Rad Mobile Cab for my MAME machine

[Mat]

I got this for $25 today on Craigslist.  It doesn't have a monitor, but that doesn't really matter since it's gonna get MAMEed.  I figure I'll just remove the driving CP and build one with joysticks and buttons to put in it's place.

The same guy also sold me two NOS Happ Ultimate Joysticks for $15 and six NOS Happ buttons for $9.  If you're in Houston he's got a bunch more in blue, yellow, red, and black plus a ton of cabinets for sale in varying states of completeness.

[mytymaus007]

Nice find $25 good deal! Why not make it DRIVING MAME cab!! Since you got the pedals built in!! Is it a 360 wheel or 270 i never played that game before!!!. I didnt think you can fit an arcade cab in a jeep. Was the seat already out or did you pull it out for the pick up!! Used to have a jeep Wrangler Miss that thing lots a fun!!

[Mat]

There's a lot more joystick games that I wanna play than driving games.  I'm not gonna permanently alter anything so I can always do that in the future.

The wheel is a 270º Happ model.  The back seat was removed.  There's no way it woulda worked with it in. 

[paigeoliver]

I toss my vote in for building it as a driver too. Chances are very high you will be able to snag a decent joystick style cabinet before you even finish the driving cab. I have literally been picking up 2 a week on craigslist for some time now.

That one doesn't look like it will cleanly alter to a joystick panel the way a Pole Position will.

[Well Fed Games]

I toss my vote in for building it as a driver too. Chances are very high you will be able to snag a decent joystick style cabinet before you even finish the driving cab.

That one doesn't look like it will cleanly alter to a joystick panel the way a Pole Position will.

+1... driving controls, in good shape... I usually say do whatever you want, but a $25 driving cab that is most of the way there, you might have a real prize on your hands!

[Mat]

Eventually I probably will make it a driving cab, but for now I'm gonna put a joystick CP on it.  I'm in school so money and space is at a minimum.  I'm doing one cab and I'm doing it as cheaply as possible.

I removed the driving panel and replaced it with a wooden panel made from scrap wood I had laying around.  It mounts using the stock hardware and will fold down and bolt up just like the original.  No permanent changes are being made so the old panel can be swapped back in in minutes.  I'm going to use this panel as a base on which to mount a near-horizontal control panel with the joysticks.

It's not gonna be the cleanest setup, but it will work.  I'd prefer some of the cuts to be a little straighter, but I don't have a table saw so I'm eyeballing it with a jigsaw.  In the future when I have more money, tools, and an actual garage to work in I'll make something a lot nicer.

I added some pics of the button layout I'm going with.  The six left-most buttons are the standard 1-6.  The odd one on the right will be a second button 4 for use with Neo-Geo games.

[paigeoliver]

With that kind of angle I suggest using the Happ Universal joystick. They return to center very well even in completely vertical applications. I used one on a Space Firebird mini that had a near vertical panel and it worked great.

[Mat]

I never intended to start a build thread but I guess that's what's happening.  I decided that last setup was way too ghetto so I went for something a little nicer.

I got a sheet of 1/2" MDF and threw this together.  It's held up by a stool in the pic cause the crappy hardware store by my house has been out of 10-24 nuts for the last week or so.  I'm gonna add some supports inside to strengthen it up a little and may even get all fancy and cover it in some vinyl or something.  I really wanna drill the holes but it's getting late...

[paigeoliver]

Push down on that panel with a bit of force, if the cabinet wants to lean forward then it will be a safety hazard.

[Mat]

It's not going anywhere.  The CP only extends about two inches beyond the base of the cab.

[BadMouth]

Much better.  Looks comfortable.

[mytymaus007]

  Did you spend over $25 yet! the initial cost of the cab let the spending begin OH Goodie Goodie! Keep it up you ll be happy Its already 4 days later and you have that much done!!

[Mat]

I already had an encoder and some buttons.  The biggest expenditure so far has been the joysticks and buttons I got from the guy who sold me the cab.  Other than that I spent about $15 on the MDF and miscellaneous hardware.  Today I picked up a CRT monitor that the engineering school was throwing out.  I just have to drill the button holes, wire it, mount the monitor, and plug in my old laptop.  And oh yea, I still need some 10-24 nuts and 8mm bolts to mount the CP.

[Mat]

Got the monitor installed.  It'd be nice if the screen was bigger, but the price was right.

[Mat]

I picked up a set of PC speakers on sale at Microcenter for $20 the other day.  I made mounting plates out of cardboard and taped the speakers to them with blue tape.  Then I screwed the cardboard down using the factory speaker screws.

After swapping out the rubber feet for a set of shorter ones, the subwoofer fit perfectly inside the coin box like it was made for it.  I taped a few sheets of paper around it to protect it and to make it a tight fit.  With the coin door closed the bass actually hits a little harder.

I know it's kind of a ghetto set up, but I only plan on using this cab for MAME till I graduate and get a job, then I'll get to work on a custom cab.

[Mat]

Got my joysticks and buttons installed.  I spaced the 1 and 2 player controls as far apart as the panel would allow to try to avoid rubbing shoulders.  Unfortunately, the left joystick is too close to the edge of the panel so a new, wider panel is likely soon.

[Well Fed Games]

Can you slow down your progress a bit? It is making me self-conscious about my projects collecting dust. 

[PL1]

. . . collecting dust . . .

I think we both have the same problem.

We're collecting it instead of making it.   


Scott

[paigeoliver]

Some years back in the old days when you could get $600-$700 for a mame cabinet at superauctions I decided I wanted to bring a cabinet to superauctions in order to make a few bucks to buy some dedicated games. It was noon on friday when I decided that. The auction was the next morning and I didn't even have a cabinet to work with. I got home from home depot at 1 PM with my supplies and by the time I went to bed at midnight the cabinet was built, mame gear installed, software set up and the paint was drying on it. it sold for $650 that next morning.

Can you slow down your progress a bit? It is making me self-conscious about my projects collecting dust. 

[Mat]

Haha, I think I'm mostly done.  Hope that makes ya feel a little better.  I'm probably just gonna do some small touch up stuff in the foreseeable future.

[paigeoliver]

It really doesn't take long if you have everything you need in front of you and actually WORK on it. Projects take months when you order your parts one at a time and spend more time posting than working! 

Haha, I think I'm mostly done.  Hope that makes ya feel a little better.  I'm probably just gonna do some small touch up stuff in the foreseeable future.

[Mat]

Fortunately I didn't have to wait for any parts to come in.  I sourced everything locally except the encoder which I bought months ago for this: