Building an Xbox powered arcade cabinet from scratch

[degenatrons]

Hi,

I originally posted this under consoles but figure this is probably the best section to inform you of my project...

I started a new arcade cabinet project and have been documenting the build on YouTube and CoinOps4 project forums.  This will be a bartop arcade cabinet that is powered by an original xbox and running coinops4 as the frontend.  This will be based on the WeeCade/bartop style.

To save room in the small cab i also disassemble to Xbox and remove key parts.  This is kind of the focus for the first couple of videos but we move on to general arcade constuction from part 3. 

I have also designed my own marquee and control panel for this cab with "CoinOps4 vs Street Fighter" theme.

Anyway,  please check out the videos and I welcome your feedback.

Part1:

Part2:

Part3:

...and more to come

Question - Should i delete the duplicate post that is under consoles section?

Degenatrons

[emphatic]

Cool, I started subscribing to your YouTube channel.

[DaveMMR]

Ditto, like to see how this turns out. Very informative videos.

[rablack97]

Cool project, will be interested to see what you do when it comes to the controls.

I have 3 xboxes sitting in a closet as I was making media centers for my daughters.  I did my first xbox contoller hack, although the controls for the triggers aren't as reposonsive as i would like them to be.

When you get there and if you dont already know how to there is a guy DSEEMPLOYEE on youtube I think that has a whole tutorial on hacking an xbox j-stick.

Looking forward to more updates and will be looking for some innovation.

[extendedplayarcade]

I subscribed as well!

[mo1e]

Can anyone tell me if the plans for the weecade are suitable for a 2 player cab? is 450 long enough for a 2 player control panel

[degenatrons]

Can anyone tell me if the plans for the weecade are suitable for a 2 player cab? is 450 long enough for a 2 player control panel

Yep,  I built a few 2 player wee-cade clones with 6 buttons per player.  See
I have also made these with pinball buttons on the sides.  This makes for a really tight squeeze,  but it is very possible.

[mo1e]

Awesome. so theres definately a decent enought play area for 2 players?. Im definately going to do a weecade after watching your vids

[degenatrons]

I made some progress on my xbox cabinet build since my original post on 10th April.

You can catch the next 2 videos on Youtube

Part 4:

Part5:


Shell is about complete now so can start fitting this baby out with hardware.

[gamer2112]

Awesome job! Your attention to detail is incredible and you make it look easy.
I too will be very interested in the controller connections. Please use the same great detail for that part as you did in the other videos!
Looking forward to more. Thanks!

[degenatrons]

Awesome job! Your attention to detail is incredible and you make it look easy.
I too will be very interested in the controller connections. Please use the same great detail for that part as you did in the other videos!
Looking forward to more. Thanks!

As a side project,  I have been working on developing my own interface for arcade controls. 
I have created a USB keyboard encoder for PC/Mame and have this installed already in one of my cabs.  This is super easy to connect and I will add screw terminals too. 



I plan to add Xbox1 support to the device.  This is a little taxing and I have lost a lot of sleep trying to get this working.  I would really like to get this nailed soon so that I can use in my cab build.

[degenatrons]

Part 6 is out.

In this video we fit the screen and connect up the mains power.



My prefence is to use 17" LCD Monitor but this design also works nicely with 15". I know some folks following the build on YouTube are fitting out with 19" screens, but this requires a wider (than 450mm) panel width. My plans are easily adjusted if you have a 19" monitor.

As I mention on the video, my plan was to use 1 17" LCD but I dropped it while recording, so have used a 15" LCD instead. I did not have another 17" and I was keen to make progress. At some point I may replace it. Will see what it turns out like.

The VGA converter I am using was picked up from ebay. Look for video to VGA converter or component to VGA converter. I get mine from China. It takes a long while for them to arrive.

The junction box is 30amp rated. Nothing special.

I hope you like the video and feel free to ask any questions.
Cheers

[rablack97]

What size amp are you using the power the speakers  8W or 15W?

Do you have any issues with the screen sizing in the monitor, gaps or black bars on the sides or top.  Alot of the games in Coinops need to be resized in order to fit the screen properly.   

[degenatrons]

What size amp are you using the power the speakers  8W or 15W?

Do you have any issues with the screen sizing in the monitor, gaps or black bars on the sides or top.  Alot of the games in Coinops need to be resized in order to fit the screen properly.   

2x90W amp,  might use a pre-amp too.

No significant issue for me with resizing in CoinPs.  I can't say that I have come across it much - for the games that I play anyway.  I have heard others raise this issue before though.

[rablack97]

Any experience with the Sure Electronics amplifier boards from China.

It seems the larger amps call for a higher voltage input.  14v plus.  A 2 X 15 uses 12 v which could be pulled from the Xbox power supply.  Are you using seperate power supply for the amp or drawing from the xbox?

Sure Electronics

[GIZMOGAMES]

Subscribed awaiting eagerly for your controller updates
and shot you a pm

[racecar]

What size amp are you using the power the speakers  8W or 15W?

Do you have any issues with the screen sizing in the monitor, gaps or black bars on the sides or top.  Alot of the games in Coinops need to be resized in order to fit the screen properly.   

You can do a screen change in Coinops which will change the whole screen including games 

[degenatrons]

Any experience with the Sure Electronics amplifier boards from China.

It seems the larger amps call for a higher voltage input.  14v plus.  A 2 X 15 uses 12 v which could be pulled from the Xbox power supply.  Are you using seperate power supply for the amp or drawing from the xbox?

Sure Electronics

I draw the 12V from the xbox power supply to power the amp.  I have had issues in the past with buzzing (caused by ground loop) when connecting up multiple devices but this is usually not an issue.  There are ways to work around the buzzing by using resistors or caps.

My amp is 9V to 14.4V 2A input.

Thanks for the link to the amp board.  This looks super cool.  I will have to get myself one of these.

[rablack97]

Your welcome glad I could help, only thing is the 25w amps and up for this series require a minimum of 14w for power. 

I'm not an electrcian, but i think you can twist the xbox 12v and 5v wires together to get what you need. Any comments on this?

I know Radio shack here in the states sell whats called a ground loop isolator it goes from your source to the amp, here is a link to show you what i'm talking about.  Ground Loop Isolator 

I have 600w amp in my machine powering 2 10" subs and 6 focal mids and tweets, and this thing got rid of the hum totally.  Another suggestion would be to put your amp on it's own power supply, the noise is probably coming from the xbox (fan, drive, etc.)

I would try the cord first USD 6.00 per the link

[rablack97]

 

[rablack97]

I'm not an electrcian, but i think you can twist the xbox 12v and 5v wires together to get what you need. Any comments on this?

Totally wrong on this one....+12v twisted with a +5v gives you 7v.

Do you know if the xbox power supply has any -12v or -5v leads?

[degenatrons]

I'm not an electrcian, but i think you can twist the xbox 12v and 5v wires together to get what you need. Any comments on this?

Totally wrong on this one....+12v twisted with a +5v gives you 7v.

Do you know if the xbox power supply has any -12v or -5v leads?

I'm not sure.  I was thinking you would still have 12V.  I think if you swap ground for 5v and have 12v live then this would give 7V.  I remember people doing this to adjust fan speeds on PC's.
Never tried it myself.  I think it could damage some circuits not designed for this.

Cheers

[rablack97]

Well if you take -12v and +5V you get 17v, that's why i was wondering it the xbox PS has those leads, it may be that they are found only in Computer power supply's, which may be another option in itself.

I'm curious to see how the higher wattage amps (25+) perform on 12v.......on some of the specs the output wattage was 0 at 12v.

Also, whats' the wattage on your speakers, you mentioned a 90w amp earlier, a speaker pushing 45w or 100w per channel?  100w is pretty loud for a machine this size.

[degenatrons]

I like the neatness of hooking up to 12V xbox power,  that's all.  From xbox,  I have previously drawn power for LEDS, 12v strip light, 12V Amp and a 5V VGA converter box.  Nice and clean.  No nasty extension cables.
My amp has input 9V - 14.4V.  Speakers i plan to use are 2x20Watt, but I also have 2x100Watt.  I will try them out.  I am no expert on amps/speakers. 

[rablack97]

Understood, I will have to find an amp to stay w/i that range then.....Nice to know how much the xbox power supply can handle.

[sho]

Hi,

I have been following your progress with interest and using your build videos as a reference for my beginner Weecade project.
I was wondering if you had experienced what I described here, ie regarding the aspect ratio of the plans?

Do you have that Bubble Bobble CPO available somewhere?

[degenatrons]

Hi,  great that you're following my build.  Please keep us updated on how you get on!

I adapted koenigs plans for my build.  My dimensions are a little easier to read.  I adjusted some of the baton offsets to account for an MDF control panel.  Some other little tweaks here and there.
You can download my updated plans from http://www.mediafire.com/?v1l9jn53qtyn4tq
I had no issues followig Koenigs plans.

For Bubble Bobble,  I have print ready artwork, 200dpi,  available for download from http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?8jza23ucu4mtqf5
I also attached a low quality preview pic
The marquee was adapted from the regular Bubble Bobble marquee and I changed to dark background.
The control panel is my own design with the standard monster card added.

Good luck with your build.

[sho]

Thanks, I guess since I stuck my neck out I will be forced to make a project announcement (even though I have nothing new to offer and am blatantly copying from the masters on this forum  )
I had found your plans, but when I cut the wood I only had the originals to go by. But comparing the two the side panel templates look very similar.

If I print them out and measure the side panel templates, I get a height/depth(baseplate) ratio of 1,46-1,48 the printed measurements however (540/386) give a ratio of approx 1,4.
Resulting in my side panels being around 560mm high instead of 540mm (not that that is necessarily a bad thing, just that my back panel does not fit).

I am using your plans for a MDF CP, have yet to get there though 

[rablack97]

Just to confirm, I am using 19" monitors for my builds.

The height should remain the same, but the width of your plans need to change, correct.

Widen roughly 50mm total?

[degenatrons]

Just to confirm, I am using 19" monitors for my builds.

The height should remain the same, but the width of your plans need to change, correct.

Widen roughly 50mm total?

For 19" you would need to increase width.  If it is 4:3 ratio then the width increase would not be a lot,  50mm would be good for 4:3.  Can you let me know width and height of your monitor?
You can generally get away with an increased height.  If it is tight then you coul reduce the length of the top control panel piece - to allow monitor to come further forward.

[rablack97]

Just to confirm, I am using 19" monitors for my builds.

The height should remain the same, but the width of your plans need to change, correct.

Widen roughly 50mm total?

For 19" you would need to increase width.  If it is 4:3 ratio then the width increase would not be a lot,  50mm would be good for 4:3.  Can you let me know width and height of your monitor?
You can generally get away with an increased height.  If it is tight then you coul reduce the length of the top control panel piece - to allow monitor to come further forward.

4:3 ratio

412.75 mm x 339.725mm

or

16 1/4" X 13 3/8"

I hope my math is correct, but I measure in inches.



Also, I know your doing this the cheapest way possible.  So this method may shave off another USD 20.00 off your builds.  I've tested and confirm it works.

The cheapest route, which im going to follow and I'll update if it works.  Buy the following

VGA to RCA Cable $1.90
RCA Coupler $.68
Xbox Component Cable 3.99

Locate a compatible Sync on Green Monitor (craigslist), which shouldn't be difficult, folks are giving away Dell 19" monitors with SOG these days. I've located a few for a about $30.00.

Finally Upgrade Softmod with Frosty's Dual-Boot VGA Softmod v1.0

I'll post again if it works....Hopefully.

My parts came in and I've tested this setup and it works perfect. You have to tweak the monitor screen via the monitor menu, and the xbox menus to get it to fullscreen.  Looks really good....Super Happy Now...

[degenatrons]

Hey rablack97

At 412mm wide this would fit without any adjustment,  but it might give you a narrow bezel.  25mm(1") to 50mm(2") increase is the right way to go IMO.

Cheap is good - if it does the job.

Nice one! It is good to know that your VGA mod worked.  I was thinking about doing something similar after discussing with a guy on CoinOps forums,  he is builiding in scan line generator too. 
This is interesting stuff.  thanks.

[rablack97]

FYI,

If your familiar with Frosty's dual boot VGA mod for the monitors, you have to hit the eject button for VGA mode.  I did some asking around and found a way to switch the buttons, so that the actual small power button triggers the VGA mode. woohoo

Also, it seems with this mode on a few of my monitors there is a 10-12sec delay before the screen fires up.  This is cool, cause the flubber piece is hidden, and the only thing you see is a split second of the xbox logo fading out and the dashboard fading in.  It looks kinda cool, would be nice to get the sound taken out.

I know you were talking about some kind of delay on the monitor.  I'm not electrician but any idea on how to delay power to the monitor and the small amp?

[degenatrons]

I recently recorded part 7 of the build so this will be out real soon.  I mounted the xbox motherboard, PSU, HDD, power and other bits.  See attached photo.

[ark_ader]

Where is your controller hack?

[degenatrons]

Where is your controller hack?

I built my own encoder so don't need a hack.  More info in the coming videos.

I might also show the gamepad hack method.

 

[rablack97]

Stumbled upon these goodies.

Maybe they can help you i dunno..


This is for the amp...
12v Time Delay Relay

The amps from overseas tend not to come with the plug so I found these, I have no idea if they will fit the amps, but it was worth a shot as they are cheap.

Amp DC connectors

Where is your controller hack?

I've always pointed people hear XBOX controller Hack, click on the load 10 more videos and the rest of the tutorials will show up.  If you can't wait.

Or you could always hit up HARUMAN and have him hack your controllers for you.

[rablack97]

Where is your controller hack?

I built my own encoder so don't need a hack.  More info in the coming videos.

I might also show the gamepad hack method.

 

Wow, so did you work out the bugs and kinks for the xbox encoder, if so, put me down for 4 of them

Also, I have a question, If the computer monitor totally loses power, and the power button needs to be hit to turn it back on, did you have a plan on how to get it back on w/o totally opeing up the machine?

[ark_ader]

One of the reasons why you should hinge your bezel.  It stops you getting unhinged when that happens. 

[degenatrons]

Where is your controller hack?

I built my own encoder so don't need a hack.  More info in the coming videos.

I might also show the gamepad hack method.

 

Wow, so did you work out the bugs and kinks for the xbox encoder, if so, put me down for 4 of them

Also, I have a question, If the computer monitor totally loses power, and the power button needs to be hit to turn it back on, did you have a plan on how to get it back on w/o totally opeing up the machine?