The Grid, Koenig clone...TRON themed

[zato1ch1]

Hi guys. Been lurking here for over a year and now I've got the motivation and spare time to knock out the build that I've been thinking about for so long. This is my first scratch built cab, but not my first MAME cab...years ago I used to have a converted old Exidy SPECTAR cab. I'm a huge fan of the subtle elegance of Koenig's designs, and my cab will be very very close to his Project Mame, though scaled up in height (I'm 6'3"), and t-molded.
http://www.koenigs.dk/mame/eng/
The cab will be TRON themed, with a "blue vs. red" concept, and the art is inspired heavily by the awesome graphic design of Brandon Shaefer, http://www.seekandspeak.com/
as well as the vector artwork printed on the orginal Tron cab. I'm currently mocking up the art for all of the panels, and I'll post those in this thread within the week. This cab is really inspired by TRON art, not so much the game, so ironically, I don't think I will be going with a blacklight, Tron stick, or even a spinner. I agonized over this, and decided that what I really want is a small, sleek 2 player 6 button control setup...

[zato1ch1]

I went to price lumber yesterday, and assumed I was going to go with MDF, but it's way more expensive than I remember! $40 for a sheet of 4X8! So, apparently the price of MDF (at least in my area, Raleigh NC) has gone up more that 100%. I used to get the stuff for $17!! The guy said it was due to lack of supply from Chile due to the earthquakes...OK, then. They had cabinet grade plywood, with 1 good side, and I was really surprised at the finish of the good side, really smooth to the touch, for only $29 a sheet. I'm thinking, why not go with the ply? Lighter, stronger...I mean, I like how easy MDF is to sand and finish...but for that price...dunno, any advice out there?

[alfonzotan]

I went to price lumber yesterday, and assumed I was going to go with MDF, but it's way more expensive than I remember! $40 for a sheet of 4X8! So, apparently the price of MDF (at least in my area, Raleigh NC) has gone up more that 100%. I used to get the stuff for $17!! The guy said it was due to lack of supply from Chile due to the earthquakes...OK, then. They had cabinet grade plywood, with 1 good side, and I was really surprised at the finish of the good side, really smooth to the touch, for only $29 a sheet. I'm thinking, why not go with the ply? Lighter, stronger...I mean, I like how easy MDF is to sand and finish...but for that price...dunno, any advice out there?

I went with the B/C grade plywood myself, but I laminated the exterior, so the wood surface quality wasn't critical in my case (the "B" surface is actually on the inside of my cab).  Love the light weight, though.

[zato1ch1]

So is the good, smooth side of cabinet plywood considered "A" grade? I hoped to skip on the cost of laminate, because I'm planning to fully wrap the cab in vinyl graphics, so you won't really see any of the painted surfaces. I know the vinyl is quite thin compared to laminate, however, and I really don't want to see any of the wood texture on the finished product...

[alfonzotan]

So is the good, smooth side of cabinet plywood considered "A" grade? I hoped to skip on the cost of laminate, because I'm planning to fully wrap the cab in vinyl graphics, so you won't really see any of the painted surfaces. I know the vinyl is quite thin compared to laminate, however, and I really don't want to see any of the wood texture on the finished product...

Well, if it's labeled A/(whatever), then yeah, that should be the case.

Laminate is really not that expensive if there's a WilsonArt distributor anywhere near you.  I want to say a 4x8 sheet was around $30 when I bought direct a year or so back, and it looks great.  Then again, you'll also need a flush trim router bit to really make it work...

[zato1ch1]

Been working on some artz. Keep in mind, this is rough work...still any input is appreciated. Too busy? Corneas burning? Player 2 side of the cab will be just like the other, only red. Also plan to use the CDR buttons from groovygamegear.com, one blue, one red.

[Santoro]

LOVE the artwork.  Sure it's busy...  but it's consistent will all other things Tron I have seen and looks amazing.   

[zato1ch1]

LOVE the artwork.  Sure it's busy...  but it's consistent will all other things Tron I have seen and looks amazing.   

Thanks! High praise from you, I LOVE your slim cab.

[Le Chuck]

Art is looking great.  I think a wireless trigger stick mod would be pretty sweet on it cough cough.  Now you just have to come to your senses about the spinner 

[zato1ch1]

Art is looking great.  I think a wireless trigger stick mod would be pretty sweet on it cough cough.  Now you just have to come to your senses about the spinner  

Weeelll, (thanks btw  ) now I'm starting to think that I need the spinner. Just don't know about placement. If you look at the cp image, I threw one up top and center just for giggles, but won't that be too close to the bezel? How much clearance around a spinner knob is preferable for it to be ergonomic? If I could fit one, and not have the cp too crowded I would, I really like most spinner games, esp. Arkanoid and Discs of Tron...

...and what pray is this wireless trigger stick you speak of?

[Le Chuck]

Art is looking great.  I think a wireless trigger stick mod would be pretty sweet on it cough cough.  Now you just have to come to your senses about the spinner  

Weeelll, (thanks btw  ) now I'm starting to think that I need the spinner. Just don't know about placement. If you look at the cp image, I threw one up top and center just for giggles, but won't that be too close to the bezel? How much clearance around a spinner knob is preferable for it to be ergonomic? If I could fit one, and not have the cp too crowded I would, I really like most spinner games, esp. Arkanoid and Discs of Tron...

...and what pray is this wireless trigger stick you speak of?

Depends on the angle coming off your CP, I think it's currently a bit high but you don't need all kinds of room for a spinner to feel okay.  If you shifted P2 over a tad you could bring the spinner down 1/2 inch or so and I think that would get you in the clear for everything. 

Check out: http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Wireless_Hot-swappable_Trigger_Stick_Mod

You can use a GGG real TRON stick as the housing too, you'll just have to deal with seeing the guts but if done right that could be cool in and of itself.

[zato1ch1]

Check out: http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Wireless_Hot-swappable_Trigger_Stick_Mod

You can use a GGG real TRON stick as the housing too, you'll just have to deal with seeing the guts but if done right that could be cool in and of itself.

This might just be my solution here, thanks! I have an old MS Sidewinder, could I just hack that and recase it with the GGG tron stick housing? Man, that's great! Best of both worlds!

[Le Chuck]

This might just be my solution here, thanks! I have an old MS Sidewinder, could I just hack that and recase it with the GGG tron stick housing? Man, that's great! Best of both worlds!

You could but that would be a different project, like an add-on flight yoke with a TRON handle mod.  I used a flight yoke just to get the handle off and tossed the rest then dropped a wireless clicker in it to send the trigger signal.  The directional signals come from the on CP joy. 

[zato1ch1]

This might just be my solution here, thanks! I have an old MS Sidewinder, could I just hack that and recase it with the GGG tron stick housing? Man, that's great! Best of both worlds!

You could but that would be a different project, like an add-on flight yoke with a TRON handle mod.  I used a flight yoke just to get the handle off and tossed the rest then dropped a wireless clicker in it to send the trigger signal.  The directional signals come from the on CP joy.  

Unnecessary now that I think about it, I looked through your builds again, and this is probably what I'm going to do, hack the laser pointer as you did to harvest the clicker and recase it into the Tron stick housing. (Don't think the visible guts will look that ugly...I'll repost the link for the pointer that you supplied just in case it helps anyone else reading. Thanks man! http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004I4LYRC/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&m=AL7LHK6Q9LVTS

Are you happy with the performance? Is there any input lag that you've noticed?

[Le Chuck]

No lag, happy as a clam.  Used it last night during drunken Cinco do Mayo feats of arcading

[matsadona]

Just curious, why are you going with that red, and not the orange as the opposing color like in the movie?

[lcmgadgets]

For the little my opinion is worth, I think the artwork looks great. Busy, but appropriately so. Of course, I loved Tron, Tron Legacy, and the related games, so maybe I'm biased.

...Duh, what's the Koenig clone?

[zato1ch1]

Just curious, why are you going with that red, and not the orange as the opposing color like in the movie?

Blue is for good programs, red is for eviiil. There was some orange in the 1982 movie though. And yellow and green apparently...got this from wikipedia:

"The original script called for "good" programmes to be colored yellow and "evil" programmes (those loyal to Sark and the MCP) to be colored blue. Partway into production, this coloring scheme was changed to blue for good and red for evil, but some scenes were produced using the original coloring scheme: Clu, who drives a tank, has yellow circuit lines, and all of Sark's tank commanders are blue (but appear green in some presentations). Also, the light-cycle sequence shows the heroes driving yellow (Flynn), orange (Tron) and red (Ram) cycles, while Sark's troops drive blue cycles; similarly, Clu's tank is red, while tanks driven by crews loyal to Sark are blue."

For the little my opinion is worth, I think the artwork looks great. Busy, but appropriately so. Of course, I loved Tron, Tron Legacy, and the related games, so maybe I'm biased.

...Duh, what's the Koenig clone?

Thanks. Just means that I'm following Koenig's Project Mame plans for my build http://www.koenigs.dk/mame/eng/. He posts as "lokesen" on this board.

[lcmgadgets]

Figured it had to b a project. Just couldn't find it in a search. That's my story & I'm sticking to it.

...Nice looking machines at that link. I'm very, very, very slowly working towards a modded Ghost in the Machine clone myself (did I say very slowly?). So far, I've got most of the controls, a lot of ideas, & some drawings & a few plans. Some day when I've finished my google sketchup I'll post my project announcement, & maybe in 10 years or so...

[crashwg]

Love the artwork with one exception, the machine title "Grid" is too small on the sideart.  I have no suggestions on where to put it for enlargement but thought I'd share my opinion anyway.

[matsadona]

Blue is for good programs, red is for eviiil. There was some orange in the 1982 movie though.

Yes, you are right. I was so in to the color scheme from Tron Legacy that I forgot it was red in the original movie. I think need to watch it again soon

[walterg74]

So I'm trying to start my project, and being that I don't seem to have the skills to design my own, I wanted to try to follow Koening's too, but..

Seeing I don't have an LCD monitor to use, and I do have a perfectly fine 20" CRT monitor, I wanted to use that instead, but this cab is too thin to fit that....

would it be enough to just extend de depth of the back by the necessary amount? (and also extend the "depth" sides os any such running parts by the same amount?

Also, has anyone seen his plans on the site? there is just one measurement that does not seem right (but I'm probably missing something...) it's the one labeled "Bottom" (or "Buttom" as he wrote it). The width is ok at 600mm, which is the width of the cabinet, but the lenght/depth seems to be much too big! I mean, the cab has 500 mm at the base, so how can this part be 565 mm?  Am I missing something or is that just wrong?

[Silas (son of Silas)]

...Duh, what's the Koenig clone?

Lokesen on this forum who's real name is Rasmus Kønig Sørensen (see pic below) built the original and quite a few people (including me) copied his original. Each with it's own tweaks. In my case I did a full laminate job and made my cp from brushed stainless steel.  

[Silas (son of Silas)]

BTW .... loving this thread, but I guess I am biased