Author Topic: Forgotten ROMs - First Build - (Read 26742 times)

mgb · « **Reply #40 on:** May 15, 2012, 11:15:55 pm »

The cabinet is looking great!!! You will enjoy the laminate for a long time to come. My cab is laminated and it holds up great.

not_so_handy · « **Reply #41 on:** May 16, 2012, 08:52:12 am »

Thanks mgb. I got the laminate for a great price so I couldnt not go with it. I am not much of a painter so I think this was definitely the way to go. Everytime I look at it I am impressed with the way the laminate looks

I would recommend using it to everyone.

not_so_handy · « **Reply #42 on:** May 25, 2012, 08:50:39 am »

Ok first off I am thinking of changing the name of the cabinet as I am thinking Medieval Times is just not cool enough for this cab. I was thinking of changing it to Forgotten Roms, obviously a take off of Forgotten Realms. Thoughts? Better or worse?

Its been slow going the last week and a bit but i will have time to put towards the cab this weekend so expect a big update. I got the tempered glass for infront of the monitor as well as the plexi for the marquee so I just need to do the speaker panel this weekend and I will be able to put in the bezel which I laminated the other day as well as the tempered glass I should be able to get the top peice completed as well so that the Marquee plexi is in its final resting place as well. I also got a mock up of the marquee from my buddy. Here it is.

harveybirdman · « **Reply #43 on:** May 25, 2012, 09:37:45 am »

Forgotton Roms is a clever name, and very cool... I would say even slicker that Medieval Times (which is also cool, although it makes me think of Cable Guy)

The only critique I'd have of Forgotton Roms, and I feel like a complete arcade

for even suggesting it....

But do you want to theme a cab on a game that has conrols you don't plan on putting on the panel? But maybe it would just be an homage by subtle nod and not take a big infulence on the artwork of the cab in which case carry on.

not_so_handy · « **Reply #44 on:** May 25, 2012, 02:46:53 pm »

Yeah I think I am going to change it to Forgotten ROMs

I'm not to concerned with the theme of the cab and the button layout. I really just wanted a medeival fantasy theme for the artwork but of course I will be playing many games on this machine other then medieval games.

not_so_handy · « **Reply #45 on:** May 31, 2012, 08:23:38 am »

Alright so since the start of the weekend I got a fair bit done so I will break this up into a couple posts I think.

To start off with i got the bezel laminated and put into the cab.

Then I was able to put the tempered glass infront of that

not_so_handy · « **Reply #46 on:** May 31, 2012, 08:39:26 am »

next up was the real fun. I got to do the speaker panel. This i really struggled to figure out how the heck I was going to get the grill in as I didnt want to attach it from the outside.

So finally after looking at a few peoples projects I finally realized that they just cut a bigger hole and then put a template inside that hole to route out the actual speaker hole and then the grill just sat on the laminate

so first up was the joy of making the template. Thank god I had borrowed my dads Dremel cause that made this job much easier. This is what it ended up looking like

Then I cut out the holes in the panel and laminated

Next I popped in the template and routed the holes

Next i cut the grill that Le Chuck was so kind to send me and glued them into place and here is the result

there we go speaker panel completed

not_so_handy · « **Reply #47 on:** May 31, 2012, 08:50:06 am »

Next up was the top panel that I was planning to put a couple fans in that I had from an old computer. I cut the holes and slathered on the contact cement.

I used the same template that I cut for the speakers as the hole size fit the fans perfectly and routed out all the laminate

Then i used some of the drywall sand sheets that I had originally talked about as I only had enough of the grill material from Le Chuck to do the speaker panel which was fine as this really wont be visible and this was the result. Actually didnt turn out that bad. Not nearly as nice as the speaker grill but its acceptable.

Then finally I poped it into the cabinet, only thing I have to do is throw a bit of paint at the end where I cut the laminate to hold the marquee retainer just to tidy that up.

not_so_handy · « **Reply #48 on:** May 31, 2012, 08:53:23 am »

Now that thats all together I was able to test fit my plexi glass in for the marquee. I dont have any wiring setup for the marquee light so that will have to wait till tonight. But here is the result. I think it looks pretty good.

And finally a shot of the whole cab.

harveybirdman · « **Reply #49 on:** May 31, 2012, 12:37:53 pm »

Dude this thing is money, mad props

not_so_handy · « **Reply #50 on:** June 11, 2012, 08:42:11 am »

Well a small update of what I have been doing over the past week. I finally got to building the actual Control panel. Here was the initial mock up.

Here is a pic with the cuts made and the buttons and trackball in place.

I also worked on getting the computer setup and the tv hooked back up as well

It really made me wish I was finished so I could start playing some games

I did have a question for the people that have finished cabs. I am running into a bit of an annoyance with the task bar. I have it set to auto hide but of course there is still a slight bit of the grey bar showing when the computer boots up. This is extremely annoying on the tv as it flickers constantly before hyperspin loads up. Also anyone know how to bypass the blue screen that comes up when it auto logs you into the computer. I have it setup to just not show the windows xp load screen and to auto log in but when it bypasses the welcome screen there is still a second or two of blue screen that shows up and just doesnt look right. As well as the mouse showing up. Any one have any experience bypassing these annoyances?

Uncle Monkey · « **Reply #51 on:** June 11, 2012, 09:10:08 am »

Here is a good tutorial on shelling windows.

not_so_handy · « **Reply #52 on:** September 10, 2012, 09:48:12 am »

Well its been a busy summer and I really havent done much of anything on my cabinet as I have been waiting for my slow poke friend to finish my art. Unfortunately that seems to be a long way off still so I figured I would start finishing off a few odds and ends that i can easily do while I wait.

So the biggest dilemma I had was what the heck to do with my volume control knob that I wanted placed on the admin panel. The issue here was extending the shaft as i couldnt from what I could see just remove the pot and mount it in the wood.

So this ended up being what I came up with.

Now I just have to mount it to the admin panel which i was also able to start last night as well. The admin panel will have a usb port on both sides as well as 3 buttons and the volume control.

Hopefully tonight i will be able to laminate this as well I plan to use the blanks off the back of an old computer to mount the volume circuit board.

Since I dont have the control panel art work yet as well I plan to at least wire things up and label it so that when I do get it the wiring will be good to go. I didnt get very far but i did at least get the ipac2 mounted and an idea of how I was going to wire it.

This is where I am at right now.....hopefully things will move along from here on out.

jeff

Seith · « **Reply #53 on:** September 10, 2012, 08:41:29 pm »

Interesting way to extend the volume knob... for what it's worth, this is how I did mine...

First, a shot of what I was working with, before I did anything with it:

Step 1: Take a soldering iron to the side of the PCB where the volume pot is soldered, and *carefully* heat the solder points while pulling slightly on the pot, removing each leg of the pot until it comes off of the board, like so:

Step 2: Cut equal lengths of wire (one for each lead) and strip the ends.
Step 3: Solder one end of each wire to the holes left in the PCB where the pot once was, and the other end of each wire to the corresponding leg of the pot. Your pot will look like this when done:

Step 4: Test that the solder job works by powering on the sound system and running an audio source to it:

Step 5: Drill a hole that will snugly fit the pot with its legs bent to point out the backside:

Step 6: Put the pots into the hole, adjust to where you want them to be. The best way to do this with a volume pot is to put the knob back on the end of it and turn it down to 0, then rotate the pot (which moves freely in the hole) until the notch on your knob is where you want 0 to be.

Step 7: Take two pieces of stiff flat cardboard (cereal box tops work best) and notch them with scissors as close to the width of the metal nub at the end of the pot as you can get, then position them on the surface, and tape them down. In my example, I put the knob on to ensure my pots didn't shift in the hole:

Step 8: Fill hole with Automotive Goop. This can be found at any auto body shop. I would recommend removing your volume knob if it is still on the pot. This stuff is very viscous and dries to a hard, black glossy rubber overnight, however, if it comes in contact with plastic it has a tendency to break down the polymers, making your knob less rigid and more flimsy. Once the goop is in your volume pot hole, it isn't going nowhere:

Step 9: Remove your cardboard masks, and clean up any residue on the front of the panel with an exacto:

The finished product:

This way, I can mount the PCB using feet to the backside of the board, instead of creating a mini shelf for it to be mounted onto (as it looks like you would have to do with your current solution)

not_so_handy · « **Reply #54 on:** September 11, 2012, 08:15:26 am »

wow that is a great break down of how to do this. You dont know how many hours I spent searching for how to do just that

Finally I broke down and did it this way.

I do plan on putting a metal bracket shelf in. I dont think my ability to use a solder iron would produced a very good end product though

My way does seem to work but if it falls apart at some point I may just revisit this.

not_so_handy · « **Reply #55 on:** September 11, 2012, 08:16:41 am »

Last night my buddy sent me the "almost" finished product for the marquee.

Have a look at let me know what you think.

not_so_handy · « **Reply #56 on:** September 11, 2012, 10:35:24 am »

So last night I also got around to finishing up the last of the laminate on the front of the cab. Tonight I hope to get the circuit board for the audio card mounted and the wiring down up for the speakers.

Seith · « **Reply #57 on:** September 11, 2012, 04:53:33 pm »

Quote from: not_so_handy on September 11, 2012, 08:15:26 am

wow that is a great break down of how to do this. You dont know how many hours I spent searching for how to do just that Finally I broke down and did it this way.

I do plan on putting a metal bracket shelf in. I dont think my ability to use a solder iron would produced a very good end product though

My way does seem to work but if it falls apart at some point I may just revisit this.

Metal bracket shelf, eh? Post pics when it's done, looking forward to seeing how you approach it.

Le Chuck · « **Reply #58 on:** September 11, 2012, 05:37:43 pm »

About the marquee, the "Forgotten" needs more headroom as it is going to look funny running all the way to the edge when nothing else does. Also, I'm not a huge fan of the "doom-esque" font and the yellow liquid background really doesn't go with the theme. The character drawings look good but the guy with the mace doesn't seem to have a lower body and is kind of floating in the back ground. I understand that it isn't complete yet but those would be things I would be bringing up the artist if it was me.

not_so_handy · « **Reply #59 on:** September 13, 2012, 11:27:26 am »

yes I have already spoken with him regarding the positioning of the lettering. I will have a chat with him regarding your other thoughts. Many thanks.

As for the metal shelf. I just used two of the blanks from the back of a computer and drilled a hole in them so that I could mount it to the wood. Then I tie wrapped the circuit board to the brackets and it holds it into place fairly well.

I am out of province at the moment and will take a pic of it when I get back next week.

not_so_handy · « **Reply #60 on:** December 04, 2012, 07:15:55 am »

ok its been a while and I finally got the marquee updated. What are the thoughts on this version?

PL1 · « **Reply #61 on:** December 04, 2012, 01:32:34 pm »

1. Knight's hand blends into the barbarian's chest area. Consider changing the barbarians chestplate color.

2. Barbarian on the left is holding his sword like he is going to slap someone with the flat of the blade instead of cutting them with the edge.

3. Where are the bow string and arrow?

Scott

not_so_handy · « **Reply #62 on:** March 03, 2013, 10:02:05 pm »

Its been a while since I have updated because I have been waiting on artwork. I finally gave up on my friend getting me anything and decided to try my hand with photoshop myself.

Thoughts?

I am not to happy with the feet area of the second image for the right side of the cabinet but the image i found that was decent enough quality of course there were no feet so I had to improvise.

PL1 · « **Reply #63 on:** March 03, 2013, 11:16:39 pm »

I can tell you horizontal-flipped the image of Dirk and Daphne.

They're both left-handed now.

As long as you're happy with the background color, the rest looks pretty good.

Scott

Ond · « **Reply #64 on:** March 04, 2013, 12:14:04 am »

Hmm this has potential, I mean I like it right away but, there's always a 'but'

. Some ideas (remember, just my opinions):

1. The text content lacks impact; consider making it larger and following the curve of the top of the cab or even more vertical text following the curve in front of the bezel. Maybe bolder drop shadow as well.

2. Consider a border that frames the art around the complete edges of the panel or alternatively a two tone (two stripes) just along the rear edge of the panel.

3. Maybe a drop shadow on the characters to lift them up a little from the starburst.

4. All the above but with Barbarian instead, this look great! I'd make the Barbarian even bigger and ground the ground i.e. move the ground he's standing on flush with the bottom of the panel so he doesn't float in space.

5. One final thing, lighten the star burst a fair bit you'll see the characters pop more and not get lost in all that orange. You can overlay a second almost white starburst over the yellow (still behind the characters) to achieve that as well.

I don't mind having a go at all my above blather if you want any help.

Edit: Also the Barbarian fits in with the name better, it has that Lost World/ The Land That People Forgot feel.

EMDB · « **Reply #65 on:** March 04, 2013, 02:34:55 am »

Very nice build so far but the artwork needs to be spiced up to meet the same level. I would use a much thicker font for starters. It should really stand out more.

not_so_handy · « **Reply #66 on:** March 04, 2013, 07:25:49 am »

Thanks Ond these are all some great suggestions that I will "attempt" to incorporate. Photoshop is a mew beast for me and I have been struggling theough things so far. I will post back with how I do.

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 2

not_so_handy · « **Reply #67 on:** March 04, 2013, 12:39:14 pm »

ok I made some changes to the right side artwork that has the barbarian in it. Better or worse?

You will notice that there is an outline on there. That is the actual roughly estimated outline for the cabinet. Since my cab isnt straight lines that are easily measured I had to put this outline in there so that I dont end up printing it off and finding that it doesnt match up in certain parts of the image.

Suggestions are DEFINITELY incouraged.

Still working on some backround coloring.

harveybirdman · « **Reply #68 on:** March 04, 2013, 09:40:06 pm »

Consider using some negative space or slick borders.

I'm sorry but your cab is too sweet looking to end up with less than perfect artwork.

Look at some actual sideart for some ideas.

So basically the idea is that the art doesn't feel up the entire space, consider Quantum or Centipede

Or what about some sweet borders like Liberator or Gauntlet?

heck even if you go simplistic like Golden Axe, it would be more appealing in my humble opinion.

Unstupid · « **Reply #69 on:** March 05, 2013, 03:40:46 am »

What's a Rom? I already forgot!

not_so_handy · « **Reply #70 on:** March 06, 2013, 10:23:48 am »

Going to get back to cleaning up some of the unfinished tasks I have on this cabinet this weekend.

I installed a coin door in this cab thinking that I could access the coinbox from that door and didnt need a seperate coin door. Well i can but I dont like it and of course a full size over under doesnt fit and I cant buy a small over under in my area so I bought just a happ door that I will put under the coin mech and use that to access the coins. Minor problem is that its not the same width as the coin mech so thats kind of annoying but hopefully it wont look to out of place.

Other issue is that I will have to move the current door up to fit the new one underneath so I think I will just start from scratch and build a whole new peice. This way just in case I dont like it in the end I can just swap them out.

I will post some pics of this on the weekend when I get it done.

Dekieon · « **Reply #71 on:** March 06, 2013, 04:33:48 pm »

Here is my suggestions... since you are calling it forgotten roms, you could use the forgotten Realms logo and reorganize it to read Forgotten Roms, since all the letters you need would be there.

For the side artwork...If it was me, I would use some of the amazing D&D artwork from the Jeff Easley, Clyde Caldwell, and Larry Elmore. Just use Vector magic on any of the artwork you download and you should be able to get some amazing results and end up with a kick ass machine.

Ond · « **Reply #72 on:** March 06, 2013, 04:58:43 pm »

I'm helping out on the sideart, nice suggestion on the forgotten realms font.

Le Chuck · « **Reply #73 on:** March 06, 2013, 05:27:44 pm »

Quote from: Dekieon on March 06, 2013, 04:33:48 pm

Here is my suggestions... since you are calling it forgotten roms, you could use the forgotten Realms logo and reorganize it to read Forgotten Roms, since all the letters you need would be there.

For the side artwork...If it was me, I would use some of the amazing D&D artwork from the Jeff Easley, Clyde Caldwell, and Larry Elmore. Just use Vector magic on any of the artwork you download and you should be able to get some amazing results and end up with a kick ass machine.

Vector magic works for you? I get horrendous unusable results with that program. I either end up drawing it myself or leave it in raster and upscale and clean until I get a useable file. Any tips?

not_so_handy · « **Reply #74 on:** March 06, 2013, 05:57:24 pm »

Yes Ond is giving my side art a go and I am pretty pumped to see what he comes up with.

Oddly enough I used the name based on Forgotten Realms but I never went any further. I was pretty focused on just throwing in a mix of Medieval characters with that kind of font. Which is kind of close to the Forgotten Realms font as it is.

Dekieon · « **Reply #75 on:** March 06, 2013, 09:50:28 pm »

Quote from: Le Chuck on March 06, 2013, 05:27:44 pm

Quote from: Dekieon on March 06, 2013, 04:33:48 pm
Here is my suggestions... since you are calling it forgotten roms, you could use the forgotten Realms logo and reorganize it to read Forgotten Roms, since all the letters you need would be there.

For the side artwork...If it was me, I would use some of the amazing D&D artwork from the Jeff Easley, Clyde Caldwell, and Larry Elmore. Just use Vector magic on any of the artwork you download and you should be able to get some amazing results and end up with a kick ass machine.

Vector magic works for you? I get horrendous unusable results with that program. I either end up drawing it myself or leave it in raster and upscale and clean until I get a useable file. Any tips?

Well for me, I find the higher the resolution of the raster image the better the vector image will be. Also if something doesn't look good enough, go back and choose some different settings. For most things I choose Photograph->high->unlimited colours.

not_so_handy · « **Reply #76 on:** March 11, 2013, 01:01:40 pm »

i had a quick question for what everyone else does for screwing down their controllers. I have a j-stick and after a couple days of use the screws that attach the plate to the stick come loose. Is this a common problem or is this just me and how I play? I dont want to put my laminate down on the CP and then have the screws come loose.

Drnick · « **Reply #77 on:** March 11, 2013, 04:40:12 pm »

Just typed a bunch of stuff up and then looked through your photos. I think you are doing it wrong.

Looking at the pictures you have put 4 holes round the Joystick hole, these are not for mounting the sticks. The holes around the outer edge of the plate are for mounting. Your screws are no longer biting into the plastic of the housing. I did this with my zippy's and they did the same thing. Once I used the outer mouting holes it was all good. If you have chewed up the plastic so the screws do not hold even when tightened up fully from the plate then you will want some kind of plastic filler to help the screws bind.

Grrr, ignore all of above for a bit. I see outer mountings so what are the holes around the joystick for, if the screws are going through the wood using these holes then answer above is still sort of valid.

not_so_handy · « **Reply #78 on:** March 11, 2013, 10:57:01 pm »

The outer screws mount the plate to the wood. The inner screws attach the plate to the joystick to hold it in place.

not_so_handy · « **Reply #79 on:** March 11, 2013, 11:04:59 pm »

I also managed to get the change door installed tonight so I dont have to go through the coin mech anymore for change. Which was a pain in the butt with all the wires getting caught.

I also got the CP clamps installed so the CP is now secured to the cabinet as well. Next up is to finish securing the inside parts.


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