo, etc mounted on it.
The original coin box is pretty deep, so things might have to be arranged around it.
This panel and the removing the bezel will be the only way to get inside the cab, but between both of them, I can access every part.

I can't add too many more panels to the cab until I get the rotating mech for the monitor done.
The monitor will be set as deep as possible to get some distance from the screen
« Last Edit: May 06, 2012, 10:03:01 pm by BadMouth »

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim LCD
« Reply #21 on: May 06, 2012, 12:27:47 am »
I like the profile of that cab, nice design!

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim LCD
« Reply #22 on: May 06, 2012, 10:55:47 pm »
Finished up the angled cuts today.

Did a good job on the front......


And a crappy job on the back...followed by bondoglass  :lol


The only panels left to cut are the speaker panel and the area behind the CP, but those can't be done until I know where the monitor will sit.
To be honest, at this point I don't even know what the CP will be shaped like yet.  ;)

I made some progress on the rotating mech.  I came across an aluminum disc on ebay that was the exact diameter of the bearing, but it was 3/4" thick.   :-\  The price was right, so I went ahead and ordered it figuring it must be desitiny.  No such luck.  The thing just adds too much uneccesary weight.  I wandered around Lowes looking for a piece of metal big enough and strong enough and came across a $3 plate meant to prevent you from driving nails into pipes or wiring.  My original template had the monitor holes offset 45 degrees from the lazy susan bearing holes.  This plate wasn't wide enough for that, so I had to line them up.  After some trimming and drilling:


The mounting plate, bearing, and bracket...with nuts and washers between each level for clearance.
(The inner and outer rings of the lazy susan bearing are flush with each other)
It took a bit of trial and error to find the right length of bolts, etc.
The fact that some of my monitor bolts were located behind the bearing complicated things also.  


I was also on the lookout for something to use as a bracket for the actuator.
I found some square box aluminum stock with an inner diameter that was just a little wider than the actuator arm.
I still need to round the edges where it meets the arm and drill a hole for the pin, but here is the general idea.
The entire assembly is less than 3" thick, including the actuator.


I did some testing with the actuator (with no load) and it took 3-4 seconds between the built in limit switches.
That's the speed of rotation that I was shooting for anyway, so I'm going to try to set the length of the arm so that it stops at the perfect positions with the built in switches.  According to my calculations, wich are always suspect, the arm needs to be 4.25" which is about what is is in the picture.
This is all working out pretty close to my original design.  The only issue I foresee is that the other end of the actuator is within an inch of the side of the cab.  It's not in any danger of hitting the side, but it is going to interfere with the way I had planned on mounting the bracket.

I had an unusual amount of free time this weekend to work on this.
Progress will slow down from here on out, but I plan to finish the rotation mech on Tuesday.

EDIT: I was looking at the last picture and thinking about how to incorporate limit switches if I had to.
The piece of aluminum going to the actuator could extend to the opposite side with the switches mounted to the main bracket.
Things would still be compact and simple.  :)

« Last Edit: May 06, 2012, 11:22:40 pm by BadMouth »

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim LCD
« Reply #23 on: May 07, 2012, 06:44:31 am »
Good build man! I like your attention to detail, I could use some of that, got any to spare?

I am amazed at how far the rotating monitor science has come since I first made my clunky & slow CRT rotation.
Following this post closely..

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim LCD
« Reply #24 on: May 07, 2012, 09:11:22 am »
Are you sure with that geometry and the stroke of the linac that you're going to be able to get 90 degrees?  It looks close but it's probably just the angle of the pics I'm seeing. 

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim LCD
« Reply #25 on: May 07, 2012, 08:14:20 pm »
Are you sure with that geometry and the stroke of the linac that you're going to be able to get 90 degrees?  It looks close but it's probably just the angle of the pics I'm seeing. 

The stuff is just laying there in the pic.  Nothing is drilled out or bolted together yet.
It's not too far off from where it needs to be though.
The actuator has a 6" stroke.  Imagine a 6"x6" square centered on the back of the monitor mounting plate.
I just need to take one corner and push it to the positon of the next corner to get 90° rotation.
If it comes up short, I shorten the length of the crank, making the square smaller.

It will be together and working tomorrow, so I guess we'll find out then.  :lol

I'm swiping ideas from the Switchade for the CP btw.  ;)
Nothing as elaborate, but I'm using the same t-channel as guides.


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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim LCD
« Reply #26 on: May 07, 2012, 08:42:53 pm »
Cool can't wait to see what you did with it. 

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim LCD
« Reply #27 on: May 08, 2012, 09:41:40 pm »
Good build man! I like your attention to detail, I could use some of that, got any to spare?

I have attention to detail in the planning stages.  When I actually go to build it and just want to get it working is another story.
Never enough time to do it right.  Always enough time to do it twice  :P
(and it's all your fault I'm playing with linear actuators)

I learned a lot this evening.  The rotation mech works, but the final stopping points are very slightly off and I didn't build in any adjustments this round.  I just wanted to get the thing together and see it work.  I will end up redoing most of it, but taking more time to make sure it is correct.

If building off of a bracket, it may be useful to square the monitor bolts with the bracket and lock the bearing down to keep it from rotating.
This can help you set the position of the actuator so that fully closed (or fully extended) is square.
(but I didn't have anything handy to lock the position with, so my final result was slightly off)


Drawing lines between the bearing bolt holes on the monitor mounting plate will give you some good points of reference for mounting the crank if using one of these lazy susan bearings with a lot of open space in the middle.  It would make drilling accurate bolt holes for the crank easier.
I will do that when I rebuild this thing.

Anyways, here's what it looks like thrown together for now.
(had to add nuts to get some extra height to clear the bolts holding the bearing on)

 


The stops are slightly off.  I've got no excuse for the first direction being off, as I should have squared everything better before drilling the hole for the rear mount of the actuator.  If you get that one right, the crank length should determine the other one.
If they were off by the same amount, I'd blame the actuator mounting point, but it seems both that and the crank arm length are slightly off.


This is a case for just making it over-rotate and using external limit switches to stop it.  It would be a lot easier to get dialed in that way.

This design works fine...... :)
I just need to measure like a machinist.
« Last Edit: May 08, 2012, 10:22:28 pm by BadMouth »

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD
« Reply #28 on: May 08, 2012, 10:26:57 pm »
 :applaud: :applaud:

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD
« Reply #29 on: May 08, 2012, 10:42:04 pm »
At least you've got a machinist grade stamped steel framing square to work with!  [Kidding- i use a little speed square all the time for metalworking, so I can't say anything] 

Building in adjustable limit switches is the way to go. 

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim LCD
« Reply #30 on: May 08, 2012, 10:58:54 pm »
....
(and it's all your fault I'm playing with linear actuators)
.....

I have to pass the buck to DarthPaul, he's the one that got me started on actuators.
Its just like they told us in elementary school about drugs, once you start you can never go back.

Seriously, I like how professional your build is looking.

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD
« Reply #31 on: May 09, 2012, 08:25:03 am »
Very smooth!

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD
« Reply #32 on: May 09, 2012, 08:54:27 am »
Very nice!  Great use of actuators and turning mechanisms.  I'm still concerned about the weight of your 27" monitor and the lazy susan (weight being on a different plane than the LS was intended to work with) but you've got the big dogs of rotating monitors in this thread and if they were worried they'd have said something.

Keep up the great work!

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD
« Reply #33 on: May 09, 2012, 09:20:05 am »
Very nice!  Great use of actuators and turning mechanisms.  I'm still concerned about the weight of your 27" monitor and the lazy susan (weight being on a different plane than the LS was intended to work with) but you've got the big dogs of rotating monitors in this thread and if they were worried they'd have said something.

Keep up the great work!

The LS he is using is not a thrust bearing.  I'm not worried. 

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD
« Reply #34 on: May 09, 2012, 10:00:13 am »
At least you've got a machinist grade stamped steel framing square to work with!  [Kidding- i use a little speed square all the time for metalworking, so I can't say anything]  

Building in adjustable limit switches is the way to go.  

 :lol  Yeah that and a slide caliper that's too small to use on this project are about all the precision tools I have.
It could be worse.  I once owned a square that wasn't.

External limit switches are the way to go, but just for fun I'm going to elongate my mounting holes and see if I can get it adjusted to work with the built in switches.
Probably won't get around to that for a few days.

I'm still concerned about the weight of your 27" monitor and the lazy susan (weight being on a different plane than the LS was intended to work with) but you've got the big dogs of rotating monitors in this thread and if they were worried they'd have said something.

While I can't find a rating for the 200mm bearing I bought, the 300mm one (which is actually thinner) is rated for 330lbs.
Of course, this is with the force being applied straight down.  The races are flush, neither side is labeled as top or bottom, and everything appears symetrical, so I'd assume it's rated for that weight in either direction.
The monitor is only 14lb and will be tilted backwards, so I doubt the bearing is anywhere near its limits.

I didn't like that the stamped lazy susan bearings at the hardware store were only held together by the stamped sides, which is fine if they're mounted horizontally and the weight is pushing straight down.  If there is force pulling up on one side (away from the bearings), then the stamped joint which doesn't have any bearings is taking part of the weight.

This bearing is held together by the ball bearings themselves and the weight is on the ball bearings no matter what direction it's coming from.
Since it's symetrical and can take the same amount of weight on either side, I doubt it matters much which direction the weight is coming from.
« Last Edit: May 09, 2012, 10:12:40 am by BadMouth »

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD
« Reply #35 on: May 11, 2012, 08:58:20 am »
Your cab looks a little beefier than the normal slim build.  I like that.   That notch in the back turned out great as well.  :cheers:

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD
« Reply #36 on: May 12, 2012, 08:45:00 am »
I really like your approach to rotation with the linear actuator. :applaud:

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD
« Reply #37 on: May 13, 2012, 12:33:25 am »
Nice work! Keep at it. I want to see that 27 incher on there.

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD
« Reply #38 on: May 15, 2012, 06:52:49 pm »
nice doggie :cheers:

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD
« Reply #39 on: May 15, 2012, 10:39:54 pm »

Progress has slowed, but I expect to have the rotating mech working and installed this weekend.  I would have had it done this past weekend, but some unexpected guests showed up on short notice and stayed all weekend. Toward the end of last week, I had found time to remeasure everything, draw up a more accurate template for the monitor mount, and transfer it to a new piece of metal.

I reassembled the rotating mech yesterday.  Soooooo close to being perfect without external limit switches, but not quite.  There was a fair amount of play in it from all the nuts just being finger tightened.  They would loosen up the more I messed with the assembly.  So this evening, I attached the bearing to the bracket using copious amounts of red loc-tite & JB Welded some nuts in place on the side of the monitor bracket that I won't have access to once it's attached to the monitor. 

While waiting for that to set up, I fine-tuned the control panel layout:



The buttons in the top corners are Left Player Start and Right Player Start (will be printed on the artwork)
The red button in the center is Exit and the smaller 24mm buttons on each side of it will change the gamelist.
The top 2 inches of the CP will be inside the cab and will not move. 
The rest of the CP will slide 8.5 inches to the right so that player 1's Left Player's controls are centered when playing vertical games.
(It won't be automated)

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD
« Reply #40 on: May 16, 2012, 10:51:13 am »
You know im loving this build its showing me that the lazy susan idea may just work for me too altho i have a 23"monitor thats mounting plate is 8 wide by 4 down :( so not sure yet how ide measure/attach it any advice bud drop me a pm cheers apart from that bookmarked saved and cant wait to see it further BTW i remember that logo haha but to be honest the artwork looks very resevoir dogs lol kind of haha :D wish i had a decent version of photoshop ide take the original and add your bulldog to that so its not so RABBID hee hee still the red black deffo sells it :D  :cheers:
hope to see more soon :)

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD
« Reply #41 on: May 20, 2012, 04:20:32 pm »
Final almost final rotation mech:

I moved the actuator to the bottom so everything could be mounted deeper in the cab.

Adjustable contact points for the limit switches:


Looks nice, but BIG PROBLEM: the actuator does not stop instantly when the switch is tripped.  It continues to move just far enough to damage the switch if I let it.   :-\  I tested an e-switch, cherry, x-arcade, & zippy.  The result was the same.  I needed more travel past the trip point.
A longer lever made out of two levers taped together worked, but didn't want to use that permanently.
(I bent the lever like that, the actuator didn't)

Searched fleabay and low and behold..."long lever microswitches"  :lol  Not cheap, but less work on my part.

I'd have probably seen this coming if I'd read Da' Old Man & Darthpaul's threads better.  I seem to remember something about using coin switches.  Maybe the brake in mrotate would help, but I'd rather the hardware be set up so nothing can be damaged.

In the cab:

The mdf above and below it are more for alignment and to help hold it while I screw it to some 2x3's on the sides.

It's in there about as deep as it can go! Had to notch out the framing.
The monitor will follow the same angle as the front edge of the cab.  
The bezel should end up recessed about 4.5"-5" from the front edges of the cab.


I decided it needed an access panel so adjustments could be made while it was in the cab.

(managed to use screws that were too long  :angry: .  After the pic was taken, they were replaced with shorter ones and everything sanded down flat.
It will still need some bondo.)

Next time, there will be a monitor mounted in there....and it will move.  ;D
« Last Edit: May 20, 2012, 04:31:24 pm by BadMouth »

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD
« Reply #42 on: May 20, 2012, 07:47:19 pm »
Why does the actuator keep moving once the limit switch is tripped? am I missing something ? The limit switch should be providing some feedback to your setup, either killing the power, braking the movement, etc.

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD
« Reply #43 on: May 20, 2012, 09:08:24 pm »
Why does the actuator keep moving once the limit switch is tripped? am I missing something ? The limit switch should be providing some feedback to your setup, either killing the power, braking the movement, etc.

Just momentum I guess.  The switch does kill the power, but the arm continues to move a little less than 1/4" and my current levers only have about 1/8" of travel. (rough estimates)

This stuff is new to me (and fun!  ;D  ).  
When this happened, I assumed that it was normal and would have been accounted for by someone with more experience.

If that's not the case, there's a few things that might be a factor.  (at any rate, the longer levers will fix it)

The actuator I'm using is faster than most at 1.5" per second.  Most are only around 1/3" per second.

For testing, the actuator is wired to a DPDT switch, with the power wire for each direction going through the NC tab of the limit switches themselves.
Maybe there is a little arching going on inside the limit switch keeping power flowing for a fraction of a second after it clicks.
The actuator is pulling around 1 AMP (12v), nothing too crazy.  I don't know what these switches are made to handle, but I haven't smelled smoke. :lol

Eventually I'll be using a motor driver board controlled by mrotate using a parallel port, but I like the way it's set up now for testing.
I don't have to do anything but plug a cigarette lighter adapter in a booster pack and flip a switch back and forth.
« Last Edit: May 20, 2012, 09:11:04 pm by BadMouth »

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD
« Reply #44 on: May 20, 2012, 11:56:17 pm »
Great job so far, when it comes to the limit switches, the coin switches would have given you more play but if what you are using works, than that is all that matters. With all these rotating LCD monitors using Actuators, I have this idea of building a BarTop with an auto rotating, servo controlled monitor if I can ever finish my current build.   
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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD
« Reply #45 on: May 21, 2012, 03:11:53 pm »
Genius!

Did you try pinball switches? Some of them have a very long lever which would bend nicely.
Check this website for some examples: http://www.pinballlife.com/index.php?p=catalog&parent=101&pg=1

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD
« Reply #46 on: May 21, 2012, 04:29:00 pm »
I'm curious if this is residual momentum in the actuator (Mechanical) or a delay in the electronics setup. I can't speak for your particular motor driver under mrotate, but using the pololu motor driver the braking is for all intensive purposes immediate. So much so that I don't even need to soften the stop. I just have some pieces of felt there. Once the switch is tripped, BAM the motor brakes.

Maybe the difference is braking the motor? Anyway, you should try your exact motor driver with mrotate to see if this still exists. Might just be something in your test rig.

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD
« Reply #47 on: May 23, 2012, 12:50:20 am »
Did you try pinball switches? Some of them have a very long lever which would bend nicely.

I would have if I'd known about them.  :lol

Made a little more progress this evening.

I epoxied nylon spacers to the monitor mount so the back of the monitor would clear the nuts and bolt heads holding everything else together.
They happened to be about the right height to allow the cables to go between the monitor and mounting plate.
I'd planned to use a dvi cable since they can be screwed into place, but the ones I had were too thick.


It lives!

The monitor only clears the right side and top by 5/16th of an inch.  :o
« Last Edit: July 11, 2012, 02:39:34 pm by BadMouth »

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD
« Reply #48 on: May 23, 2012, 08:25:24 am »
 :applaud: :applaud:

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD
« Reply #49 on: May 24, 2012, 01:24:14 am »
Very nice!  :cheers: Welcome to the club!

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD
« Reply #50 on: May 30, 2012, 02:04:49 pm »
was gonna wait until this part was done before posting, but I have other obligations and it will probably be a few weeks, so......

I had planned to use a $25 set of 2.1 computer speakers that I already had, but the more I listened to them, the more dissatisfied I was.
The highs just weren't there and the subwoofer sounded decent in a corner, but not pointed directly at me.  :(

I had some spare car components and bookshelf speakers, but nothing really felt like it was going to work right.
Then I saw these in a newegg sale email:


50w RMS.  3-way (middle speaker is a sealed back mid, bottom is a woofer), very good reviews.
They are bigger than they look.
4" drivers and 15" tall.  More like bookshelf speakers than PC speakers.

hmmm.....the space I have to work with is about the size of them laid end to end.


No room to just shove them in there in their current enclosures though:


Had to go around the area the monitor needs to rotate.  It was very tight with speaker placement that I wanted.

(they will be divided chambers, the divider is in the cab)

Just a little less tolerance than I was comfortable with, but the monitor will clear  :o


Reused ports from original enclosure.  The amount of air space is slightly less than the original enclosure.
Before tearing the speakers down, I put blocks of MDF inside the original enclosures to reduce the air space to what the arcade cab will have.
I was still satisfied with the sound.


The speakers put out pretty good bass.  Not as good as a subwoofer in a corner, but the notes are there and aren't as boomy.
The ports firing into the corner between the wall and ceiling should add a little extra bass boost.


What's with the square blocks that the speakers are mounted in.  ???


Those are the blocks from the original enclosures, so the original fronts will fit on them.  :D
The plan is to bridge them together with fiberglass, bondo it, and fiddle with it until I get an Ond Quality Finish ®
(even if it takes two weeks, which I'm pretty sure it will)
The tweeters mount in the front panel.

The volume and other controls will be moved down around the cp area.  Havent' figured out where yet.

The panel isn't glued into place yet.  I'm having trouble figuring out what to do about ventilation at the top.
I'd planned to have a vented panel just below the speaker section.
But when I went to do it, I realized that it was going to let light leak in.
I'm relying on the inside of the cab to be dark so nothing can be seen around the monitor.

I fiddled around with some louvered vents, but since they are going on the angled panel and not the back,
I think they will let too much light in.  Nothing can be put on the very back of the cab because it's being designed to sit flat against a wall.
Some kind of offset will probably have to be used, but there is zero room inside the cab because the monitor comes so close to the back when it rotates.
Something will present itself as the solution, it always does.  ;D

It will probably be a couple weeks before I get much else done.


« Last Edit: May 30, 2012, 02:12:01 pm by BadMouth »

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD
« Reply #51 on: June 12, 2012, 12:03:28 am »
I've been making progress, but not to the point of getting any one thing all the way done.

I did a little bit on the speaker shroud every couple days.
(lay down some glass, mow the yard, lay down some glass, go to bed, etc)

To begin, I placed the original speaker fronts in position over the speakers, taped a bridge accross them and made a mold, hoping it would save me time later.

Prepped for joining (I didn't sand the rest of them because I didn't want resin sticking anywhere else if accidentally dripped)

Then made sure the covers were properly aligned over the speakers and screwed the mold in place.

Laid down a few layers on the backside, trying to push it into the mold.

Meh, not as good as I'd hoped, but not bad for the first round.  The white lines are areas that I didn't get soaked well enough with resin.  The holes (besides the screw holes) are places where air bubbles were.  They must be cut wide open and filled.

After a few more rounds, it looks more like it should.

A coat of primer, so I can tell what is and isn't still visible.  (I did sand the entire piece first.  ;)  )

It's pretty good, but I plan to paint it gloss black so I'm not going to rush it.  The place where it's joined together and where the knobs were isn't visible except a little bit on the side.  The contours on the center section look a little asymetric when held at an angle to the light.  I might have to hit it with a skim coat of bondo down the center.

I plan to put some kind of decal in the center.

« Last Edit: June 12, 2012, 12:50:03 am by BadMouth »

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD
« Reply #52 on: June 12, 2012, 12:22:06 am »
That speaker panel is ---smurfing--- tits! Keep up the great work! :applaud:

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD
« Reply #53 on: June 12, 2012, 12:26:34 am »
Then there was the problem of the vent.  

Because I'm relying on a tinted bezel to hide everything around the screen, light inside the cab must be limited as much as possible.
I'd planned on just using an air return vent from Lowes, but the louvers let in more light than expected.  The vent being mounted at a 45 degree angle was going to make it even worse.  I came up with all kinds of crazy ideas for offset channels and fans, but none of them seemed right.

So I searched the internet for "light proof vent".  Nearly all results involved growing marijuana indoors.  At first I skimmed and ignored them, but after not coming up with any better ideas myself, I read through the posts again.  One idea was just perfect.

Start out with around $25 worth of aluminum angle, cut into long louvers and stacks of short spacers:


Paint them flat black (except for the areas that will be joined together):


Stack them up with spacers doubled up between the long pieces.  JB weld spread between each part.


Frame it in:


Throw on a couple more coats of flat black and toss in in the cab:


And there you have an expensive, over engineered air vent.  :lol
(that doesn't let in any light)

I could have polished the outside edge if I'd done a better job cutting the pieces out, but I had to fill in some gaps where the corners join with JB weld.  :-\  It's crazy how well this thing blocks light.  None gets through.  Originally I thought that convection wouldn't allow heat to escape because it would get trapped in the peaks, but since the louvers are at a 45 degree angle and the back of the cab is at a 45 degrees, the louvers are actually parallel to the ground.  I still plan to make sure that I have positive pressure inside the cab to keep air flowing.
« Last Edit: June 19, 2012, 09:26:00 am by BadMouth »

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD
« Reply #54 on: June 12, 2012, 08:00:09 am »
Nice vent!

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD
« Reply #55 on: June 18, 2012, 07:50:08 pm »
The subwoofer thread got me excited.

I won't bother writing three paragraphs about how I arrived at this design.
There wasn't enough room under the cab for it to be down-firing.
Having it centered in the rear would have interfered with mounting the coin door.
In the end, I think this was the best use of space.

I had already cut out the pieces for a removeable box, but decided it was going to be too much of a pain to remove and was kinda pointless.
So I utilized the walls of the cab.



(removed the back door so it could be redone with cutouts and grill mesh)

The sub is a shielded 8" Dayton SD215-88.  The shielded version is no longer produced, but a never-used one turned up on fleabay for $10 + $10 shipping.  I usually just use PVC pipe for ports, but decided I'd try a flared port since I was already placing an order at parts express for a sub amp.
They had a 70w plate amp on sale for $50 that is a good match for this speaker.  Ended up with just under $100 in everything.


The enclosure is 1.9 cubic feet and tuned to 30hz.
It sounds surprisingly deep for an 8" sub and will go louder than I will ever need it to.
 
Another concern was that I still needed to be able to mount the coin door without being a contortionist.
Everything else will be mounted on the other side.


I've put off doing the final finish on the shroud for the main speakers until I worked out how it will be mounted.
Finally decided on magnets so it can be repositioned slightly and more precisely than velcro.
Just epoxied the magnets on this evening, so I should be prepping that for paint next time.

I'm antsy to get this thing wrapped up far enough to paint the inside so I can go ahead and mount the speakers and amps!
The marquee retainers, marquee plexi, & the brackets that will support the bezel glass were done weeks ago,
so the whole top end will come together quickly after paint.

The main holdup is the area behind the CP that will be exposed when the CP is shifted, and the area between the CP and bezel glass.
I've got a lot of things going on in those areas and everything needs to be serviceable.
I built a CP a couple weeks ago, but something is a little off.  It's like the whole box is twisted.  It doesn't sit on the cab quite like it should and the top doesn't sit flat on it.  There is really no choice but to redo it.



« Last Edit: June 18, 2012, 08:04:32 pm by BadMouth »

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution - Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD
« Reply #56 on: June 18, 2012, 09:28:09 pm »
3 words:
Damn it boy!

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD
« Reply #57 on: July 06, 2012, 01:39:00 am »
Still been chipping away at it.  Hopefully I'll have a major update after this weekend.  ;)

Speaker shroud came out with orange peel the first time around, so I waited the prescribed 48 hours, sanded and repainted.
It turned out pretty good this time, except for a spot on the lower right corner.  There was some kind of contamination and the paint shriveled up on contact.  :angry:
No idea what it was because I only used water to wet sand and alcohol (not rubbing) to wipe it down.
At any rate, it's wait another 48 hours, sand that corner and try again.


  
This is still a WIP, but here is the direction I've decided to go for the marquee and CP.
In my head, I've always referred to it as an EVS-1.  ;D

I couldn't come up with a version of the "the future is now" marquee that I was happy with, so I went back to basics.





I'm open for suggestions on the marquee.
(I already know alignments, etc. aren't perfect.  Looking for ideas to make it look better)
I was trying to come up with a clever substitute for SNK, but couldn't think of anything.
« Last Edit: July 06, 2012, 09:20:11 am by BadMouth »

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD
« Reply #58 on: July 06, 2012, 02:58:09 am »
why not go with
EVOLUTION

for your marquee it has a great sound to it or ring :D
and do it neo font :)


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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD
« Reply #59 on: July 06, 2012, 02:00:06 pm »
just watched the rotating vid!! :notworthy: :notworthy: :notworthy: :applaud:

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD
« Reply #60 on: July 17, 2012, 07:17:55 pm »
NovaMatrix LINX marquee light from groovygamegear:
(I wanted the light to eminate from a line down the center)


I explored a few different options for the air intake, but settled on having it in the bottom of the cab instead of the back.
Partly to keep light from entering through the fan, partly because I didn't want an area of dead air in the bottom of the cab that wasn't getting any airflow.  Since it would be sucking dust bunnies off the floor, it had to have a screen and be removeable.

It's held in place by a wingnut.


Power supply and motor drive mounted, new long lever microswitches installed.  The power supply is supposed to be 12v, but is putting out 14.4.
It's almost a waste to not be using it for an audio amplifier.  I may switch it out if I find a true 12v one that can handle the current for free.
The wire I used for the motor driver to the printer port was way thicker than it needed to be, but I already had spools of it and just happened to have all the same colors as the pigtail that came with the motor driver, plus two extra colors for the limit switches.  :)
I stuffed them inside 3/4" heat shrink to make them into a solid cable.



Final, final rotation mech assembly:

Pretty much self contained and has 4 cables coming off of it.
« Last Edit: July 17, 2012, 10:09:58 pm by BadMouth »

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD
« Reply #61 on: July 17, 2012, 07:41:42 pm »
Started painting the inside and back a little while back.
I had originally planned to use grill mesh for the back door, but I messed it up trying to cut it with a jigsaw.
Really need to buy an angle grinder.
So I just went with an open area for the sub and port, since the front speakers have no grills.


Speaker shroud finished and mounted.

I managed to poke a hole in one of the speaker surrounds when installing the speakers.  :angry:
It won't have much of an effect because it was one of the sealed back mids and they are pretty limited to upper midrange, but it still bothers me.


It's a bit premature, but I was in the painting mood and wanted to make progress.
Decided to do paint instead of full side art because it's cheap and easy to repair.
The artwork will probably be limited to a couple logos on each side and the Neo Geo coin arrows on the front.




This is just a WIP CP that isn't quite right in a few ways, but this is pretty much how it will look.
(ignore the thin board sticking out the front, it's just holding the panel behind the main cp up)
The white panel is a move list/instruction card holder.  The button layout for player 1 sucks in practice and will be changed to match Player 2.
The player 2 side is the same, but rotated left.  It feels great, but I still might adjust the bottom row a bit.


I'm sick of getting dust on everything again and again, so after the paint has a few days to cure, the cab will be moved upstairs and monitor installed.
The CP isn't done because I'm experiencing some feature creep and having to rethink the design to possibly include more controls.  ::)

The CP will also slide to the right so player one is centered when playing vertical shmups and classics.
When the CP is moved, usb inputs and some extra features will be revealed.  I have the sliding mech worked out,
but the mounting of the extra features is going to take a while to work out because it all has to be removeable and serviceable.
I'm also experimenting with the idea of having the CP slide a little in the other direction so moving it could be used to nudge in pinball games.
(even though I hadn't planned on installing pinball games...... damn feature creep!)
« Last Edit: July 17, 2012, 10:14:02 pm by BadMouth »

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD
« Reply #62 on: July 17, 2012, 07:46:57 pm »
That is one damn sexy rotation mech you've got setup there  :applaud:

Hat's off to you. 

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD
« Reply #63 on: July 17, 2012, 07:56:15 pm »
Looks great inside and out! Love your attention to detail! :cheers:

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD
« Reply #64 on: July 17, 2012, 10:07:04 pm »
That is one damn sexy rotation mech you've got setup there  :applaud:

Hat's off to you. 

Looks great inside and out! Love your attention to detail! :cheers:

Thanks guys. 

Part of the feature creep has cleared customs (luckily  >:D ) and should arrive in the next few days.

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD
« Reply #65 on: July 22, 2012, 12:38:57 pm »
Wow looking good those lights are pretty fancy. What kinda power to they run on? PC?


My cabs
4 Player Arcade
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My Pin Cab Attack of the PINZ cab
My Racing Cabinet Cab [URL=http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD
« Reply #66 on: July 22, 2012, 02:01:04 pm »
lookin good :cheers:

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD
« Reply #67 on: July 22, 2012, 06:37:06 pm »
lookin good :cheers:

Thanks!

Wow looking good those lights are pretty fancy. What kinda power to they run on? PC?

Yep, 12v.  Randy includes a molex plug to run them off the PC power supply.


Haven't made any progress this weekend.  :'(

These came in toward the end of the week, but I don't have them working yet.

Walther P99 replica wii controllers ordered from amazon.de

I'm starting with wiimouse and if I can't get them working with that I'll move onto glovepie.
I'm hoping the problem is my ancient bluetooth adapter and not the 3rd party controllers themselves.
The "newest" driver for the bluetooth dongle is dated 2006,  :lol

I haven't seen anyone using them with a PC before.
I give myself a 50/50 chance of them working and not being horrible.
They are standard controllers and don't support wii motion plus,
but I didn't know anything about wii controllers when I ordered them.
Probably should have done more research first, .....but they look so cool.  8)

If I get them working with the PC, I'll post a full review and video.
The short version is that they look awesome, but make a plastic on plastic rattling sound when shaken.

There is other feature creep in the works as well.   ::)
Most likely the rest of the cabinet will be 100% complete before diving into the CP.
Not the best way to go about things, but I work on whatever I feel like at the time.

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD
« Reply #68 on: July 23, 2012, 07:48:33 am »
Most likely the rest of the cabinet will be 100% complete before diving into the CP.
Not the best way to go about things, but I work on whatever I feel like at the time.

You kidding? That's probably the _best_ way to do it. Everyone knows that as soon as you get the CP up and working, progress tends to grind to a halt.

This way, once you get that done, you're _DONE_ and get to enjoy the fruits of your labor.

Really digging this one, good work so far!

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD
« Reply #69 on: July 23, 2012, 10:46:29 am »
You kidding? That's probably the _best_ way to do it. Everyone knows that as soon as you get the CP up and working, progress tends to grind to a halt.

Right next to where I'm working on this, I have a separate setup consisting of a modified x-arcade tankstick and act labs guns that plays more games than this will,
so that rule doesn't necessarily apply to me.  :P

Still, playing the games on a rotated screen with killer sound is going to be a different experience and I can't wait.  ;D

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD
« Reply #70 on: July 26, 2012, 10:48:35 am »
Great work Badmouth!
The rotation method is fast and smooth, great job!
Did you try dynamic braking on the drive? That will stop the motor a lot faster.

Cant wait to see this baby on the finished block! (Looking forward to seeing what you do with the CP).

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD
« Reply #71 on: July 26, 2012, 12:20:38 pm »
Great work Badmouth!
The rotation method is fast and smooth, great job!
Did you try dynamic braking on the drive? That will stop the motor a lot faster.

Cant wait to see this baby on the finished block! (Looking forward to seeing what you do with the CP).

I haven't wired it up to the parallel port and made it move via mrotate yet.  I'm waiting until it is moved upstairs to install the monitor, coin door, sound amps, etc.
The power supply is putting out 14.4v instead of the 12 that I tested with, so it may move a bit faster.  Not sure I want it to, but we'll see how it goes.

This week was spent cleaning everything in my basement bar that was covered in mdf dust as a result of working on this thing down there.  :angry:
I have other obligations this weekend, so it will be next week before there is any progress.  :-\

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD
« Reply #72 on: July 26, 2012, 02:38:53 pm »
If your drive can handle PWM (Pulse Width Modulation), then you can slow the motor down quite easily with Mrotate.

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD
« Reply #73 on: July 26, 2012, 06:36:56 pm »
Great great documentation and progress!  Can't wait to see this to the end!

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD
« Reply #74 on: July 27, 2012, 09:10:35 am »
Really loving the attention to detail and methodical construction going on for this one!  It's going to look amazing when done, a tip of the hat to you sir.

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD
« Reply #75 on: August 13, 2012, 11:36:29 am »
Been a while since I posted some progress.  Not really much to show. 
Got the cab moved upstairs & made a bracket for the audio amplifiers.

Above the subwoofer amp is the amp for the main speakers.  Its power supply is mounted below.




The top amp is a little crooked and the screws I used to mount the power supply were too long.
Decided to let it slide since it's inside the cab.
This is what happens when I just want to make progress and don't have much time.  :-\

The inside is shaping up nicely.  PC components will be mounted on the door.


 
One of the reasons for the lack of progress on this is that my driving cab started getting the blue screen of death and had a few other issues that needed addressed just to get it back to normal.  I swapped in the ram from this build and the bsod went away.  Then I stuck the old ram from the driving cab in this build figuring I'd run some kind of memory test on it.  Not sure how I managed such a stupid thing, but didn't get the RAM seated properly....not even close as a matter of fact.  When I fired the pc up, the ram and chipset got super hot and the mobo fried.  As if that weren't bad enough, while swapping components around to make sure nothing else was fried, I discovered that the brand new power supply that I planned to use in in the cab was DOA.  It's under warranty, but will probably cost almost as much to ship as I paid for it.
So I have bad memory, mobo, & power supply.  ::)

---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- happens.

.....ordered another cheap $45 mobo and will scavenge the other parts from existing builds.
Eventually I plan to build a screamer of a pc for this, but not until the cab is done and turns out well enough to justify it.
« Last Edit: August 13, 2012, 11:59:20 am by BadMouth »

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD
« Reply #76 on: August 13, 2012, 02:26:46 pm »
 :badmood: when it rains, it pours, doesn't it?

At least replacing all of those components won't be a huge fundsink.

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD
« Reply #77 on: October 16, 2012, 08:41:56 pm »
This progress was made a few weeks ago, but I'm regaining motivation for this project.
Now if I could just find a decent size block of free time.  :-\

Waited for a $20 case w/free shipping to pop up on newegg:


Chopped and painted flat black (I really need to get better tools for cutting metal)


I now regret putting an outlet on the inside of the cab as it took up valuable space on the panel.


Used anti-vibration mounts on the HD.  Not sure if they'll accomplish much.


Not much space left.  The edge of the video card is just touching the coin box.
I'm getting some weird very slight shaking in the video.  It's not noticeable in a game.  Usually only notice it on the straight lines of dialogue boxes on the desktop.  My guess is that it has something to do with the video card being next to all the electric connections, but I haven't troubleshooted yet.  With two 120mm fans in the bottom of the cab and another one on the CPU cooler, this thing blows like a house fan.  I'll probably add a fan controller to slow them down.


Also peeled the paper off my acrylic monitor bezel.  The local glass shop only had one shade lighter than what I wanted, but they charged me half of what I was expecting for it.  If there is a lot of ambient light in the room, you can see light reflecting off the shiny edges of the monitor, but I'm happy with it.  I like the room dim when I play.


The current big holdups are that I can't get the parallel port working in Vista for monitor rotation and I can't find time to work on the CP because it gets dark so soon in the evenings now.

There's also the feature creep.   Decided to make it more of a universal cab.  I'm skipping the guns for now.  Joysticks will have rotary added.  ;D
« Last Edit: October 16, 2012, 08:45:04 pm by BadMouth »

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD
« Reply #78 on: October 16, 2012, 08:52:00 pm »
Get a cheap 4" grinder and some cut off wheels and you'll be cutting metal like a madman.  if you don't use it a lot harbor freight is fine.

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD
« Reply #79 on: November 04, 2012, 10:18:52 pm »
Get a cheap 4" grinder and some cut off wheels and you'll be cutting metal like a madman.  if you don't use it a lot harbor freight is fine.
Done.


I gave up on getting the parallel port working in Vista.  Even if I'd got it working, there were still a couple other issues with it to overcome and I'd probably be starting over from scratch if I built a new pc with Win7.
So I bought the same Pololu USB simple motor controller that TopJimmyCooks used.  Had it swapped in and working in a couple hours.
I highly recommend going that route.

Nearly all of my weekend was spent making Mala layouts while watching football.  :dizzy:

Part of how I envision this cab working relies heavily on gamelists.
It will have dedicated gamelist <> buttons.
Mala has the option to switch layouts based on gamelist.
I incorrectly thought I could also rotate the monitor based on gamelists, so the shmups and classics layout would be vertical while most others would be horizontal.  There's no option to do it that way, so I had to make a horizontal and vertical version of each layout.
I found it a bit disorienting for everything to be in a different place when Mala switched from horizontal to vertical and back.
.....so I made all my layouts square so they appear the same regardless of which way the monitor is turned and I only had to make one background.  :P
(I didn't want marquees shown because a lot of the newer games don't have them or they had toppers that don't look very good displayed.  Also all the Neo Geo games would have the same marqee)





I like some of them more than others.  The favorites one is still a WIP.
At any rate, I'm sick of working on them, so they're going to be used until I feel like making others.

I took a few days off work this week, so hopefully I'll make good progress on the CP.
« Last Edit: November 04, 2012, 10:25:35 pm by BadMouth »

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3 CPs and still not happy.  ;D

First one was similar to a sega astro city with a different button layout for P1 and P2.  I liked it on paper, but hated P1 controls after trying them.
The depth adjustment on the harbor freight laminate trimmer I was using as a router moves, so it also has a spot where the pocket for the joystick went all the way through.  Number two turned out pretty good, but it had been so long since I did the first one that I forgot that I wanted to move the bottom row of buttons to the left.  I didn't like the way it felt when trying to do Sub Zero's slide or Sonya's leg grab.  The third one would have been perfect, but I cut the pocket for the joystick on the top of the panel instead of underneath.  :banghead:  Oh well, used it to experiment with the joystick mounting depth.  I'll probably wait until I have artwork done before making another attempt. 2'x4' sheets are only $10 and easy to haul home.  Each one will give me 2 shots.

I really like this button layout!  All the buttons are 35mm apart with the four in the middle being in a perfect square.
At that spacing, the retaining nuts just touch each other.  The benefit of that is that it ensures that they are evenly spaced.  :lol
After the 2nd panel, I thought about just going back to the standard 6+1.  I'm glad I didn't.  This just feels right to me.

EDIT: BY DEFAULT, MAME ASSUMES YOU HAVE THE FOLLOWING LAYOUT:
123
456
Map the buttons globally like that and nearly all the fighting games will be mapped correctly without having to remap them individually.
 
Do it like I did (the wrong way):
1234
567
...and you'll be remapping all the fighting games (except for NEO GEO ones) individually.
I had already remapped too many games individually by the time I figured this out, but the best practice is to always keep those core six in that format and make any extra buttons #7 and #8 like so:
1237
456
or
1237
4568

Saves a lot of hassle in remapping all the Capcom fighters and Mortal Kombat, at least in newer versions of MAME.

I didn't want to be off to the left side of the screen while playing vertical games, so main part of the the CP will slide on tracks.
Guide rails were too pricey, so I used miter t-bar and track from http://www.ptreeusa.com/ttrackproducts.htm
I've been wanting to redo the CP box, but that's been holding me up for too long, so I decided to at least go ahead and at least work out the mounting using the old one.





It looks like a lot of room between the bottom of the screen and CP, but by the time I get the top section of the CP and angled move list in there, it should be about the same as the top.  The few widescreen games look great.  The 4:3 games come out to 22" diagonally, so it really isn't much better than a 21-22" 4:3 LCD in that respect.

Vertical.....


Next I'll work on the area exposed when the CP is slid over.  There will be a little panel on the back with volume/bass/treble/headphone & usb ports.  I bought a drink holder to go on the flat part, but it is too deep to mount there.  I may just recess a few layers of MDF and put a coaster in the bottom....but there will be a drink holder there.  ;D

Slow progress, but I've been chipping away at whatever I feel like working on.
The software is almost completely set up.  Just need to work on making the transitions to the game starting look more appealing.
Here is where she stands now.  I went ahead and put the t-molding on.
It's not as huge as it's looked in other pictures, only sticks out from the wall 26 inches and will slide through a doorway while upright.
« Last Edit: October 30, 2013, 11:32:15 am by BadMouth »

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I was just thinking about an offset control panel the last few days. I open up this thread, and there it is.

I've always wondered how it felt to play when the P1 controls are off center since I don't have a two player cabinet as of yet. I figure a majority my play would be solo, so I haven't been keen on sitting off to the side. When I saw diverman clearancing out a car seat adjustment part, I started to think about being able to slide the CP to the right like you are doing.

I'll have to keep this cabinet in mind when I finally get around to a project.

Lookin' good.

« Last Edit: November 18, 2012, 08:15:48 pm by dfmaverick »

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T tracks look familiar, and they look awesome.  Good implementation of a good idea.  :cheers:

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I was just thinking about an offset control panel the last few days. I open up this thread, and there it is.

I've always wondered how it felt to play when the P1 controls are off center since I don't have a two player cabinet as of yet. I figure a majority my play would be solo, so I haven't been keen on sitting off to the side. When I saw diverman clearancing out a car seat adjustment part, I started to think about being able to slide the CP to the right like you are doing.

I'll have to keep this cabinet in mind when I finally get around to a project.

Lookin' good.

Thanks!
I played with the controls off to the side and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. 
Ended up standing toward the middle of the cab and reaching to the left to work the controls.
It's not as bad as it sounds, but definitely not what I wanted. 
This cab is all about ME.  >:D
I considered making it a single player, but the CP was so wide, I couldn't justify it.

T tracks look familiar, and they look awesome.  Good implementation of a good idea.  :cheers:

hehe, not the only idea lifted from Switchcade, but I got tired of crediting you after the Pololu controller.  :lol
« Last Edit: November 19, 2012, 01:34:31 pm by BadMouth »

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creeping along...

Tape is there to mark where the CP top should be.
This is a trial CP that had audio controls on it.  I decided I didn't like them there.
They will be recessed in the open area on the left.


For some reason the very front panel was made 3/16" short.  I don't even remember why I did that.
Anyways, stuck a 3/16" thick strip of steel in there to make it level.  It should make the front edge a lot more durable.
Yeah that's it.....I did it that way on purpose for durability...yeah.


Next up, a cupholder, audio/usb panel, & painting up that area.

Getting there.......
This is how much empty space there will be around the monitor when all is done:

« Last Edit: November 26, 2012, 09:05:14 pm by BadMouth »

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD - creeping along
« Reply #85 on: November 26, 2012, 09:12:28 pm »
Holy flying jesus monkeys! Just saw your controller hack, is there not a common ground on those things?

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD - creeping along
« Reply #86 on: November 26, 2012, 09:34:48 pm »
Holy flying jesus monkeys! Just saw your controller hack, is there not a common ground on those things?

So I'm not the only one that likes to peek at the pic storage thread.  :lol

No controller hack here.  That's for a coming soon build thread.  ;)
It actually turned out to be common ground, but I didn't know when I started.
All the analog grounds need to be separate anyway.
 
« Last Edit: November 26, 2012, 09:36:45 pm by BadMouth »

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD - creeping along
« Reply #87 on: November 26, 2012, 09:36:25 pm »
Great work BadMouth!
I like they sliding CP idea. Dare I say genius?
Are you going to automate the sliding?

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD - creeping along
« Reply #88 on: November 26, 2012, 09:48:20 pm »
Great work BadMouth!
I like they sliding CP idea. Dare I say genius?
Are you going to automate the sliding?

Thanks!
No plans for automating the slide.

One idea I had and am probably not going to use though is to allow it to slide a little bit in the other direction
and then add a plumb bob switch for nudging in pinball games.  I decided not to add pinball to this cab.

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD - creeping along
« Reply #89 on: November 26, 2012, 09:52:53 pm »
I like the plumb bob switch idea.
You know an actuator would make that CP slide with very little effort.

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD - creeping along
« Reply #90 on: November 26, 2012, 09:53:21 pm »
You know it, I like to make sure people didn't get lazy in the their personal thread and leave out images to later put them in the pic storage area thingy.

Also, I love seeing new builds that have something special about them that I have yet to see. Building a cab is badass, but adding auto-rotate screens and random shite to it to make it special keeps me refreshing pages on the forums like a mad man.  :applaud:

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD - creeping along
« Reply #91 on: November 27, 2012, 10:28:27 am »
You know an actuator would make that CP slide with very little effort.

I thought about it, but it wouldn't be software controlled because there would be no rhyme or reason to when it would need to shift.
When playing solo, I like playing from the center position regardless of the game or screen orientation. 
It could be triggered by a switch, but really it's just as easy and probably faster to slide it by hand.

I probably will add 4/8 way switching, but it won't be by mechanical means.   :)
The plan was to take a SparkCE optical joystick sensor and rig up a way of changing the sensetivity via command line.
http://www.godlikecontrols.com/
It would require being able to control a potentiometer from the PC or switching between 3 different resistors. 
(least sensetive for 4-way, normal, & super sensetive for shmups)
Worst case scenario is that I add a manual 3-way switch somewhere.

Unfortunately, I installed my SparkCE's late Thanksgiving night after driving 6 hours and failed to realize that the metal S-brackets I was using were making contact with the underside of the pcb.   :'(
It fried all the IR LEDs.  They still post presses when shining light at the sensors, so I'm hoping that is all that is fried.
I'm waiting to hear back from Toodles about a repair. 
If not, I guess I'll start trying to find the right model IR emitter or just bite the bullet and order another set.   :banghead:
I'm thinking I might be able to get away with ordering the standard non-adjustable model and just adjusting the voltage to it.
I think that's pretty much all the pot in the SparkCE is doing.  Might even be able to use an LED Wiz and pulse the power to dim them.
Some testing is in order, but I should finish the CP first.

I also wonder if doing all this really offers any advantage over using Ultimarc U360s.
(the point is moot though because I want to do it just to see it done.  :P  )
« Last Edit: November 27, 2012, 03:44:07 pm by BadMouth »

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) Slim Cab, Rotating 27" LCD - creeping along
« Reply #92 on: December 11, 2012, 09:51:36 pm »
Toodles was nice enough to give me part #'s for the IR LEDs that I fried.
Installed them and the Spark CEs are alive again.  ;D

That done, I moved on to tinkering with the sensetivity.
One joystick was adjusted until the circular moves in fighting games came easy.
The engage distance also turned out to be next to nothing, so I think they'll be acceptable for shmups even if they still have to much throw.

The other joystick was set to a reduced sensetivity for 4-way.  I wanted to make sure the corners were not being hit.
I wanted a visual representation of the joystick on-screen while I was tweaking it.  The best solution I came up with was to map it to a virtual analog stick using Headkaze's VJoy: http://www.headsoft.com.au/index.php?category=vjoy
Bring up the virtual joystick in windows control panel and you can easily see if the corners are being hit and for how long.
Even with the trimpot on the SparkCE turned all the way, it was still possible to get it to register the corner, but just barely.
It made a noticeable difference on Donkey Kong.  I didn't get stuck at the top or bottom of ladders at all.
The circular restrictor felt just fine to me.
 
So now I have an idea of the resistance values I'll need to switch between for the two modes.
The plan is to make a circuit that can switch between the two values.  It will probably use optoisolators controlled by a Pololu Maestro servo controller (it does LEDs too), triggered by DaOldMan's joychoose.
Parts for handling it multiple ways were ordered last night.  :D

I'm really liking JLF/SparkCE/round restrictor combo.
They have LS-56 springs in them, but I may go stiffer.
Going to order a selection of springs from Paradise Arcade next time I place an order there.

The weather has been crap and it's dark by the time I get home from work.
Not getting much done on the actual building front.
I did manage to install the cupholder and bondo up the exposed edges over the weekend.
Not looking forward into sanding them inside the house.

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Dear lord! You seemed to have solved the cup-holder conundrum :applaud: No more spilling drinks on your control panel....People rejoice!

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One piece at a time......

Cut the Audio/USB panel out of aluminum.
I worked those USB ports by hand with tiny little files. :dizzy:
It's not perfect, but I don't want to do it again. 
The audio PCB in held in place by a bracket JB welded to the back of the panel.
Forgot to take a pic, but it's just small piece of aluminum angle with some holes cut in it for the pot shafts to pass through.
The nuts on the pots hold everything in place. 



Mounted after cleaning up that area.  The pieces it and the cupholder are in were painted with rustoleum bedliner, then clearcoated with automotive clear.  The result is similar to fine textured abs plastic. 
The t-molding is loose above there and will be trimmed flush with the top edge of the CP Plexi (when the CP is finished).


Not sure if I'm polishing it, adding vinyl labels, or doing a full decal over the entire thing.
It's in there for now.
« Last Edit: December 28, 2012, 11:16:38 pm by BadMouth »

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Sweet, looking great.  I'm a fan of your little touches and customizing.

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This cab looks awesome. The centering control panel with the hidden cup holder is pure genius. Now I want one!  :applaud:

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Does that metal plate need a ground or something with the exposure to the USB plug? Just seems like potential to zap something.

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Does that metal plate need a ground or something with the exposure to the USB plug? Just seems like potential to zap something.

I don't really know, but it would be cheap insurance to run a wire down to a screw on the power supply to be safe.
Thanks for looking out!

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I would ground the metal plate.
Attach a wire to the plate and take it all the way back to the power entry ground.
On one of my builds I did not ground the coin door. Later on (probably during winter months) the keywiz quit working. Im pretty sure it was due to static from the coin door. My nephew who I built the cab for, kept it in a carpeted room. We all know what that can do (ever get a spark when touching the door knob after dragging your feet across the carpet?)
Good work BadMouth. I like the drink holder, but is there any chance of getting your fingers pinched by the CP sliding and catching your fingers between it and the glass?

Edit: attaching the plate via a wire to the power supply should be ok. The power supply case should be the same as the power entry ground. (As long as the power supply is properly plugged in.)
« Last Edit: January 02, 2013, 06:02:58 pm by DaOld Man »

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I would ground the metal plate.
Attach a wire to the plate and take it all the way back to the power entry ground.
On one of my builds I did not ground the coin door. Later on (probably during winter months) the keywiz quit working. Im pretty sure it was due to static from the coin door. My nephew who I built the cab for, kept it in a carpeted room. We all know what that can do (ever get a spark when touching the door knob after dragging your feet across the carpet?)

Guess I better ground the coin door too then.  :lol
Maybe the lamp sockets are grounding it, but I'll run a wire just in case.
It will actually look cleaner to run from the control plate to the door, then to the PSU.

I like the drink holder, but is there any chance of getting your fingers pinched by the CP sliding and catching your fingers between it and the glass?

Hadn't really thought about it as it's not automated.  After your comment though, I attempted to pinch my fingers under it and couldn't.
Everything is smooth and there isn't much of a gap.  It just pushes my fingers out of the way, even up over the lip on the cupholder.
I'd have to have my hand down in the drink holder and then push the CP into it.
Even trying that, the CP doesn't fly back and forth.  It has a fair bit of resistance and moves slow and steady (no bearings).
Nothing to worry about.  Very few people will play on this cab but myself.  ;D
« Last Edit: January 03, 2013, 10:01:58 am by BadMouth »

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) - 1/31 Finalizing CP Template
« Reply #102 on: January 31, 2013, 11:15:56 pm »
Doesn't look like much progress, but I've managed to make a full size 300dpi version of the CP in Paint.net
I don't know how to use illustrator and don't want to take the time to learn right now.
The goal with this is to get the button locations perfect and then turn the layers over to a pro so they can make a nicer version.
There is a drilling template layer with the centers marked and an outline layer that has both centers and outlines marked.

I'm going for kind of a candy cab/MVS mashup.  I'd like something brighter and more modern in the background in place of the stripes.  Might leave that up to the final graphic designer.  I'm sure they'll have some tricks for abstract backgrounds.  The grey thing in the middle is a spinner knob.  Not sure I'll add one, but I want the artwork to allow for it just in case.


The joystick and main button locations are set in stone.  I've done extensive testing (playing) on the cab and that is just where they belong.

I can't make up my mind about the start buttons though.  :-\
I like the symetrical look of them on the edges, but it feels more comfortable when using the machine to have them at a point midway between the joystick and action buttons.  If put there, I'm not sure what to do with the leftover space to the right of player 2 start.
Opinions?

I keep coming back to the same boring marquee.

I think with the same abstract background as the CP and some shading on the letters, it could look good.

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) - Intro Vid and to-do list
« Reply #103 on: June 10, 2013, 09:52:11 pm »
Maybe if I bump the thread, I'll get back to work on it.....

Was saving this until it was finished, but that doesn't seem to be coming anytime soon.

Music by eds1275, animation by PixelHugger:



Original for reference:


eds1275 made three different versions with slightly different music.
There is this synth one, a fancy lead guitar one, and a gritty sounding guitar one.
They all rock!

PixelHugger is creating the marquee and control panel artwork, but I told him not to be in a hurry.

Next on the to do list:

> Build circuit for 4/8 way switching (accomplished by adjusting brightness of IR leds in optical switches)

> Cut out yokes for rotary sticks and figure out how to keep open bore encoder perpendicular to shaft.

It is playable and is awesome to play on, but that's not what is slowing progress.
The problem is that I have too many projects and just when I get them down to something manageable, I add more.
I'm also horrendously non-productive when I force myself to work on something when I'm not in the mood. 

EDIT:  To go along with the Evolution part, we're using DNA strands in the background.
This is just a draft, the SNK and EVS logos will receive some kind of embellishment.
Much better than my plain red version.
« Last Edit: June 11, 2013, 11:57:52 am by BadMouth »

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) - Intro vid and to-do list
« Reply #104 on: June 28, 2013, 02:37:58 pm »
Whoop Whoop! This is bloody awesome BadMouth. And this is the first great cab I have seen on here without the 'US Fridge' syndrome.


 :applaud:  - I really like your genre menus too they look the dogs bollocks (British compliment)

Can you get your arse in gear cos I can't wait to see what this turns out like!!!

 :cheers:

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) - Intro vid and to-do list
« Reply #105 on: September 01, 2013, 09:30:40 pm »
Still waiting on artwork to make the final CP top, but accomplished a few things recently.

CP box has been painted and t-molding added.


It's been mentioned before, but to recap:  I'm using Spark CE optical switches from www.godlikecontrols.com in my Sanwa JLFs.
Can't get any quieter than an optical switch.  The CE version adds the blue trimpot for adjusting sensitivity.


I thought it would be cool to change sensitivity on the fly, so I removed the trimpot and added pins for a wiring harness to connect to a separate board that would handle the changes in resistance.  (the switches work based on which set of emitters/detectors are visible to each other, not which ones are blocked)


Here is my board that switches between two resistances when triggered.  It basically justs piggybacks a second trimpot in parallel when an optoisolator is tripped.  This thing took me longer to make than I'd like to admit.  This is the second incarnation.  The first one was half the size and looked nicer, but was riddled with issues including frying the optoisolators when soldering them in and burning up the board by removing & replacing parts.  Decided to use a socket, give myself more space, & jumper with wires instead of trying to bend leads around each other without touching.

meh


It works as it should, but defaults to 4 player since that's the higher resistance setting.  You can't raise resistance when adding another channel for power to flow.  I'd rather it default to 8-way, but that's going to require a much more complicated circuit.  This proves the concept anyway and it does work.

4/8 way switching will eventually be controlled by a Pololu micro maestro servo controller.  It has a setting that can control LEDs instead of servos.  I came across one cheap and am already running the Pololu software for the monitor rotation.


Buried in a wall of text earlier in this thread, I admitted to frying the IR LEDs in the Spark CEs by having them positioned so the back of the PCB was contacting the mounting plates.  Toodles was nice enough to give me the part number to fix them myself, but once I started to calibrate them to a higher standard, it became apparent that some directions seemed more sensitive than others.  The solution is tweak the aim of the IR emitters and receivers until they are all balanced.  This took some time, but eventually it was tweaked to the point that the directions registering change where I have the black marks in this pic (when in 8-way mode).  Each direction, including corners should have an equal slice of the pie. 


For 4-way mode, I tested 2 different calibrations.  One where it would register both directions if held exactly in the corner, but change to one of the primaries if moved at all.  The other where it would register nothing in the corner, then change to one of the primaries if moved.
I tested using Burgertime, Donkey Kong, & Pacman.  It was very hard to tell any difference and the testing was very subjective, but I ended up feeling that the tiny overlap was better than a gap.  YMMV.

All in all, I'm not sure what I've created is any better than the mapping of a U360, but I had fun messing with it.
I'm entertaining the idea of using a manually controlled 3-way switch with a third, super sensitive setting for shmups.

The other unfinished joystick mod is rotary.  A friend made me custom joystick shafts with an extended bottom section for mounting an optical encoder.

I picked up a pair of these US Digital encoders off ebay cheap.  The problem is that they don't mount the way I expected.
There is nothing to keep the optical disc centered in the encoder.  Basically the base needs to be mounted to a surface that will stay perpendicular with the shaft and then the optical disc is attached to the shaft.  I ordered some tiny little bearings thinking maybe I'd build a platform connected to the shaft via the bearing, but the bearing would have to be pressed on and that would make disassembling the joystick a major hassle.  Not sure I have enough depth, but I think the better way is to get an encoder that has it's own shaft and bearing, then use a coupler to attach it to the bottom of the joystick shaft.  I may just pass on this feature as I'm concerned about them affecting the feel of the stick anyway.



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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) - Inching forward: CP wiring harness
« Reply #106 on: September 24, 2013, 08:32:58 pm »
I'd planned to wait until after the artwork was finished and a new CP top was cut before making the wiring harness, but needed something to do while installing games for the driving cab, so went ahead and knocked it out.

My wiring skills are not quite that of some on here.  :lol
I have this thing where I always forget to account for the long PS2 plug in the end of the KeyWiz.
Once again, I did this and had to twist its mounting position after making the harness.
The extra wires exiting at the top are for the coin door.  They are wired in parallel with the <> buttons on the CP so either can be used.
The 4/8 way switching board still needs to be added and will add to the mess.


The buttons wiring harness for the back part of the CP can be disconnected.  These connectors were sold as RC car battery connectors.


Going to focus on installing more Steam games and configuring the controls now that they are all hooked up.


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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) - Inching forward: CP wiring harness
« Reply #107 on: September 25, 2013, 09:43:06 am »
looks good bro. Thats a prettty clean wiring job, nothing to be ashamed of.
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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) - Inching forward: CP wiring harness
« Reply #108 on: September 25, 2013, 10:23:36 am »
+5 cool points for matching the wire colors to the buttons.  you're welcome. 

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) - Inching forward: CP wiring harness
« Reply #109 on: September 25, 2013, 11:49:31 am »
Not sure if you sorted out the rotary mounting issue but you should just be able to get a small piece of metal or plexi to mount your rotary encoder in place. Simply remove the encoder from the small plastic base and create a small L bracket piece that can fit on the side of your restrictor plate.

There are two dimpled areas on your stock plate that you can drill into (see attachment) where you may be able to get away with mounting it there. Although i admit, the shaft travel may be a challenge.

btw, where did you get that round restrictor plate?  :o

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) - Inching forward: CP wiring harness
« Reply #110 on: September 25, 2013, 12:16:49 pm »
Not sure if you sorted out the rotary mounting issue but you should just be able to get a small piece of metal or plexi to mount your rotary encoder in place. Simply remove the encoder from the small plastic base and create a small L bracket piece that can fit on the side of your restrictor plate.

There are two dimpled areas on your stock plate that you can drill into (see attachment) where you may be able to get away with mounting it there. Although i admit, the shaft travel may be a challenge.

btw, where did you get that round restrictor plate?  :o

The issue is that there is nothing to keep the optical disc centered in the encoder housing itself.  It is designed to be mounted to a surface that the shaft stays stationary in relation to. It has no internal bearings, guides, or anything else.  The encoder disc can move around and scrape against stuff if the housing does not stay stationary in relation to the shaft.  It's possible that US Digital has a model with bearings that would work better, but I'm not willing to drop the money on it.  I picked these up off ebay for $27 for the pair.  I'll find some use for them.

I bought the restrictors from lizardlick, but they aren't around anymore.
The center part is available from www.godlikecontrols.com (mine came with the clear part also)

www.focusattack.com now sells the same one as www.paradisearcadeshop.com (link is not working for me.  not sure what is going on)

Out of all the available restrictors, I like the circular ones the best.  When I change directions in a 4-way game, I don't get that "damn that's a deep corner and this is the wrong joystick for this game" feeling that I get with the square restrictor.  I used the octagons for a while and felt like they were a good training aid in allowing me to feel exactly where the primary and corners were (and how sloppy I was in hitting them).  But eventually I got tired of the bumps when doing circular movements and moved on.
« Last Edit: September 25, 2013, 12:27:13 pm by BadMouth »

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) - Inching forward: CP wiring harness
« Reply #111 on: September 25, 2013, 02:24:24 pm »

The issue is that there is nothing to keep the optical disc centered in the encoder housing itself.  It is designed to be mounted to a surface that the shaft stays stationary in relation to. It has no internal bearings, guides, or anything else.  The encoder disc can move around and scrape against stuff if the housing does not stay stationary in relation to the shaft.  It's possible that US Digital has a model with bearings that would work better, but I'm not willing to drop the money on it.  I picked these up off ebay for $27 for the pair.  I'll find some use for them.

I bought the restrictors from lizardlick, but they aren't around anymore.
The center part is available from www.godlikecontrols.com (mine came with the clear part also)

www.focusattack.com now sells the same one as www.paradisearcadeshop.com (link is not working for me.  not sure what is going on)

Out of all the available restrictors, I like the circular ones the best.  When I change directions in a 4-way game, I don't get that "damn that's a deep corner and this is the wrong joystick for this game" feeling that I get with the square restrictor.  I used the octagons for a while and felt like they were a good training aid in allowing me to feel exactly where the primary and corners were (and how sloppy I was in hitting them).  But eventually I got tired of the bumps when doing circular movements and moved on.

its a little tricky to understand without seeing an example but i do think i know what you mean with the rotary encoder. It's a shame really.

I recently tried to buy just the octagonal insert from paradise and it wouldn't load for me either. I have two sticks at the moment using the square restrictor insert and the diagonals are just awful.  :(

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) - Inching forward: CP wiring harness
« Reply #112 on: September 25, 2013, 08:51:59 pm »
(link is not working for me.  not sure what is going on)

Is the link from the old website?

When Bryan moved to the new site/servers he reorganized things which pretty much broke all the old links to specific products.  :badmood:
(So much for the free advertisements.   :dunno)


Scott
« Last Edit: September 25, 2013, 08:54:19 pm by PL1 »

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) - Inching forward: CP wiring harness
« Reply #113 on: September 26, 2013, 03:53:41 am »
I might have missed it, but how do you make sure the while control panel won't slide during an overenthousiastic two player battle?

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) - Inching forward: CP wiring harness
« Reply #114 on: September 26, 2013, 09:02:44 am »
(link is not working for me.  not sure what is going on)

Is the link from the old website?

When Bryan moved to the new site/servers he reorganized things which pretty much broke all the old links to specific products.  :badmood:
(So much for the free advertisements.   :dunno)


Scott

It worked late last night when i came back to the forums to read your response to this thread. I told myself i would order first thing in the morning.

Woke up, paradise is down again.   :embarassed:

Just going to find another place to get the octagonal restrictor for now. Want to see if these sticks aren't total crap before i dump more money into them on an even better restrictor.

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) - Inching forward: CP wiring harness
« Reply #115 on: September 26, 2013, 09:06:08 am »
Really awesome project, can't wait to see the final version.

Which linear actuator did you get exactly? I checked Pololu, but they only have a single actuator with 6'' stroke that moves at 0.5''/s and yours seems at least twice as fast.


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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) - Inching forward: CP wiring harness
« Reply #116 on: September 26, 2013, 12:35:18 pm »
Which linear actuator did you get exactly? I checked Pololu, but they only have a single actuator with 6'' stroke that moves at 0.5''/s and yours seems at least twice as fast.

Mine is from Surplus Center, but it is no longer stocked.
Their item number and description was 5-1778-A   6" STROKE 27.5 LB. 12 VDC LINEAR ACTUATOR  $69.95
IIRC, it was 1.5"/s.  I haven't found a source for ones that fast since, not that I've looked that hard.
Look for one with a low weight rating.  They're usually faster.
« Last Edit: September 27, 2013, 09:05:58 am by BadMouth »

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) - Inching forward: CP wiring harness
« Reply #117 on: September 27, 2013, 10:13:07 am »
Thank you, that helps a lot.

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) - Inching forward: CP wiring harness
« Reply #119 on: September 29, 2013, 08:52:05 am »


And there you have an expensive, over engineered air vent.  :lol
(that doesn't let in any light)

OMG, I was looking for any solution for the "proper" vent for my Doom cab, and damn it, you've got it!!!  Thanks, stealing this!

Also: BEAUTIFUL WORK all around.

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) - Inching forward: CP wiring harness
« Reply #120 on: September 29, 2013, 01:52:30 pm »
I might have missed it, but how do you make sure the while control panel won't slide during an overenthousiastic two player battle?

Originally I thought I'd need something to lock it in each position, but the T-track doesn't have bearings, so it has a fair amount of resistance when sliding.  If it turns out to not be enough, I'll put a large nylon washer on one of the bolts between the T-track to the CP.  The current washers are small so there is clearance.  A larger one would drag against the edges of the bottom channel and resistance could be adjusted by tightening the nut inside the CP.

I don't think it will be necessary though.  The Sanwa JLFs I'm using are fairly short and have light springs, so there isn't much leverage.
It might be a different story with a traditional arcade stick.

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) - Inching forward: CP wiring harness
« Reply #121 on: October 05, 2013, 05:55:01 pm »
Glad to help.  A quick search on ebay turned up this one which is 2"/sec :
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Linear-Actuator-6-inch-stroke-35-lbs-force-12VDC-Progressive-Automations-Inc-/281169914543?hash=item4177086aaf

Followed that to their website, which has some crazy fast 9"/sec ones!
http://www.progressiveautomations.com/actuators-tubular-high-speed-linear-actuator-c-68.aspx

Thanks, but i think 1.5''/sec is fast enough, judging by your video. Or would you have preferred a faster one for your cabinet?

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RE: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) - Inching forward: CP wiring harness
« Reply #122 on: October 05, 2013, 07:31:10 pm »
I think the speed of mine is perfect, but you could slow a faster one down in the pololu software.  If I could find more like mine for the same price, I'd buy a couple more.

sent from my phone while driving

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) - Inching forward: CP wiring harness
« Reply #123 on: October 11, 2013, 08:07:33 am »
Awesome work so far man. Keep it up. I look forward to seeing this thing completed.

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) - 10/14 Serial Plate
« Reply #124 on: October 14, 2013, 09:05:45 pm »
Any feedback on my serial plate?
(wording and possible missing punctuation is true to the original)



Original for reference:


I was going to do a play on SNK.  I did SKUNK in the original lettering (as in skunkworks), but I wanted the BYOAC atom logo on there too and it was just too crowded.  I plan to use adhesive to attach it to the cab instead of screws since that's how the original ones were.

Also threw together a quick PC game layout using MKK wallpaper.  I'm unsure if the vid window will play widescreen.  I'm hoping so.
I'm in the process of downloading vids from youtube, but can't find exactly what I want, so will have to edit them.


Left to do:
>Set up Pololu servo controller & joychoose to control 4/8 way switching.
>Make default instruction card for the move list holder that will rest at the bottom of the monitor bezel.
>Add AHK scripts for some of the PC games to hide the mouse pointer
>Artwork should be done before too much longer, when that's done I'll get into cutting the final CP top, plexi, etc.

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) - 10/14 Serial Plate
« Reply #125 on: October 15, 2013, 10:08:27 am »
Here is what I'm thinking for the instruction card.  This is only one small end of it.  It is 4" tall and 30.5" long.
It's an early draft.  Some of the pics suck, but I want to get the concept solidified.


EDIT: ARCH RIVALS IS WRONG

I can never remember what the buttons do in sports games.  I doubt I add too many more.
The whole thing won't follow this format.  There will be different sections laid out differently for other games or genres.
I'm thinking....the button layout for Namco, Capcom, & Midway fighting games, Dungeons & Dragons, etc. 

It will just be sandwiched between two sheets of thin plexi that rest in a notch on the CP and lean against the Marquee bezel.
Complete moves lists will be printed for fighting games, although the number of characters in newer games is making it hard.
This will be the default one, which will cover a wide variety of games that I think warrant it.

I haven't dug through my gamelists yet to see what I've missed.
Can anyone think of other games it would be nice to have a quick button reference for?

EDIT: PL1's list from when I asked a similar question in the Main Forum
Here are a few to consider including:
Asteroids
Defender
Gravitar
Killer Instinct
Primal Rage
Shinobi
Stargate
Tekken
XMen: CotA
XMen
XMen vs. SF
Xybots
Atari 2600 Emulator: Select and Reset buttons
NES Emulator: Select and Start buttons
Other emulator specific buttons as applicable.


Scott

After looking at Scott's list, I think I might try to divide it into thirds with sports, classics, & fighters.
I really didn't think the classics would be an issue, but the ones mentioned are definitely must-haves.
This can also end up being 2-sided if necessary. 
Might end up making the other side for PC games if not used for arcade ones.
« Last Edit: October 28, 2013, 11:16:02 pm by BadMouth »

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) - 10/15 Instruction Card WIP
« Reply #126 on: October 15, 2013, 03:21:12 pm »
Looking good,

I love all the details.

 

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) - 10/15 Instruction Card WIP
« Reply #127 on: October 16, 2013, 09:17:24 pm »
On your serial plate, the bottom text (everything after and including "U.S. Federal ...") doesn't seem to be left aligned like it is in the original. Other than that, it's looks pretty damn good.

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) - 10/15 Instruction Card WIP
« Reply #128 on: October 17, 2013, 05:03:19 pm »
Sweet setup.  Cool idea with the sliding CP as well.  And I like your serial plate.

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) - 10/15 Instruction Card WIP
« Reply #129 on: October 17, 2013, 06:17:22 pm »
On your serial plate, the bottom text (everything after and including "U.S. Federal ...") doesn't seem to be left aligned like it is in the original. Other than that, it's looks pretty damn good.

Thanks for the feedback.  I kept thinking it looked a little off, but other times it looked right to me.
The spacing was really weird on the original.  I had to drag each word into place over a picture of the real one.
They should be aligned on the left though.

Sweet setup.  Cool idea with the sliding CP as well.  And I like your serial plate.

Thanks.

I tested out a bunch of different springs and some oversized actuators for the JLFs, but haven't taken the time to do a write-up.
Tiny silencer pads for the buttons were a complete bust.  Full size (better designed) ones and different circular restrictors from focusattack should be here tomorrow.  After I get a chance to try them out, I'll do a post about all of it.  I tried 5 different springs, two different actuators (+stock) and will try two different circular restrictors, so it should be good info for others who want to narrow down what they might want without having to buy it all.

Still working on my instruction sheet at the moment.

Marquee is done.  Hopefully the CP won't be much longer and I'll have the instruction card ready to go by then.

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) - 10/15 Instruction Card WIP
« Reply #130 on: October 18, 2013, 04:41:53 pm »
I'm going to "borrow" your serial plate design for MVS-99-6 if you don't mind.  ;)

As for your instruction cards, I'm thinking a mini-LCD above the buttons or a single mini-LCD in the middle top of the control panel that changes when you select a game, similar to LCD marquees.

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) - 10/15 Instruction Card WIP
« Reply #131 on: October 18, 2013, 04:47:24 pm »
They should be aligned on the left though.
I assure you, they are not lined up on the picture you posted.
If you're replying to a troll you are part of the problem.
I also need to follow this advice. Ignore or report, don't reply.

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) - 10/15 Instruction Card WIP
« Reply #132 on: October 19, 2013, 04:07:50 pm »
Current state of the instruction card:


I tried to stay true to the original layouts even though I do better on most games with a different one.
The bottom middle button just feels wrong for Block in Mortal Kombat in this layout because it's even with low kick.
Top middle feels much better.

The shoot/jump/special of Shinobi doesn't really warrant a card IMO.  Pretty much standard beat 'em up.
But I needed one more three button game and couldn't come up with anything else I wanted on there.
I can still add or remove games if I think of something else.

The whole point of this is to get into the games and enjoy them, rather than just button mashing for a few minutes and switching games.

I'll probably make one that just says "The Future is Now." and put it on the backside so the holder can be flipped over.
Once the machine is all the way complete, I'll get full move lists for the fighting games printed as I get into them.




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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) - 10/15 Instruction Card WIP
« Reply #133 on: October 20, 2013, 11:19:52 pm »
I'm going to "borrow" your serial plate design for MVS-99-6 if you don't mind.  ;)

As for your instruction cards, I'm thinking a mini-LCD above the buttons or a single mini-LCD in the middle top of the control panel that changes when you select a game, similar to LCD marquees.

One close to the original attached as a PNG if it helps.  It should be the correct size at 300dpi.
I also have it as a paint.net file (.pdn) which has layers if that would help.

The PC and video card I'm using are just barely powerful enough to run some of the games I like.
Adding a second monitor chokes it enough to cause slowdown and sound skips in those games.

I've explored the concept before.  I even did a proof of concept with a touchscreen program called touchbuddy where each player could cycle through move lists for characters in a fighting game (have the move list cards as different button state images).
In the end, it was going to be a huge time sink and I'd rather work on other things.  That, and I lose interest after I know something will work.   :P

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) - 10/15 Instruction Card WIP
« Reply #134 on: October 20, 2013, 11:32:52 pm »
One close to the original attached as a PNG if it helps.  It should be the correct size at 300dpi.
I also have it as a paint.net file (.pdn) which has layers if that would help.

Thanks, the PNG will suffice as a template. I do not use Windows, so I can not use a .pdn file.


The PC and video card I'm using are just barely powerful enough to run some of the games I like. Adding a second monitor chokes it enough to cause slowdown and sound skips in those games.

I've explored the concept before.  I even did a proof of concept with a touchscreen program called touchbuddy where each player could cycle through move lists for characters in a fighting game (have the move list cards as different button state images). In the end, it was going to be a huge time sink and I'd rather work on other things.  That, and I lose interest after I know something will work.   :P

I was thinking about a tablet installed at the middle top of the control panel that would have all the images in local storage and simply receive a "display controls for game xyz" command from the main PC when selecting a game.
« Last Edit: October 30, 2013, 09:11:10 am by Yvan256 »

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) - 10/20 JLF mod products testing
« Reply #135 on: October 28, 2013, 11:35:08 pm »
Threw this together this evening while watching football.....




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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) - 10/20 JLF mod products testing
« Reply #136 on: October 29, 2013, 10:47:08 pm »
Nice flyer!

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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) - 10/20 JLF mod products testing
« Reply #137 on: October 30, 2013, 08:16:24 am »
Nice flyer!

agreed! but *maybe* add/replace in a neogeo game to the bottom?
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Re: Neo Geo Evolution (EVS-1) - 10/20 JLF mod products testing
« Reply #138 on: October 30, 2013, 09:01:37 am »
Nice flyer!

agreed! but *maybe* add/replace in a neogeo game to the bottom?

Yeah, should have put in one of the Taito Type X SNK Playmore titles.
I don't plan to spend any more time on it (although it would be cool to do all the original ads). 
I thought it would be fun and reminiscent of PixelHugger's flyers.

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Re: NEO GEO Evolution (EVS-1) - Playing with old NEO GEO advertisements
« Reply #139 on: November 13, 2013, 06:18:37 pm »
It looks like your actuator actually has feedback (the yellow, blue, white wires), meaning you wouldn't have needed limit switches at all because you can tell it via software how far it should go  :P

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Re: NEO GEO Evolution (EVS-1) - Playing with old NEO GEO advertisements
« Reply #140 on: November 13, 2013, 11:10:51 pm »
It looks like your actuator actually has feedback (the yellow, blue, white wires), meaning you wouldn't have needed limit switches at all because you can tell it via software how far it should go  :P

Yup, has a built in potentiometer.  I didn't put as much into learning the software as I should have.
The original setup with the limit switches was designed to work using the printer port. 
It wasn't until I gave up on getting the printer port working with Vista64, that I switched to the pololu controller. 



I've been making lots of progress on the cab, but it's stuff you'd assume was already done.  :lol
Finally grounded the audio panel and coin door, organized the wiring, switched the fans over to 5v so they're quieter,
crimped some ends on the wires hanging by the coin switches and hooked those up, fixed a lot of small software issues, etc.
Got a LOT of loose ends tied up.

What follows is more random stuff that progress has haphazardly been made on, but hey...it's progress.

I hadn't originally planned for this cab to be connected to the internet, but got into Steam and changed my mind.  To avoid having to mess with any extra wiring outside the cab, I installed a powerline adapter that transmits the signal through the electric cord.  It didn't work so well when plugged into the power strip, so I installed a splitter before the power strip.  Seemed to be working good at first, but then got flaky.  It turned out to be a software issue caused by me disabling services, but before I figured that out, I made this nifty Ethernet port (I don't like the looks of the neutrik ones):

Started with a panel mount extension:


Grinded the sides off of it:


Until it fit in a cut up power inlet from an old PC:


JB welded in place from the back, then topped off with liquid electrical tape in front.  This turned out to be a mistake.  I thought the liquid tape would pool and make a shiny black surface.  It kinda did, but not as smooth as I thought it would be.  It would have looked much better if I'd filled with bondo and spray painted.  Since it's on the back, I don't care enough to redo it. Still need to pick up some mounting screws.

(used a black sharpie to touch up the edges of the cut area.  Apparently I slipped.  I did not notice any of this before looking at the pic.  Guess I should run the paint roller over that area)

Been setting up HLSL separately for each resolution.  I'm finding that the theoretical best settings for the really low resolution games look like crap on a monitor this big.
Using pics of the real games on original hardware for reference, the results are pretty awesome:

My method is to find a section of the screen where the lines are easily counted and then make sure HLSL has the correct number of lines, then get the size and darkness of them to match.
I wish the curved edges of the pincushioned image were smoother and the corners were more rounded, so I might try to make a .lay overlay that has the look I want.

CP art is evolving:

The idea is something between the original NEO GEO and modern candy cabs.
Pixelhugger is doing the art.  Part of the deal when he agreed to take the job was that I realized that he didn't have much spare time to work on it, so it will be done whenever it is done.
The part that says evolution will probably be different by the time it's done.  Maybe NEO GEO in the bump out area, and evolution stretched across the whole bottom...

Need to work on next:
Make HLSL settings for a few more resolutions.
Redesign exit button art and print on sheet along with serial plate.
Set up Joychoose and pololu controller for 4/8 way switching.
« Last Edit: November 14, 2013, 01:24:29 pm by BadMouth »

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Re: NEO GEO Evolution (EVS-1) - Playing with old NEO GEO advertisements
« Reply #141 on: November 19, 2013, 02:09:35 pm »
Awesome project.
The artwork is amazing.

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Re: NEO GEO Evolution (EVS-1) - Playing with old NEO GEO advertisements
« Reply #142 on: November 21, 2013, 08:29:32 pm »
Finally got around to wrapping the 4/8 way switching up.
Ran into an issue caused by recent changes in the joystick descriptions in mame.xml, but was able to manually correct it.
More info on that here: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,117692.0.html

pcbs not mounted, some twist and taping going on.  It will be mounted properly when I make a new cp top.  Waiting to have artwork as a template before making it.


Never did do a vid of the screen rotation triggered by the front end, so shot a short one:


Still need to fine tune the splash screen.  Especially for emulators other than MAME.

The to-do list is getting pretty short as long as I don't let the feature creep back in.....yet.  ;D

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Re: NEO GEO Evolution (EVS-1) - 4/8 way switching completed
« Reply #143 on: November 22, 2013, 09:03:05 pm »
Great work Badmouth!
I like the usb in the old power entry idea. Will have to remember that one.
Looks like your joystick switch has worked out good too.

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Re: NEO GEO Evolution (EVS-1) - I don't ever want to finish!
« Reply #144 on: January 13, 2014, 10:59:29 pm »
Well, the end of the year came and went and the cab still isn't done.  :lol
Still waiting on the artwork design, but there are other things that need done too.

I didn't like the cheap mylar tweeters, so have been on the lookout for some silk dome ones with a compatible mounting plate.
.....how about the exact same mounting plate.   ;D


Got these installed and they accomplished everything I'd hoped.  The mylar ones were very directional so they sounded completely different when playing seated vs standing.
The silk domes are smoother and not nearly as directional.

I really like having Steam games on this cab, but they are getting more and more difficult to set up controls for unless you're using xbox 360 controllers.
There are workarounds in most cases, but the last few I did were a serious PITA, so I've decided to switch to pad hacks.
Injustice:Gods Among Us was the one that put me over the edge.  Gonna add some sports games after I get these in.
Picked up NBA2K14 cheap and have Madden '08 with updated rosters.  Not sure how big of a difference not having analog controls will make.
They play ok with a d-pad, so should play ok with a standard joystick.

I picked up a pair of Mad Catz street fighter x tekken fight pads.  These are a good bit smaller than the old SSFIV fight pads.
I like them much better, they remind me more of Sega Genesis controllers.


More compact, common ground and the solder points look pretty easy.



Hopefully I'll have enough time tomorrow evening to get both of them done.


Oh and if you missed it in the everything else subforum, the cab has had a faint burning smell which has gotten worse recently.
Turned out to be this:


Unsure of the exact cause, but it was probably the cable.  It was an old random pc power cable that was laying around.
I ordered a new 14 gauge one with a 15A rating and a new power inlet.  If you smell a faint burning smell, don't wait to track it down!

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Re: NEO GEO Evolution (EVS-1) - I never want to finish
« Reply #145 on: January 13, 2014, 11:27:57 pm »
I know it sounds silly, but how much amperage are you pulling through that single cable?   That's one of the single of pulling more than a cable can handle...  the connection points are where the most resistance is...  and resistance = heat. 

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Re: NEO GEO Evolution (EVS-1) - I never want to finish
« Reply #146 on: January 14, 2014, 03:22:44 am »
Glad you caught that before it got any worse, BadMouth.   :o

A strong possibility is that the scorched power-cable hot contact was worn, slightly bent open, dirty, or corroded.

Any of those conditions could result in a high-resistance connection.

The high-resistance connection will dissipate some of the power passing thru as heat.

The heat will cause the metal to expand slightly and/or corrode faster, which leads to a higher-resistance connection.

The vicious circle continues until the connection causes an electrical fire.

This is why you always want clean, corrosion-free, mechanically-solid and low-resistance (<2 ohms) power connections.


Scott

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Re: NEO GEO Evolution (EVS-1) - I don't ever want to finish!
« Reply #147 on: January 14, 2014, 08:52:43 am »
Oh and if you missed it in the everything else subforum, the cab has had a faint burning smell which has gotten worse recently.
Turned out to be this:


Unsure of the exact cause, but it was probably the cable.  It was an old random pc power cable that was laying around.
I ordered a new 14 gauge one with a 15A rating and a new power inlet.  If you smell a faint burning smell, don't wait to track it down!
Dude that freaks me out. That is the same way I was going to hook mine up. I even have an old PC cord that is sitting and ready to be plugged in. I'm glad you posted this here.
My past arcade builds - Click to enlarge and get a closer look

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Re: NEO GEO Evolution (EVS-1) - I don't ever want to finish!
« Reply #148 on: January 14, 2014, 09:28:11 am »
Dude that freaks me out. That is the same way I was going to hook mine up. I even have an old PC cord that is sitting and ready to be plugged in. I'm glad you posted this here.

That's how I do my cabinets too. There's nothing wrong with doing it like this assuming nothing is faulty, and the socket/plug/cable can handle the current draw.

Glad it got noticed before something caught fire...

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Re: NEO GEO Evolution (EVS-1) - I want to finish
« Reply #149 on: July 03, 2014, 10:09:12 am »
Quote
Warning: this topic has not been posted in for at least 120 days.
Unless you're sure you want to reply, please consider starting a new topic.

sigh.

No pics, but hey it's an update. (maybe I'll add a pic of the hacked fightpads when I get home....as if nobody has seen one before)
Maybe it will push me to wrap this thing up.

Here's some rambling:

Pixelhugger finished the Marquee and main part of the CP.  I'm still waiting on the back part, but will probably go ahead and get the stuff I have printed so the final CP top can be made and controls mounted for the final time.

I'm in the process of remapping everything in my cab to the hacked xbox360 fightpads.
This is primarily for better compatibility with newer Steam games.
The keyboard encoder is still in there with a single button connected for ESC.

After getting about halfway through, I must say that keyboard encoders probably are still the best choice for most people.

When I hacked the fightpads, I hot glued the switch in the d-pad position.
Well, it turns out that Limbo and Locolomito's games only use the left analog stick.
So I pick out the hot glue, change the output to LS, and start remapping again.
Everything works fine until I get to Makaron.  It can't use analog sticks for digital directions. 
Even if I switch back to the D-pad (which I probably will), it can't use the triggers for digital inputs either and my sixth button is RT.
That messes up Marvel Vs Capcom 2.  My computer falls short of running some important games full speed in Demul, so I'm stuck with Makaron.
So it's the autohotkey scripts or xpadder workaround, where no workaround was required before.

Things aren't perfect in Steam land either.  As said earlier, the d-pad didn't work in Limbo.
Two of my games (castle crashers and NBA2k14) require the left trigger. 
I only put 7 buttons on the cab, so I don't have an LT button.
Castle Crashers requires LT for block and can't be remapped if using an xbox360 controller.  ::)

While I hate the default MAME keys for the first four buttons, the keyboard encoder still enjoys the most compatibility with the widest variety of emulators.
The x360kb workaround that allows you to use a keyboard for steam is actually superior to an original controller for the games that don't allow you to remap the controls.

I won't be switching back though.  I like the modern, high definition widescreen fighting games too much.
I can finally play Injustice on my cab without using any workarounds and the buttons displayed onscreen match my button labels.
The Steam games with simpler control schemes are pretty much plug and play.  No time spent testing various workarounds trying to find one that works.
There are also a lot of games on Steam that have issues with the control scheme for multiple local players.  Both can't use the same keyboard, or only one can use a dinput controller.  The only thing that just works every time is xbox360 controllers. 
 
On the flipside though, I'm having to go back and apply workarounds to older emulators that worked just fine with the keyboard encoder.
It's just trading one set of workarounds for another.  If not running newer PC games, I'd stick with the old tried and true keyboard encoder.

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Re: NEO GEO Evolution (EVS-1) - artwork in, marquee finished
« Reply #150 on: July 21, 2014, 09:11:46 pm »
A little progress! 

The artwork arrived today.  It was printed by Lucian045: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,134866.0.html




I was tired, but had to at least get the marquee in this evening.
It's hard to accurately capture how the marquee looks in person.  It doesn't look as washed out as it does in the pics.
That said, I may try lowering the voltage to the LEDs to dim them a little.

It had a little light bleed on the edges despite having a layer of thin white foam tape on the inside edges of the CP box.
I rolled a little butyl rubber from a sound deadener mat into a long thin strand and pushed it into the corner between the plexi and side panels.  It got rid of the light bleed, but took a lot of finessing with the edge of a credit card to get looking nice and uniform.




Even looks good when not lit.


I'm hoping to be able to make time to do the CP next week, even if I have to miss work to get it done.   ;D
After that, I'd like to make an emblem for the center of the speaker shroud and maybe large ones for the sides of the cab.

current state:
« Last Edit: July 21, 2014, 09:15:27 pm by BadMouth »

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Re: NEO GEO Evolution (EVS-1) - artwork in, marquee finished
« Reply #151 on: July 21, 2014, 11:14:25 pm »
That's looking really good man. Sorry about all the problems you're having with the controls.

So ultimately...if you want to play the widest range of games, you'd suggest using a keyboard encoder instead of a pair of xbox controllers?

My setup would be similar to yours, but I wouldn't be playing all of the steam games. Just the fighters like SFIV, KOF13 & MK9. Everything else I'd just use a controller on my regular desktop.

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Re: NEO GEO Evolution (EVS-1) - artwork in, marquee finished
« Reply #152 on: July 22, 2014, 02:31:12 pm »
That's looking really good man. Sorry about all the problems you're having with the controls.

So ultimately...if you want to play the widest range of games, you'd suggest using a keyboard encoder instead of a pair of xbox controllers?

My setup would be similar to yours, but I wouldn't be playing all of the steam games. Just the fighters like SFIV, KOF13 & MK9. Everything else I'd just use a controller on my regular desktop.

Eh, setting up the controls hasn't been horrible.  I just ran into more need for workarounds than expected.


If you're going to run a wide variety of emulators including consoles and aren't worried about modern steam games, then a keyboard encoder not using the MAME defaults for the first four buttons (CTRL,ALT,etc) will provide the most compatibility with the fewest workarounds.  In addition to the issue of those keys being used in hotkey combinations (which can be disabled), some emulators just don't support them.

I was running a Key Wiz and had enough extra inputs to just not use the ones that post the MAME defaults (the other pins I used posted v b n m).  The Key Wiz has been great, but it doesn't store any alternate mappings.  They must be uploaded to it by the uploader software every time you start the computer.  The uploader software has given people headaches on some PCs and even if it works, it makes the bootup process more complicated than it needs to be.
The I-Pac from Ultimarc can be reprogrammed to post different keys and will retain the settings in the device itself.  It has two less inputs, but if there are four on the key wiz you don't want to use anyway then you're actually gaining two pins.

Most people use gamepads with emulators so there are workarounds out there for just about everything, but it's nice to just have the device work directly and not have to mess with anything else.
« Last Edit: July 22, 2014, 02:57:19 pm by BadMouth »

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Re: NEO GEO Evolution (EVS-1)
« Reply #153 on: July 27, 2014, 12:36:53 pm »
Had some plans cancelled yesterday so used the time to inch forward on the cab.

Of the few builds I've done, none of them ever had CP art.  I didn't realize how much of a pain alignment was going to be.
My artwork was printed with extra black around all edges, so I had no edge to use as a reference point.
For the back part, I had the center button as a nice reference point, so I drilled a hole and put a nail through it, then passed that through a hole punched in the button drilling mark on the artwork.  From there I drew some lines on the panel to make sure the center button and two outside buttons were all on the same plane.  Then I marked the other button locations with a hammer an nail.



The main CP was done the same way, but since no center point was available I just marked centers on edge of the panel & artwork, then aligned and taped them together.  I wasn't good about taking pics.  Just wanted to make progress.  I got everything centered, then made sure the top buttons on both sides were on the same plane and at the right distance from the back, then punched the template with a hammer and small nail.

To make sure that my button spacing didn't shift when drilling the holes, I started with a tiny drill bit, followed by a larger one, followed by the hole saw.  I don't know if anyone else does their button holes this way, but I like to drill halfway from one side, then finish from the other.  It makes for a clean edge on both sides.  It also makes the plug easier to remove from the hole saw since it will already be halfway sticking out of the hole saw.


Dunno what happened here, but the location of this button was off.  My artwork is right.  All the buttons around it are right.
I must have mistook some other mark on the wood for the right spot when drilling the pilot hole.  I didn't want to start over, so I glued in a plug and redrilled it.  getting the location right without having the center points of the other holes as a reference anymore took a little work.





Holes in acrylic were cut with a dremel, router attachment, & drywall bit.  The drywall bit is just a solid cylinder at the end, so it can trace whatever is underneath.  (starting holes were predrilled with a regular bit).  I had a brain fart when buying the acrylic and thought I needed a 32" piece for the CP.  I was excited that they happened to have a 32" piece available.  Unfortunately on the way home, I remembered that although the cab is 32", the CP is 34".  :banghead:  Back to the home improvement store today I guess.


Instead of routing out 3/4" material I cut the button holes out of 1/4" and access areas out of 1/2", then glued them together.
I got a bit lazy with the recess area, but it won't be seen and I really just wanted to push forward.
I still had to route out the areas for the sanwa joystick s-plates since they needed to be an odd depth.
The vertical strip across the back is for rigidity since the back edge doesn't rest on anything.


I sprayed some primer/leveler on the front edge of the back panel that will be exposed, but it's nowhere near smooth enough.
Gonna have to use some filler.



The plexi on the back part doesn't go all the way back, so it can prop up the moves lists.  I'll use the wrong size plexi that was bought yesterday to make a taller holder for modern horizontal fighting games.  (corners of CP will be rounded when it is finished)





« Last Edit: July 27, 2014, 12:49:08 pm by BadMouth »

BadMouth

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Re: NEO GEO Evolution (EVS-1) - some CP progress
« Reply #154 on: July 29, 2014, 12:02:13 am »
I've screwed up so many CP corners with jigsaws it's not funny.  The blade always bends and then I clean it up with a random orbital sander which ends up rounding the top edges so they dip below the top edge of the t-molding.  This time I did it right and rounded the corners with a router and template.



In my last post I thought I had screwed up the placement on the D button on player 2 because it didn't match player 1.
Well, this evening came the realization that I had screwed up the D button of Player 1, then proceeded to change player 2 to match it!   :cry:



The CP and plexi were already cut so I decided that unless I messed up the plexi or the CP somehow, I was going to accept it for the sake of moving forward.  The placement isn't any more or less comfortable, but it does run off the button area on the artwork.

Applying the CP art went amazingly well.  I ended up with one little spot where a speck of something got trapped under it.  (the pic looks like there are two, but only the top one is actually there).  I used a tack cloth before starting, but something must have fallen off the backing as I was working with it.  Otherwise, the CP art went down and aligned flawlessly.  For all the things that could have gone wrong, I'm very happy to only have this tiny little imperfection.  This stuff does where out the x-acto blades very quickly though.  Make sure you have a few extra before starting.



Location of the D button on the artwork not perfect, but not horrendous.


Looking all glossy under plexi.   ;D


I didn't apply the artwork to the back portion of the CP yet because it may need modified for the T-molding of the main CP to clear when it slides.  I'll figure that out after applying the t-molding tomorrow.

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Re: NEO GEO Evolution (EVS-1) - some CP progress
« Reply #155 on: July 29, 2014, 01:50:05 am »
Dude that is looking seriously awesome! Great work so far. Keep it up!   :cheers:

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Re: NEO GEO Evolution (EVS-1) - some CP progress
« Reply #156 on: July 31, 2014, 12:11:33 pm »
This looks incredible, I'm really impressed.  I'm also pleased to see someone else using the 4-3 button layout instead of the 3-3-1, which is what drew me to this thread.  BadMouth, I'm curious about one thing.

You mentioned that you ultimately set your buttons up as:
Code: [Select]
1 2 3 7
4 5 6

Had you considered linking D and X to the same button?  So that it would be:
Code: [Select]
1 2 3 4
4 5 6

In my experience, this requires no custom input mapping for either Capcom or Neo Geo games.  If you considered this and decided against it, what were your reasons?  What advantage does keeping them separate provide?  Thanks very much.

BadMouth

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Re: NEO GEO Evolution (EVS-1) - some CP progress
« Reply #157 on: July 31, 2014, 01:07:23 pm »
You mentioned that you ultimately set your buttons up as:
Code: [Select]
1 2 3 7
4 5 6

Had you considered linking D and X to the same button?  So that it would be:
Code: [Select]
1 2 3 4
4 5 6

In my experience, this requires no custom input mapping for either Capcom or Neo Geo games.  If you considered this and decided against it, what were your reasons?  What advantage does keeping them separate provide?  Thanks very much.

Hadn't considered that, but you're right it wouldn't require remapping either Capcom or Neo Geo games in MAME.  I don't see any reason not to do the default mappings that way.  :cheers:
For Neo Geo games I actually did map both D and X to button #4 in game.  I discovered that I like using my thumb for the fourth Neo Geo button instead.
I wouldn't actually wire the buttons together though because of PC/Steam games.  Although you can get by with 6 buttons for the fighting games currently available, the 7th one does come in handy.  I use D for "tag" consistently throughout games that allow you to switch characters while fighting.

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Re: NEO GEO Evolution (EVS-1) - some CP progress
« Reply #158 on: August 01, 2014, 11:54:17 am »
Had a rough evening yesterday and developed a "screw it, just get it together no matter how half-assed" attitude.
I was in a rush, trying to get done before I had to start mowing the yard in time to finish before dark. 
(ended up finishing with some daylight to spare, but in the rain)

All issues were the result of a lack of planning, but when I try to plan out everything I never seem to make it out of the planning stage.

The biggest issue was that the area I routed out for the plastic JLF bodies wasn't deep enough.  So I took to it with a dremel and cylinder shaped grinding stone.  It worked, but somehow got sawdust between the artwork and plexi so I had to remove all the buttons, clean everything and reassemble.  Next, it was discovered that the connectors on the end of the Spark CE PCBs would also need an area routed out, so the process was repeated again.  This is stuff I should have tested before applying the artwork.  I tested the mounting plates a half dozen times, but never with the joystick body in them.  I had an oversized area routed out for the bodies, so I thought I was good.  The depth being wrong never crossed my mind.

I was planning on having to rout a curve into the edge of the back CP to get the separate CPs as close together as possible, but it didn't cross my mind that I might also have to cut the curve into the side panel of the cab.  I didn't want to do that, so just ended up with a slightly larger gap between them equal to the thickness of the t-molding.  Another route would have been to square off the back corners of the CP and just have the t-molding stop at the back of the sides.  I thought that would look odd though.


Nothing pretty here.  I waited until just before applying the artwork to give in and go with a piano hinge.  I wanted to do a completely removable, dowel aligned, lift out setup.  Never seemed to find the time to work it out.  In my mind, I thought wider piano hinges with two staggered rows of mounting holes were readily available.  The selection at the local hardware stores would prove otherwise.  To make matters worse, the hinge needed to extend past the edge of the sides, which stuck out farther than the board the hinge is mounted to.  this put the mounting holes close to the edge of the piece of MDF they would be screwed into.  I drilled new holes closer to the edge.  I don't feel very warm and fuzzy about this mounting method, but it feels solid for now.  We'll see after a few months of play.  I plan to fill in the extra t-molding slot and paint the back edge, but I wanted it playable again first!

The wiring will look better once I throw on some zip ties.  It would look a lot better if cut to length, but I'm not going to bother with it.
All the pcbs are screwed down to the bottom of the CP.

For all the things that were screwed up and feel half-assed, the end result when closed looks pretty finished.  :)


back to playable!  :lol
(not sure why my cell phone camera pics have looked so crappy lately)


Still to do:

> fix controls for all Taito Type X games since switching to xbox360 pcbs (versions I have only supports a controller for player 1  :-\ )
> design a logo for center of speaker shroud (may also end up on side)
> design a "The Future is Now." banner for the moves list holder that matches the rest of the cab artwork
> clean up transitions when launching/exiting some emulators
« Last Edit: August 01, 2014, 12:08:48 pm by BadMouth »

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Re: NEO GEO Evolution (EVS-1) - looking near finished anyway
« Reply #159 on: September 29, 2014, 02:10:05 pm »
Great work bud. I've been lurking these forums for a while, but am just starting to read through all builds that I can find. Especially the automated ones.

I love the motor system, as well as the audio design. I'll second or third the fact that I'm going to swipe that air vent idea however.

Can't wait to see the few details trimmed up, and maybe a reveal vid.

Thanks,
-Dave

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Re: NEO GEO Evolution (EVS-1) - looking near finished anyway
« Reply #160 on: January 05, 2015, 02:36:10 am »
Apologies for the old bump, but I had a few questions for the OP.

First, do you have any plans for this cabinet that you'd be willing to share? Also, did you manage to fix the issue with the Taito Type X/X2 emulator in regards to the controllers?

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Re: NEO GEO Evolution (EVS-1) - looking near finished anyway
« Reply #161 on: January 08, 2015, 03:33:36 am »
Looks like I'm going to have to design my own plans based on what I've seen in this thread. Is there a board on this forum for plans? I'd like to post them there once finished.

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Re: NEO GEO Evolution (EVS-1) - looking near finished anyway
« Reply #162 on: January 08, 2015, 09:10:10 am »
Looks like I'm going to have to design my own plans based on what I've seen in this thread. Is there a board on this forum for plans? I'd like to post them there once finished.

Post them here
http://newwiki.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?title=Cabinet_Plans


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Re: NEO GEO Evolution (EVS-1) - looking near finished anyway
« Reply #164 on: January 08, 2015, 01:31:33 pm »
Apologies for the old bump, but I had a few questions for the OP.

First, do you have any plans for this cabinet that you'd be willing to share? Also, did you manage to fix the issue with the Taito Type X/X2 emulator in regards to the controllers?

Sorry, didn't see this until today.
I have an accurate outline of the side profile saved as a png somewhere.
Always planned on releasing the measurements so other people could use them, but didn't want someone else to finish theirs before me.  ;D
I've shared it with a few people who PMed me.
I'll get off my butt and post it here this weekend if not sooner.

I still haven't fixed the taito type X controls.  Got as far as installing xpadder, but that was it.


I love this cab...

Thanks!

I've thought about just calling it done, but it's still missing a few things that fall short of my total vision of it....so it's not done.

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Re: NEO GEO Evolution (EVS-1) - looking near finished anyway
« Reply #165 on: January 15, 2015, 07:49:03 pm »
Ok, here are some measurements.  PROVIDED WITHOUT GUARANTEE OR WARRANTY

These are not blueprints.  These are not instructions.  I typically build on the fly without strict plans.
These measurements are taken from the near finished cab as it ended up given my style of building.


Some comments:

I am 5'10" tall and really like the ergonomics.
The coin door is easy to reach down and put a quarter in.  It isn't too low or hidden under a deep CP.

My cab has a weird sliding CP that just kind of evolved.  ;D
You'd probably want to handle the area just under the CP differently if solidly mounting the CP.
Maybe come out to a full point, or not come out as far, maybe have the cab shaped so the CP just sits in between the sides.
If I weren't going for the Neo Geo thing, I'd have had the CP overhang the sides like a Mortal Kombat cab.
You may also want to change the point at which the side of the cab starts to lean back (where it meets the CP).
Sometimes I think it's too far above the CP on my cab.  It rises above the CP about an inch before it starts to lean back.
The whole area is rounded so it isn't that noticeable, but I'd probably do it differently a second time around.

The 32" (30.5" inside) width is enough to fit some 32" TVs.  Too big IMO, but others have different opinions.
If not for the rotating monitor, I'd have only made it 24-26" wide.  This would have actually saved a lot of money on the bezel acrylic.

On these tall widescreen cabs, the bezel space between the CP and the bottom of the monitor is always an obstacle as far as aesthetics are concerned.  I chose to have a moves list holder that leans back at an angle to lessen the amount of "vertical wall" before the bottom of the monitor.  This could be handled differently (admin panel, cell phone charging station...whatever)




« Last Edit: January 15, 2015, 08:21:39 pm by BadMouth »

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Re: NEO GEO Evolution (EVS-1) - Dimensions provided
« Reply #166 on: November 07, 2022, 11:46:18 am »
Quote
Warning: this topic has not been posted in for at least 120 days.
Unless you're sure you want to reply, please consider starting a new topic.

Been a while.

Almost a decade after I bought some cool looking Wii guns hoping to use them on this cab, someone finally writes software that makes them usable by my standards.
(my standards being line of sight accuracy and working at a normal distance from the cabinet)
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,167028.0.html

I 3D printed some holsters in ABS, but didn't want them to look 3D printed.  Sanding the corners sucked, but the random orbital made quick work of the flat parts it could reach.



I've never acetone vapor smoothed before.  Attempted it here, but only the bottoms were softening from the acetone vapor.  The big flat part toward the interior was untouched by the rising vapors.
So I brushed acetone on, which I have done before.  It comes out shiny, but always has "brush marks" regardless of how much I try to flow it on.  Probably should have dunked them, but this is good for now.  This pic is with bright morning sun coming from the side.  This is as bad as it will ever look.  (only one screw is installed because I am waiting on wire for the switch)



I didn't want the IR LEDs on all the time so planned to control them from the 12v motor controller operating the monitor rotation, but contrary to my memory it didn't have any extra outputs.
The next thought was to have them controlled by the servo controller operating the 4/8 way joystick switching, but that would require another device to either convert the servo signal to an on/off or a low level 5v signal to higher voltage and current.  Even after adding that extra complication, I would still have to figure out how to launch the bat file to control it only for gun games.
Then I wised up and figured out that I could just put a switch in the holster inline with the LED power wire.  Pull gun out=IR LEDs come on.  Put gun back=IR LEDs turn off.



I forgot how much fun making Mala layouts is.  (I forgot a lot of things, but they came back to me easier than expected.)


I wanted to keep the light gun and positional gun games separate.  The play mechanics are different and sometimes it feels weird for the bullets to be coming from the bottom of the screen.  I couldn't come up with a good name for the positional gun list.  I wanted something to convey "spray bullets from a fixed gun", but the best I came up with was "fixed gunner".  Too many of my layouts are white/grey so I might redo this one.



I'm limited by the 12 year old 3.5Ghz Athlon II X3 in the cab, but was pleasantly suprised by advances in Singe and Supermodel emulators.
The 750ti video card in the cab is incapable of running the HD H.265 versions of the American Laser games, but the standard versions still look a lot better than my old XP versions.
Also added Teknoparrot games, but the only one I've launched is Alien Extermination.
So I updated some emulators other than MAME and made my gamelists, but have not set up or calibrated the guns in any game yet.  I did previously play test on my desktop so know they will work.
There are some issues to work out with switching between games played in 4:3 and widescreen, but I'll cross that bridge later.

The biggest issue is that I originally installed the monitor as far back in the cab as it could go and then installed the smoked acrylic bezel as close to the monitor as possible.
There wasn't enough room to have the LEDs on the front of the monitor, but having them on the sides means the gun won't work as close to the screen.  With the LEDs taped in place, I managed to make enough room by tilting the top forward a bit, but the bezel didn't really fit back in correctly.  I am going to have to remove and redo all the bezel mounting stuff and the back part of the CP.   :cry:
Also, the black duct tape holding the LEDs looks like crap even through the smoked acrylic, so that is being redone.  I am waiting on new wire to be delivered.



BadMouth

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Re: NEO GEO Evolution (EVS-1) - Adding guns many years later
« Reply #167 on: November 09, 2022, 07:58:44 pm »
Repeating some stuff from the Lichtknarre thread for the sake of having the info about my cab in this thread....

Having the LED duct taped in place looked like crap, even behind tinted arcylic.
I was also worried about the lack of heat dissipation shortening the LEDs life.

So I thermal glued each IR LED and a heatsink to a thin strip of aluminum.


Then I painted the shiny parts with a flat black paint pen, bent it to fit around the edges of the monitor and affixed them in place with vhb tape.
The VHB tape is pretty gummy and let them wiggle around a bit much for my taste, so I broke out the duct tape again and taped them on the sides of the monitor.
They still wiggled a bit, so I ran some electrical tape (with good adhesive) on each side.  Not quite as clean as I wanted, but acceptable.
I've had electrical tape over the many monitor logos from the beginning and it isn't noticeable under the smoked acrylic.
There was probably a better adhesive to use, but I couldn't think of it.


Redid the wiring with 18 gauge silicone wire and duct taped it out of sight on the back of the monitor.
(lens flares are from my phone camera)


I worked out how much the bezel needs moved forward and predrilled holds for the mounting screws.
Sanding and painting were required where the bezel supports originally were, so waiting on paint to dry.
Next step is figuring out the position of the bottom support for the bezel (it will have to sit lower).
After that, the back part of the control panel (non-sliding part) needs some sliced off the back to fit the new bezel position.

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Re: NEO GEO Evolution (EVS-1) - Adding guns many years later
« Reply #168 on: July 08, 2023, 07:17:21 pm »
I decided to add a trackball, but the control panel is too small and shallow for a standard one.

I looked at DIY trackball setups, but couldn't find anything I liked.
This one looks like it functions great, but it uses a custom PCB and I couldn't find the STL files anywhere.

There is another video where he plays some classics, but no fast spin Golden Tee type stuff.

So the plan is to roll my own.

From the parts bin:
A pair of tiny industrial encoders with 6mm ID.  Got a deal on them over a decade ago.  Wanted to use them for rotating joysticks, but they turned out to be too much of a PITA to mount.
6mm rod
Opti-Wiz or KADE interface

Had to buy:
$7 cheap 6mm ID bearings
$10 red bumper pool ball (2 1/8")
$18 Molex Pico Blade connector kit for the tiny encoders.  :banghead:

Already approaching the cost of a used 2 1/4" trackball.
Skateboard bearings with 8mm rod and plastic encoder wheels would make more sense.....but anyways.....

Apparently there is a reason trackball rollers aren't straight shafts.  Arranging things so the ball doesn't contact the bearings in the corner turned out to be a balancing act. 
The ball has to sit low enough that the circumference where it contacts the rollers is large enough to clear the bearing in the corner.  But the lower it sits the more of a PITA it will be to mount it in the CP while still having a proper amount protruding on top.

Prototyping in clear ABS because I'm not using it for much else.  The final version will be black.
This is not even a preliminary design.  It is just to get clearances and shaft lengths. 

I wasn't sure how I would keep the shafts in place, but it turned out that they are oversized and don't fit in the bearings unless sanded.
So they basically ended up being press-fit and the bearing cannot travel any further inbound on them.

It will end up being about 3.5"x3.5"
Clearances are tight, but there is clearance.



I've got no CAD skills, so I'm hacking this together in TinkerCAD.
The brown and blue blocks on the right represent the thickness of the control panel top and plexi.


I don't want to replace the CP artwork.  I was hoping to get away with just drilling a 2.5" hole with a hole saw with the CP in place, but I see no way to pull this off without routing out an area on the backside.
No idea what the top part or mounting situation will look yet.  It needs to be serviceable, but will probably end up being held in place with wood screws.  I guess I might tolerate four recessed screws under the plexi, but definitely not ok with a big mounting plate on top.

I am still looking at other options, but this is the direction I'm heading for now.

Solutions that use an optical mouse talk about having to reverse the X axis in Windows, but MAME has the option to reverse an axis so it really isn't an issue unless you want to play trackball game outside of MAME or use the trackball as a mouse in Windows.

Experimenting with the mouse on my desktop, the ball has to be right up against the sensor for it to work reasonably well.






« Last Edit: July 08, 2023, 07:38:30 pm by BadMouth »

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Re: NEO GEO Evolution (EVS-1) - Adding guns many years later
« Reply #169 on: July 09, 2023, 01:39:06 pm »
This one looks like it functions great, but it uses a custom PCB and I couldn't find the STL files anywhere.
Most of the .STL files will be easy to recreate in OpenSCAD.
- LMK if anyone finds a suitable PCB from a donor mouse or trackball.

Opti-Wiz or KADE interface
Between those two options, always choose Opti-Wiz.
- The one input type that the KADE interfaces never handled well enough is spinner/trackball.  They had really bad backspin, even with medium resolution encoder wheels.
- If you want to go the Arduino route, there are a number of other spinner/trackball firmwares that work great.


Scott

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Re: NEO GEO Evolution (EVS-1) - Adding guns many years later
« Reply #170 on: July 09, 2023, 02:56:26 pm »
Most of the .STL files will be easy to recreate in OpenSCAD.
- LMK if anyone finds a suitable PCB from a donor mouse or trackball.

I found the original thread for that one after coming to most of the same conclusions already reached there.
Cheap optical mouse was pretty much useless.  Logitech M705 seems to work ok with a white trackball, but doesn't like the red one.
That was just balancing the ball on top the mouse by hand, so nothing very fast. 
I found some smaller 10mm OD bearings in my parts pile.  I could definitely make a tighter package with the smaller bearings, but am afraid they wouldn't spin as freely and would wear out a lot faster.
Not going to pursue the optical route for now, but I'm wondering if scuffing up a cueball and dunking it in dye would result in a good enough pattern for the mouse to see.

Between those two options, always choose Opti-Wiz.
- The one input type that the KADE interfaces never handled well enough is spinner/trackball.  They had really bad backspin, even with medium resolution encoder wheels.

Thanks for that.  I was already making provisions for KADE as it fit on the side of the housing better.
I will switch over to the Opti-Wiz.