Arcade Emulation Cabinet project: Super Arcade. [COMPLETED]

[Wade007]

I've been working on the software side of my arcade cabinet project for the last 6 months and am just about ready to begin the actual cabinet building itself.
I've got all the best arcade emulators working smoothly with Mala. Thanks a lot to this forum for help.

I posted an entire blog article on what I've done so far with the software and Mala frontend on my site.
This is part ONE. Check it out here and let me know your thoughts:
http://www.cheapskategamer.com/pc_game_stories_and_news/building-an-arcade-emulation-cabinetpart-one-software/

This is my first cabinet project. My arcade cabinet will likely be based around an X-Arcade Tankstick with Trackball using a modified design found here:
http://www.arcadecab.com/Intro.htm
http://www.arcadecab.com/CabinetPlans2/CabinetPlans2_Background.html

I have a buddy that owns a cabinet making shop who says he'll help me with tools and the initial cut-outs but I'm having a hard time getting my plans on his cutter. My goal is to get this project done by Christmas. Not sure if that possible. I'll keep you all posted!!

[Wade007]

Small update to my project announcement:

I should be cutting out my side tomorrow on a professional cutter. I would have cut them out sooner but I was waiting for my buddy to clear time in his shop.

In the meantime I created some side art to match "hopefully" the marquee. See attached here.

I wanted to create VECTOR artwork (mathematically defined, scalable, super sharp) customized for my cabinet's sides.
I did some research on the real side art of the most of the major arcade classics and then found a couple of EXCELLENT vector arcade graphic sources that were of great help:
http://vectorlib.free.fr/
http://arcadeartlibrary.com/arcade_art/categories.php?cat_id=10&sessionid=220d5602bff6c75d40581ec4d6978b8e

I cleaned up much of the vector art to focus on the characters rather than the titles. If anyone is interested in my cleaned up versions, let me know.
See attached for screenshot examples of what I used.

Some good "Arcade fonts" are found here:
http://www.fontspace.com/category/arcade
http://mirrors.arcadecontrols.com/OscarControls/fonts.htm

Also found great inspiration and information from this site; Project X:
http://sachi.sytes.net/techblog/

Thanks to David Dahlstrom for his informative report and images! His site (above) along with arcadecab.com are my top two "go-to" sites for building details.

I'll post more detail to my blogsite as time goes on:
http://www.cheapskategamer.com/pc_game_stories_and_news/building-an-arcade-emulation-cabinetpart-one-software/

[ccmathome]

Please don't put all this time into making a cab and slap on a xarcade controller on it, it never looks good

Sent from my SCH-M828C using Tapatalk 2

[Wade007]

Point taken but as this is my first build, I need to keep it cheap and somewhat easy to build. I already had an X-Arcade tankstick so I thought it would be cheaper and easier to build a cabinet around it. All the wiring and whatnot for a new control panel seems daunting to me.
My idea is to complete this build and then upgrade or re-do the controller at a later date.

[ccmathome]

Wiring a cp is probably the easiest part of building a cab. I'd sell the xarcade and buy an ipac2 and controls.

Sent from my SCH-M828C using Tapatalk 2

[BadMouth]

Christmas is a pretty tight deadline.  I'm not a big fan of dropping the tankstick into a cab either, but all the decisions that go into a CP will slow you down bigtime.

Another good source for fonts is the Virtual Pinball package:
http://www.pinballnirvana.com/UpDownload-req-viewsdownload-sid-5.html

There is a lot of them in there.  I spend a lot of time just cycling through fonts trying to decide what to use.

[Typefighter01]

Hey Wade (thats my name too BTW) I like some of your side art, but I am not a big fan of sprinkling arcade characters around and having them just float in space. A suggestion maybe, move the "Super Arcade name up higher and enlarge it . Then under the cab name start a collage from the center out using the direction of each image as a guide as to where to place them. Pick a character looking head on and then start laying down others around it that face other directions. If the Pole Position car is facing south/east, then place it there etc. I would enlarge them to the point where they are overlaping the border and each other. Maybe even leave the cab name where it is and make a miny collage above it and a bigger one below it. Just a friendly suggestion, other than that it looks good....

[Wade007]

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll give it some thought. 

[griffindodd]

All the wiring and whatnot for a new control panel seems daunting to me.

I felt this way too at the beginning of my project, I bought a tank stick and returned it a few days later. Control panels are nothing more than two wires coming from each switch (ground and live) and screwing into a control board that connects to your PC via USB, that's it. It just looks crazy because there are so many buttons, joysticks etc.

I will have to agree with everyone else, make your own controller, you will be glad you did.

[Wade007]

Just wanted to jump in here to post a photo or two of my progress on my cabinet. Let me know your thoughts.

See attached for photos of my current MAME cabinet including a close-up of my immediate concern.

I'm a bit stuck on how to mount the plexiglass front relative to the speaker panel.

Some seem to run the speaker panel on top of the front plexiglass (arcadecab.com) but I'm not sure how you then secure it at the top so it won't move forward. How is it held up at the bottom?

How did you get the bottom marquee retainer to clamp on a non-90 degree joint?

I've seen another idea on the web relative to  mounting the plexiglass. See attached "pleximounting.gif". It seems to show using the speaker panel as a front support for the top of the plexiglass and then placing something (L-bracket?) behind it as a back support. The plexiglass would travel upward and behind the speaker panel. This seems to go against what was done at arcadecab.com which I'm using as a guide. What do you think of this solution relative to what you've done?

Thanks all 

[matt4949]

Hey Wade (thats my name too BTW) I like some of your side art, but I am not a big fan of sprinkling arcade characters around and having them just float in space. A suggestion maybe, move the "Super Arcade name up higher and enlarge it . Then under the cab name start a collage from the center out using the direction of each image as a guide as to where to place them. Pick a character looking head on and then start laying down others around it that face other directions. If the Pole Position car is facing south/east, then place it there etc. I would enlarge them to the point where they are overlaping the border and each other. Maybe even leave the cab name where it is and make a miny collage above it and a bigger one below it. Just a friendly suggestion, other than that it looks good....

I agree. Also the control panel is one of the easier parts of a build and alot of people don't care for the look of the TankStick but dont worry bout it just build what makes you happy.

[edekoning]

Have a look at my build on how I mounted the bezel and plexiglass: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,119175.msg1295871.html#msg1295871

I just took a spare wood beam, routed out a channel for the bezel+plexi to sit in. Then I mounted the beam using 4 l-brackets. The bezel sits flush against the monitor and rests on the beam. The speaker panel is mounted flush against the bezel+plexi.

[Wade007]

Thanks edekoning for your input. I took a look at your design. Interesting solution. I'll definitely consider it.
Nice cabinet by the way. Excellent work.

[Wade007]

FYI, I just created a new intro movie for my Mala frontend. It's a derivative work of "MAME Arcade" by Dave Dries. I re-editted the higher resolution footage and dropped in my Super Arcade logo at the end:

[Wade007]

Thought I'd check in to give a brief update. My cabinet project has been going slow but is currently at a standstill since I just had surgery on my right foot. I can't put any weight on it for 6 weeks so I won't be able to get back to my cabinet project till the first of next year. 

I'm still very committed, but it's going to take a bit more time than I had planned.

In the meantime take a look at the attached photo.

[BadMouth]

It's a shame you set up the software first or you could be working on that. 
There is always fine tuning to do. 
You could explore alternative artwork, even if you don't end up using it.

[rCadeGaming]

Sorry to hear about your foot.  I hope you're back on it soon.

I'd have to agree with the sentiments about the tank stick.  Not only does it look bad, but the parts are Chinese knockoffs of Happ/iL stuff.  The button layout is pretty bad too.

[Wade007]

I'll probably end up redoing the control panel with a couple of Ultimarc U360 joysticks, trackball, spinner, buttons etc once I get this cabinet done using the X-Arcade Tankstick to get rolling. Shouldn't be too much of a big deal to just cut off two front retaining pieces used for the tankstick and then attach a custom control panel to my cabinet. 

[Wade007]

Hi everyone,
I'm back again working on my project!

I just barely got back to working on it. As you remember I had surgery on my foot and was out of action for nearly two months.
I’m now walking again and started back at the wood shop last week. I was there the last two days late working on more details. Slow but steady progress. I think my cabinet is coming along quite nicely. I’m just about ready to paint!! I even have a vinyl shop standing by to do my side artwork.

I’ve recently built the controller box support and the sliding keyboard drawer. Last night I cut out the speaker and coin mechanism holes. I'm cutting the back panel vents out today. See attached photos. Let me know your thoughts.

While I was unable to walk I decided to add Visual Pinball to my software emulation line-up. Got lured in by the possibility to play Baby Pac-Man.

I found a great wrapper for Mala from Howard_Casto but I'm having some troubles getting it to be 100% cab-ready because I'm trying to tweak an AHK script to remap some keys while the wrapper runs. If anyone has the inclination to take a look at my code and situation, see here:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,130016.0.html

[Wade007]

Still making solid progress on "Super Arcade". Slow but steady.
Just finished doing the priming for the deluxe paint job. Photos attached. That's me in the light green shirt. 
I had to take apart and pull off many of the main boards and completed components like the drawer before painting. Painted those separately from the main cabinet.
My son Tyson helped me. Shown in the last photo of the completed cabinet priming.

I'm lucky to have access to a professional wood shop and painting station with air paint gun. Tonight's plan is to begin the first coat of solid black paint!
I've been at this project now for a solid year! I started the software collection and organization a year ago this month. What a journey!

Shown here are photos of myself air blowing the last micro-bits of sawdust after sanding in the painting bay, priming a single board component (one of many), priming the cabinet section and finally the final cabinet all completed with two coats of priming paint. 

[Wade007]

Black paint is on!!

I painted the main cabinet structure and the removed boards black last night. Looks pretty good I think!!
See attached pics. Top coat will likely happen before the week it out. I'll be submitting my side art to a vinyl printer this week as well!!

[BadMouth]

Looks good. 

It's nice to have a work space like that.

[Wade007]

Thanks BadMouth for chiming in.

Yes, it's a HUGE help to have a space like this to work in. I really lucked out.
I have a friend who owns a cabinet making business. He's been letting me work in his professional wood shop with all the professional level tools and toys. I get to ask questions and get help from other professional woodworkers as well. It's been awesome.

It also helped that my friend was an "Asteroids" addict when he was a kid.  He's excited to see me finish the project.

[kahlid74]

Very nice man and I second the good workspace.  Keep up the good work, can't wait to see the finished product.

[Wade007]

Finished the rear power cable output area and the T-molding last night...

[Wade007]

Had a good weekend of work on the project. New photos attached below.

• I completed the back panels with handles for easy removal
• Installed the speakers using velcro on the front side of them. Used speaker fabric to help obscure speaker visibility from the front.
• Installed speaker grills on the outside.
• Created a speaker light tent using the special fabric used by hotels on their curtains to block 100% of the sunlight.
• Installed my X-Arcade coin door and mech.
• Installed marquee florescent light on top panel of cabinet.

I had to stop working for the time being because I realized that I needed a new type of cabinet hinge for the front. One with zero clearance tolerance. On order.

[Wade007]

Last night I finished the cabinet front door area. Installed the special zero clearance hinges (Luckily I had access to a professional machine that does most of the work) and then placed the the door into the cabinet. I was worried I was going to have to trim one side of the front panel or the other to make it fit perfectly, but it closed exactly as planned. There is a slightly off-square gap between the top of the front cabinet door and the bottom or the drawer panel. Maybe not a big deal. I hoped to get this even but it's been tough to keep everything 100% square. This is really is the only noticeable incidence anywhere. I needed a small gap there anyway. I just wanted it to be even. The light gun cords will come out of this slit.

I later finished off the catch for the utility lock. Now all the wood panels are complete with support hardware.

As always, see attached for updated photos.

Next up, the marquee area. I pick up the special backlight Mylar with printed artwork from Kinkos today!!

[Le Chuck]

Sharp work man, looking aces!

[Mr Wilson]

looking good,must be good to work in your friends shop,one thing tho rotate your pics my neck hurts lol

[Wade007]

Thanks for your responses everyone!!

Regarding rotating the pics (Mr. Wilson). I agree. Not sure how to do that. How to do? What am I missing?

[Wade007]

Just just picked up my printed marquee artwork from Kinko's after a couple of attempts at getting the color saturation just right. See attached image showing my view of the last two color proofs. I had some trouble getting the background black to be truly "black". The red saturation seemed a bit off.  I wasn't sure how to build in a 4C or "support" black on an 8-color process printer despite my professional background in graphic design . Anyway, I finally got it to look how I wanted on the 24"x7" marquee area. I later bought the 1/8" backing plexiglass (transparent white) to place behind the artwork and 1/16" (Clear) plexi-glass to put in the front. The artwork is to be sandwiched between these two pieces of plexi-glass.

I also bought the smoked acrylic for the front of the arcade cabinet. It's about 10% "smoked" grey. Scratch resistant.

Now it's REALLY getting exciting!! I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

[vanrose72]

Just just picked up my printed marquee artwork from Kinko's after a couple of attempts at getting the color saturation just right. See attached image showing my view of the last two color proofs. I had some trouble getting the background black to be truly "black". The red saturation seemed a bit off.

From my experience, Game On Grafix does an excellent job with marquees and art in general.
http://www.gameongrafix.com/

[Wade007]

What would a 24"x7" marquee print cost (ball park) with Gameongraphix?

[BadMouth]

What would a 24"x7" marquee print cost (ball park) with Gameongraphix?

http://www.gameongrafix.com/products/Customer-Designed-Marquee

They allow up to 12" height, so you could squeeze in a bezel instruction card or bartop marquee with it.

[Wade007]

Thanks for the input on gameongraphix guys.

I knew about that company quite a while ago but didn't really take a close look at what they offered or the costs.
Looks like I probably could have had them do it cheaper and at higher quality. Oh well...I keep them in mind for the next time I reprint. I have a couple of really nice marquees on backlit Mylar from my local Kinko's. Set me back a few $$$ but should look good once I get the artwork sandwiched between two pieces of plexiglass.

[Wade007]

I hit it hard again last night. I started at about 9:30pm and didn't leave the wood shop till after 2am. 

Finished the marquee:
I used square aluminum corner pieces from Home Depot as marquee clips. The bottom piece was set into a notch I created on an angle. Glued in place with a glue gun. The top piece is removable with two screws on the top panel. The artwork is printed on white Mylar and is sandwiched between two pieces of plexiglass. Once in place I turned on the florescent marquee light. BAM! Looks awesome!

Set up the supports for the smoked acrylic in front of the monitor:
Used thin strips of black painted wood on the sides to support the acrylic from falling into the cabinet. On the bottom I used a couple of metal mirror clips screwed into a piece of angled wood. This piece of wood allowed lower support of the glass both vertically and also kept the glass from falling backward into the cabinet.

See attached photos. I haven't yet peeled the protective layer off the smoked plexiglass. Still have a few tweaks before I'm ready to set it in place.

I think I'm ready to bring this project home. Not much more I need to do in the woodshop. I'd like to dust it off, clean it up and then continue with some of the finer points of detail like the monitor bezel, light gun holster placement, side art....

[BadMouth]

Gonna paint the aluminum angle black or leave it shiny?

Got a plan for gun holsters?

[Wade007]

BadMouth, Good questions...

I debated the idea of painting the marquee aluminum black or just leaving it silver. I don't mind the silver, so for now I think I'll just leave it. I suppose painting it black would look good too. What do you think BadMouth?
The idea of just leaving it silver came from this site:
http://sachi.sytes.net/techblog

Final light gun holster solution is still a bit up in the air. I've read many many posts in these forums about options. A few are pretty good. Some involve U-Bolts, knobs, do-it-yourself containers (welding), bike rack hooks, Tool hooks, Coat hooks...
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,108338.msg1149457.html#msg1149457
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,53777.msg527258.html#msg527258
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,81849.msg853823.html#msg853823

Currently I'm leaning toward one of two solutions: A leather holster kit from Tandy leather. http://www.tandyleatherfactory.com/en-usd/product/bullseye-holster-kit-automatic-medium-44450-06.aspx
Self finish solid black and then attach to sides of cabinet with screws.

OR...

I thought I'd possibly try any of the many Home Depot "tool hook" options. I've wandered around Home Depot many times considering the different options. Anything that was made to keep an electric hand drill on a wall seems like a possible solution for a side-mounted light gun on a wood cabinet. A couple of the links above seem to be possible and have given me some inspiration.

See attached for a couple of phone camera shots of the lead ideas.

How can I get the vertical photos turned vertical in the post here?

If anyone reading this post has any other ideas I'm open to suggestions. 

[PL1]

Several more threads with options to consider here and here.


Scott

[Wade007]

"Super Arcade" is now at home. I hauled to my house last week to begin the more intricate final steps to completion — Cleanup, Bezel, Side-art placement, Lightgun Holsters, final electronic setup.

This weekend I started what I consider to be the last "really tough" step: The custom Bezel.

Since I'm using a 21" CRT computer monitor in a custom build cabinet, I knew there would be virtually no chance of finding a commercial bezel that would fit it perfectly. Also I didn't want to pay the big bucks for one even if it did exist.

Once again Arcade Controls forum came to the rescue on how to solve my problem. following the thread below, I've been successfully building my $2 bezel (really about $4 for me): http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=17175.0

Attached are a few photos of my Bezel progress. Looking good so far...I think.  It's coming together nicely and even includes the slit at the top for my lightgun IR sensor bar. This really was the best solution for me after all. After building the white paper template I placed my smoked plexiglass on top of it to make sure everything would fit fine once the final bezel was in place with the same measurements.

I've finished building a template/prototype bezel using thick stock white paper and am nearly done transferring the measurements of the four sides the black art board I bought at the local hobby shop. Final bezel should be complete tonight.