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The Complete Noob's First Project Thread - (No Theme/Name yet...)
walterg74:
Ok, sorry for the abscence but had a lot of stuff going on, still did several things on the cab, but before that...
@PL1: Scott, thanks a lot for the above! Now let me see if I understand, since this is the last major item I need to fix that's really important...
From the plate, to where the battop starts what you said is about right, it's about 30mm of shaft approximately.
Regarding the metal "bars" tohold everything, do you mean something like this?
That's what I understand the "green" would be.
Now what I don't get is what exactly the threaded inserts are or why I need them...
What I planned to do (if I got your green bar idea correctly), is to get 2 pieces of wood of the size I "ate away" from the control pannel (about 9mm), rectangular shape, and place them over the sides of the metal plate as if filling the hole.
Then get the two metal strips and drill 2 holes on each side, from the control square outwards (the red things in my lame picture touch-up right above), and tighten it to the CP, holding everything in place.
Wouldn't that do? From the top of the CP piece, up to where the microswitch contacs are, I have about a good 15mm, so lots of space to cable it.
Can you share your thoughts or elaborate??
Thanks!! :cheers:
walterg74:
Ok, while I wait for the solution to the Joystick dilemma.... let's continue with some progres...
Last we saw was the priming and about to paint.
So I went on and painted/sanded/painted/sanded, etc... for a total of 3 coats. Results were not the best but for a first time I decided it was acceptable for me and called it a day. The pics are not very good, and it actually looks nicer in person, but here are some anyway without anything added:
For the artwork, at least for now, I just decied to use a multi/character sideart found at the library, and the classic MAME logo. Had it done at a local place, and this is how it looks so far:
And the marquee...
Then came the monitor, which was silver bezeled but not anymore after removing it and painting it a little black...
And in the cab...
I then tried to see if it was working and all after all my messing around... ::)
Next, testing MAME just for kicks....
:cheers:
walterg74:
Ok, continuing with the testing, rotating on the laptop to see how the display showed games...
And some side shots... :)
Ok, so cool :) But my machine's empty inside... :hissy:
So... since this will be running old games, no need for much power, I wanted to use a spare mother/cpu/mem combo I had lying around, but there was a problem... it wouldnot fit! (standard ATX size) so... had to go hunting for one, buy one...
Long story short, I ended up buying this old ITX Pentium 4 combo. ITX, Pentium 4 2.8Ghz, 1GB RAM. Not a power house, but for running Ms. Pac-Man and Donkey Kong? No sweat...
With this small size factor PSU to go....
Ok what else...? Ah! I needed something to hold the marquee... Long story short again, I bought a long strip of black angle PVC, which for this short length and the small marquee size is more than enough! Already painted, easy to work and it won't lose the colour... Plus, one side is smaller than the other as to take less away from the marquee showing...
Here's a pic fitting the components:
I Put feet on the Mobo, but still, didn't know how to get it to not move around, so here's a little rudimentary holding, just for now....
Ok, that's all I got so far! I am currently installing XP on this, and while I am at it, can you recommend a nice frontend for this?? Nice looking but not too powerfull in terms of needed resources, and remember I'm only going to run old arcade games here....
Also, how do you guys set your machines up? Change the XP boot screen? Tweak things for faster bootup? Tips? Tricks?
Almost there...
Thanks!!! :cheers:
walterg74:
--- Quote from: PL1 ---
--- End quote ---
Hey Scott! Just quoting you to draw attention so you can answer my question on your previous comment ;D
Also, anyone have suggestions for the frontend?? I started experimenting with hyperspin until I realized it doesn't support vertical setups :(
I'm toying around with mamewah and Mala, but don't like them 100%... anything I'm missing or any better options for a vertical cab ???
PL1:
--- Quote from: walterg74 on October 12, 2012, 05:53:54 pm ---
--- Quote from: PL1 ---
--- End quote ---
Hey Scott! Just quoting you to draw attention so you can answer my question on your previous comment ;D
--- End quote ---
D'Oh! Sorry, got wrapped up in finishing another project at that time and I must not have scrolled up far enough to see this earlier question:
--- Quote from: walterg74 on October 08, 2012, 02:46:21 pm ---Regarding the metal "bars" tohold everything, do you mean something like this?
That's what I understand the "green" would be.
--- End quote ---
You've got the right location(directly over the hole in the joystick mounting plate), but you'll want the metal braces to be about an inch longer so you are solidly into the MDF like on my diagram.
--- Quote from: walterg74 on October 08, 2012, 02:46:21 pm ---Now what I don't get is what exactly the threaded inserts are or why I need them...
--- End quote ---
Two reasons for the inserts;
1. Regular wood screw threads don't have enough surface area to hold solidly in MDF and will work loose over time as you push and pull on the joystick.
2. Removing and reinstalling wood screws in MDF to work on your panel will chew up the fibers and strip out the screw hole.
The inserts have a wider, flatter area on the outer threads and you can remove and reinstall the machine screws hundreds of times without damaging or stripping the surrounding MDF fibers.
Also, I like to design/build things that I can field strip and reassemble whenever needed.
--- Quote from: walterg74 on October 08, 2012, 02:46:21 pm ---What I planned to do (if I got your green bar idea correctly), is to get 2 pieces of wood of the size I "ate away" from the control pannel (about 9mm), rectangular shape, and place them over the sides of the metal plate as if filling the hole.
Then get the two metal strips and drill 2 holes on each side, from the control square outwards (the red things in my lame picture touch-up right above), and tighten it to the CP, holding everything in place.
Wouldn't that do? From the top of the CP piece, up to where the microswitch contacs are, I have about a good 15mm, so lots of space to cable it.
--- End quote ---
Sounds like you've got it. I only used 3 inserts per side because I figured that the two screws between the lower inserts would only have to be tightened once.
Once you have your filler piece (blue) cut to the proper thickness, attach it to the metal piece (green), then mark/drill/insert/attach that to the joystick mounting plate(gray) and mark/drill the holes for the lower two inserts (red).
Hope this helps.
Scott
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